The Will Rogers Coliseum at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo had the 2024 Grand Champion Longhorn named Hank in the center arena on Monday morning. It wasn’t an auction or competition. Hank was modeling.
“This is the first cow that I’ve painted,” Paschal High School senior Stratton Whitworth said.
Whitworth was among a select group of art students taking a Youth Art Workshop at the FWSSR, taught by professional artists with the Cowboy Artists of America.
“It’s easy to teach when your students are eager to learn,” CAA artist and instructor Bruce Greene said. “It’s a rich history that we have. Why do we want to slow that down? Why stop that now? Let’s go forward with that. Let’s see what they can add to that.”
Students worked on sketching, painting, and sculpture.
“You’re gonna work on sculpting a horse head,” Greene told students.
“I’m not really someone who uses clay a lot,” Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts junior Isabella Morales said as she sculpted an impressive first try. “It really made me rethink my whole mindset about how I view art. I think a lot of artists really doubt their abilities and they don’t think they’re as capable as they are.”
Morales has plans to study art abroad over the summer in Paris and Italy.
The student artists may not be rodeo cowboys and cowgirls, but they are helping keep cowboy culture alive.
“Just the storytelling behind Western art, I think it’s important to keep it going,” Whitworth said. “Being in Texas, of course, it’s a big part of us,” Morales said.
