Dates: beginning May through Labor Day, 2022
Artists’ Reception: Friday, May 20

The Brinton Museum (Big Horn, WY) presents the premier exhibition Master Leather Carving from America and Japan, featuring 25 master leather carvers from North America and Japan, opening in the Jacomien Mars Reception Gallery in May 2022. The Brinton’s annual leather show coincides with the traditional Leather Crafters Convention in Sheridan, Wyoming, which features outstanding leather workers in the field. Originally scheduled for May 2021, the start date of The Brinton’s Master Leather Carving from America and Japan exhibit has been delayed due to the COVID19 pandemic.

The geneses of this show started several years ago when internationally-known artist and leather worker, recent recipient of the 2019 NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award and 2019 Wyoming Governor’s Arts Award, James F. Jackson, envisioned an exhibit showcasing extremely talented craftsmen in the leather trade from distinctly different cultures. Included in The Brinton’s 2022 exhibition are leather wall panels and 3-dimensional pieces which highlight traditional carving and the cross-cultural influences of Sheridan-style carving on Japanese leather artisans along with a wide diversity of Japanese contemporary work. Pieces by award-winning saddle makers and leather workers from North America represent a longstanding

tradition of elegantly tooled saddles and other tooled artwork related to the still-alive-today vibrant cowboy culture of the American West. An illustrated catalog with an introductory essay by James Jackson will be published in both English and Japanese to accompany this event. Master Leather Carving from America and Japan is made possible through the kind generosity of charitable sponsors from America and Japan.

Master artisans included in The Brinton Museum’s leather show are:

Japan

Taka Otsuka, Seiichi Koyashiki, Akiko Okada, Michiko Matsuda, Koichiro Oyama, Atsushi Kubota, Takahiro Kubo, Kazuki Fujita, Ryuichi Kimura, Naomi Saito, Mayumi Konno, Takeshi Yonezawa, Takeshi Katsumura, Chi Honghao and Lefty Mikuni

North America

Chuck Stormes, Wayne Hape, Gordon Andrus, Bill King, Keith Seidel, Rick Bean, Bob Park, Cary Schwarz, Barry King and Jim Jackson

More information about this exhibition will be forthcoming closer to May 2022.

About The Brinton Museum: Founded in 1960, The Brinton Museum is a fine arts institution devoted to preserving the art and history of the West. Located on the historic Quarter Circle A Ranch in the foothills of the majestic Bighorn Mountains, it features 19th, 20th and 21st century American and Indian Art in a historic Western setting.

Regular admission to The Brinton Museum is free in 2020 through a generous donation from First Interstate Bank.