Women’s Work 2024: Celebrating the Contributions of Women in the American West

Megan Wimberley (: 00:00:00

Welcome to Cowgirl Artists of America's podcast. I'm your host, MeMegan Wimberleygan Wimberley. Today we're joined by three guests to discuss our upcoming exhibition, women's Work, which opens at the AR Mitchell Museum of Western Art in Trinidad, Colorado. We'll have lots of great events opening weekend, August 2nd through third, and you can check out the show through the end of September. If you can't make it in person, we'll have lots of great opportunities for you to view the work and hear from the artist online. Before I introduce our guest, I do wanna tell you a little bit about this show because it is a very unique show with a unique approach, and I wanna make sure that everybody understands what that was so that they have the context for that. So obviously with the title Women's Work, the idea is to show what women's work really means, that it's not relegated to a specific sphere, but that women have been contributing in nuance and varied ways to this industry, this culture, and this place we call the American West.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:00:54

And we wanna celebrate that nuance and bring that to the forefront and make sure it's being included in significant ways to this catalog of western art. And so the unique approaches that we took is, the first part was that they teamed up with a woman on a working ranch or an agriculture in the western industry. These artists went out, they learned from her, they followed her, they created sketches, they took photos, they were inspired by her, and then they go home and they create work about that woman, their ranch partner. And that is what is put in this show. The second part that is unique is that any representation of indigenous themes, indigenous culture, indigenous tradition that is created by women belonging to those tribes so that we're creating a platform for indigenous women to share their own stories. This show is incredibly beautiful. I've already shed tears over digital photos.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:01:47

I think that when we see this work in person, it's just going to blow us away. I think it's an incredible show and we're really excited to share it with you. So without further ado, I'm gonna go ahead and introduce our guests and we'll get started. First we have Jackie Sever. Jackie is one of our board members. She has been a wealth of knowledge and has been so supportive in helping CGA to grow and to be strategic about our planning and the way that we do things. She is a talented painter and mixed media artist, and she's a member of the Northern Arapaho tribe. I do wanna let you know that when we recorded this, Jackie had very limited time, and so we only get to hear from her at the beginning, but we wanted to honor her time constraints, but uh, the conversation at the beginning with her is great.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:02:31

Next we have Morgan Booker. Morgan is also a CG advisory board member. She grew up in Victoria, Texas on Wexford Ranch, and she now lives in Idaho. I can't remember if I said she's a custom cowboy boot maker. She has been my right hand woman on this show, women's work. And so I just wanna thank her because she has, her contribution has been incredible and I don't know what what I would've done without all of her help. And we also have Morgan's ranch partner, Andrea Wilson, who is one of the, um, people in charge of Wexford ranches today. And she is Morgan's sister. So they have a really great story. They grew up together, and the ways in which they teamed up for Morgan's boots for women's work are really cool. We get to talk about a whole lot of stuff in this podcast, but I think they're all really great topics.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:03:18

And, um, you'll get to hear from Andrea. She talks about modern ranching and what her day looks like, maybe how it looks different than what some people would assume, and how there's a variety of ways to do ranching and the ways that things are changing. So we get to talk about that agricultural land side of things as well. So I hope that you enjoy this discussion, and if you are a woman on a working ranch or you're a horse trainer in the Western industry, whatever it is, and you're like, I want some artist to come follow me around for one of these shows, that sounds cool. Please connect with us because like I said, this is gonna be a yearly show. If you're an artist wanting to apply for 2025, that application will be coming out soon. It may be out by the time this podcast is out, but make sure you're following us on Instagram at Cowgirl Artists of America and or signed up for a newsletter so that you don't miss out on that. I hope you enjoy this conversation. Let's begin.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:04:11

So welcome all of you.

Morgan Buckert (: 00:04:14

Hi, thanks for having

Morgan Buckert (: 00:04:15

Us. Thanks for having us.

Andrea Vargas (: 00:04:16

Hey everyone.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:04:17

Before we get begin, I just wanna let y'all know Jackie may have to leave a little early. So we're gonna talk a little bit about women's work, but then, um, we wanna make sure we ask her a few questions before she has to go. So, starting out, how would you tell everybody about women's work?

Morgan Buckert (: 00:04:32

Well, first of all say that you, Megan and I of course have been working on this for about a year and a half, and are so excited to see this coming to fruition and seeing all of our hard work pay off. But women are underrepresented as artists, as well as images depicted by artists. And Meghan was inspired to create a show focusing on women artists and women in Western traditionally male western roles being featured in the artwork. So women's work is kind of the culmination of all of these ideas. And 56 women western artists have been juried in to exhibit at the ar Mitchell Museum of Western Art in Trinidad, Colorado. And all 56 women were partnered with women working in agriculture mostly as ranchers and create work inspired by their experiences. And I am blown away by every story and image I've seen so far.

Morgan Buckert (: 00:05:40

And this show is just gonna absolutely blow your mind. It's some of the most creative and interesting and and inspiring work that I've seen in my time, 10 years working as a traditional artist. And it is just absolutely phenomenal. Additionally, and that's, I think Jackie's gonna get to talk first. We specifically reached out to indigenous women to participate, to create work inspired by their tribal relationships and their connection to their ancestral homelands. So again, it's just, it's awe inspiring to see what this group of women is creating and the change that they're making in the western art world.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:06:25

Yeah, thank you Morgan. I think it's such a cool thing because a lot of times we go to these big western art shows and maybe we don't see a lot of female western artists, but even within the work itself, when women are portrayed, it's at a much lower rate. And very rarely are they doing things like training horses and branding cattle, but any of us who grew up in the western world know that women are doing those things. We've seen our grandmothers and our mothers do those things and we wanna celebrate that. The other thing that I really noticed is that the representation of indigenous women is very low and almost non-existent when it comes to female indigenous artists. And so, Jackie, like we said in the intro, is a member of the Northern Arapaho tribe. And she and I got connected as we with CGA, have been doing research about how do we better support indigenous women. And she was, she and I got connected and Jackie is just a wealth of information and experience and has been just a blessing to this organization. So thank you Jackie, for bringing all of that. But I wondered if you would wanna kind of speak to what you see of representation of indigenous women or just indigenous artists and what you think is going on with the show. Are we, are we doing a good job? You know, what are, let's just chat about it.

