Aiken W. Fisher Gallery of Western Art
The Aiken W. Fisher Gallery of Western Art will take you on a wondrous journey through the American West: its breathtaking landscapes and fascinating peoples, its mythic traditions and growing diversity, its surprising complexity and frequent contradictions. Drawn from over 400 art works in the Museum's permanent collection, selected works in this ongoing exhibition are changed annually. Please email the Curator to inquire whether works by specific artists will be on view during your visit.

Pictured top: "The Navajos" by Charles M. Russell. Collections of Desert Caballeros Western Museum. Bottom: "Vaquero" by Frederic Remington. Collections of Desert Caballeros Western Museum

The collection includes works by these well-known western artists…
and many more:

"Hays 'Spirit of the Cowboy' Collection"
Take a step back to the days when "cowboying" was a way of life. See the saddle leather worn shiny with use, the patina of well loved silver spurs, and the rawhide lariats used to tame the wild mavericks of the range. Featuring bits and bridles, saddles and spurs, hats and chaps, guns and gun leather, plus reatas, ropes, and more, "Hays 'Spirit of the Cowboy' Collection" is one of the largest and finest exhibits of authentic cowboy memorabilia ever opened to public view. Dating from the 1870s to the 1950s, the gear is on loan to Desert Caballeros Western Museum from the private collection of Abe and Lalla Hays.

Pictured: from "Hays 'Spirit of the Cowboy' Collection"

Native American Arts and Artifacts
Superb examples of pottery, baskets, rugs and many other tools and artifacts make up this survey of the Southwest's Native cultures from pre-historic times to the present.

Pictured: "Navajo Medicine Man" by Gerald Cassidy, Collections of Desert Caballeros Western Museum

Gems and Minerals
Gold, silver, copper, and turquoise were vital to the mining history of the west. See examples of these along with our dazzling collection of gems and minerals, plus our black light exhibit.

Early Arizona Street Scene and Period Rooms
Complete with a saloon, watch shop, livery stable, post office, church, and general store, the street scene recreates commercial life in Arizona circa 1915. Turn the corner to visit a turn-of-the-century Victorian home, including a parlor, dining room, kitchen, bedroom, and laundry. Period clothing completes the exhibit.

Pictured: Watch Shop, Jerry Jacka photograph

History Dioramas
The discovery of gold, a disastrous flood in the desert, the coming of the railroad and development of a dude ranch paradise. See the historic events that shaped modern day Wickenburg, all rendered in exquisite miniature detail.

The Strength of the Exhibit Hangs on Its
Eclectic Comprehensiveness

From American Indian handcrafted silver bolas to bolas created by cowboy artists to bolas that belong to famous people, they are all here in an eclectic show of comprehensiveness.

With more than 150 stunning examples of this important western accessory, it is appropriate that such a show would take place in Wickenburg, often identified as the "capital" of the bola. Such recognition goes back to the late 1940s when local silversmith Vic Cedarstaff came up with the idea for the tie based upon a Boy Scout neckerchief, the famous bandana held together in front by a metal slide. (The United States Navy had also used the slide principle in seamen’s uniforms.)

A more colorful version of the bola’s “birth” was reported by the April 2002 issue of Sunset magazine: “Victor Cedarstaff was riding his horse one day when his hat blew off. Wary of losing the silver-trimmed hatband, he slipped it around his neck. His companion joked, ‘That’s a nice-looking tie you’re wearing, Vic’.”

The name “bola” came about when another Cedarstaff friend, who had recently returned from a South American trip, showed the jewelry designer a contraption used by Argentinian cowboys to rope cattle. Called a boleadora, or bola for short, it resembled Cedarstaff’s design.

Long favored by cowboy-and-western music stars, the bola tie was also a favorite of President Ronald Reagan and Senator Barry Goldwater. Other famous bola wearers include science fiction writer Isaac Asimov and ballet icon George Balanchine.

There is even an active Arizona Bola Tie Society originally formed in 1966 by Phoenix anchorman Bill Close who has generously donated 240 bolas from his own collection to the Museum. The Society takes credit for having convinced Arizona to stick its neck out in 1971 to adopt the bola tie as the state’s official neckwear. Recently, New Mexico jumped on the bandwagon to do the same; and Texas is expected to soon follow. In another sign of its solid silver acceptance, the word “bola” has been recognized by the Merriam Webster dictionary since 1964.

Shown above: Buffalo Skull Bola by Michael Coleman,
courtesy of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum;
Bola by George Worthington from the Museum’s collection.

Sponsored in part by:
Also Kay El Bar Ranch, KBSZ-AM Radio, Weaver Mountain Estates

Thanks to our generous lenders for Ropers, Wranglers & Rascals: Paul Beer; Shawn Cameron; Betsy and Myron Deibel; Margaret and Milton L. Hanson; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska; Walter F. Kessler Family Trust; Ed Mell; Phoenix Art Museum; Ginger K. Renner; Beverly Swanson-Aylward; Betty and Tom Watt. And for The Bola: Arizona Highways TV; Jim Bansner; Jim Bowen; Estate of Dana Burden; Joe Burns; Jack Bushnell; Bill Close; Claudia and Danny Conly; Ken DeHoff; Connie L. Fenwick; Noee Frost; Norman Geitz; The Heard Museum; Bonnie and Walter Johnson; Dale Joyce; Glenn Kardinal; Ray Kopman; Estate of Naughton Lane; Christine Mollring; Estate of A. Lee Moore; Stephen Morris; National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City; Beverly O’Leary; Don Prusakowski; Cynthia Rigden; Bill Rix; Vincent J. Ruggiero; Charles J. Shoup, Jr.; Edson Spencer; Sunset Trails, Temecula, California; Wickenburg Chamber of Commerce.