by Natalie Keller
I remember reading about the artist, Norman Rockwell, who created wonderful illustrated paintings for the Saturday Evening Post Magazine. Scenes with freckled faced children and adults, everyday people going about their lives, all having expressions of joy, astonishment or fear depending on the circumstance. Character actors with costumes were used so he could paint a story that everyone would immediately understand and smile about. I thought, what a wonderful way to get material to paint…never thinking I would ever have that experience.
I heard about the Artists’ Ride through another artist and then discovered that it was by invitation only. I e-mailed and called several times; shared my art website and soon we were making plans for our trip to South Dakota. My husband was going to drive and help with the photography. I’ve been going to PowWows and rodeos searching for western characters and scenes that I could paint. No more! I knew I just hit the jackpot with “The Shearer Artists Ride”, a unique experience and event. We also discovered a bonus! We’ve never been to South Dakota so we visited the Crazy Horse Memorial and Mt Rushmore, which were located in the same vicinity…it was well worth the extra stop!
The ride, near Wall, South Dakota, was started in 1984 and it just celebrated its thirtieth year. It began with a group of men, Lavon Shearer and Grant, his son along with other ranch men who were gathering to move cattle. One of the men wanted to take photos that he could use for painting material. It’s assumed that he must have taken many great photos because the next year he asked again and this time everyone dressed in period clothes. Someone even drove a doctors buggy! They decided to camp out at night and lit a fire so night photos could be taken. The Shearers had collected many wagons and old items on their ranch that they also wanted to utilize for the ride. Since all the items were on their ranch along the Cheyenne River the ride was moved to the ranch. The ride progressed with new ideas every year and took on a life of its own…”The Artists Ride” was launched and has never missed a year since its beginnings. The only difference now is the artists drive in their trucks or cars to the area where the photo shoot is taking place instead of riding horses along with the cowboys.
Artists and models gather along with the Shearer family every year for a wonderful fun filled three and a half days. Most of the models and artists stay overnight in campers, tents, tipis, RV’s, and trucks. A shower is available and numerous porta potties are located around the camp area. The family has a mock town staged near the river along with some of the artists’ tents. The Shearer family also live in the same area so their homes, barns, corrals, etc. are visible. A cook shack is part of the ride and Grants sister DeAnna and her husband Mich gave a helping hand along Vavons’ wife Dorothy. There were (free) cold lemonade and tea drinks always available; breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks were sold at a very reasonable price. DeAnna also served as a model dressed as a pioneer woman riding beside Garrett in the wagon train. Garrett is in many of my photos along with numerous other family members and models. He was perfect…a real cowboy!
Ducks, numerous horses and cattle are visible as you drive through the entrance to the 25,000 acre ranch. Garrett was the first person we met when scouting out the ranch. Lavon and Grant started the ride but now Garrett, Grants son, has been helping and supervising a lot of the daily activities. I met numerous artists who have been attending from two years to almost thirty years. One artist told me she had 39,000 photos and can’t seem to throw any away! Wow!
Since this was our first year, one of the artist who knew the schedule of happenings (which changed minute by minute) gave helpful hints to my husband and I throughout the ride. You have to be flexible and realize that you are walking along side herds of running long horned cattle and horses; you have to be aware of your surroundings at all times while you’re shooting photos. Indians on bareback, children in pioneer costumes, wagons and tipis, mountain men, store keepers, soldiers, cowgirls, pioneer women…people were everywhere and they came from all over the United States. There were many “on site” inspirations so things have a way of changing on a dime! We loved it!
Several nights a few of the cowboys and models played their guitars and sang in the Saloon (built with three walls) with all the fix’ins at the bar. Fires were built at night whenever the scene called for soft light. I couldn’t get enough of the atmosphere! It was a very warm and welcoming family affair…very friendly. My husband wanted to stay forever since in his younger days he rode, trained horses and had some rodeo experience. I think he wanted to be a cowboy again. The last day he convinced one of the older children to allow him to ride her horse. He was in heaven!
Some of my favorite shoots were when the cowboys rode with the cattle and later with the horses through the Cheyenne River. They ran and splashed through the water with the light reflecting off the water and the beautiful colored hills in the background. The handsome cowboys wore yellow slickers over their attire; it was a sight to behold! One day it rained and I was soaked but nothing like the soaking that happened to the cowboys going through the Cheyenne River, even with their slickers! Long horned cattle and horses were also driven through the pond up in “the breaks” on the first day…what a great experience.
Well, I could write forever about all the activities jammed into just 31/2 days. There were constant events; three days of photo shoots with models/reenactments of western historical periods. Indians, cowboys, families all dressed in pioneer costumes…what a thrill. There were so many models I was in awe of their knowledge, expertise and characters of history they were portraying. They were very accommodating and were willing to dress as requested by the artists.
I came home and looked over my new material and I was over whelmed. I have enough photos to last me a life time but I still want to so it again! But for now…I can’t wait to complete a painting! We discovered another extra bonus…we walked from morning until night taking photos so we had plenty of exercise to balance out all the great food we ate. YaWhooooo!
Check out the website for the Shearer Artist Ride, www.shearerartistride.wordpress.com or call Natalie Keller for more information.
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