Jackie Sevier (: 00:07:41

Well, first of all, thank you for including the indi Indigenous women in the show. Most of the artists that are gonna be participating are also have Western Heritage Ranch, heritage, cowboy heritage. So I think it's gonna go well hand in hand. We're excited for a, a new venue, a new platform. Uh, we hope to reach more people and hopefully educate more people about what we do, where we're from, how we're inspired by our cultural knowledge. So I think that it, we're on the right track. I think that the women who are participating are excited. I know that I know all of them. We've, I've been around a long time and I think you have a good group of artists.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:08:30

Yeah, it's very exciting to see. So, um, this show when we essentially we kind of curated artists where we looked at their work and then we said, okay, we think these artists can do a good job approaching this show. We don't know what they're submitting and they're making work specifically for this show. So it is very exciting, you know, to be able to see what these artists are making. So these artists that Jackie's talking about, we've seen images of their past work, but we are very excited to see what they're creating for, for the actual show. What was that process like for you, Jackie?

Jackie Sevier (: 00:09:01

Well, for me, I had it in my mind. Some, uh, first of all, I should say that I come from a family of women. It's a large family of women. My mother was one of 13 girls. Uh, my grandmother was one of five girls. So all of them were craftsmen and artisans in their own right. Whether it be bead work or working with, uh, hide or just not so much fine art, but domestic work. They were all great craftsmen. So it's not unusual for me, nor is it any of the other artists that are participating. They all have a legacy of art and bringing it forward is the easy part. Creating is even better, but marketing ourselves is the tough part. So I think we're, uh, all excited to reach out. Part of our culture is to educate, share our heritage. So I, I see it as an easy platform for me.

Jackie Sevier (: 00:10:07

When I started doing the work that I'm doing, I reached back to the women in my family and I was inspired to do a dress in the mixed media, and you saw that dress. And I also have one image that has some of my family members in it, a historical photo that I based the printmaking process off of it, and it's called Indian Fair. And I am going to enter that because it is such a big part of the women in my life. So both of those things relate to the women in my life, relate to my heritage, and I'm using unique style. I'm not doing the landscape, uh, or a pastel, I'm doing, uh, something that you probably don't have in the show. So

Megan Wimberley (: 00:10:57

That was awesome. And your work already is so unique and really it's the type of thing that you have to see it in person to just even understand what it is that you're doing. It's so delicate and you use such different materials that it really makes a unique impact.

Jackie Sevier (: 00:11:12

Yeah, I wanted to enter something that no one else does. So that brings a little more diversity to your show that, uh, stands out maybe a little, brings people more aware of mixed media or hand pulled embossed paper. So those are the things that I, I thought about it and I thought I could, you know, come up quickly with a pastel, but I thought there'll be pastels, there'll be paintings, and and our daughter Chesney is entering some great pieces. And I didn't want to, our, sometimes our style is similar in painting, so I wanted her to be unique as well as myself. So,

Megan Wimberley (: 00:11:58

And Chesney's a really cool example because she's got this traditional indigenous heritage, but she is a cowgirl through and through and really big part in the rodeo, and you guys raised her that way. And so that's really cool to get to see that. And like you said, that is often a combination, but we're gonna really get to see that in her work, I think.

Jackie Sevier (: 00:12:19

Yes, you'll see it in her work. Uh, I high school rodeoed in a little college, my husband rode professionally, he rode Saddle Bronx and Bulls. Our kids both went to college on rodeo scholarships and now Chesney's daughter is rodeoing. So rodeos are also a big part of our life. So for us it's a natural combination. And I, I I think you'll be, uh, see it in both of our works.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:12:45

That's awesome. So Morgan mentioned we have 56 artists in the exhibition, and I believe that five of those are indigenous and all five artists that apply. All the artists that were indigenous that applied got in. And I know we worked really hard on reaching out to indigenous women. So right now we really wanna take this moment to talk about that that truly is an initiative and a desire that we want to be a place and an organization that is welcoming and not only welcoming, but listening and open to learning and doing what we can to support indigenous women in the way they need to be supported. And so I wonder if you can speak a little bit to the complexities of this term, western art, and then bringing indigenous women into that, um, into that group in a way that feels good to them.

Jackie Sevier (: 00:13:35

Sure. I reached out to a lot of these women myself, people that I knew that we could count on, that I knew would fulfill if they were accepted into the show. And I was choosy who I reached out to. And part of it was maybe on me that I didn't know exactly how this was all going to work. We weren't sure if we were branch partner or we would do our own indigenous type thing that we all know to do, even though we have ranch backgrounds or rodeo backgrounds or Western heritage, we weren't sure how that combination would apply to us as the indigenous part of the show. So now that we're more clear on it, and we know after this first show, I think we'll have a lot more interest. A lot of artists told me later on they wish they would have Mm-Hmm.

Jackie Sevier (: 00:14:32

Gotten their slides together, they would, or images. I'm still old school, I still think it's slides. But if we could get the images together, I think with another year we will be better prepared. And since I've talked to you all or since we juried, we have had, uh, artists reach out to me. Women, indigenous artists reach out and wanna know how to join because again, they also have cowboy and heritage, uh, rodeo backgrounds, plus they're native and I think one of 'em did buy a membership. And so I have a whole year to plan and I think you're doing a great job. I just need to be more needed to be more clear when I reached out. Plus we didn't have a lot of time by the time I came on board. So I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out. Our role plays with women's work and I think, we'll, I think we'll do better. We'll, we'll get more artists.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:15:31

Yeah. And you know, we, we, uh, reached out too on our end. You know, I had Raven reaching out to women who we thought their work would fit in and, and sending them invites. And I've, I've spoken because I really, you know, I'm not an indigenous person. I did not grow up in that culture, and I don't know all of the things by any means, and I just wanna learn. So I've spoken to a lot of indigenous women about their perspectives and something that comes up, um, has come up a couple of times. One is that the term western art can sometimes not be the term they wanna use. And so for this podcast, I just wanna explain that for CGA for cowgirl artists of America, when we think of western art, we think of art that encompasses the story of the American West. And indigenous people, by nature of that place will always, that is always their story.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:16:22

And whether they wanna call that indigenous art or whatever they wanna call it, that is part of the story of the American West. And when we go to these big art shows, you know, we see a lot of people not related to the culture telling those stories. And that was one of the important things with women's work is we wanted, and we did make it explicit rule, that any indigenous themes had to be created by the women associated with those cultures because we wanted those stories to be authentic. And we don't want to tell them for other people. I, I think that that's really important to us. The other thing, I, I spoke to one artist and she even said, you know, I have just really been treated poorly by a couple of groups that called themselves like Western or cowgirl or whatever. And not to say paint with a broad brush stroke because we're all different. But I do think that maybe, and Jackie, you can correct me if I'm wrong or speak to it, but I think maybe there's some complexities of those relationships even. And that we as an organization need to make sure we're continually promoting this idea that, Hey, we're here for you too, and we want to listen and know how we can support you. Do you think that there's anything to that?

