Western Art Exhibition at Silver Oak

SILVER OAK

Western Art Exhibit

The western paintings and sculptures featured now at SILVER OAK in Oakville, CA were collected by Ray and Sally Duncan. The Duncans developed a great appreciation for living with fine art at home and in the work place. We have selected roughly two dozen western masterpieces from their collection created by some of the finest western artists in the United States.

These featured artists became close friends of Ray and Sally over the years, and their creative truth was a common bond which enhanced their time together. Artist friends would spend time at their Diamond Tail Ranch in Northern Colorado, where a closer link to the western culture of past and present could conjure up ideas for paintings and sculptures. Many of the major paintings and sculptures on display are award winning pieces from museum exhibitions across the west.

JOE BEELER (1931-2006) was a founding member of the prestigious COWBOY ARTISTS of AMERICA (CAA). Joe painted, sculpted and worked in many mediums including; oil, clay, watercolor, charcoal, pastel, pencil and pen. His art depicts stories of the historic and contemporary west. The group Joe helped start in 1965 has endured as the premier group of elite western artists. Joe Beeler’s painting in the board room called “Alchesay” depicts the famed White Mountain Apache Chief -- a scout for the US Cavalry, who tried to convince his friend Geronimo of the Bedonkohe band of the Apache to peacefully surrender. Joe’s sculpture “Chief Goes to Washington” shows a plains chief wearing his gifts from the president of a top hat, peace medal and walking stick. Wearing these modern curiosities, he takes in the parade and festivities bestowed upon him and his peers. The large bronze bust by Beeler called, “Lord of the Southe rn Plains” is of the legendary Comanche chief Quannah Parker, Beeler was a scholar on Quannah and created numerous depictions of the chief in clay and on canvas. One of Joe’s largest paintings and a masterpiece of his later works is the painting, “Spring Roundup”.

This painting is a colorful creation with layers unfolding of what Joe had become as an artist.

This depicts a roundup crew headed out for many weeks of daily gathering and branding and living on the range. Joe spent many decades on ranches in the spring doing the same kind of work he shows here. He was a great visionary and story teller. We know, as he painted this he was yearning to be there in the saddle with his friends anticipating the work ahead.

KENNETH RILEY (1919-2015) “Patchwork Quilt”. Riley was the last living student of the famous artist and teacher Harvey Dunn (1884-1952). He was known as a great designer and colorist. Ken Riley was a prominent member of the CAA and visited the Duncan’s Colorado Ranch several times where they shared time at the fire.

JAMES REYNOLDS (1926-2010) created the large painting of a cowboy and his horses called “His Mares”. This painting was awarded the coveted Thomas Moran Award at the 2000 Autry Masters of the American West Show at the Autry Museum in Glendale, California. Jim was a dear friend of the Duncan’s and they collected numerous westerns and landscapes by this great artist. Reynolds was known as one of the finest artists in the Cowboy Artists of America.

HERB MIGNERY (1937-) another CAA member whose featured sculptures are as follows: “The Sage”, depicting a seasoned veteran cowboy carrying his saddle to start the day, the “Arapaho Dancer”, a mystical depiction of a ceremonial dancer seeking a vision while dancing with his peers at a ceremonial fire when the land belonged to the great spirit, “The Sower”of a farmer shirtless in the heat of the day sowing the seeds of his livelihood with meditational reflection and devotion. “The Potato Lady” is another wonderful sculpture reflective of the agricultural heritage of Herb’s youth. These wonderful works were featured in CAA exhibits over many years at the Phoenix Art Museum where the annual CAA Show was hosted in Arizona.

TERRI KELLY MOYERS (1953- ) painted the large oil on canvas titled “Concierto� which depicts a mother and daughter staring into a fire in the adobe home kiva fireplace while listening to a beautiful guitar solo. Moyers is a collector of Spanish colonial tapestries and embroidery. Her ability to capture the softer side of life is ever present in this beautiful scene. Terri was awarded the coveted Prix de West Award in 2012. Terri is married to artist John Moyers.

JOHN MOYERS (1958- ) was raised in New Mexico and surrounded by the culture and stories of the Spanish colonial and native western culture. John and his wife Terri have been avid collectors and scholars of Spanish Colonial, Mexican, Native and Western Antiquities. The two major paintings created by John featured here at Silver oak, “El Potro Peligroso” and “Once We Were Kings” are of a time before the Mexiczan revolution. All the accoutrements depicted in the paintings from weavings to saddles and sombreros are pieces from their collection. John works with models wearing actual period garments to be able to capture the play of light, color and pattern. His broad, confident brush strokes embody the masculine air of the culture.

ROY ANDERSEN (1930- ) is now in his late eighties and his painting “They Sing Toward the Sun� was exhibited and purchased at the 1998 Prix de West Show at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City. Roy is a student of indigenous culture in the western United States. His early years as an illustrator perfected his ability as a story teller and thus was able to capture the feeling of this northern plains tribe on the move.

BILL OWEN (1942-2013) CAA – this painting was Bill’s final major painting called “Caught a Little Deep”. Bill sent the image off to the CAA Annual Show in Oklahoma City for the catalog: he had no idea, as he headed to an Arizona ranch for branding and time in the saddle, it would be his last major work. As he unloaded his gear he died from a heart attack. He was an amazing cowboy, artist and friend to many of the artists featured in this show. This painting shows a seasoned cowboy pushing cows along a cedar post fence line in northern Arizona. The cowboy has unfortunately roped this big calf around his middle and not the neck, in doing so he’s lost all his advantage. The rope has hung up around a big cow who will stop at nothing to escape the chaos. More times than not seasoned cowboys find ways to get out of a wreck like this with their decades of experience in the saddle. Bill knew the truth of what he created and certainly had been there and done that.

LOREN ENTZ (1949- ) created this large vertical canvas portraying life on the northern plains near his home in Montana. This masterpiece is titled, “A Plot of Her Own� and depicts a mother and child with their bounty grown on the successful farm. Self-sufficiency was all there was for pioneer families willing to homestead. In the distance her husband is plowing his fields with a heavy horse team. These families worked by daylight, sun up to sundown as there was an urgency to get things done to prepare to survive whatever mother nature would send their way. This painting was featured at the Phoenix Art Museum at the CAA Show.

“Art is not a necessity of life; not like air, red wine, barbequed ribs and Copenhagen snuff. Art is the prize in the box of stale Cracker Jacks of ordinary life...something speical and sensual...”

Don Hedgpeth

For more information on these paintings or artists please contact: Claggett Rey Gallery 970-476-9350 • www.claggettrey.com