A G ood Ride: Arts and Traditions of the Attica Rodeo July 1 5-December 2, 2012
Rodeo as Artistic Display January 1 3- May 26, 2013
egionalism in America is also reflect the particular places where they occur. a geographical designation, The Folk Arts Program of the Castellani Art Museum Rbut even more, it is a sort of celebrates, in part, the very local, exploring Western mental shorthand we use to ascribe character to New York for what sets it apart. We are proud to host place. In the imagination of the Midwest, where I grew A Good Ride , an exhibition that honors the creativity up, the state of New York is part of a bustling urban and hard work of local people –rodeo organizers and Northeast. But the state, participants, as well as the like the region, is not such perceptive scholars who take an easily characterized their talents seriously. monolith. Folklorists, few as we are, When I first moved to represent a tight network of Buffalo in the summer colleagues who collaborate of 2011, I was delighted by when we can to accomplish the prevalence of Western the ambitious task of imagery, being welcomed to uncovering the overlooked in the city by a herd of bronze our midst. Folklorists Karen bison grazing along the Canning and Claire Aubrey, New York State Thruway. working with the Arts Council Throughout the area, for Wyoming County, share country line dancing is with us their fine research, popular, horse culture and by extension, introduce is prevalent, and rodeo is us to a community of rodeo a long-standing tradition. experts and connoisseurs Much of the United States living in a small corner is, and has long been, of Western New York. captivated by a Like the other forms romanticized American of artistic expression West. Somehow, the local displayed in our museum, affinity displayed in the art of rodeo adheres Western New York seems to a set of aesthetic more appropriate than it guidelines that may not be does in some other places. immediately apparent to This area, after all, is viewers. From the handmade another frontier, the costumes of a trick rider Niagara Frontier, a once to the well-delivered banter wild land dominated An abiding interest in of the rodeo announcer, the by dramatic landscapes. individuals documented in the American West has left its An abiding interest in the this exhibition are invested American West has left mark across the United States, in perfecting their craft, and importantly, displaying its mark across the United producing a far-reaching States, producing a it for the approval of an far-reaching rodeo circuit, rodeo circuit, as well as audience who will appraise as well as a vibrant a vibrant sub-culture. its quality. Through this sub-culture. As the study exhibition, we hope visitors of folk arts reveals, even will come to understand how widespread traditions respond to localized tastes, excellence is judged within the Attica rodeo. histories, and populations. Rodeo may have originated Carrie Hertz Curator of Folk Arts in the West and spread nationally, but individual shows, like the annual rodeo held in Attica, New York,
Cover: Jo Wright. Grand Entry , 2007 Jason Runfola, Saddle Bronc Rider , 2005 “Sold to the boys in the white T-shirts!” n 1957, an auctioneer shouted out this winning photos, posters, and other ephemera from over the bid on four horses, and four teenage boys from decades. We traveled across the state to talk to cowboys Ithe newly-formed Attica and Chaffee Rodeo Club and cowgirls and attend other rodeos, and we were thrilled loaded them up and took them home in hopes of staging when the Association graciously allowed us to camp out on their first rodeo. Growing up in the rolling hills of Wyoming the Attica grounds with longtime rodeo organizers and County, New York, they had a working knowledge of dairy families during subsequent years. farming and livestock. A regional equine culture fed their What we learned over the next several years wasn’t only interest in trail riding and horsemanship, as well as the about a weekend event, but also an equine culture and popularity of the American West in the entertainment community that is active throughout the year. It includes culture of the day. Spurred on with the help of adult rodeo organizers, contestants, fans, local families, stock mentors and families, the boys and their friends held the contractors, performers, announcers, clowns, and rodeo that year little knowing their show would continue traditional craftsmen, like leatherworkers and blacksmiths. and grow into a multigenerational endeavor for the next They in turn are connected to a similar national rodeo 56 years –and counting. community that holds Attica in high regard for both its I first attended the Attica Rodeo in the 1970s with professionalism and hometown atmosphere. The Attica my grandparents on a hot August afternoon, where it Rodeo owes its success to broad support, being a town- evoked memories of our trip together to the western wide event involving sponsors and volunteers from many states. I didn’t think about the rodeo again until much commercial, charitable, religious, and fraternal later, when my work brought me back to it in 2005 as the organizations. It is also fully sanctioned by professional Attica Rodeo and Show Association was preparing for its rodeo associations, attracting championship competitors 50th anniversary. Folklorist Claire Aubrey and I started and quality livestock. Like many regional rodeo sponsors, working with the Association to document their experiences the Association remains a volunteer-run, non-profit entity. and history, conducting interviews and gathering together It shares the benefits of maintaining a rodeo with its