Jackie Sevier (: 00:17:30

Yeah, I do. I'm comfortable in both worlds. I have done open shows, other shows. I, I think that if they understand that you see Western art as the history of the West, which includes the native perspective, I think they're gonna be receptive to that. But I think that we're all comfortable in the native element. We're all pretty close. We've known each other for years when we get to the show, we're rarely strangers. Yeah. And it is, it is different to go out among, I think if, if one of you did a show that we're used to doing, I think you'd understand how they feel a little timid, a little out of the element, a little out of their comfort zone. Uh, not that they cannot compete, but it, it's a different platform. And I, I kind of think we can bridge that gap. Yeah, I think we can do this. So yeah, you did a great job. I

Megan Wimberley (: 00:18:30

Think so too, in

Jackie Sevier (: 00:18:30

Explaining it.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:18:32

Thanks. Yeah, I think so too. If you're listening and you've got questions about it, you're an indigenous artist and you wanna let us know something, feel free, you know, shoot us an email, um, find us on Instagram or whatever we want to, we want to make sure we're doing a good job with that. Morgan, did you have any thoughts or questions for Jackie on the indigenous side of things?

Morgan Buckert (: 00:18:52

I'm just so overwhelmed hearing your family story, Jackie , and that you come from such a strong group of women and women artists. How did find your path and your interest as an artist?

Jackie Sevier (: 00:19:08

Well, it was easy. We had a, uh, our kids almost seven years apart. And the baby was crying a lot. And so I took a drawing class just to do something for myself one night a week. Well, it wasn't very long, and I realized that's what I will do. So I reached into my heritage, the stories I had growing up, the traditions, the the things that we did as a family and, and a lot of landscapes. I'm landscape artist to the core. And growing up on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, I had all kinds of reference and inspiration. So to me, it was kind of natural. I didn't do the bead work, I didn't do the hand work, but it was, native artists are famous for using what they have, uh, what they have at hand. For me, it was pastel. So I started doing pastel because I had an opportunity to use landscape portraits, culture, still life. And that's how I got started. It's just,

Morgan Buckert (: 00:20:23

What a fantastic story. I am just thrilled to hear your story and all 55 other stories , uh, over the next couple of months Yeah.

Jackie Sevier (: 00:20:33

Of us have a unique story. And I love hearing them. Yeah.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:20:36

I think it's so interesting that it was motherhood that Drew kind of almost drove you to the art side of things.

Jackie Sevier (: 00:20:44

Yeah, I had painted a little bit when I was in high school, more of a craft type thing. So I was not unfamiliar with paints and brushes, but I was naive in learning how to see, you know, doing landscapes. I learned to actually see, not just look at, but to see, to see color and light and texture and drama. So if I never painted again, I learned how to see. And so of all the things, the gifts I've gotten learning to see and experiencing people and meeting other great artists, that's, that's my payoff. So

Megan Wimberley (: 00:21:25

That could be just that like a podcast in and of itself. Thank you for saying that. I think that that is one of the greatest gifts of being an artist, is that exact thing.

Jackie Sevier (: 00:21:35

Yeah.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:21:37

Andrea, don't wanna put you on the spot or anything, but don't wanna leave you out. Did you want have any questions or thoughts for Jackie?

Andrea Vargas (: 00:21:43

I'm just excited that she's kind of a two part where my sister is quite the artist. I'm, I'm a crafter, but I am no artist by any means. But that you are seeing both sides of it, where some of the artists are just coming in and just seeing it through someone else's eyes, but you get to see it through your eyes too. And I think that means a whole lot. And I'm sure it'll show through on your work too, and that you've grown up around it too. I know there's a lot of newer people in the industry that aren't generational, which I'm greatly appreciative of because we need to continue the arts and Western heritage. But I think it's great that you're generational and like I said, you play both parts of it. I'm really excited after talking to Morgan and emails with Megan about seeing everybody's work. 'cause it really sounds like everybody like put their heart and soul and really thought about their projects, which is truly awesome. 'cause there's a lot of shows that you can tell that it, there, there's not exactly all the feeling there. Or an artist just had another piece and it's like, well, I'll just stick this in the show. It fits the motif. But yeah, it's really exciting to see everybody's work and everybody's feeling on the subject.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:23:02

Yeah, I think that that's a good point.

Jackie Sevier (: 00:23:04

It's easy to be inspired. I already know what I'm gonna do for next year. Yeah,

Andrea Vargas (: 00:23:08

That's great. It's great. It was actually very inspiring to me, not even as an artist, but just, you know, in this industry you kind of take some things for granted. Every now and then, you have ebbs and flows and sometimes it becomes more work than just fun. And, uh, I mean, Morgan e even as my sister, she inspired me and our biologists and other people around us and encouraged us in different ways, which I think is the whole point of this show and all the pieces of work to just inspire people in different ways,

Megan Wimberley (: 00:23:45

Different ways. Yeah. Jackie, is there anything else that you want to say? Um, and you can always pop in with other things too, but just right now on this topic,

