If you have been thinking about a visit to Central Library, Stampede is a great time to venture downtown. The adjacent Olympic Plaza and Stephen Avenue mall are lively places that feature music, dancing and other street performances during Stampede. You could also include a visit to the Glenbow while you're at it.

In a new exhibit that opened in June, the Glenbow Museum celebrates Charlie Russell’s connection to the first Calgary Stampede. The “Famous Cowboy Artist” exhibited twenty paintings that were a popular attraction. The Glenbow has tracked down seventeen of these works and brought them together again.

Fans of his western art will enjoy a new addition to our collection: The Masterworks of Charles M. Russell: A Retrospective of Paintings and Sculpture. The book is a catalogue from an exhibit at the Denver Art Museum in 2009 – 2010. It includes eight essays that examine key aspects of Russell’s art and the culture in which he lived and worked.

You can find other wonderful books in the collection by subject searching “west in art”, “cowboys in art”, “horses in art”, "Indian art" – you get the drift.

I have been enjoying Contemporary Native American Artists which popped up from one of these searches. It introduced me to the colourful work of artist Malcolm Furlow who lives in northern New Mexico. I am enchanted by his Reclining Coyote which is pictured in the book.

“Too American,” you say? I’m not a purist. So much of our Stampede celebration traces its roots south of the border. It’s all good.

-Jane