About the artist:

Don Crouch, a New Mexico native born in Carlsbad, authentically portrays the West he loves intimately in his paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints. He grew up on a ranch until his family moved to El Paso, Texas. He backpacked then and now into the Western backcountry, from the Canadian Rockies to the deserts of Arizona, to draw, paint, and absorb the natural environment of animals, ancient Indian cultures, and historic buildings. Don's Bachelor of Arts in art is from Texas Western, El Paso, while his Masters of Fine Art is from the University of Iowa. He retired from Western Illinois University in 2011, where he taught printmaking, drawing, and sculpture for 46 years. Crouch was among 19 artists featured in the 2003 "New Art of the West 8," a biennial exhibition at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis. The museum showcases the work of Native Americans and other contemporary artists who create work about the American West. In the artist's statement for that show, Crouch wrote: "My early connection with horses, ranchers, ruins, artifacts, the border between the United States and Mexico, and the confluence of diverse peoples leads me to both old and new ideas, and the meeting of myth and reality. My heritage includes the form and content of my art. I am constantly aware of the cycle of the West as I encounter ancient and more recent artists and objects, often utilitarian, but left behind in the rush of history…My goal is to capture the essence of my subjects with an implicit timelessness." Crouch's work is in many public collections and has been the topic of numerous news stories and magazine features.