Ruth Soller » Blog

Steve and I had an eventful trip to Amarillo and Canyon, TX, for the Panhandle Plains Invitational Western Show and Sale. If you should find yourself in Amarillo on the first Friday of the month, First Friday Art Walk at Sunset Art Center is the place to be. Sunset Art Gallery offers a free buffet, bar, and live music while exhibiting some of the best artwork of today. Sunset Center is home to individual artist’s studios and galleries and the Amarillo Institute of Art, which provides ongoing art classes taught by leading artists such as Jack Sorenson. On First Friday you may meet and talk with artists and observe live painting demonstrations.

Saturday morning we set out for the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum and were fortunate to see a retrospective exhibition of Orren Mixer’s oil paintings of famous quarter horses and their owners sponsored by the Dogwood Foundation.  The Museum contains a wealth of history and artifacts about quarter horse racing, rodeos, and ranch work, displayed in the expansive natural stone and wood architecture. The floor of the main hall is sculpted with a diagram of the all-important bloodlines tracing modern quarter horse champions back to the Godolphin Arabian.

I’m pleased to be represented by Ann Crouch’s Sunset Art Gallery of Amarillo and am proud to display my western landscapes alongside renowned Ramon Kelley, Guido Frick, Cecy Turner, Wes Hyde, and Anita Louise West. Sunset Art Gallery is spacious and elegantly appointed with white columns and wainscoting, black walls, and salt and pepper grey carpeting. Meandering up to the entrance is a lovely sculpture garden with lily ponds.

Saturday night artists, patrons and sponsors polished up their best cowboy boots and sported ten gallon hats and bolo ties for the Panhandle Plains Invitational Opening Reception. This is the only show in the Texas Panhandle to offer museum quality artwork that you can own. I was honored to meet Albert Handel and learn how he painted his striking Rushing Water piece. Panhandle Plains Historical Museum is worth a special trip and is filled with historical artifacts including a full sized oil derrick, a complete frontier town of businesses, and even dinosaur skeletons. Their permanent collection of southwestern art includes many of the Taos Society of Artists and Georgia O’Keeffe.

Sunday, we took a new route home in order to visit Bent’s Old Fort near La Junta, Colorado. We learned that the old fort burned down and has been rebuilt according to the original blueprints. The fort was the first white settlement in Colorado built in 1833 and functioned for only sixteen years before being burned. A video describes the history and early visitors to the fort, while a self-guided tour takes you through all the rooms. Re-enactors in period costumes play the roles of early settlers on specified days of the year.