Adult Programs Brochure 2016-2017

ADULT GROUP VISITS 2016 − 2017

Featuring special exhibitions, new tour themes, and a “Date With The Duke” (feast & film option).

ADULT GROUP VISITS 2016 – 2017 The National Cowboy Western & Heritage Museum is America’s premier institution of Western history, art, and culture. Founded in 1955, the Museum collects, preserves, and exhibits an internationally renowned collection of Western art and artifacts while sponsoring dynamic educational programs to stimulate interest in the enduring legacy of our American West. More than 10 million visitors from around the world have gained a better understanding of the West − a region and a history that permeates our national culture. The Museum features a superb collection of classic and contemporary Western art, including works by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, as well as sculptor James Earle Fraser’s magnificent work, The End of the Trail. The exhibition wing houses a turnof-the-century town and interactive history galleries that focus on the American cowboy, rodeos, Native American culture, Victorian firearms, and frontier military and Western performers. Outside, beautifully landscaped gardens flank the Children’s Cowboy Corral, an interactive children’s space. From fine art, pop culture, and firearms to Native American objects, historical cowboy gear, shopping, and dining, the Museum tells America’s story as it unfolds across the West.

Browse the variety of options and make your reservations at least three weeks in advance.

HOW TO SCHEDULE YOUR VISIT

Booking now! Reservations are required for all group visits and are processed on a first-come, first-served basis. Admission fees, if applicable, are payable on the day of your visit.

PHONE 1 Call Monday – Friday at (405) 478-2250 ext. 241, three

weeks in advance of your desired date and time.

ONLINE 2 www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/grouptours/

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ON-SITE Register in person by speaking with a Visitor Services Assistant in the Museum Lobby, Monday – Friday, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

DOCENT-GUIDED TOUR OPTIONS The Museum’s docents are volunteer tour guides who can facilitate conversations, share insights, and provide your group with fresh perspectives on the Museum’s collections and exhibitions.

Signature Tour Have a limited amount of time to tour but want to see the “good stuff”? This hour-long Signature Tour gleans the surface of the Museum’s many permanent collections. From Albert Bierstadt’s glowing landscape, Emigrants Crossing the Plains, and works by Remington and Russell, to Native American art, see some of the finest Western art in the country. View ethnographic material from Native Americans to mountain men and learn about frontier military life. Round out the tour with a look at the evolution of the working cowboy to their portrayal in film and pop culture.

Walk away with a better understanding of the diverse cultures that shaped the West, but be sure to leave time to check out The Museum Store.

Camp Fires, Cattle, and Cowboys Commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Chisholm Trail (1867-2017). After the Civil War, impoverished Texas cattlemen badly needed to get their range cattle to market. In its time, the Chisholm Trail was considered to be one of the wonders of the Western world. Herds with as many as 10,000 cattle were driven from Texas over the trail to Kansas. The only economical way was to “walk” the herds to a railhead, which would ship the cattle to the expanding markets in the north. When the Kansas Pacific Railway built rails to Abilene, Kansas, in 1867, drovers blazed a trail to that small cowboy camp and depot, delivering longhorns to slaughterhouses in the East, stock cattle to the ranges in the North, and beef to the Indian reservations.

Explore the Museum’s renowned collection of art and artifacts depicting trail rides and lifestyles of real and mythical cowboys.

Museum gardens

Garden Tour Each spring, summer, and fall, the Museum’s trails and gardens feature a plethora of changing plants and flowers native to American West. This tour offers visitors a chance to connect and learn more about the land from which the story of the West is rooted. Discover the majesty of the American West in the garden and in the galleries with a focus on the grandeur of the landscape that have inspired generations of artists.

Power and Prestige: Headdresses of the American Plains August 26, 2016 – May 14, 2017 War bonnets are an iconic image of the American West, yet the truth behind these emblematic items is more complex than the name would indicate.

Going back centuries, feather headdresses played a formalized role in both conflict and ritual with large and subtle variants in style, use, and design.

This exhibit explores the history and development of the Native American headdresses of different styles, ledger art, and photographs.

