Oklahoma City to host 37th annual Prix de West art exhibition

Two Oklahoma artists are among the new artists invited to show their works at the upcoming Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition and Sale at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Norman sculptor and University of Oklahoma artist-in-residence Paul Moore and Broken Arrow painter Mikel Donahue will exhibit artworks at the 37th annual show June 11-12 at the Oklahoma City museum. Donahue said disbelief was his first reaction at being asked to participate. "I called them right back after being invited,” the colored-pencil artist said during a recent telephone interview. "I really just wanted to make sure they knew who they had been talking to. Like all first-timers, Donahue will exhibit two paintings in the show. "Fall Work,” priced at $6,500, depicts a calf-branding scene at last fall's roundup at the historic Stuart ranch near Waurika, Donahue said. "I liked the way the smoke was gathering in the branding pen and that they had an actual fire to heat the irons,” he said. "They do branding the old, traditional way — 600 calves in a morning.” His other painting, "If These Walls Could Talk,” priced at $5,500, shows a young cowhand saddling up in front of an old sod-roofed log building at a friend's Wyoming ranch. "I liked the contrast of light and of the idea of young and old,” Donahue said...more