This is the 60th year of the Western Heritage Awards which celebrates men and women creating literature, film, music and television that contribute to Western culture and heritage.
This year, one of the Museum’s own is being honored for his book, “Making a Hand: The Art of H.D. Bugbee,” during the first annual award luncheon, at 11:30 a.m., Sept. 17. You guessed it! It’s Michael Grauer, McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture/Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art.
Michael Grauer, McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture/Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art, has worked as a curator for 40 years and has written three books and is a contributor to several other publications about the art of the American West. He estimates a total of 65 publications bear his byline.
The subject of the book, H. D. Bugbee, was the first curator of art at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, a museum where Michael Grauer, McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture/Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art, worked as a curator of art and Western heritage for 31 years.
Michael Grauer, McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture/Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art, and H. D. Bugbee’s widow were close friends until her death in 2003. Together they worked on cataloging the objects in the Bugbee Ranch House.
“We worked together to bring and reconstruct his studio at Panhandle-Plains in 1989. I owe this book to him and to her.”
In addition to the prestigious title of “Western Heritage Award Winner,” Michael Grauer, McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture/Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art, will receive a Wrangler. It’s an impressive bronze sculpture of a cowboy on horseback created by Oklahoma artist Harold T. Holden, a 2017 Hall of Great Westerners inductee.
Get Your Copy
You can get your hands on “Making a Hand: The Art of H. D. Bugbee” by Michael Grauer, McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture/Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art, from our Museum Store.
BUY IT NOW
Western Heritage Awards Panel Discussion
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
The Museum will host a panel discussion and workshop on Saturday, September 18, both of which are open to the public and free to Museum members or with Museum admission. The panel discussion will begin at 11 a.m. in front of the famed End of the Trail sculpture and will offer visitors a chance to interact with Robert Duvall, Barry Corbin, Bruce Boxleitner and Patrick Wayne.
The workshop will take place from 12:30-1:30 p.m. and will feature members of the Chickasaw Nation discussing the differences in producing a feature film verses a documentary. This workshop will show clips from two films, Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher and Montford Johnson: An Original Brand. Montford T. Johnson is a 2020 Hall of Great Westerners inductee.
The 60th Annual Western Heritage Awards supporting sponsors are Arvest Bank, The Chickasaw Nation, Cresap Family Foundation, Wrangler and Mr. and Mrs. Lenny Sadler. Promoting sponsors are Hall Capital, Fred Jones Family Foundation and Greg and Bekki Kowalski.
