Westward Expansion… and Beyond

A Visual Manifest Destiny for Today’s American West

A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie, by Albert Bierstadt, 1866. Oil on canvas, frame: 99ish x 158ish” Courtesy Brooklyn Museum.

Help Western Gallery elevate western art through careful curation and innovative programming—both in-person and online—while expanding the genre’s audience across the US and around the globe.

Learn how to get involved →


Be Part of the New Frontier of Western Art

The art world as a whole—and especially the western art genre—is undergoing a renaissance. Technology and world cultures are evolving and a new cohort of collectors are entering the market with new values, mindsets and lifestyles. This change has presented challenges for traditional western art gallery business models but has also created immense opportunity to reach eyes and minds of art appreciators around the world. Instead of going to see art in person across the country, many new art lovers and collectors are first bringing it to their screens and homes.

Western Gallery’s mission is to harness this moment of flux in the gallery industry and to ride through the old model’s sunset into the dawn of what’s next. We’re creating a way for everyone, everywhere to experience and appreciate the awe and inspiration of the West through our extensive online programming and upcoming pop-up events, sharing our love for western art with the world and initiating conversation about important issues it’s facing—past and present.

Western Gallery’s foremost qualifications for exhibiting work are quality, cultural and artistic importance, and an optimistic tone. Since our founding, we’ve showcased a diverse set viewpoints of the American West in our programming, which includes work by African, Asian and Native Americans, and currently, more than 60% of our represented artists are female. Western Gallery is a proud sponsor of Cowgirl Artists of America.

Monument of Dust, Whitney Gardner.
Oil on Linen, 20 x 24″

Chisholm Trail 1867, James Loveless Jr.
Oil on Linen, 24 x 30″

 

The term “western art” is long overdue for a rethink of its content and approach. Historically heavy on images of white cowboys brandishing guns and/or rote landscapes, a new school of artists are eminent, depicting their contemporary experiences of the West in a wide variety of styles, from abstract to photorealistic, featuring subjects from the classic (white cowboys and landscapes) to contemporary (environmental themes, Native American social issues, non-white, non-male or non-heteronormative characters), along with the occasional non-objective piece. 😉 We love showing exceptional work from artists who realize the West is a complicated place, but who are dedicated to fostering dialogue and highlighting its stories and natural beauty.

The way we do this is with the support of people like you.


Western Gallery began on Instagram with a Dream

Founded in January of 2020, Western Gallery has rapidly become a reputable fine art gallery, despite operating exclusively in the online space with no physical presence. Western Gallery has hosted a dozen group exhibitions featuring more than 250 unique artists from across the West,and indeed, the world—including artists working in South Africa, Australia, Russia, France, England, Canada and Mexico, who all share a passion for the American West.

Best known for curating creative exhibitions such as In Rainbows, Texas Women and the premier annual online juried exhibition of western art, New Western Talent, Western Gallery now represents sixteen fine artists spread across the Western United States of America, from Texas to California, and has served as a springboard, helping to launch serious careers of once-emerging western artists.

Virtual Studio Visit w/ Scout Dunbar

Beyond just curating and exhibiting artwork, Western Gallery has conducted more than 50 virtual studio visits on Instagram Live, and produced a full season of Horizons, a western art podcast, which highlights artists and industry experts in long-form interviews.

Recently, we founded the WG Working Artist Community—an online incubator for artists seeking to improve their craft and commercial opportunities through community and mentorship—and made our first foray into the NFT space, a collaboration with Impermanent Collection artist Christy Stallop, GRACKLEZ.

New Programs Bringing Western Artists to the Fore

Our Fine Art Prints program and our first in-person exhibition—a pop-up in the Fall of 2022 featuring artist Lucile Wedeking’s first solo show alongside a group exhibition featuring one work each from the rest of Western Gallery’s Impermanent Collection artists—are both in the works. Originally conceived to occur over a weekend in Austin, the pop-up event is expanding to become a multi-location traveling exhibition. If you have a venue that would like to host us, please get in touch.

Additional programming in the form of artist demos, workshops, culturally relevant discussion panels, a reboot of our podcast and more in-person exhibitions are on our ever-growing to-do list.


Make Your Mark

If you’d like to be a part of our exciting new gallery model, to help bring exciting and vibrant new voices of the West to the world via creative exhibitions, engaging new media, innovative artist residency programs and in-person events, please support Western Gallery.