About Nocona Burgess

Burgess is a member of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma. He is the son of a former tribal chief and the great-great-grandson of one of the most revered Native American leaders, Chief Quanah Parker. Burgess grew up surrounded by art. His father went to art school to focus on drawing and painting, and his grandmothers made quilts and beadwork from their own designs.

Painting for Burgess is a way of reaching out to others. He strives for an intimate connection with each subject, eager to know their characters. Through his paintings Burgess says “thank you” to his ancestors for their sacrifices in helping to make the contemporary Native identity what it is today.

Nocona Burgess’ paintings have received numerous awards and have been featured in many publications. He exhibits throughout the United States and beyond in Australia, England, South Africa, and Sweden. His work can also be found in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, DC), Bristol Museum (Bristol, England), American Museum (Bath, England), Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (Santa Fe, NM), and many more.

Comanche Artist, Nocona Burgess

About Dina Gregory

Dina Gregory paints on location using soft pastels. In her art, this remarkably passionate southwest plein air painter conveys the connection between God, man, and nature. Her favorite locales are the Texas Hill County, Palo Duro Canyon, and Big Bend National Park. Her landscapes are patterned with bright lights and deep darks. In many of her paintings, Gregory documents scenes later destroyed or forever altered by floods or by drought. Putting this visual history of diverse Texas landscape onto canvas is integral to her plein air journey.

Gregory has a BFA from the University of North Texas. She has been featured in Southwest Air, Plein Air Magazine, American Art Collector, and Art of the West.

Plein Air Artist, Dina Gregory

About Ricardo Robles

Originally from New York City, Ricardo Robles is one of the top emerging artists in the West today. He lives and works in his studio on the outskirts of the Texas Hill Country in Round Rock, Texas. His major accomplishments include winning the International Association of Pastel Society 1st place Wildlife Award, and being featured in Texas Wildlife Magazine and San Antonio Voyage Magazine.

Using the lens of a storyteller, Robles gives a cinematic perspective to the austere grandeur of the Texas, the Southwest, and the wildlife roaming in its landscape. His love of the West is evident in vibrant colors, and his brushstrokes accurately capture the wild but quiet moments of life. Robles creates art in both oil painting and pastels.

Robles has had his work included in various spaces and galleries across the United States. His work is currently represented by Old Spanish Trail Gallery (Fort Davis).

American Realist Painter, Ricardo Robles

About Mary Baxter

Born in Lubbock, Texas, and raised in San Antonio, Mary Baxter has felt the ‘rightness’ of the Chihuahuan Desert, ever since family camping trips there as a little girl. She pursued her passion at the University of Texas at San Antonio where she studied painting and advanced printmaking and earned her Bachelor of Science degree. To finance her studies, Baxter worked across the country on the high goal polo circuit. Baxter moved to the Big Bend region when she leased a ranch southwest of Marfa for raising cattle and training horses. It was there that she began to see the beauty of the rugged desert and interpret it in her paintings. After several years, she was able to free herself of ranch duties to paint full-time.

Sculptor and Painter, Mary Baxter

About Nancy Bush

Nancy Bush is a native Texan, born in Austin, who currently resides in Fredericksburg, TX. She tells of her artist’s journey:

“Approximately 20 years ago, I felt the need to change my direction after some East Coast and European travel.  I became very interested in a more subdued tonalist palette and started studying painters from the 19^th and 20^th centuries such as George Inness, Isaac Levitan, John Henry Twachtman, Richard Schmid and Russell Chatham. 

My style today is an indirect painting style.  I paint wet into dry to layer the paint and create the luminosity in my paintings.  The process is slow and as a result I am always working on several pieces at a time, each one in various stages of completions.  

  I feel that my work is about human emotions in time and space represented by light, darkness, warmth, cool, wet, dry, etc.  These elements brought together should evoke a very human response of how one feels upon viewing the painting.  If they connect that way, then I feel my work is validated.”

Tonalist landscape and still-life painter, Nancy Bush