Jackie Sevier (: 00:23:56

No, I, I think we've pretty well covered it. My inspiration, I, you know, I'm always learning, you know, I always have a story to tell, and I, and I've been at this for a very long time. Our, our son is 43, going to be 43 next week. So I've been at this, but the road I traveled has been a good one. Not always prosperous, as we all know, that's how it goes, but, mm-hmm, , I've learned a great deal. I'm comfortable with it. I'm comfortable with people. I'm comfortable, comfortable with other artists. I think that we will bridge friendships through this show, women's work. Uh, I think we will see each other, uh, in a, in a new light, in a new perspective. For the five of us native artists, we do show with other Western artists. But I think this is a great chance for women to bond. And, and again, we're gonna bond as a woman first, artist second. So I think we're gonna do great.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:25:00

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I am really excited for that too. I, I think a lot about how we approach things differently as women. And almost ev actually every single time I've ever gotten together with a women's organization, someone inevitably says all, uh, a rising tide lifts all boats. Someone always says that. And I think that is such a uniquely woman approach to doing this work. And I think we've seen it both Jackie and Morgan, our advisory board members. I think we've seen it on our advisory board and within our membership, just that we really do believe in this community and coming together and making those friendships. So I agree. I am, I'm excited for it. Morgan and Andrea. So I'm gonna let you guys kind of take it away to talk about Morgan, your connection with the ranch and what you're doing and Andrea, what the ranch is like and what you're doing. And you guys kind of tell us, because you, Morgan is the artist and Andrea is her ranch partner and her sister. And so I'm so excited to hear how, how this came to be.

Morgan Buckert (: 00:26:05

Uh, I'm not sure where to start. . I mean, uh, our family got off the boat in 1856, I guess and hasn't moved much since then. No. Andrea and I were really lucky to grow up on a very large historic ranch where our father has worked, I don't know, for 45 years. It'll be 45 years in August. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So since he was a kid and we were born on the ranch and spent all of our childhood on the ranch. And I moved away and have lived in Idaho for all of my adult life now where I say that I ranch snow and trout instead of cattle. But Andrea, uh, after she moved away and came back. And when did you start working for pop?

Andrea Vargas (: 00:26:57

So 2017, which was also, if you're anywhere around Texas or any hurricane people, we use that marker as Hurricane Harvey year. And there are a multitude of things of ha that happened and needed to happen and my husband and my life for us to get down here, which I never thought was a possibility, but it was just the stars aligned. And November of 2017 is when, um, we moved down here and, uh, haven't looked back since. So it's not anything I ever thought would happen when I moved away, I just thought, you know, we go visit all the time. We would come down here once or twice a month and hang out for a week at a time. My husband works in Houston every now and then. And so we would come visit and I just never put it in my mind. And then when everything just started happening and the stars aligned, it was like, yep, this is what I'm gonna do. And I dad needed someone to eventually fill his shoes one day if and when he ever retires and we move back and I learned the ropes and haven't looked back since. So,

Morgan Buckert (: 00:28:07

And additionally, Andrea lives in our grandparents' house on our family's property. And so there's, you know, even deeper connections to place beyond the ranch that we grew up on. And of course where our, our family grew up is very close to the ranch that we grew up on.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:28:26

Can you tell us, Andrea, kind of what your day-to-day job sort of description is?

Andrea Vargas (: 00:28:31

Every day is so different, which is why I love it. And it's always pretty challenging. So for example, today, this morning I started feeding animals. We have a horse that needed doctoring, then I had to switch gears and go to another part of the ranch and lead a few safety meetings, go to our main office downtown, take care of some paperwork, and then headed back to the ranch to, um, take care of more animals. So

Morgan Buckert (: 00:29:01

Anything Well, and I think you went to the tire place. Uh, I went

Andrea Vargas (: 00:29:04

To the tire place. I was on the phone with Morgan. I mean, so we always laugh 'cause I say I have to go to town, which town is like 20 minutes away, but still some weeks it feels like going to town is like on a buggy with a horse because it, uh, you make your list and get it all done. 'cause some weeks you, you only have an allotted time to go to town. So I lived in, my husband and I lived in Midland before we moved here. And so it was a complete lifestyle change, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. And hopefully he wouldn't either. But we really enjoy it. But, um, we have cattle of our own that we raise. We have horses, we do a little bit of hunting. There's all kinds of things, um, fencing, anything that you can think of.

Andrea Vargas (: 00:29:53

So at, at one point the family that we work for own the most property in the state of Texas. So, uh, they were in the, in the top 10. So it's seven ranches in seven counties. And it's all the way, all the way from the coastal bin, which if you're not familiar with Texas, that's around Corpus Houston in between the two and then also in West Texas, in the mountains of Vanhorn. So we're spread out pretty far and there's only five of us that take care of all of that property. So we rely on a lot of outsource help, but we're pretty busy a lot of the time.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:30:31

When you say five of us, you mean like five head honchos or like five people that are out there doing the work?

Andrea Vargas (: 00:30:37

Five people. They're only five. . Yeah. . Yeah. We like to all call ourselves head honchos. , but technically I'm the straw boss is what I'm called. But yeah, we, like, right now my dad is in, uh, at the ranch of Vanhorn, Texas and there are two gentlemen that work out there. One is only part-time and then the rest of us are in South Texas and we kind of rotate around. But it, it's a lot for that few people, but we only have that many because we've become so efficient with our work over the years. So like I said, we contract a lot out, but um, there's also a lot of our boots on the ground so to speak. But yeah, the landscape too is so vast from even just from one property to the next. All of the properties in South Texas are about in a 30 mile radius.

Andrea Vargas (: 00:31:28

And so we have river bottom, we have Prairie Country. It's the largest consecutive piece of the Kal Prairie left. Wow. And so that's one of the reasons that, um, when Morgan and I talked, we chose native grasses for her, her project. And it's just something that I felt a lot of people are more focused on it now. We've, we've switched our focus right about, I guess 2016 right before I came on, we started switching our focus to restoring the native grasslands and getting the land to look like what it used to look like when, when it was Mexico actually, and before we came and took it over. But like I said, her project has inspired us and motivated us. The biologists that we work hand in hand with, they're both females also. And so it's encouraging and inspiring to them too to see that this is all a woman's work project.

Andrea Vargas (: 00:32:31

There are a lot of female ranchers in our area. A lot of men that are my father's age had women only and uh, daughters only. And so a lot of us have come back and more and more as time goes on, um, have come back 'cause uh, to fill their father's shoes. So it's been really interesting. But like I said, very inspiring for all of us and encouraging. And like I said, sometimes you just get tired in town and will this, uh, this never end. And then like I said, Morgan's project kind of, uh, gave us that little spark to keep us going in the heat of the summer. .