Bull Rider, Not Making 8 Seconds? , 2008 surrounding community by donating money and time to every participant speaks of a partnership with the horses community groups, as well as use of the arena grounds and stock with whom they work. Each relationship is a to various equestrian clubs. unique blend of skills, experience, and personalities. As I learned how A barrel racer works for years to train her horse, while the rodeo network a bronc rider may reaches far have just eight beyond Attica’s seconds to boundaries and achieve success started to with his equine understand the co-competitor. intricate and At the 50th Attica layered meanings Rodeo in 2007, it holds for its Claire Aubrey and members, I was I installed a also continuously historical display reminded of how using the resources very localized our we had gathered traditions can be. during our research. In talking to friends We organized and colleagues demonstrations about the rodeo, of bareback riding I was often met with techniques, roping, surprise that such 2010 Attica Rodeo and Show Officers and Directors , 2010 leatherworking, and a thing existed clowning. We also here –even from lifelong residents of our area. If you are hosted a storytelling session for people to share their not a bull rider or barrel racer or one of the eight thousand rodeo memories. The enthusiastic response from people who attend the rodeo each year, you might never participants and the wealth of information that we encounter it, despite its very public presence. Like many collected led to the idea of sharing the Attica Rodeo story communal traditions, validation of rodeo-related knowledge, with a wider audience. The next step seemed logical: an skills, and talents do not necessarily depend on exhibit! Brody Wheeler, official Attica rodeo photographer recognition from outsiders, but rather acquire meaning and since 1990 and attendee since childhood, offered the worth within the rodeo community through the continuation use of his extensive photo archive. Attica Rodeo members, of shared experience. friends, and fans pitched in, loaning A shared experience doesn’t A shared experience equipment and memorabilia to bring the exhibit to life. mean a homogenous one. doesn’t mean a homogenous one. Rodeo is at once an evocation A Good Ride: Arts and Traditions of a nostalgic American past Rodeo is at once an evocation of the Attica Rodeo is the result of and a complex staging of of a nostalgic American past this collaborative project between athletes, animals, and the Arts Council for Wyoming entertainers. An afternoon’s and a complex staging of athletes, County, the Attica Rodeo and fun is supported by hundreds animals, and entertainers. Show Association, and the extended of volunteer hours in food family of the Rodeo. It represents tents, ticket booths, arena maintenance, and cleanup our efforts to take you beyond the arena and into the crews. A rodeo cowboy embodies ideals of patriotism, chutes, stalls, campers, trailers, meeting rooms and living independence and ranch life. He also drives through rooms of the rodeo’s many participants. Through the the night to compete in three rodeos in as many days. words, images, tools, and arts of Attica’s cowboys and Female trick riders swap fabric and remake hand-me-down cowgirls, we invite you to learn about their unique talents costumes, while bronc and bull riders spend hours and experiences. And perhaps, like we did, you will find customizing gloves, riggings, and ropes to achieve a some of your own story in the tradition of rodeo. precisely individualized fit. Clowns perform rehearsed and Karen Canning Traditional Arts Program Director improvised routines with announcers, and then may face Arts Council for Wyoming County off with a bull to distract him from a fallen cowboy. Nearly Trick Rider Loretta Pemberton, Liberty Stand , 2006 An Overview of American Rodeo
he roots of contemporary American rodeo and sideshows. These shows did much to establish a can be traced to the turn of the 20th near mythical ethos and nostalgic image of the American Tcentury when multiple cultures, historical West which persists in our national consciousness today. data, and popular legends were combining to form both the Folklorist Beverly Stoeltje further notes that, “they cultivated reality and the idea of the American West. The most the fascination of the general public with the cowboy, repeated story places the beginnings of rodeo with the long contributing significantly to the definition of the cowboy cattle drives of the 1860s to 1880s, now considered to be as folk hero.” the golden age of the American cowboy, when cow hands By the 1920s, Wild West shows had become too expensive would hold informal contests of roping, riding, and other to sustain and western dramatizations had shifted to work-related skills. The radio and movies. Rodeo, first “cowboy contest” however, continued to grow presented to the public and maintained many of the is hard to pinpoint, but Wild West show elements documentation suggests such as contests of skill and either 1842 in Santa Fe, entertainment. Ranching and (New) Mexico or 1869 in horsemanship abilities were Deer Trail, Colorado. joined by trick riding and Towns claiming to host roping, steer wrestling, bull the longest running