Western Art Week facts for kids

Western Art Week is a super cool yearly festival in Great Falls, Montana. It happens every March and is all about amazing Western art. The festival is planned around the birthday of a famous Western artist named Charles Marion Russell, which is March 19th. During this week, lots of different art shows and sales take place. For example, there's "The Russell" art sale at the C.M. Russell Museum, plus shows like the Western Heritage Artists Association Art Show and March in Montana. Artists and art collectors from all over the world come to this event. Some people even say it's one of the best Western art auctions in the whole United States!

History of Western Art Week

Western Art Week first started in 1969. It grew from the C.M. Russell Art Auction. This auction was created by a local TV person and community helper named Norma Ashby. She wanted to raise money for the C.M. Russell Museum. Between 1969 and 2009, the auction raised over $5.6 million for the museum!

More art shows joined the event over the years:

• The Western Heritage Artists Association Art Show was added in 1981.
• The Native American Art Show joined in 1982.
• The Jay Contway art show, started by a local artist, became part of the week in 1985.

Manitou Galleries began hosting their "March in Montana" art event in 2007. However, they had been holding auctions during Western Art Week since 1982. By 2007, Western Art Week was one of the biggest events in Great Falls each year.

In 2009, the C.M. Russell Museum and a local business group called the Great Falls Ad Club stopped working together on the C.M. Russell Art Auction. The Ad Club kept holding their auction. But the museum started a new event called "The Russell" art auction. All the money from "The Russell" auction would go straight to the C.M. Russell Museum.

Many people worried that having two separate shows would cause problems. They thought sales might go down for both. But in April 2010, the C.M. Russell Museum announced good news! Their "The Russell" event in March 2010 made $605,473. This was much more than the $120,829 they made from the shared event in 2009. So, the museum decided to keep holding "The Russell" auction on its own. In fact, "The Russell" auction made $1.57 million in total sales, just a bit more than the March in Montana show, which made $1.45 million.

The Ad Club stopped their C.M. Russell Art Auction after the March 2010 event. In 2011, two people from Bigfork, Montana, Steve Cawdrey and Pat Hagan, started a new art auction. It was called the Western Masters Art Show and Sale. This event took the place of the old auction. The Native American Art Show also stopped in 2011, but many of its artists joined the Contway show. Another new art show, the Wild Bunch Art Show, also began in 2011.

Western Art Week in 2011

In 2011, the people who organized the different art shows said everyone worked together much better. Ree Drummond, who writes the popular blog "The Pioneer Woman," was a special guest. She signed copies of her new book, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels.

"The Russell" auction had sales of $1.35 million that year. A watercolor painting by Russell called Bronco Buster sold for $200,000. This was a great price, even though it was a little less than expected. It was 80 percent more than what the painting sold for in 2003! Sales at the March in Montana auction were about $1.3 million. The Great Falls Tribune newspaper said the new Western Masters Art Show was a little bigger than the C.M. Russell Auction from March 2010. Half of the money from the Western Masters Art Show's "quick finish" event went to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.