Megan Wimberley (: 00:33:15

Hey everybody. I wanted to interrupt this for just a second. To just say thank you to our partners and our sponsors. Shows like this don't happen without a lot of work and without funding. And if it wasn't for the people partnering with us and sponsoring us and the show, it's not something that would happen. And so I know sometimes it's easy to walk by those signs that say thank you to our sponsors and not really pay attention to them, but our sponsors help make this happen. I wanna thank Art of the West and Western art collector. They have done so much for helping to get the word out about this show, to showcase these incredible artists to provide opportunities for advertising with them. The dedication of Western Art Collector and Art of the West to this western art world is apparent. I mean, it's in everything that they do.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:34:06

If you don't subscribe to them, please check them out. If you are into Western Arts, if you're a western artist, you're gonna wanna make sure you're keeping up to date with what they're putting out. Obviously the Ar Mitchell Museum of Western Art who's partnering with us to put this show on, we would not be able to do it without them. We also wanna thank Blick art materials, golden Artist Colors, art of the Cowgirl, artwork Archive, and Ag Women Connect. Thank you all so much for your contributions to this show. You are making this a stellar show and we really, really appreciate you.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:34:38

Well, it's kind of cool Morgan, that you're doing Boots 'cause she said, you know, all these women are coming back to fill their father's boots essentially, and you have created a pair of boots. So tell us about your process.

Morgan Buckert (: 00:34:48

Yeah, so I've been thinking about that a lot in using the tool, a really important, an integral tool of the rancher as a canvas. And having this duality of this really specifically art piece that is also a, a functional tool for everyday use. And I love that the work that found me, uh, is boot making and has that real usefulness. And I think that really ties back to our Eastern European heritage and the importance of work and kind of work his identity, which I know is not what how we should live, but that's very much how I live and my sister lives and, and our whole family lives. I've been thinking about this for over a year and what, what we wanted to do and uh, is, you know, Andrea talked about all these amazing things about the place where we grew up. And it's such a fascinating component of cowboy culture because it's these, it's a, uh, the owner of the ranch has done a lot of oral histories and photography work over her life and she described it as a tri cultural cowboy culture.

Morgan Buckert (: 00:36:05

And so it has a really strong, has really strong roots in Tejano, black and eastern European influences. And the school where we grew up was, uh, almost half Hispanic and then, you know, significant portion of black students and then the rest were white students. And so I think we had a really special upbringing in experiencing this melting pot of influences from all over the world to create this cowboy culture. And I love even just in cowboy boots, seeing the regional differences between South Texas where I grew up in 2000 miles away where I live now in Idaho and Idaho Cowboy would never wear a South Texas boot and vice versa. And that's because of landscape and cultural influences and, you know, taste over the years, which is really great. When Andrea and I were talking about what we wanted to do, I kept thinking a lot about how ranching is not getting on a horse and working cattle every day.

Morgan Buckert (: 00:37:16

Uh, it's very little of that. And the Wexford ranches has spent probably the last 25 years spending a lot of time focusing on conservation work. And I kept coming back to conservation and I kind of went on this walk about our grandmother was a food writer and we come from a really sh a rich history of, uh, amazing cooks. Our mother is the best cook and our grandmothers were good cooks and our great aunt Ms. P was probably the best cook of them all. And so I was thinking about native foods and all of these things and Andrea and I kept coming back to conservation work and I don't know how we decided on choosing native grasses and highlighting the coastal bin prairie, but the light bulb kind of went off for both of us whenever we decided to do that. And it came together really easily after that decision.

Morgan Buckert (: 00:38:17

When I am working on cowboy boots, I have really limited access to color. Leather is only available in certain colors and so I, creating a color palette with what I can find is really difficult. And I was able to bring ostrich and frog and kangaroo and kids skin, which is goat. All of these things kind of came together to create this really soft and I feel like really feminine color palette to represent the Duke Prairie and the coastal Bend. We, I spent a lot of time reading research reports on prairie chickens, which are a, are they threatened or endangered? I guess they're endangered, right?

Andrea Vargas (: 00:39:04

Endangered. They're endangered, yes.

Morgan Buckert (: 00:39:06

And endangered bird species. And Andrew and I spent some time talking and came to some conclusion on some grasses to, to feature. And then she introduced me to Megan, who is her local biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife. And we spent a lot of time talking about the importance of native grasses as the basis for all life from insects to us and everything in between. And among unique things I found in that conversation that I don't think would've happened with men working in conservation or in ranching was our enthusiasm and openness was sharing about birds. I keep laughing about that. and . I had thought about doing native birds at some point a while back 'cause we, the coastal bend is a really large gathering point for migratory birds and I thought it would be really cool and beautiful to depict and it wasn't coming together. But, uh, I had asked Andrea probably a year ago what her favorite bird was.

Andrea Vargas (: 00:40:12

That's why it didn't come together because you didn't like my answer.

Morgan Buckert (: 00:40:16

That's true. Yeah. So she said a painted bunting, which is a beautiful bird, but was the wrong answer. Not according

Andrea Vargas (: 00:40:21

To you. Yeah. She said her direct text was wrong answer . And I said, well I'm being honest with you, but that's my favorite bird. So that was actually our grandmother's favorite bird. And I didn't realize it until one showed up at our house and you know, you reach a certain age and it's like you gotta get the bird book and you gotta start identifying and learning and whatnot. And so I showed up to work one morning, I was like, I saw a painted bunching, I gotta mark it off in my book. And my dad was like, well you know, that's your grandmother's favorite bird too. And so yeah, whenever Morgan did not like that answer. So birds were not the boot topic. Morgan,

Megan Wimberley (: 00:41:01

I have to laugh extra hard about this because Jackie, you can even tell them this is true. In our last get together with the advisory board for signature jury, did I not talk about how at a certain age all the women get into birds? Yep.

