Havin’ a Rootin-Tootin’ Good Time at the Scottsdale Western Spirit Museum! Part One…

Howdy, Partners!!! I’m having a great time here in Scottsdale learning about all sorts of things. Yesterday and today, my mom and I went to the Western Spirit Museum: Scottsdale Museum of the West. It was fabulous! The exhibits were both interesting and first-rate. The museum opened in January 2015 and is a Smithsonian Affiliate - known for high-quality exhibits. I learned so much I can’t believe it. My mom did too. She called me over numerous times to show me something she had learned about. Her favorite parts were the American Indian blankets and baskets. While I enjoyed those too, I think my favorite part was the artwork - the photography, paintings, jewelry, and sculpture. I adored the courtyard sculpture park - so lovely and symbolic. More about that later. I have always loved the art of the Southwest. In fact, I decorated my first apartment with a Southwest motif. So I was especially interested in seeing this museum.

One of the artists featured was Tom Gilleon, who had been an artist for Disney. Some of his works, in fact, are paintings of different places at the Epcot World Showcase at Disney World. Mr. Gilleon traveled to Montana with Disney and loved the state so much that he put a downpayment on a piece of land there before he left and later moved there. You can see the evolution of his artistic works after he moved to Montana, as he obviously was greatly inspired by the natural surroundings there. It was fun to learn both about him and see the progression of this artwork. A few images of his story and art work are below. Stay tuned for more parts later tonight and tomorrow! Sometimes I underestimate the time it takes to load and format things on my blog pages!