Tuesday was a night of nostalgia and new beginnings when the 32nd Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale opened with the traditional Red Carpet Reception held for the last time in the Expo Hall on the National Western Stock Show campus.

In 2026, the event moves to its new home in the $90 million, four-story 115,000-square-foot Legacy Building that is nearing completion, also on the NWSS campus at 4655 Humboldt St., Denver.

One thousand fans of Western art attended the 2025 Red Carpet Reception, an event where 85 artists from across the United States — 25 of whom were participating for the first time — contributed 400 pieces of art for a sale expected to top $1.5 million.

The paintings, sculptures, photographs and mixed-media pieces will remain on view to the public during the run of the 119th National Western Stock Show. Bids also will be accepted during that time for items that did not sell at the Red Carpet Reception.

“This is the best group of artists we’ve had since the show began in 1993 — and we’ve been to all of them,” said Doug Jones, chairman of the National Western Stock Show board and with his wife, Nancy, was a Silver Patron of the event.

Jones’ observation that “People from all over the world were flying in for this” was validated by Lewis Wilks, who was putting in his sixth year of chairing the Coors Western Art advisory committee.

The Red Carpet Reception, Wilks said, “Was sold out before we even solicited people to attend.”

Why?

“We have a lot of artists (this year) who people haven’t seen before, or seen in a very long time,” he said. “And that generated a lot of excitement in the collector community.”

Denver native and fifth-generation Coloradan Duke Beardsley is the 2025 show’s featured artist — a choice, said show curator Kate Hlavin, that was fitting “Given our underlying themes of legacy and the future. Duke’s longtime history of ranching in Colorado remains so true to the values of the West and his artwork captures the heritage that we all are here to honor.”

Beardsley told The Denver Gazette that being selected as the featured artist was “Very special, an honor and a treat.” He noted that his first time as a contributor to the show was in 2001, after which he “Took a break of five to seven years, for lots of good reasons … I like to shake that snow globe a little every now and then” before returning as a participant.

Noted watercolor artist and Denver resident William Matthews has participated in every Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale since its start.

“I’m the oldest, the longest-running one in this show,” he said, jokingly adding “I was 11 when I started and I manage to prop myself up for it every year.”

Painting isn’t Matthews’ only talent. He is currently completing “Bolo,” a book on the history and making of bolo ties. Matthews described the volume as “As the first book of its kind — a great big, thick coffee table book that is going to be super cool.”

It is being published by the Nicholas Callaway-founded Callaway Arts & Entertainment and should be in bookstores in time for holiday giving.

For the Red Carpet Reception, Matthews wore a thunderbird inlay bolo by Zuni artist Leo Poblano, a photograph of which will be on the cover of “Bolo.”

The Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale was founded in 1993 as a collaboration between Coors Brewing Co. and the National Western Stock Show. Coors Banquet, along with Nicole and Craig Harrison and Meg and Jamie Duke were the 2025 Official Sponsors. Gold Patrons were UMB Bank, Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel and Marilyn and Pete Coors.

Red Carpet Reception guests included:

• Paul Andrews, president and CEO of the National Western Stock Show
• Terrance Carroll, former Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives and a member of the National Western board of directors
• Such fellow NWSS directors as Brooke Fox, Pat Grant and Michael Long
• Todd and Nancy Bacon, who were active in the former Artists of America show and sale that the Rotary Club of Denver hosted for 20 years
• Philanthropists Ellie Caulkins, Sharon Martin, Essie Perlmutter and Nancy Gooding
• Sunny Brownstein and artist Lee Kay
• Meredith and Peter Coors
• Gallery owner Bobbi Walker
• Brian Hart, whose Frame de Art providing framing services for the show
• Audra and Sean McNicholas, whose Service Systems Associates does much, if not all, of the NWSS catering