West-word: Exploring Cowboy Lexicon at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering

My grandfather was a cowboy poet who performed in Elko during one of the festival’s very first years. In grade school, I got up on stage at the Western Folklife Center and recited a poem of my own. While visual arts took me down another path, I still love words and poetry, and thought where better to bring them all together than the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

In 2024, I was the artist in residence at the Cowboy Arts & Gear Museum. Formerly a storefront for legendary saddle maker and spur craftsman G.S. Garcia, the free museum is full of artifacts from early Elko County history and tools of the cowboy trade. The museum is across the street from the Western Folklife Center, which becomes the epicenter of the annual gathering.

Cowboy Reflections

During my residency, I created a series of paintings I call “Cowboyology”—a hat tip to the words of the West. From local families to visitors from Italy and the Basque region of Spain, poetry goers lined up for three days to take part in the project. I saw musicians, fashion designers, lawyers, farmers, ranchers, chefs, makers, mothers, and kids (whew!). I painted around 40 people in three days, and even more folks came to hang out at the museum and enjoy the vibes.

Andy Hedges, a musician from Texas, pulled out his guitar and played while I painted his daughter, Maggie Rose. Oregon poet Annie Mackenzie recited a few poems from the chair while getting her portrait done. Kent Reeves, a mule packer and California cowboy poet offered a few lines of his own. I couldn’t have planned it better if I tried, and I love that music and poetry organically became part of the portrait project.

Meant to be a collective portrait of the cowboy poetry community, the paintings I created had another purpose as well. I painted quick and playful portraits while each sitter came up with a word or phrase to go with their image. Some chose a nickname or an adjective to describe their personality. Some went with an inside joke, a mantra, or a secret phrase that means something only to them. At the end of the week, it was my plan to turn their words—and their words alone—into a collaborative poem.

Listen to the spoken word version of Gina Teichert’s “Cowboyology”

Cowboyology

Listen, farmgirl
Listen, school marm
Listen, lil’ M&G 

Can’t don’t dilly dally
Est lux

Listen, builder caster
Listen, firecrackers
Listen, the rock

Can’t don’t dilly dally
Est lux

Vision, don’t weaken
Love, don’t weaken
Joy, don’t weaken

Adventure, legend
Est lux

Pearl, don’t weaken
Artist, don’t weaken
Spitfire, don’t weaken 

Adventure, legend
Est lux

Hardheaded trailblazer
Showbiz bling baby

Can’t don’t dilly dally
Est lux

Rock & roll butterfly
Fierce fiddle wildflower 

Legit joker
Dolled cutie pies
Dinger, chap, legend & Sam

Pretty ranchy
Yee haw

Nevada 1864