Goodyear art lecture to explore history of American illustrators

 The Goodyear Arts & Culture Commission is set to host an interactive educational session this month to present a survey of historic American Western art.

The city-sponsored event, titled "After Hours Art Talk — Painting the West: A History of American Artists," is scheduled for Tuesday, June 30, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The 90-minute lecture will take place inside City Hall, 1900 N. Civic Square.

The presentation will be led by Arizona historian, author, and editor Jim Turner, who previously served as the resident historian for the Arizona Historical Society. Turner's lecture will share how classical paintings, field sketches, and physical canvases established the initial global perception of the American frontier long before the emergence of 20th-century Hollywood cinematic westerns.

The historical visual survey will highlight the distinct techniques and field experiences of more than two dozen prominent regional artists. Turner’s curated itinerary tracks chronologically through several eras of frontier documentation, including early expeditionists, classic cowboy realism, 20th-century modernism and indigenous legacies.

The presentation will conclude with a modern retrospective looking at contemporary Southwest cowboy aesthetics, featuring the sharp-edged, geometric landscape compositions of acclaimed Arizona artist Ed Mell.

The educational lecture is free and open to both local residents and regional visitors.

Visit goodyearaz.gov for more information.