FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 5, 2006

Media Contact: DJ Latham
Office: 817/509-8991
Mobile: 817/715-2868
[email protected]

One of the first art exhibits to bring top female Western artists together for an all female show will be presented by the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.

Heart of the West Art Exhibition and Sale, March 2 through May 7, 2006

FORT WORTH, Texas – Artist Sonya Terpening paints the stories of modern-day cowgirls and the women pioneers who settled the West. This award-winning local artist is one of 22 distinguished female Western artists on display at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame’s second Heart of the West Art Exhibition and Sale, which is one of the first shows to bring the top women Western artists together for an all-woman show.

Western art can be contemporary or historical, says Terpening, who resides in Grapevine, Texas. But much of Terpening’s inspiration comes from the history of her family settling Kansas and Oklahoma. She came to understand the women who conquered the West through her great-great aunt’s hand-written journal.

With artists such as Terpening, Heart of the West sets out to broaden the image of Western culture through creative works of art. It’s not just cowboys and Indians.

This year’s pieces include sprawling landscapes, images of the rural West and cowgirls with their horses. The oil on canvas “Homestead at San Ildefonso” by Susan Terpning features a weathered barbed wire fence and a lone horse walking toward the shade of a tree. The “Apache Doll” by Joe Anna Arnett leans against a tightly woven basket in her clothes of buckskin. In “Goin’ For It” by Sonya Terpening, a barrel racer leans into her last barrel and the horse’s hooves fade into the dust. In “From Acoma” by Turid Pederson, a classic still life features a Native American pot, fruit, a strand of garlic and the brown tarnishing of a cut apple.

Heart of the West will be on public display at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame Friday, March 3 through Sunday May 7, 2006. The Heart of the West Art Sale will be at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 2. Proceeds from each piece sold will benefit the National Cowgirl Museum.

Heart of the West proved successful during its inaugural year back in November 2004 where two-thirds of the art was sold including Glenna Goodacre’s bronze sculpture of Sacagawea, which now stands permanently inside the National Cowgirl Museum’s grand rotunda.

Details: National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame’s second Heart of the West Art Exhibition and Sale, March 2 through May 7, 2006. The museum is open Mondays thorough Thursdays 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults ages 13 and up and $7 for children ages 3 to 12 and group rates and docent tours are available. For more information about the museum, current exhibits and rentals, call 817/336-4475 or 800/476-FAME, or visit www.cowgirl.net. The Heart of the West Art Sale will be at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 2 at the National Cowgirl Museum. Tickets are $100 and are available by calling 817/336-4475.

The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is the only museum in the world dedicated to honoring women of the American West who have displayed extraordinary courage and a pioneering spirit in their trail blazing efforts. Located in Fort Worth’s Cultural District, the museum includes interactive exhibit galleries, three theaters, a retail store and a grand rotunda.

Sonya Terpening is available for interviews.

The 2006 Heart of the West artists are:
Joe Anna Arnett of Santa Fe, New Mexico
Tracy W. Avant of Dilly, Texas
Jane A. DeDecker of Loveland, Colo.
Patricia Dobson of Scottsdale, Ariz.
Deborah Copenhaver Fellows of Sonoita, Ariz.
Glenna Goodacre of Santa Fe, New Mexico
Veryl Goodnight of Santa Fe, New Mexico
Lisa Gordon of Santa Fe, New Mexico
Sherry Harrington of West, Texas
Donna Howell-Sickles of Saint Jo, Texas
Joyce Lee of Billings, Mont.
Sherrie McGraw of El Prado, New Mexico
Terri Moyers of Santa Fe, New Mexico
Brenda Murphy of Arlington, Texas
Turid Pederson of Silver City, New Mexico
Bonita Roberts of Battle Lake, Minn.
Sherry Salari Sander of Kalispell, Mont.
Sandy Scott of Lander, Wyo.
Sonya Terpening of Grapevine, Texas
Susan Terpning of Santa Fe, New Mexico
Shirley Thomson-Smith of Oklahoma City, Okla.
Paula Willis Jones of Shawnee, Okla.
Included in this array of excellent artistry are three local North Texas artists Donna Howell-Sickles, Brenda Murphy and Sonya Terpening.

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Danny “DJ” Latham, Jr.
Media & Marketing
National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame &
Cattle Raisers Museum
817/509-8991 Tel
817/336-2470 Fax
www.cowgirl.net