The Studio of Don Oelze

Some days, Don Oelze’s studio, tucked into a ponderosa forest under a mound of artistic boulders, resembles a movie studio as much as a painting studio. “I have a couple of really big photo shoots at my house every year,” Oelze says, adding that other artists join him for those shoots, which include models in authentic costumes and horses and a wagon outside on a hill.

Oelze’s studio is divided into two halves in a 1,400-square-foot outbuilding that is just feet from his house. He currently paints in what he calls Studio B, while most of the props, costumes, and even a cutaway teepee set reside in Studio A. The latter becomes a gathering place where everyone hangs out and changes, browsing through racks of authentic costumes, donning headdresses and otherwise transporting themselves back in time amongst prized split-horn bonnets and authentic McClellan cavalry saddles.

Read the full article in the May/June 2025 issue.