Featured Artist(s): By Western Hands
By Western Hands (BWH) aims to preserve Western functional art and design through the celebration of past and present artisans. The three-part mission to educate, conserve and perpetuate the legacy of Western design and traditional arts corresponds with three main elements—a museum and archive, educational training programs, and legacy artisan gallery.
What We Do
By offering innovative and customized educational programs in tandem with public workshops and artist demonstrations, BWH has learning at the core of its mission and its day-to-day activities. The vision of the artisans to teach and educate the next generation of craftsmen became the primary mission of the newly created organization. After the new facility was acquired, a plan was adopted to create a functional and highly aesthetic workshop space where artisans teach and deliver demonstrations to patrons and future generations.
The Grainger Demonstration shop became the place in which Master Artisans teach the skills and “how-to” techniques that separates the average craftsman from the skilled Master Craftsmen. The hope is to raise the awareness of the availability of these education programs and to attract the next generation to the career of functional artisan by learning skills from the finest, most respected functional artisans working in America today. Imagine how a person’s life could be changed by giving the opportunity to work with, and next to the likes of Thomas Molesworth, Paul Hindman, Edward Bohlin, Wolf and Lily Schlein, Mike Patrick, Jimmy and Lynda Covert or Ken Siggins.
Take Your Craft to a Higher Level
By Western Hands formed the educational outreach as the By Western Hands Institute for Functional Arts for the educational component of the mission. The format is to develop and deliver programming to beginner, intermediate and advanced skilled individuals who wish to pursue a vocation as an artist creating and crafting functional arts.
We respect and appreciate those who keep the spirit of functional art alive, affiliate with partners, and seek relationships with arts Initiatives throughout Wyoming and beyond. Most importantly – we are always on the lookout for those who want to learn from our artisan mentors and aspire to become a master artisan. Most exciting is working with other learning institutions to offer an opportunity for students and adults to learn and thrive in a variety of settings and locations.
By partnering with institutions like the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, the University of Wyoming, community colleges, and secondary school vocational programs located throughout the region, and joining with community arts organizations locally and around the country, we hope to identify and train individuals who wish to develop the skills necessary to craft functional art and to provide opportunities to support their careers and vocations.
Our Resources
The material contained in the Archives of By Western Hands gives scholars and future artisans access to important documentation of the contributions to the field of American Western Design by past, present, and future artisans. Those who seek to learn about and perpetuate this quintessentially American endeavor will find a rich record of the activities, inspirations, and practices that “tell the stories” of this important aspect of American design and its evolution. Education and preservation are at the heart of our mission. By Western Hands has become the link between current and future generations of Western artisans and the epicenter of information for and about Western Functional Art.
In Conclusion
The design exhibitions that started with the Design Conference and Cody High Style continue, but the main difference between BWH and these other versions is that we’re now a nonprofit organization with education and preservation at the heart of our mission. A portion of all purchases supports the mission and initiatives to preserve the legacy of Western functional art and design. By Western Hands is honored to be the organization that sustains and educates the next generation of functional artisans of the American West. We are privileged to provide patrons of the arts with works by the most talented and skilled artisans of handcrafted American Western functional art over the last thirty years, as well as those creating today as artisans of By Western Hands.
Mary Sims
Executive Director, By Western Hands
By Western Hands’ goal is to share the rich history of the evolution of Western Functional Art from necessity to art form, provide quality reference material, and showcase the stunning work of talented master artisans so this highly skilled art form may be sustained for future generations.
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