Andrea Vargas (: 00:41:18

It just, I don't even know. It's like God just sends you a message and it's like, okay, now's the time. . And coincidentally today I was driving from ranch to ranch and one of the lead biologists in our area, he was parked on the side of the road and I stopped to say hi and he was doing a bird survey right in front of the ranch. And so I said, so what have you heard? And he was like, seven painted buntings and just went down the whole list. And so, uh, it's just, it's neat and it's something different and it's different from your normal day to day ranting. So really good. Sorry.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:41:55

Well I'm gonna interrupt you one second further because I know Jackie has to go in just a few minutes and I wanted to give her an opportunity. Has anything come up in your head that you wanna talk about or ask after, like listening to Andrea and Morgan for a second?

Jackie Sevier (: 00:42:07

Well, I don't know as I wanna ask, but I wanna go to that ranch.

Andrea Vargas (: 00:42:12

Yeah, you're welcome. Come anytime.

Jackie Sevier (: 00:42:14

And I wanna see, when I see Megan's boots, I'm gonna be looking for all of the things that she talked about. I think that, I think that's really important that we see these boots in a different perspective. They're not just boots. Now we know, we know your culture, we know your heritage, uh, we know your prairies. And where I live is strictly Sandhills and it's lots of grasses. I can identify with the grasses. So I'm gonna be looking at those boots really carefully when I see them.

Morgan Buckert (: 00:42:48

So, oh, I look forward to it. Jackie . Yeah,

Jackie Sevier (: 00:42:50

It's gonna be fun. I I I am pretty sure I can make the trip for the opening, so now I'm gonna work even harder. So

Morgan Buckert (: 00:42:59

good.

Andrea Vargas (: 00:43:01

Good. Thank you

Megan Wimberley (: 00:43:02

For being here Jackie. Yeah,

Jackie Sevier (: 00:43:04

Thanks. I I hate to leave but I'm, I'm sure you guys are gonna have a lot of great stuff to add. I'll listen to the podcast.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:43:12

Alright, bye. Nice

Morgan Buckert (: 00:43:12

To talk to you Jackie.

Andrea Vargas (: 00:43:13

Bye. Nice to talk to you.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:43:16

So Morgan, your boots and getting into birds. .

Morgan Buckert (: 00:43:20

Yeah, birds. Well my favorite bird is a Sandhill crane, which I think makes me kind of basic. But my grandmother and my dad had a contest for years of $1 for whoever saw the first sandhill crane of the winter. And probably when I was in high school and old enough to know a couple of birds, I kind of started participating too. But when I moved to Idaho, they summer in Idaho and winter in South Texas. And so that's been a really kind of lifelong connection of place to me. Uh, sandhill cranes. And so it was really nice to have this conversation with Megan, the biologist and Andrea and I know plenty of men who enthusiastically speak about birds, but I don't know that if it had been a male biologist that we would've gotten into such a personal topic so quickly such a personal and strong topic, I guess I should say .

Andrea Vargas (: 00:44:21

Yeah, well and so we're different from a lot of other ranchers because we do have such a close relationship with our biologists because we try so hard for our conservation. But they really are great partners and we are so lucky to have amazing biologists. They helped get us for funding for projects and whatnot. So I'm really glad that Morgan Morgan had never met Megan before. And so I'm glad they got to speak and so Morgan could learn more on even how Megan feels about the Duke prairie, which the boots, the property that the boots were mainly based on. But once Morgan decided the, that that grasses were gonna be the topics and I don't know how many videos I've sent of her sent to her of grass blowing in the wind or butterflies in the grass or anytime I felt any motion near grasses, I sent Morgan either a video or a picture or I think the most recent was some cattle laying in some tall grass, which I was just excited to have tall grass at the end of May, which is a big deal in Texas as dry as it gets sometimes in the summer.

Morgan Buckert (: 00:45:32

This has been really interesting 'cause I feel like this is a, a kind of, well definitely my first multidisciplinary art project I am, my graduate work was in Western history and so I'm always inclined to write first. And so I'm working on an essay based on my time with Andrea and interview with Megan from Parks and Wildlife. And then all of these videos Andrea keeps sending me, I feel like I wanna create a video montage to put on behind my boots so that you can see the grass blowing in the wind and really feel the humidity blowing off the coast and the heat and thinking of those baby quail hatching and the cows being fat and happy and and everything in between. So I

Andrea Vargas (: 00:46:19

Think we need, it's been fun. We need

Megan Wimberley (: 00:46:20

To talk about that later Morgan. So

Morgan Buckert (: 00:46:23

Yes, . Yeah,

Megan Wimberley (: 00:46:26

We wanna talk about it now because I'm talking about logistics so we can try.

Morgan Buckert (: 00:46:29

Yes. Yeah, .

Megan Wimberley (: 00:46:32

So at what point Morgan, were you like Yes, grass is the answer

Morgan Buckert (: 00:46:37

I think. Yeah, we were just talking on the phone one day and I was really trying to make some native foods work. So there the swaps are full of pecan trees, which we always grew up picking and shelling and eating. And there are chili patine, which are native chili that Andrea and I had to pick in the summer when it's like a hundred and a million

Andrea Vargas (: 00:47:06

Degrees. Thousand degrees,

Morgan Buckert (: 00:47:07

Yeah. 12 million degrees and 300% humidity and all and then really

Andrea Vargas (: 00:47:12

Sweat is burning and everything, right? Yeah. .

Morgan Buckert (: 00:47:16

Yeah. And Mustang grapes, which a lot of the Eastern European people make wine out of and that's all these things and it just wasn't coming together. And we were talking about grasses and I think Andrea had just secured some funding for a project and it just seemed like a really obvious choice and something that would translate into the three dimensional work that I do a little bit easier. And it's something that I think we're all passionate about. I don't, I could judge grass in FFA to do

Andrea Vargas (: 00:47:45

Me. I did not. And

Morgan Buckert (: 00:47:47

I, either of you, I guess I was saying

Andrea Vargas (: 00:47:49

Andrew, I wasn't, I actually was not in FFA, I was only in four H. Oh, okay. Because that's whenever I was on my fashion merchandising pathway. So

Morgan Buckert (: 00:47:58

We, yeah, uh, we had many li we have had many lives .

