2010: Tom Dorr
2009: John Fawcett
John Fawcett was born in 1952 and grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Although his family lived in town, they kept horses nearby. After his father challenged him to raise half the cost, a ten year old Fawcett became the proud owner of a mare, Copper, purchased for $150.00. In tandem with his passion for horses, was a desire to draw and paint. "I was always really interested in art and my parents were very supportive, but I didn't have any formal art training. All through high school, college and vet school, I did artwork for student newspapers and yearbooks, but I never considered art for a career." Instead, he studied pre-veterinary medicine at the University of New Hampshire and received his doctorate at Iowa State University in 1978. After working for both an equine and small animal veterinarian, he opened up his own veterinary practice in 1980 in Pennsylvania where he practiced for the next 20 years. As his practice grew to a total of 5 veterinarians, his passion for art grew as well, and he sold his practice in 1996 to paint full time and pursue his dream.
Fawcett started out painting mainly in watercolor but has introduced oils to his repertoire. "It depends on the subject matter and what medium I feel like painting with at the time. There is a certain softness and fluidness with watercolors, while oils provide rich color and textures and a buttery feeling." Since taking the leap of faith to become an artist, he has been invited to participate in some of the most prestigious Western art shows in the country and has developed relationships with the top galleries.
Expressing gratitude for those who have helped his career along the way, including western artist, Jim Bama and Ron Riddick, John also gives several painting workshops a year to help others. He has been featured in Art of the West, Southwest Art, Western Horseman, Cowboys and Indians, The Equine Image, Informart, and US Art magazines. He and his wife Elizabeth, their three Labrador Retrievers, and four Quarter Horses divide their time between a farm in southern Pennsylvania and a ranch in northern Colorado.
2008: John Moyers
John Moyers, Friends of Western Art's Artist of the Year for 2008, was honored at the 35th Annual Artist of the Year Dinner on Friday October 26, 2007.
John is a member of the Cowboy Artists of America and one of four artists selected to participate in the annual Rendezvous at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He also has been a participant in the prestigious Prix de West Show at the National Cowboy Museum on Oklahoma City.
John and his lovely wife Terry Kelly Moyers, a previous FWA Artist of the Year, and their son Josh make their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Terry and John met while studying under renowned Western artist Robert Lougheed at the Okanogan Game Farm Workshop in Princeton, British Columbia, Canada. John is the son of CAA artist William Moyers.
John Moyers is represented by Claggett/Rey Gallery in Vail, Colorado and by Medicine Man Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Tucson, Arizona.
2006: Buck McCain
Buck McCain is the 33rd artist to be recognized in what is now a Tucson tradition, started by the Tucson Festival Society in 1974, and carried on by Friends of Western Art.
Buck McCain, born in San Diego in 1943, says of his early life, "I worked along side my father working cattle across our ranch and was struck by the beauty of the surroundings, so severe and demanding, yet sometimes brightened by miles of wildflowers, vivid sunsets and dramatic cloud formations. The West is an inspiration to the rest of the country and is for the world at large a place of legend." He has been more than success in translating these impressions into paintings and sculptures.
2005: Terri Kelly Moyers
Terri Kelly Moyers, born in Vancouver, British Columbia, says she cannot recall a time when she wanted to be anything other than an artist. Her hometown was Calgary, and she eagerly awaited its annual Stampede rodeo, being fascinated with those horses, and the wild, western women who rode them.
She has studied with a number of fine artists including Robert Lougheed, Bob Kuhn, Kenneth Riley, Howard Terpning, Ned Jacob, Clarence Tillenius and William Moyers, the noted cowboy artist who is her father-in-law.
From 1978 to 1982, Moyers made many trips to the Okanagan Game Farm in Penticton, British Columbia, to paint animals from life. It was here that she met John Moyers in 1979, a fellow artist who is now her husband. After their marriage in 1982, they settled down together in Albuquerque, NM, then a stint in Pagosa Springs, CO, and then finally and for good on the outskirts of Santa Fe, NM, where they recently built their dual studios. They share a devotion to their son Josh, who was born in 1991.
Both Moyers and her husband are ardent advocates of plein air painting. She is convinced that working out-of-doors is the finest means of growing as a painter, learning to see and interpret the ever-changing atmosphere and light. She says, "I put things down I think are beautiful and that move me. I want to share what I see with other people and help them have the same pleasure I have. Each person interprets and edits things in a different way, infusing his or her work with a different quality or emotion" The Moyers have continued to take annual trips to Canada to paint.
In 1996, Moyers won the Frederick Remington Award for artistic merit for her painting A Moment’s Pause, sharing the honor with sculptor Mehl Lawson. The painting also won the Buyers’ Choice Award at the 1996 Prix de West Invitational Exhibition in Oklahoma.
Terri Kelly Moyers is represented by Medicine Man Gallery in Tucson, AZ, and Santa Fe, NM, The Legacy Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ, and Claggett/Rey Gallery, Vail, CO.