Coors Western Art Show features over 70 artist from around the nation: "I spend a lot of time hiking, driving backroads looking for scenes I find appealing"
Down the hall from the rodeo and the petting zoo at the National Western Stock Show in Denver is one of the most prestigious Western art shows in the world. For over 30 years, cowboys on canvas have joined those in real life at the Coors Western Art Show.
This year there's a new flare for the contemporary, ushered in by new curator Kate Hlavin.
"This year is a big transition year with a lot of new artists, new styles, and Western contemporary work," said Hlavin. "Still keeping with the tradition and theme of Western art, rooted in the landscape, in figures, in subject matter."
The show features over 70 artists from across the country, including CBS News Colorado's Olivia Young's father, Rick Young.
"I do southwestern landscapes," said Young, "I spend a lot of time hiking, driving backroads looking for scenes I find appealing."
Young has six pieces in the show.
"This is a scene from a place called Gooseneck State Park in southeastern Utah where the San Juan River does these loop to loops, and you can see all these different loops from one spot on the rim," said Young, while gesturing to one of his paintings.
Young loves the diversity of western art included in the show.
"I love the fact that it encompasses kind of expressive colorful work like mine, equine studies of horses, cowboy scenes, and everything else you can think of that represents the American west," said Young.
Despite the cold, snowy boots filled the exhibit Saturday, as Hlavin is already planning for next year.
"We are constantly looking at artists from all over the country, identifying kinda who's on our wish list for the show. So we have already started to work on 2025," said Hlavin.
Entry to the Coors Western Art Show is free with stock show general entry. The show runs through the end of the stock show.
