The Empire 100 Western Art Show & Sale began 12 years ago to raise funds for the preservation of the historic Empire Ranch Headquarters. With great appreciation to our sponsor, Northern Trust, this juried art exhibition & sale has grown in stature to also become a premiere art show, featuring established and emerging artists specializing in Western art. The art show, chaired by Laura Davis, is named "Empire 100" to reflect the number of pieces selected for the show.

This year's Featured Artist is the nationally recognized Western Artist, Don Crowley.  After a successful 20-year career as a commercial artist, Don Crowley moved to Tucson in 1973 with the goal of creating fine art. His models were often members of the San Carlos Indian Reservation in eastern Arizona and eventually, almost exclusively, a family of Paiutes, the Martineaus, from the Kaibab Plateau region of northern Arizona. (He recently incorporated the third generation of Martineau models in his paintings.) In 1994, he was elected a member of the Cowboy Artists of America, a group devoted to keeping realistic Western art alive in the tradition of Remington and Russell. Crowley is represented by some of the most prestigious western art galleries in the country.
"This is a calling," Crowley says. "It's very fortunate to know what you want out of life. It's the searching and doing of it that's important. The gift is having the goal."

Click here for more information and to browse images of artworks presented in the 2012 Show 

Click here for full list of Artists and Artworks in 2012 Show