For immediate release

Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale
Cody, Wyoming
Contact Diane Ballard, director
1-888-598-8119, or (307) 587-5002
art@codychamber.org

Editor’s Note: For images of award-winning artwork, visit the Media Center at www.buffalobillartshow.com or contact Mark Bagne, 307-527-5811, bagne@wyoming.com

Cody Art Sales Reach Record

Cody, Wyo. – A capacity crowd of 800 guests generated record sales of $725,875 during the 23rd annual Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale Sept. 24-25 at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. The previous record of $724,000 was set in 2003.

One hundred western artists from 14 states and Australia sold about 200 pieces of art during the main live auction, a Quick Draw auction, and two silent auctions. Proceeds benefit the Historical Center and the Cody chamber of commerce.

The Historical Center’s William E. Weiss Purchase Award contributed $25,000 to obtain the color pencil “Great Basin Buckaroo” by Sheridan, Wyo., artist Carrie L. Ballantyne – giving it the added distinction for top weekend sales price. The painting of a modern buckaroo with traditional vaquero influence, measuring 26.375 x 17.25 inches, becomes part of the Historical Center’s permanent collection.

M.C. Poulsen of Cody attracted $20,000 – the highest price from the main auction – for his 20 x 16 inch oil of a mountain man called “The Red Hat.” The third-highest price of $17,000, resulting from an intent-to-purchase drawing, went to 2004 Honored Artist Wilson Hurley of Albuquerque for his 21 x 32 inch oil, “Winter Cottonwoods at Sunset.”

In addition to its coveted William E. Weiss Purchase Award, the Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale announced seven additional awards to participating painters and sculptors.

Krystii Melaine of Gunning, NSW, Australia, won the 2004 Painting Award for a 16 x 32 inch oil, “Sea of Gold,” showing two cowboys trotting on horseback through tall grass. Melaine visits North America twice yearly to research the wildlife and cowboys that inspire her work.

This year’s Sculpture Award went to T.D. Kelsey of Pompeys Pillar, Mont., for a 21 x 25 x 18 inch bronze, “Bull Market,” depicting a cowboy on horseback being hurled into the air by a charging bull. Kelsey says of this piece, “Sometimes experience comes with hard knocks.”

The Buffalo Bill Art Show also gave an honorable mention in the sculpture category to Robert Deurloo of Salmon, Idaho, for a 26 x 24 x 22 inch bronze, “River Rendezvous,” of a pair of river otters frolicking in a beaver pond.

Selection of the 2004 Artist’s Choice Award resulted in a tie between Cyrus Afsary of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Bruce Graham of Clearmont, Wyo.

Afsary entered a 20 x 24 inch oil, “Dixie Forest, Utah,” revealing what he calls the “amazing spiritual serenity of one of the most beautiful pine forests in the world.” Graham entered a 24 x 30 inch oil, “Testing the Waters,” of a horse wading in a shallow pond on a northern Wyoming ranch.

Art show guests were deadlocked in their selection of the People’s Choice Award, resulting in another unusual tie between Poulsen’s “The Red Hat” and a painting by Karmel Timmons of Elbert, Colo. Timmons submitted a 16 x 22 inch pencil, “The Buckaroo,” a study of the relationship between buckaroo and horse.

Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey of Big Fork, Mont., won the art show’s first annual Dean St. Clair Memorial Award for a painting called “Red Night, Cowgirl’s Delight” that she created in 60 minutes during the open-air Quick Draw on the Historical Center’s grounds. This people’s choice award honors the memory of the late western painter Dean St. Clair of Del Norte, Colo., who died in 2003.

Art Show judges also announced a surprise award, the Gerald Peters Gallery Award for a Work on Paper, to Sheila Rieman, of Sentinel Butte, N.D., for her 20 x 29 inch pastel, “Daybreak in Yellowstone.” And the first annual Mike Maier Memorial Award, named for the originator of the Open Box M pochade box and based on random drawing, went to Laramie, Wyo., plein-air painter Joe Arnold.

For more information call (307) 587-5002, email art@codychamber.org, or visit www.buffalobillartshow.com.