AMARILLO, Texas - s4story -- Before highways and easy access to major art centers reached West Texas, women were already making art.

This fall, The Citadelle Art Museum presents The West in Her Hands: Early Women Artists of West Texas, featuring 42 works by 29 women whose paintings, prints and sculpture documented the landscapes, communities and everyday life of the region.

The exhibition opens Thursday, September 17, at The Citadelle Art Museum in Canadian and remains on view through December 2026. The collection is on loan from the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon.

"This exhibition gives us a chance to look at West Texas through the eyes of women who were here early, paying attention and putting what they saw on canvas and paper," said Wendie Murfee Cook, Executive Director and Curator of Art at The Citadelle. "They painted the canyons, ranches, flowers, churches and towns around them, but their contribution went much further than that. They helped create a place for art in West Texas."

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For early women artists in West Texas, geography shaped their opportunities. Major museums, art schools and exhibitions were hundreds of miles away. As railroads expanded across the region in the early 20th century, women traveled to Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and other art centers to study and see major collections.

Many returned home and shared what they had learned through teaching, local art associations and exhibitions. By the 1920s and 1930s, women were helping establish art communities across West Texas and gaining recognition in statewide exhibitions.

The West in Her Hands includes oil, watercolor, etching, lithography, pastel, acrylic, bronze and other media. Visitors will see landscapes, wildflowers, ranch scenes, architecture, portraits and still lifes representing West Texas and the Southwest.

Featured artists include Anna Keener, Isabel Robinson, Margaret Seewald, Juanita Tittle Pollard, La Wanda Murfee, Jessie Palmer, Bess Bigham Hubbard, Alice Welty Nichols and others.

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Opening Reception

The exhibition opens Thursday, September 17, at 6 p.m. with guest speaker Michael Grauer, an art historian and board member of the Center for the Advancement and Study of Early Texas Art.

The evening includes light bites, exhibition viewing and Grauer's presentation.

Tickets are $35 per person. RSVP is required.

Reservations:
https://thecitadelle.org/events/opening-reception-the-west-in-her-hands/

Exhibition Information

The West in Her Hands: Early Women Artists of West Texas
September 17 through December 2026

Opening Reception: September 17 at 6 p.m.
The Citadelle Art Museum
520 E Nelson Ave., Canadian, Texas
806-323-8899 | thecitadelle.org