Andrea Vargas (: 00:48:01

Yeah, I think too, whenever you were talking about doing things that feed us that are native to our area, I think that like in my mind I kept going back to like the grass feeds everything and everyone like it not only feeds like the animals and nature, whatever, but it like feeds your spirit and your soul too because just looking at the grass and the movement like that gives you something like it's, and some people don't get that feeling and I totally understand, but like it, it connects you to the land in a different way than any other thing can. And so I think that just kind of when she was talking about all these different things and it was like, well we, we get food from the land in different ways, not just like edible things. There's other things that feed us. And so I think, I think the grasses are just such a great, a great different topic then most of what I picture, you know, a western art exhibit being, I wouldn't think that a grass boot would be involved in that. 'cause you know, most of it is typical what you think of the wild West and that's just not what my job is as a rancher. My job is so many different aspects and not just the getting on a horse and riding kind of thing. So I was really excited when Morgan could capture something else too.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:49:35

Yeah, I, something that I've become more and more fascinated with as this project has progressed is this idea of the modern approach or maybe the re-imagining of what ranching is and looks like and how we fit this into this like ever increasing urban world. And for what I'm hearing you say, and I've talked to one of my, not my cousin I partnered with for the show, but another cousin who manages some grassland in Kansas and he's doing the same thing of trying to get back to these native, getting the land back to its original appearance and which is really healthy. And I'm just curious if you can kind of speak to that idea of how ranchers today, often women are leading this charge to kind of, i, I don't even know that I know the word for it, but reimagine, re rethink,

Andrea Vargas (: 00:50:26

Recreate. So it's almost like rehabilitate the land because there's a lot of stuff, there's a lot of different brush species and tree species, all the, all these different plants that have come in over the past 50 to 60 years that in our area have just exploded. And so the landscape looks completely different, which we understand. I mean over time that's just what happens. But we are trying, one of the examples is the prairie chicken. We're trying to get back to where the prairie chickens wanna live there. The cattle are producing very well there. I will admit for a long time we overgrazed an area and we are going back to changing our complete mindset. And I think that a lot of things brought that about covid, the price of land and the price of cattle were a lot to contribute to that. I heard actually today on NPR that there in 2023 FFA enrollment was the highest it's ever been, which is very encouraging.

Andrea Vargas (: 00:51:36

And they talk so much about how it's not anyone, it's not the farm kids like us, it's the urban kids that are just interested and they might not ever own a piece of property, but they just wanna know what it's all about and learn different things, which I think is a huge part of it. And um, Megan talked on with Morgan about how some, a lot of people can't afford to own large par parcels of land anymore, which we understand that's just the way the times are. And so they're getting split up to ranchettes, which that's fine too because a lot of those people are in our age group and they want to, they don't want the perfectly mowed manicured land that our previous landowners were interested in. Where they plant down here, the hay fields that are coastal, whatever they spray for weeds, all of this stuff, they're killing the fire ants.

Andrea Vargas (: 00:52:36

They want it to look like what nature intended it to look like and um, not so manicured. And I think that's great 'cause I think that it's healthier for the landscape, it's healthier for the soil and it's healthier for the animals around because that's what they were put on this area for, on this earth, on this area for is to live in those conditions. And so I guess that takes it over to the urban sprawl and whatever. I think there, covid just brought about a lot of people just wanted to get out and breathe somewhere with fresh air. And I think that was a great change for the world. I know Covid was a terrible thing, but I think that it brought about a lot of good change. I I think

Morgan Buckert (: 00:53:24

There's two economic reasons behind all of the things that Andrea's describing that are making this change to going back to a, uh, rehabilitated landscape. And one of those, as she said, is the urban ranchette owner who comes from Houston, Austin, San Antonio or where, you know, whatever large city in your area. For me it's, you know, people from California having a second place in Idaho and they don't need to make a living off of cattle. And so they can dump some resources into recreating this beautiful landscape. And the second option are ranchers like my sister who have been able to diversify the income of the ranch. And so Andrea has income from hunting and income from grant programs like she works with, with Parks and Wildlife who are funding some of this work that allow them to restore these landscapes. And so there's, there are more options now for people to maintain their land rather than just trying to maximize their herd.

Andrea Vargas (: 00:54:46

Well, and I think a lot of too, you know, you think about our grandparents for example, they did it this way because that's how it's been done for forever. And I don't know if our parents just gave us more freedom or what, but a lot more people that are in the farming and ranching industry, they're like, well what if we did this or what if we changed it to this way? And so it's like everybody is kind of more open to suggestions and a different mindset that helps our biologists or whoever. We have a great wildlife co-op who are helping get these people funding to do these other little projects. For instance, there's one that they knew that the property used to have a ton of quail on it and they had absolutely no quail. The neighbors had no quail, well they got funding from a government project to help take care of the wrong, the land properly over three years and to restore the quail habitat.

Andrea Vargas (: 00:55:48

So the quail came back and along with that, so many other things happened in the ecosystem to encourage other wildlife. So I think it's just a whole mindset shift that people are a lot more open. There are still a lot of people that just wanna keep doing it the same way and that's fine too. But there's, there's so many resources too. We have lots of on the ranch, lots of field days, watch of lunch and lunch and learns, all of that. And I will never know everything. And my father who's been in the business for forever, he goes to a lot of these too because we always learn something or at least get a different perspective on it. And so I think making the resources more available is huge.

Megan Wimberley (: 00:56:31

Yeah, that's really awesome. Morgan, what is it like? So me, I'm a painter, right? And I have a flat service and all the colors imaginable. And working with leather as your surface and your media is a totally different approach. Can you describe a little bit what it's like to come up with a composition for a pair of boots?

Morgan Buckert (: 00:56:54

Y Yeah, so it's terrifying . It's of course three dimensional wants and leather. You only get one shot before you have to start over. It's the opposite of oil painting. You can always touch something up with oil painting, but once you poke a hole into a piece of leather, it's gone forever. It, as I mentioned earlier, it you are really restricted with leather that's available and there's less leather available every year because it's really difficult to tan leather. It's a small market. And who wants pistachio alligator , which I was looking for for these boots. And so you're really limited in, in palette and texture and it's really difficult to get to create the idea of movement and inlay and overlay. It's just a really structured thing. So I have a great mentor, Lisa Crell, who we all know and love and she has been really helpful as well as my other boot mentors was Shugar and Seth Tiger.

