Gallery Events And News
- Featured Artists
- Event Calendar
- Artist Biographies
- News & Press
- Educational Videos
- Podcast
- Essential West
- Learn
Learn about the latest Medicine Man Gallery happenings; all about our artist, see our educational videos about native American art and fine art, watch podcasts with your favorite artists and check out art and history-related links we think you'll enjoy.
Essential West Magazine
Exploring Art, Literature, History, Museums, Lifestyle, and Cultures of the West
It amazes me that four letters - W-E-S-T - have the ability to evoke an instantaneous emotional image. Simply the act of reading these four letters has caused you to form a narrative of your west.
Can the West be distilled to its essence - a simple direction or region? I believe not; it is a deeper dive of consciousness. How America sees itself and the world defines us. Diverse cultures, strong individualism, open spaces, and raw natural beauty marinated in a roughshod history have formed this region’s unique milieu.
Our online magazine’s primary focus is to feature relevant topics in art, literature, history, museums, lifestyle, and culture; lofty goals for any publication. No single magazine can be the beckon of all things western; it is a diverse, evolving paradigm that cannot be pigeonholed. As the publisher, I hope to be the buffalo that grazes the wide expanse of western sensibility and relay to you a glimpse of how I perceive our Essential West.
- Mark Sublette
Featured Article
Blackbear Bosin's 'Keeper of the Plains' Sculpture Celebrates 50 Years in Wichita
Wichita’s Keeper of the Plains sculpture celebrates 50 years with a daylong schedule of events May 18, 2024. Completed by Blackbear Bosin (1921–1980) and erected on May 18, 1974, the installation has become a symbol for the city and a tribute to the Native American tribes who continue gathering at the sacred site. The Keeper of the Plains...
Denver’s Clyfford Still Museum wasn’t designed for a Covid-19 era visitor experience, but it feels that way
Clyfford Still "PH-77, 1936" | Photo Credit: Chadd Scott Large, sunlit rooms welcome scant visitors, all of whom are required to purchase timed entry tickets. Spacious, sparse galleries are limited to a handful of guests at any one time. Still’s artwork, as well, seems perfectly suited for the pandemic. Iconic examples of his massive abstract paintings from the 1940s and 50s invite responses of calm and hope from visitors with a world full of tragedies raging just outside. Still became one of the most well-known Abstract Expressionist painters in the post-war era thanks to these enormous paintings...
The SWAIA fashion show returns in a modified form for Santa Fe Virtual Market
By Michael Clawson Read more Essential West here The hugely popular fashion component to this year’s SWAIA Virtual Market is now ongoing at market.swaia.org. Like the market itself, the fashion show will be held entirely online with new collections from different designers dropping daily. The week-long event culminates in the debut of a new film that shows the work of Navajo designer Orlando Dugi. “It’s definitely not as stressful as a normal fashion show, but I’ve been working on these nine pieces for six or seven months so there’s still lots to do,” Dugi says of the new...
SWAIA announces Virtual Market award winners
Read more Essential West here Virtual Indian Market Diverse Arts Award and VIRTUAL GRAND AWARD Glenda McKay (Inglalik Athabascan), Harpoon Head with Sheath and Emergency Whistle Virtual Indian Market Jewelry Award Farrell Pacheco (Santo Domingo Pueblo), The Daughters of Mother Earth Virtual Indian Market Pottery Award Shirley M. Brauker (Little River Band of Ottowa), Missing Sisters Virtual Indian Market Paintings/Drawings/Graphics/Photography Award Everton Tsosie (Navajo), The Last of the Pure Virtual Indian Market Pueblo Wooden Carvings Award Ronald Honyumptewa (Hopi), The Message from a Butterfly Virtual Indian Market Sculpture Award...
Author Hampton Sides will bring his brand of narrative history to SAR’s Creative Thought Forum on August 28
By Michael Clawson Read more Essential West here Hampton Sides has tackled a wide range of historical subjects in his best-selling books, from World War II prisoners of war and commandos fighting their way to the Korean coast to Arctic explorers and murder investigators on the trail of an assassin. History is his playground. On August 28, Sides will bring his deep love of history to the School for Advanced Research’s virtual forum Celebrating Three Years of Creative Thought, an online event that will allow guests the chance to mingle with experts in a variety of fields as...
Dean Mitchell is Featured Artist of Huntsville Museum 2015 Gala
The Huntsville Museum of Art Proudly Announces Dean Mitchell 24th Annual Gala Featured Artist Published online courtesy Huntsville Museum of Art, August 2014 “Mr. Mitchell’s works are subtly tuned character studies with an eye toward abstract form and charismatic light.” —Michael Kimmelman, The New York Times Dean L. Mitchell was born 1957, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and reared in Quincy, Florida.He is a graduate of the Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, Ohio.Mitchell is well known for his figurative works, landscapes and still lifes. In addition to water- colors, he is accomplished in other mediums, including egg temperas, oils...
Ed Mell, Southwest Art
Ed Mell: Exploring the Southwest Through New Eyes By Lynn Pyne Davis ; reprinted courtesy of Southwest Art magazine Ed Mell, Butte, Pastel, 7" x 10" In an Ed Mell painting, cotton ball clouds and rocky mountains often undergo a metamorphosis, becoming simplified forms with knife-sharp edges. A rose or cactus bloom may take on a colossal scale, with crystalline petals resembling shards of stained glass. Pink buttes may be rendered as deep coral rose, and blue-gray rain may appear as blue sapphires. By deviating from reality, Mell succeeds in creating a feeling that is closer to the actual experience of witnessing nature...
Navajo Saddle Blankets: Canyon Road Arts, Vol. 5
LEARN ABOUT THIS UNUSUAL FORM OF NAVAJO WEAVING Navajo Single Saddle Blanket c. 1915, 25.5″ x 35″ Saddle blankets occupy a curious niche in the history of Navajo weaving. They are the only type of textile that were simultaneously popular among Anglos, Hispanics and the Navajo themselves. Consequently saddle blankets have an aesthetic and technical history very different from that of the ubiquitous Navajo rug. Navajo Double Saddle Blanketc. 1900 54″ x 31″ A BRIEF HISTORY OF NAVAJO WEAVING The Navajo learned weaving from their Pueblo neighbors about the same time they acquired horses and churro sheep from Spanish...
Ray Roberts: Canyon Road Arts Vol.1
PLEIN AIR IMPRESSIONISTIC MASTERPIECES FROM A CALIFORNIA NATIVE SON Southwest Art once described Ray Roberts as a native son of California. This may be the most fitting description of Ray, both his life and his art have always gravitated toward California. He was born and raised along the coast of Southern California. His love for drawing as a child grew into a passion for art, and he continued his formal studies acquiring a degree at the Arts Center Design College in Pasadena. Ray Roberts, San Juan Creek,Oil on canvas 30″ x 40″ After his graduation, Ray began work as a freelance...