riding, clowning and humor, rodeos include Pecos, and trained animal acts. Texas (1883), Payson, By the 1940s, both cowboy Arizona (1884) and participants and rodeo Prescott, Arizona (1888) producers organized regional with an event still held on associations to set July 4th –a favorite date standards and regulations for rodeo competitions. for rodeo competition and Early American rodeo Dick Cory, Performer and Announcer, 2007 presentation, and establish traditions were significantly a national championship influenced by the presence system. With this development a whole new kind of athlete of Spanish ranchers in the New World, especially the area emerged: the professional cowboys and cowgirls who make now considered the American southwest. Historical research their living as rodeo contestants. describes public contests known as charreadas that We can say in broad terms that between the 1940s the ranchers hosted from the time of their arrival in the and the 1970s rodeo transitioned from being mainly 16th century. These events, incorporated within a larger local competitions, featuring working ranch hands and fiesta, featured feats of daring with bulls, riding wild horses, entertainers, into a nationally linked web of sanctioned racing, roping, and other equestrian games. Mexican and shows utilizing professional cowboys and cowgirls. As a Anglo versions in the late 19th century certainly took result, competitors exhibited an increasing degree of skills inspiration from these early models and from each other. specialization, and the types and order of events became The word “rodeo” likely derives from the Spanish verb standardized. Over the last 30 years, rodeo has reached rodear , meaning to encircle or go around, perhaps alluding the status of a professional sport. At the most visible, to the “round up” of cattle. and perhaps commercial, level, rodeo now includes star Yet another contributing factor to rodeo development was athletes, international promotion, and corporate the hugely popular success of traveling Wild West Shows, endorsements, particularly for the bull riding event. like the first and most famous one started by William Individual rodeos, however, still occupy a range of size “Buffalo Bill” Cody in 1882. Cody’s cast of hundreds and scope, from locally produced annual events, like included cowboys recruited from ranches, Mexican the Attica Rodeo, to nationally celebrated competitions. vaqueros , Native Americans, sharp shooters, and live A Good Ride offers visitors a rare glimpse inside the buffalo, elk, and cattle. Traveling throughout the United world of community rodeo, its ongoing traditions, arts, States, it presented the recent past of frontier life through and stories, and the people who make it all happen. dramatic reenactments of “Indian attacks” and stagecoach -- Karen Canning robberies, riding and shooting exhibitions, staged races,
References Fees, Paul. 2013. “Wild West Shows: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.” Retrieved January 11, 2013 from http://www.bbhc.org/learn/western- essays/wild-west-shows/ LeCompte, M.L. 1994. “Hispanic Roots of American Rodeo.” Studies in Latin American Popular Culture 13: 57-75. Stoeltje, Beverly. 1989. “Rodeo: From Custom to Ritual.” Western Folklore 48(3): 244-255. Westermeier, Clifford P. 1947. Man, Beast and Dust: The Story of Rodeo . Denver: World Press. William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody. 2013. Retrieved January 11, 2013 from http://www.bbhc.org/explore/buffalo-bill/research/buffalo-bill/
Acknowledgements Curators Exhibit Design Photography Donated Objects Additional Karen P. Canning Thomas C. Bushnell Brody Wheeler Dave Blendinger Fieldwork Claire E. Aubrey Claire E. Aubrey Linda Kruszka Adam Burnett Loretta Pemberton Mike Swearingen Sam Swearingen
The Folk Arts Program of the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University is proud to host this adapted version of A Good Ride: Arts and Traditions of the Attica Rodeo , originally exhibited July 30-September 24, 2010 at the ACWC Gallery in Perry, NY. We would like to thank the Arts Council for Wyoming County for sharing this example of their admirable work. The Folk Arts Program would also like to extend a special thanks to the following individuals and businesses for making a version of this exhibition and programming possible at the Castellani Art Museum: Claire Aubrey; Dave Blendinger of Pat’s Tack and Western Wear; Brody Wheeler; Bev Randall; Pig Belly Entertainment; Swearingen Rodeo Equipment; the Attica Rodeo and Show Association; and finally, my deepest gratitude to Karen Canning, a first-rate folklorist and a fine new friend, for all of her guidance and assistance (and recommendations on delicious Mexican food).
This exhibition and related programming are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Programming sponsored, in part, by Pig Belly Entertainment, Clarence, NY. Sponsored, in part, by Pat’s Tack and Western Wear, Holland, NY.
Photography by Brody Wheeler.
Museum and Shop Castellani Art Museum at the Falls Niagara University, NY 1410 9-1938 Conference Center Niagara Falls 716.286.8200 fax: 716.286.8289 101 Old Falls Street Niagara Falls, NY 14303 Tuesday to Saturday 11:0 0 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Sunday, 1:0 0-5:00 p.m. 716.286.8200 fax: 716.286.8289 Docent tours available upon request. Call Monday to Friday, 10:00 a.m .-4:00 p.m. CastellaniArtMuseum.org 716.286.8200 for additional information.