“A Date with the Duke” February 3 – May 14, 2017 In conjunction with the special exhibition, Hollywood and the American West, see 75 photographs by acclaimed celebrity photographer John R. Hamilton in addition to a selection of John Wayne memorabilia from John Wayne’s personal property. Hamilton started out as a magazine photojournalist, but he achieved fame as a special photographer on films. The first movie Hamilton worked on was the cinematic classic The Searchers in 1956, and throughout his career he worked on some 77 films. Candid, intimate, and raw, the images showcase Hamilton’s private access to the greatest movie stars, musicians, and directors of all times. Subjects include John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Ann Margaret, John Ford, Paul Newman, Kirk Douglas, Bing Crosby, Jimmy Stewart, Frank Sinatra, Kevin Costner, Madeline Stowe, and more.

Make a day of it! Combine a tour of the exhibition and visit to the Western Performers Gallery with a sandwich tray or BBQ lunch buffet and a private film screening of The Cowboys (1972) in the Museum’s Dub & Mozelle Richardson Theater. $36 per person.

John Wayne in The Cowboys

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In The Cowboys, John Wayne plays the role of Wil Andersen, a veteran rancher who needs hands for his yearly cattle drive, a tough drive running through 400 miles of “the meanest country in the West.” It seems that the men who normally work for Mr. Andersen have all left to seek their fortunes in the famed California Gold Rush. Left without any options, and with a bundle of bills to pay, the livestock rancher is forced to consider hiring young boys, ages nine to 17, straight from the town’s school. Knowing that “cattle driving is no Sunday school picnic,” Andersen is skeptical, even when the boys show up early one morning to volunteer for the job. He puts the boys to a test, and when he witnesses their determination and horse riding skills, he decides to take them on (2h 14 min, rated PG).

Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition & Sale June 9 – August 6, 2017 Western paintings and sculptures by the finest contemporary Western artists in the nation.

Opening weekend highlights include art seminars, artist demonstrations, preview and awards dinner, fixed-price draw for art, live auction, and closing celebration. The exhibiting artists bring a diversity of styles to this prestigious art exhibition. Works range from historical pieces that reflect the early days of the West, to more contemporary and impressionistic works of art. Landscapes, wildlife and illustrative scenes are highlighted in the exhibition.

Eagle Feather Headdress, Blackfoot Nation, attributed, ca. 1910, (1991.01.0495)

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Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) and Elam Ferguson (Common) from Hell on Wheels.

Photo Credit Frank Ockenfels / AMC

ON-YOUR-OWN TOUR OPTIONS You’re always welcome to schedule self-guided visits and enjoy the discounted rates for groups. Enjoy the galleries on your own. View these outstanding 2016 – 2017 temporary exhibitions.

Lowell Ellsworth Smith: My Theology of Painting Through July 9, 2017 Discover one artist’s personal process and approach through watercolor studies and the artist’s own words and observations. The exhibition introduces the man, his methods, and his belief in the power and potential of creative energy. He lived for the moment and painted what he saw and as importantly, what he felt, leaving something of himself in each of his works.

Hell on Wheels: Uniting a Nation by Rail August 20 – October 23, 2016 The labor force that built the first transcontinental railroad reflected the colorful diversity of the American West in the 1860s. This exhibition portrays that dynamic era, in part, through the display of wardrobes worn on the AMC series Hell on Wheels, 2011-2016, depicting the legions of railroad workers including Chinese, Irish, Mormon, and former enslaved individuals. This exhibition makes a poignant statement about the kaleidoscope of cultures present in the American West.

Cowboy Artists of America 51st Annual Sale & Exhibition October 14 – November 27, 2016 The Cowboy Artists of America (CAA) are the vanguard of the Western art revival that began in the 1960s, and they continue to set the mark for those who carry on the legacy today.

Traditional Cowboy Arts Association 18th Annual Exhibition & Sale October 14 – December 31, 2016 The Traditional Cowboy Arts Association (TCAA) is dedicated to preserving and promoting the skills of saddlemaking, bit and spur making, silversmithing, and rawhide braiding and the role of these traditional crafts in the cowboy culture of the North American West. Visit this gallery before or after any of the Museum’s cowboy programs.

