This month's opinion
I've had a few of the same kind of question from artists interested in becoming a member of Cowboy Artists and Photographers of America (CAPA) - does the organization accept cartoonists? Well, the answer to that is a simple "YES". It seems that many artist organizations do not consider cartooning art, and if cartooning isn't art, then a great many [paintings are probably not ar, although they may be hanging in museums and bringing large prices at auction.
Is cartooning any different than stained glass windows in houses of worship? Both exist to tell stories - although you might say that all art does - but cartoons usually speak to a subject in a more direct way tha paintings generally do. A cartoon doesn't need a caption to make it work - the artist creating that body of work relays the message to the reader as does the artist who makes theocratic stained windows. The story, the emotion, and the beauty is in the viewing.
Rodeo Information
Here some more locations to check on rodeo schedules and news: College Rodeo
One of CAPA's new members is PRCA photographer Richard Field Levine; see some of his work here.
Cowboys Say Image Inaccurate
(I don't remember if this is a repeat story - but regardless, it's worth repeating...ed)
Joe Chernicoff, CAPA Exec. Director
AP - February 2, 2002 ELKO
"Before we came along, there were dime novels making heroes out of outlaws for an Eastern readership". Then Hollywood sprad the image to sell "cigarettes, beer, cars,land - damn near everything out there that might be for sale". he said.
That's why people who mosey into the gathering are surprised to hear mustachioed characters equally comfortable with lines starting "He don't..." as those from classic literature or Greek philosophy.
"If our work matters as poets and writers, I believe that we have a responsibility to not only reflect the truth in our work, but our values as well, rather than ride on the coat-tails of what Hollywood has already created," he said.
Dofflemyer said most journalists who cover the gathering pick up on the poets' sense of identity. "We walk around like you now who we are", he told Thursday's audience. But he told the crowd, whose garb ranged from hats and boots to furs and hels, "I shouldn't need to remind anyone in this room that we catle peopel are a minority...in recent years we have been cast in black hatsas the current capitalistic scourge upon the West's wild and scenic landscapes".
He said academics and other Americans miss the hands-on experience "of what it takes to harvest grass with livestaock". For the past century, the cattle culture has evolved "while facing an onslaught of ever-clever opportunists, politicians and businessmen", he said. "That any of us have survived may be a tribute to our enurance".
Take some advice, Pilgrim. Most cowboys aren't the rugged, carefree loners who sleep under the stars in Hollywood movies.
"We've done very little to change the myth of the cowboy and the myth of the West", cowboy poet John Dofflemyer of Lemoncove, CA, said in his keynote address at the 18th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. "The theme of this year's gathering is "The True West", but the cowboy myth was created long before anybody today was even born, Doflemyer said. "It remains branded in the American psyche".
For a pretty darned good story about a rancher, read Before Honor by Geo. W. Proctor, author of Comes the Hunter, Enemies, and Walks Without a Soul, all published by Doubleday Press Double D Westerns.
Published in 1993, Before Honor, to this reader, captures the feel of an "old time rancher" and some of the realstic incidents that befall him.
A Cowboy Poem Just too Good to Miss
CLOWNS
He's just a clown/
I've heard people say,/
he don't do much/
but get in the way.
The cowboy's the guy/
a takin' the chance,/
that clowns just a fool/
a wearin' big pants./
Hell, he's prime/
at gettin' a laugh,/
a takin' the bows/
and pressing the gas./
But the cowboy's the force/
I reckon it's true,/
a ridin' wild bulls/
ain't something I'd do./
Then in a moment/
the announcer rings true,/
the story of a cowboy/
and what he goes through./
You can see the pain/
in that young man's eyes,/
as that big blue bull/
dislocates his thighs./
His hand so tight/
in a vice like grip,/
the bull swings his body/
as if it were a whip./
The crowd turns in horror/
as the bull spins his prey,/
the cowboy like a doll/
just can't get away./
The whole auditorium/
sets by in vain,/
unable to move/
or say the young man's name./
Then like a prayer/
in a midnight shrine,/
two baggy clowns/
are on that bull's behind./
With the speed of light/
and the talent of ten,/
release the cowboy/
and distract his friend./
In the time it took/
to say one prayer,/
a cowboy's life was saved/
from a clown being there.
So when you folks hear/
a light hearted refrain,/
something about a clown/
and bad on his name./
Just try to remember/
what the announcer had to say,/
and thank God for those two clowns/
and that cowboy getting away.
`Cause I mean to tell you/
and tell you true,
I was that cowboy/
a ridin' old blue. [For more great poems by Gillespie and other cowboy stuff - click here].
Another author of good western books is Bill Pronzini, best known for his Namless Detective" series. You'll enjoy the works of both writers.
Copied from Stone Canyon Press web page of Roland Gillespie poetry.
The following artists and organizations are active in supporting and promoting
cowboy and western art and photography. CA&R appreciates their efforts
at keeping this art form in front of the public eye: