The 7th Annual Small Works Show at Cassens Fine Art opens the gallery’s doors to new artists and offers a glimpse of where the art world is heading. Opening November 27, the show helps collectors stay in conversation with the broader art community and fosters connections with new and unknown artists.
The theme for this year’s show is “The Working West,” in which 40 to 60 works, including paintings and, for the first time, small sculpture, will be on display at the gallery. Represented artists include Rick Kennington, Mike Barlow, Tracie Hubbard, Afton Ray, Rainny Zhao and many others.
Afton Ray, Glitzy Buckaroo, mixed media on wood, 14 x 14 in.
“Contemporary Western art is having its moment, and most of it is painted big. Big canvases, big walls, big commitments. The Small Works Show turns that around for one month a year,” says Michelle Cassens, gallery owner.
“Here the West arrives at a size you can hold in two hands, at a price that welcomes the first-time buyer and rewards the seasoned collector who wants one more piece of a painter they love,” says Cassens. “Watching the entries come in is the best part of my fall. A glittering, modern buckaroo hangs next to a white barn in winter light, and both belong. That is the range of Western art right now, and this show is where you can see it in one place and take a piece of it home.”
Tracie Hubbard, White Barn in Idaho, oil on canvas, 10 x 10 in.
This year’s theme was chosen to honor the land and the hands that work it. “In Hamilton the ranches run to the edge of town. The people who move cattle, fix fence and doctor calves, walk into the gallery and stand in front of the paintings like anyone else, because it is their life on the wall,” Cassens explains. “We asked the artists to paint that life: the animals, the husbandry, the people and the land itself, from the Rockies to the plains, with or without a rider in it. The landscape is the Western way, and it is our home.”
Artist Afton Ray embodies the theme through bold and punchy broncos and a bright color palette. In the painting Glitzy Buckaroo, which will be included in the small works show, a rider hangs on as their horse explodes across the big sky.
Rick Kennington, Hereford Watch, oil on panel, 12 x 12 in.
“As in real life, each horse and rider has their own personality, but they all share grit and a free spirit,” says Ray. “I aim to capture a piece of the American West in a way that feels familiar, yet contemporary. Movement is created through expressive, intentionally imperfect brushwork and splashes. I chose a limited palette of unexpected colors to please the spirit. The hot coral paint is incorporated to bounce throughout the scene like the glow from a fleeting sunset.”
As more of life takes place on screen, Cassens notes that the West resists and rejects modernity. “Out here someone is still moving cattle at first light and fixing the fence the wind took down, and that work is becoming rarer every year, and more sacred for it,” she says. “A small painting of a hand on a rope, or a barn someone still uses, is a piece of that real thing you can hang on your wall. It carries more weight than it did 10 years ago. I believe it will carry more still.”
Rainny Zhao, The Day Begins, oil on canvas, 16 x 12 in.
Rainny Zhao’s work in the show is part of a large series and depicts the slower pace of life Cassens describes. A rancher heads out on horseback, ready for a day of labor under a bright sun. “Part of my Ranch Life series, The Day Begins captures the familiar rhythm of an early morning on the ranch, as the first chores begin and another day of work gets underway,” says Zhao.
The 7th Annual Small Works Show: The Working West is for everyone who loves the West, whether viewers have never owned an acre or their family has worked the same ground for four generations. Opening Friday, November 27, with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m., the show will run through December 30. —
Cassens Fine Art 215 W. Main Street » Hamilton, MT 59840 » (406) 363-4112 » www.cassensfineart.com
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