Small Works, Great Wonders Winter Art Sale November 5 – December 31, 2016 Art students will love this exhibition! Drawings, paintings, sculptures, and mixed media by leading contemporary artists working in a small format is sure to encourage creative ideas and experimentation.

The Artistry of the Western Paperback January 21 – May 14, 2017 The imagery of the American cowboy has been presented in a variety of ways. Whatever the circumstance of the individual, illustrators of 5

Subjects include John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Ann Margaret, John Ford, Paul Newman, Kirk Douglas, Bing Crosby, Jimmy Stewart, Frank Sinatra, Kevin Costner, Madeline Stowe, and more.

A Yard of Turkey Red: The Western Bandanna February 3 – May 14, 2017 Many a 19th-century cowboy bought a square yard of Turkey red cloth at the local mercantile and proudly tied it around his neck. The bright red material derived its name from the Turkish process of dying cotton fabric with the root of the rubia plant. A rare collection of period bandannas provides students a glimpse of authentic neckwear once sought after by young horsemen on the range and later popularized in Western fiction.

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT? Call us and we will work together to develop a special program that meets your needs.

Featured in The Artistry of the Western Paperback

Western paperback books had to create the stirring, and at times violent, representations of these characters. Illustrators depicted the cowboy as the struggling hero trying to correct the injustices of the West, or as the rescuer of the beautiful damsel in distress. Sometimes, the cowboy was portrayed as the desperate outlaw who either turned his bad man ways around, or succumbed to the dark realms that rest deep in his heart.

Hollywood and the American West February 3 – May 14, 2017 Candid, intimate, and raw, these photographs showcase private access to the greatest movie stars, musicians, and directors of all times.

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The Museum Grill The Museum Grill can prepare lunch for your group (assorted sandwich trays). With advance notice, add afternoon tea, or BBQ, for an additional cost per person. Reserve seating is included. To make arrangements, call the Museum’s Visitor Services Coordinator at (405) 478-2250 ext. 241.

The Museum Grill is open Tuesday – Saturday, 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., Sunday, Noon – 3:00 p.m., and closed on Monday.

The Museum Store Shop truly unique pottery, jewelry, accessories, and objects at The Museum Store! We offer a wide array of merchandise that includes nearly 6,000 different items, from apparel to books, gifts, and original works of art. Click here to shop online at www. store.nationalcowboymuseum.org.

Photography Due to restrictions accompanying loaned artworks, non-flash, hand-held cameras are permitted in designated areas, some galleries, and in the gardens.

Look for camera images, selfie stations, and signage during your visit.

Share Your Experience #MyWest Join the conversation. Click here to view images uploaded by other visitors at www.instagram.com/ nationalcowboymuseum.

Wheelchairs & Strollers The Museum is accessible to individuals with limited mobility. Free manual wheelchair and stroller loans are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Pets Trained guide and service animals are permitted in the Museum and on Museum grounds.

Museum Hours Monday – Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Sunday, Noon – 5:00 p.m.

Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day

Group Admission Rates Taxable rates are as follows: Adults – $10.75 Seniors 62 and older – $9.25 Tax exempt prices are available upon request.

Payment must be made in one lump sum for everyone in your tour group. We accept cash, check, charge, or purchase order. Coupons cannot be used with the group rate. Parking is free.

Canceling a Visit If you must cancel a tour, please contact or leave a voicemail message with the Visitor Services Coordinator at (405) 478-2250 ext. 241 or email sstrain@nationalcowboymuseum.org within 24 hours of your visit.

Group Size A minimum of 15 paying adults is required for group rates. An escort and driver are admitted complimentary.

Arthur and Shifra Silberman Gallery of Native American Art

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ADULT GROUP VISITS 2016 − 2017

1700 Northeast 63rd Street Oklahoma City, OK 73111 www.nationalcowboymuseum.org (405) 478-2250

Museum Partners: Devon Energy Corp. • E.L. & Thelma Gaylord Foundation

Funding for Power and Prestige: Headdresses of the American Plains and related programs is provided, in part, by a grant from the Oklahoma Humanities Council (OHC) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibitions and program do not necessarily represent those of OHC or NEH.