The Quiet Side of the West

When it comes to subject matter, Wyoming-based painter Ann Hanson’s inspiration lies just beyond her studio door, in and around her hometown of Shell. Named not for the mega oil company, but rather for huge deposits of prehistoric Ammonite fossils, the tiny rural community (population 84) traces its earliest heritage to the traditions of the Crow Indians and later to the pioneer ranching families that settled in the beautiful Big Horn Basin. Inspired by these cultural influences, Hanson creates highly detailed vignettes of daily life that go beyond mere imagery to capture the heart and soul of today’s West.

By the mid-1980s Hanson had begun to share her art with the public through local shows and galleries. “The fact that my works sold well helped me realize I could actually do this as a career,” she says. Her first major exhibition, a decade later, was the Buffalo Bill Show in Cody, and her path into the professional art world blossomed from there.