Colors of the West: Youth Art from the 2020 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
This exhibition is available for viewing below.
Colors of the West: Youth Art from the 2020 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is a sampling of the art on display each year at the Western Folklife Center’s G Three Bar Theater during the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. The exhibition was curated by: Meg Glaser, Artistic Director; Jan Petersen, Youth Education Coordinator; and Brad McMullen, Programs & National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Manager and is part of their educational programs for Elko County students Kindergarten to grade 12. Each year, art teachers are given the theme and students create works in a wide range of media and techniques.
View the Curator’s Talk with Western Folklife Center staff below.
Colors of the West: Arts & Humanities in Education
By Brad McMullen
Brad McMullen is the Programs and Gathering Manager for the Western Folklife Center. Image/Jessica Brandi Lifland.
One of the highlights of the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is seeing the walls of the G Three Bar Theater fill up with colorful artwork from the students of Elko County, Nevada. Every year, Elko County art teachers submit art from hundreds of kids from around the county (including students from some of our one-room schoolhouses) to be exhibited as a part of the Gathering, showing off the talents of the next generation to the thousands of Gathering attendees. It’s wonderful to have a chance this year to show off all their creative art to an even wider audience – not just Las Vegas, but the whole world, thanks to the innovative online exhibit, Colors of the West: Youth Art from the 2020 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.
Exhibiting this artwork is just one of the ways that local students are able to participate in the Gathering, but it is an important part. (Be sure to check out the curator’s talk on Facebook on Thursday, July 2, if you want to hear about how kids are a key part of the Gathering!) The art the kids display each year is more than just a piece of classroom artwork – it’s a chance for teachers to integrate the history and culture of the West and teach it through the arts, as well as give the kids a chance to express local history and heritage in a unique medium.
The arts, humanities, and sciences might get discussions as if they were their own separate, siloed topics, but activities like these give students a chance to engage with them in a unified manner. The arts and humanities work hand-in-hand, whether you’re 8, 18, or 80, and this exhibit is an example of how to start that combination when people are young.
Here you can see the works as featured at the Western Folklife Center’s G Three Bar Theater during the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada.
Curator’s Talk
With Western Folklife Center staff: Jan Petersen, Youth Education Coordinator; Brad McMullen, Programs & National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Manager, and Deb Howard, Education Program Volunteer.
