New art museum exhibit features cowboys, western art

ST. GEORGE — In keeping with the St. George Art Museum’s mission statement, which is in part “ … to collect, conserve, inventory, exhibit and interpret art and artifacts from Utah and the West,” the city-owned facility’s next display of art will be “Ride on In: Cowboys are Coming.”

America’s favorite icon – the cowboy – has been the focus of moviemakers, authors and artists for generations and is still the stuff of legends around the world and here in Washington County.

Lumberjacks, farmers, railroad men and miners helped shape the West with work equally arduous and dangerous, but the romance of the cowboy life continue to be the most compelling images captured by camera, pen or paintbrush.

This showing of exceptional cowboy art, which officially opens to the public at 47 N. 200 East on Saturday, May 23 will feature Western art from the Ken Ratner collection in the museum’s Main Gallery; “Ride On In: Cowboys Come to the St. George Art Museum” in the Mezzanine Gallery; and paintings “On the Ranch” by Minerva Teichert.

The show, which runs through August 29, will kick off on Friday, May 22 beginning at 5 p.m. with a special art conversation featuring Montana artists Michael Blessing and Meagan Abra Blessing.

Michael Blessing is a self-taught artist in oil, often depicting everyday – but universally relevant – moments of vintage Western nostalgia with vibrant color, bold lines and strong composition.

Meagan Abra Blessing, like her husband, is a self-taught artist whose chosen medium is oil and her favorite subjects are “all-things-equine” in high contrast and in lively movement. Additionally, her renditions of landscapes, animals, and other Western subjects are vibrant and dynamic.

There is no charge for the art conversation.

The St. George Art Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 47 E. 200 North.

For more information call 435-627-4525.

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