Morgan Buckert (: 00:58:09

And it's just a continuous process in trying to create movement and get the idea of something in your work. I was a fly fishing guide for about 10 years and tying flies is really similar. You're trying to create the silhouette of something to get the fish to eat and then you can alter that silhouette wet with colors or textures that you might not see in nature but attract the fish. And I feel like it's really similar in boot making, which is a weird analogy, but it's, it's a lot of trial and error and a lot of throwing things in the trash. And these boots, the grass just came together and it doesn't look exactly like what these four species of grass are supposed to look like, but you get the idea of it and you get the idea of movement. And I think you get the idea of that hot early summer day with the wind coming in from the coast and uh, cloudless sky. And I'm really excited to share them.

Andrea Vargas (: 00:59:19

Well, and I think too, like Morgan's emotion towards like not only this project but like the connection and the property and, and she doesn't get to come down here that often. So I think just me pumping videos to her and whatnot, you can really see it in her work. And I feel like too, when she was at Lisa then working on the boots, like I feel like every day that I talked to her, like everyone else is excited about the project too. Like our biologists were excited, my dad was excited, Lisa was excited. It was just something very, very different. But I feel like everybody somehow found like a connection to these boots that we've talked to, or at least that I've talked to, which I think is very cool. And I'm sure with a lot of the other ladies projects, it's gonna be the same way where it's not, it, the way that they ranch might be completely different from me, but I'm sure that I'll have some emotion towards them because there's some little part of there that just hits different, which I think is what's great about this show,

Morgan Buckert (: 01:00:28

Megan. I know we keep joking, like we're gonna have to bring so many, we're gonna have to go to Costco to buy tissues to see everyone's work. 'cause it's just gonna be so incredibly moving. This

Megan Wimberley (: 01:00:39

Seems like a great spot, Morgan, which I didn't intend to do this, but to mention if you would like to sponsor our giant box of tissues or our luncheon , we're still seeking sponsors big and small. The show is a huge, huge endeavor, which I thought Morgan, that we might talk about, but already we've had such a good discussion. So I think I'll leave it off. But it's been, you and I have been working pretty much nonstop for over a year now, and it's gonna be so rewarding and fulfilling, but definitely having some money to um, do some more things is very helpful.

Morgan Buckert (: 01:01:11

Yes, that's, we're happy to talk to anyone about sponsorship. It's, it's a huge production. It is really gonna change the way that we see art. I'm glad that we've been able to do this.

Megan Wimberley (: 01:01:22

Yeah. And I'm hoping it's gonna change the way that we see women, because I think that art, so there's, I, I forget the guy's name. There's a, you, you have all seen this for sure. There's this like print of a, like an actual like, uh, etched print of a rhinoceros from the medieval ages and it's got, it does not look like a rhinoceros. It's very not correct. And Albert Drew, I think that was his name. Anyway, he had all of England basically convinced that's what a rhinoceros looked like. He had never seen one. He, uh, made this piece based on what other people had told him. And that inevitably caused everyone to think that a rhinoceros looked like this animal that he drew. And I think, you know, for like me, when I go into a show a, a big western art show and I only see men mostly on the walls doing the cowboy things, and I don't see women, I, I know that that's not a full picture of the West because I grew up in it, but as we know, the West is really something people are very interested in right now.

Megan Wimberley (: 01:02:28

And I really think it's so important to pay attention to what stories aren't being told. Because we have people who do not realize, you know, they aren't a part of that culture and they're wanting to get interested and they come into the show and they in immediately are going to make the assumption that men are doing this and women are doing that. And that it is these two very separate things. And I really just hope that when people come to this show, I really hope that they leave with this profound, profound sense of the, the contributions and accomplishments of women in the American West because they have been profound and they have been big. And oftentimes they have been done behind the scenes even when they are out in the open. And so I really hope that this, that this show does bring that full picture picture to, to the forefront of our minds.

Morgan Buckert (: 01:03:21

Yeah. And uh, you know, we get to ride the coattails of Beyonce this year and I couldn't ask for anything better to be a woman in the Western Arts

Megan Wimberley (: 01:03:32

. Well, if you have been listening to this and you have been thinking, oh my gosh, this sounds amazing and I must be a part of it, we would love for you to join us. Um, the show opens August 2nd through third in Trinidad, Colorado at the ar Mitchell Museum of Western Art. They're gonna be a lot of the artists there. You're gonna be able to come out to talk to them. We've got some great events over the weekend, some artist talks. We're hoping to get some of our ranch partners out to get to talk about what, what they're doing and their partnership. So, um, please join us. We would love to have you Morgan and Andrea. Is there anything you feel that we left out?

Morgan Buckert (: 01:04:09

Well, we could talk for about five years. I think

Andrea Vargas (: 01:04:13

say, if you haven't noticed, we don't mind just chatting so .

Morgan Buckert (: 01:04:19

But, but really this is gonna be some really exceptional and really meaningful art and we hope that people can join us. And if you can't come in person, we will have catalogs available for order, which will have information on the artists and the ranchers. And I I love that the ranchers have equal billing in this exhibition and we hope to see you there or, or somewhere along the line to talk about this really special work.

Megan Wimberley (: 01:04:48

Yeah, and this is gonna be a yearly show. Um, so if you're a Lady Rancher and you're thinking, oh, I wanna be, I wanna be in Andrea's shoes, I wanna have some artists come and follow me around like a puppy, just send us an email because we would love to get that list going so we can connect you with an artist in one of our upcoming shows as well. So, alright, thank you for being here.

Morgan Buckert (: 01:05:11

Thank you.

Andrea Vargas (: 01:05:11

Thanks for having us.

Megan Wimberley (: 01:05:14

I hope you enjoyed this discussion about women's work 2024.

Megan Wimberley (: 01:05:17

If you're feeling like you missed the boat for getting involved in 2024, it's not too late. If you would like to support through an in kind or monetary donation, shoot us an email. We'd love to get you connected with those ways in which you can support. Also, if you'd like to support, but you can't do so monetarily, we would encourage you to share our posts, to share our artist posts and to let people know about the show and about the talented artists that are in it. Thank you so much for your support and we hope to see you at Women's Work 2024.