Joe Beeler

Joe Beeler (1931-2006)  Born in Joplin, Missouri along the modern day boundaries of Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas called the Prairie Borderlands.

From Joe Beeler "Life Of A Cowboy Artist" By Don Hedgpeth:

"Most men are marked by their bloodlines, just like good horses, and each one is somehow shaped, forever not only by his lineage, but also by the character of the country from which he came.  Joe Beeler is the living proof. He is descended from the sturdy strain of rough-hewn, resilient pioneer people, and he bears, like a birthmark, the indelible imprint of the old Borderlands of Indian Territory."

Joe was a sculpture and painter that painted and sculpted the world he lived in and he roped and rode in the world he painted.  In 1964, Joe Beeler, Charlie Dye, John Hampton, Bob McCloud and George Phippen put together the Cowboys Artists of America at a tavern in Sedona, Arizona.  The Cowboy Artists of America with the mission " To authentically preserve and perpetuate the culture of Western life in fine art."  is a thriving organization dedicated to western artists with the Joe Beeler Foundation being a non-profit organization created with the purpose of being "dedicated to the development and education of artists in the tradition of the Cowboy Artists of America".

Joe Beeler and his wife Sharon made their home in Sedona, Arizona where he produced his numerous paintings and sculptures dedicated to western life.  He was a storyteller with a deep love of western heritage and a joy for life that was truly expressed in his works.