Western Heritage Museum brings art to Enid bank
OCT. 1, 2019
ENID – NBC Oklahoma in Enid recently hosted a traveling exhibit from the collections of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. The exhibit and accompanying reception at the bank marked the second time the museum has taken items from its collections on the road in this way, and NBC has hosted both of them, in Altus last spring and in Enid in September.
NBC Chairman Ken Fergeson, an avid art collector, welcomed the guests, and museum curators Eric Singleton, curator of ethnology, and Nathan Jones, associate curator of cowboy culture, discussed the artifacts. These included Ronald Reagan's Tony Lama cowboy boots from 1980; southwest textiles, beaded moccasins, and North American Kachina dolls from the museum's education collection; a Model 1851 Navy Revolver from 1863; and 19th century boot jacks.
Artworks displayed in Enid from the museum collection also included the work “untitled [Rabbits in Progress]” work by Gerald Balciar from the 1990s, the painting “Buffalo” by William R. Leigh and several images of rodeo competitors – including Jackson Sundown, Myrtis Dightman, and Bonnie McCarroll – from the Dickinson Research Center.
Guests at the NBC reception also saw renderings from its $15 million new indoor/outdoor expansion, expected to open next spring. Called Liichokoshkomo' (pronounced Lee-choa-KOASH-ko-mo), the name of this playground literally means “Let’s play” in the Chickasaw language.
This traveling exhibit is part of the museum’s outreach efforts to showcase the museum’s collections beyond Oklahoma City and to foster conversation and engagement around visitors’ own stories of the American West.
NBC’s location in Enid also had on display an original work from the bank’s own collection – artist Sonya Terpening’s “Prairie Oasis” painting. NBC commissioned the painting in 2017 as the 13th painting in the bank’s Artist Series.
NBC Chairman Ken Fergeson, right, with the Seth Spillman, chief marketing officer, left, and Nathan Jones, associate curator of cowboy culture for the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
