Cowboy Artists of America | November 1-2, 2024 | Fort Worth, TX

The Round Up

The Cowboy Artists of America returns to Fort Worth, Texas, for the group’s annual sale.

By Michael Clawson

Myths don’t appear overnight. They take time. And not just years, but decades and centuries. The Cowboy Artists of America, now in its 58th year, is approaching that time in its existence where history is starting to fade into something more mythic and legendary.

The original members—George Phippen, Joe Beeler, Charlie Dye and Johnny Hampton—have long since passed, and memories from their first adventures together exist only on paper, or faded photographs, and yet the group rides confidently onward on new trails with fresh riders. The members are different than the original four, but they share the same goal: to document the Western way of life through art.

Chad Poppleton, Greeting the Camp, oil on panel, 26 x 40 in.The members of the Cowboy Artists of America, often abbreviated as the CA, come together formally twice a year: once usually in the spring or early summer for the annual trail ride, and again in the fall for the annual CA show. This year’s show will take place November 1 and 2 in Fort Worth, Texas, at the Will Rogers Memorial Center. Each of the group’s 19 members are invited to submit five to seven works. All of the work will be available November 2 in a by-draw sale. In addition to some of the top artists working today—Martin Grelle, Bruce Greene, Teal Blake, C. Michael Dudash, Grant Redden, Bill Nebeker and many others—this year’s show will mark the second consecutive year where special invited guests will be showing work with the CA members as part of the Joe Beeler Foundation. This year’s guest artists are Kevin Red Star and Glenn Dean.

CA members, spouses and invited guests in Colorado in April 2024 during the trail ride.

CA president Phil Epp says he’s excited for this year’s show, and adds that he has already seen much of the work for the show and calls it an “especially strong year.” “It’s been a very smooth year, and it’s been great to communicate with all the guys on a personal level as the president,” says Epp, who will relinquish his role as president at this year’s show, a CA tradition because presidents only serve one year. “We hope this will be the best show yet, but we feel that way pretty much every year because the work always looks so good. It’s unique imagery, and the everyone is feeling very positive about what they are making.”

Brandon Bailey, A Legion of Horribles, oil, 48 x 72 in.

Epp, one of the most contemporary painters in the CA, was inducted into the group in 2016. He thinks about his own inducation as new members prepare to show their first pieces with the “CA” brand next to their signatures. The new members are Alvin Marshall, Dave Santillanes, Albin Veselka and Todd Connor. “I know it’s exciting showing up your first year, because it was exciting for me,” Epp says. “These are strong artists, and just really great guys.”

Works that will be in the show include Santillanes’ massive 40-by-70-inch The Ruby Range, showing a rider in a majestic mountain meadow with a stream. The first-time CA artist went big on multiple pieces, including The Dunes, a 20-by-60-inch work with a grouping of mule deer.

Phil Epp, Two Hills, acrylic on canvas, 64 x 108 in.

Blake will be showing Rocketman, a watercolor of a rider being launched into a cluster of cattle in a pen. The artist creates a sense of danger and unease with a tall composition that leaves lots to the imagination. The cause of the launch is unknown, but the energy is palpable on the paper.

Wayne Baize, More Horse Power, oil, 24 x 30 in.

Several of the longtime members, including Clark Kelley Price and Wayne Baize, will be showing magnificent new pieces. Price’s painting, On a Good Cow Pony, is a classic image for the artist that has many things collectors will enjoy: the pose and posture of the rider, the attention to detail on the cowboy gear, the quietness of the moment and the fall color in the trees. Baize will bring More Horse Power, which shows a horse and rider latching onto a wagon and aiding it up an incline.

Teal Blake, Rocketman, watercolor, 28 x 14 in.

Dustin Payne, What Man Can Conceive, bronze, ed. of 20, 37 x 20 x 10 in.

Brandon Bailey and Chad Poppleton will both be showing large and complexly composed scenes that merge gorgeous landscapes with narrative-driven imagery with figures, while Epp will be showing his contemporary landscapes with dramatic clouds, many of them with horses. One of Epp’s pieces is not only the largest piece at the show, it’s also likely the largest CA piece in many years. Two Hills measures more than 5 feet tall and 9 feet long. It shows two clusters of horses that seem content having separate hills to themselves. “All day every day I think about what I want to portray,” Epp says. “I have a strong opinion that a painting has to be more than a pretty picture. We—all of us here at the CA—try to show something unique in every work.”

Clark Kelley Price, On a Good Cow Pony, oil on canvas

One sculpture worth mentioning is Dustin Payne’s wall relief What Man Can Conceive. The image is of Abraham Lincoln’s face, but when viewers get in close they’ll see small figures working around the 16th president’s face. The twist is that it’s Lincoln, but the stone version of Lincoln at Mount Rushmore, and the small figures are stone cutters who are shaping his face.

Dave Santillanes, The Ruby Range, oil, 40 x 70 in.

The show kicks off on November 1 with an awards dinner and preview, followed on November 2 by the traditional CA autograph signing, a discussion on Native Americans from the Southern Plains, artist demonstrations and then the exhibition and sale in the evening. Tickets can be purchased from the CA’s website, which also has a full schedule of events.

Another component to this year’s show is a special museum exhibition at Fort Worth’s Cattle Raisers Museum. The exhibition, A Western Exhibition: The John and Charlotte Kimberline Collection, celebrates two long-time CA supporters and their stunning collection of art. The exhibition is on view from October 11 to November 3. —