Painters Dallas Mayer and Virgie Long have spent their lives tied to farms – Mayer in Oklahoma and Long in Colorado and Texas. The two Southwestern artists have depicted the animals, people and landscapes of the farm world in their art for decades. Starting Sunday, they will exhibit 80 paintings at the Dumas Art Center in a joint exhibit titled “Home on the Range.”
According to Long, the artists came up with the idea for a joint exhibition at Dumas some time ago, as the two were exhibiting works in a group show for an event celebrating Clarendon’s western heritage. Both are no strangers to Dumas, having participated in numerous exhibitions at The Art Center over the years. Since they both like to paint similar subjects, the idea of a joint exhibition seemed natural. “We both paint animals and that kind of farm scenery.” The title of the show seemed the obvious choice.
The exhibit opens Sunday, August 14th, with a reception from 2-4pm at the Art Center and runs through September 16th.
Mayer had her first solo show at the Art Center in August 2021 and was profiled in the August 4-5, 2021 edition of the News-Press: “Painter Dallas Mayer brings her ‘cow road’ to the Art Center” .
Long has contributed works to the members’ exhibition of Christmas, miniatures and more at Dumas.
Like Mayer, Long grew up on a farm and began drawing and painting at an early age. Although her parents were not artists, they supported her. “I was always encouraged to do what I was interested in,” she said.
The small school in rural Colorado she attended did not have an art program. In fact, she didn’t take a formal art class until after her children had graduated from high school. However, whatever life threw at her, she continued to paint and draw, always influenced by the ranching life she knew and loved. She eventually became good enough to be hired to teach art to elementary school students in Colorado, something she pursued for 15 years.
Today, Long lives in Hereford. After years on a farm, she moved to the city but continues to own land nearby where she operates a hay business and raises Scottish Highland cattle. In Hereford, she has her own gallery in the town center called The Purple Cow. In addition to her own work, the gallery regularly features pieces created by 19 other artists.
Long has exhibited work throughout the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico and Colorado. In the past, she had two galleries at the Sunset Center in Amarillo and was a founding member of the Panhandle Art Center. She also regularly participates in the “Best of the Southwest” exhibition in Amarillo.
While she loved having galleries in Amarillo, she is grateful to have an outlet closer to home now. “I really enjoy having a gallery in Hereford,” she said. She doesn’t miss the trip to Amarillo, which took a lot of “quality paint time.”
Long prefers to work with watercolors and pastels, but also occasionally does oil painting and pen and ink drawing. Her oil paintings are quite large, up to 30X40 inches. “Oils take big brushes.”
For Long and Mayer, having a topic they love and being able to share it with others is something they value. “It’s kind of my life,” Mayer said last year.
“Beyond being sane and my very quiet place in life … it’s where I rest,” Long said of her art. “That’s what keeps me going.”
Due to construction on Dumas Avenue, Art Center staff suggest an alternate route: from 14th Street across the Guy Lane Plaza parking lot to 16th Street, then down the alley past the apartment complex on 17th Street, right on 17th, left on Sunset. Avenue to 18th Street, then turned off onto 18th Street, right in the parking lot behind Pecos Diamond Steak House, and left into the alley. Some of the barriers between the Pecos Diamond Steak House parking lot and The Art Center parking lot have been removed.
