Programs
Artful Insights: Charles Deas
February 10, 2025
Monday, February 10, 2025, 3:00 p.m. Charles Deas is known as a painter of dramatic and romanticized Western scenes, but his career was cut short by his struggles with mental illness. Because of this, paintings by Deas are rare. In 1840, at the age of 22, he traveled West, having been inspired by an exhibition of the paintings of the Mandan people by George Catlin (also in the Anschutz Collection). On this trip he was attached to an Army expedition and regularly engaged with Pawnee people, who along with trappers and mountain men, became the subject matter of much of his work. In 1848, he was committed to the Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane. He continued to occasionally paint and exhibit his work at the National Academy of Design and the American Art-Union during the confinement. But even before Deas died in 1867, his art had effectively disappeared. Although there are at least 100 known works by Deas, only about half of them can be located. Learn about the fascinating life, troubled mind, and extraordinary art of Charles Deas at this Artful Insight. Image credit: Charles Deas, Long Jakes, "the Rocky Mountain Man", 1844
Writing the West – From Boarding School to Jazz Club, The Navarre through the Decades
February 12, 2025
Wednesday, February 12, 2025, 2:00-4:00pm Join us at AMWA for Writing the West, our monthly writing series combining art history, storytelling, and participants’ creative voices. To help inspire your writing, we’ll explore the Museum’s galleries, stopping to learn about specific paintings relevant to each month’s theme.
Artful Insights: Mountain Masters
March 03, 2025
Monday, March 3, 2025, 3:00 p.m.
Westbound – O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
March 11, 2025
Tuesday, March 11, 2025, 10:30am Westbound will discuss O Pioneers! by Willa Cather. Pre-registration is required and will be limited to 15 guests.
Writing the West – Western Wayfinding: No GPS, No Problem
March 12, 2025
Wednesday, March 12, 2024, 2:00-4:00pm Join us at AMWA for Writing the West, our monthly writing series combining art history, storytelling, and participants’ creative voices. To help inspire your writing, we’ll explore the Museum’s galleries, stopping to learn about specific paintings relevant to each month’s theme.
Westbound – Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir by Deborah A. Miranda
May 13, 2025
Tuesday, May 13, 2025, 10:30am Westbound will discuss Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir by Deborah A. Miranda. Pre-registration is required and will be limited to 15 guests.
Writing the West – Celebratory Reading
May 15, 2025
Thursday, May 15, 2025, 2:00-4:00pm Join us at AMWA for Writing the West, our monthly writing series combining art history, storytelling, and participants’ creative voices. To help inspire your writing, we’ll explore the Museum’s galleries, stopping to learn about specific paintings relevant to each month’s theme.
Westbound – Go as a River by Shelley Read
July 08, 2025
Tuesday, July 8, 2025, 10:30am Westbound will discuss Go as a River by Shelley Read. Pre-registration is required and will be limited to 15 guests.
Westbound – Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
September 09, 2025
Tuesday, September 9, 2025, 10:30am Westbound will discuss Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Pre-registration is required and will be limited to 15 guests.
Westbound – The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich
November 11, 2025
Tuesday, November 11, 2025, 10:30am Westbound will discuss The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich. Pre-registration is required and will be limited to 15 guests.
