Founded in 1998, the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association is a not for profit organization formed to preserve the craftsmanship of fine western gear making. It is the goal of the TCAA to establish a continuous link between the traditional gear making skills of the past and future generations of gear makers.

Through the disciplines of bit and spur making, saddle making, silversmithing, and rawhide braiding, it is the hope of the TCAA that the best made gear will always be seen as it was intended to be used, on the ranch horse and by the cowboy not just behind glass.

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2008 Tenth Annual Exhibit and Sale

The 2008 10th Anniversary Exhibit and Sale was a great success (go take a look at the 2008 Photo Gallery). Once again Don Reeves and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum staff did a fantastic job on the exhibit gallery, keeping it a fresh and exciting display of the member's work offered for sale. Every year the pieces offered for sale are of the highest quality, pushing the makers creativity and abilities to new heights. This year was no exception with 52 of the 57 pieces selling on opening night for a total of $696,240.00 a new record in sales! Also very important to the TCAA and the Museum, the exhibit was very well attended setting attendance records for both the Friday VIP walk around the Saturday night sale and dinner.

Collectible, 2008 10^th Anniversary catalogs are available through the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Gift Shop.

At our meeting this year, the membership elected four new members into the TCAA. They are Armando Deferrari and Pablo Lozano both rawhide braiders from Argentina, John Willemsma a saddle maker from Oklahoma, and Russell Yates a bit and spur maker from Texas. These new members will help us to continue to raise the level of excellence of our crafts, educate others, and bring fresh new ideas to the Association. The TCAA now has 23 active members.

We would like to invite you to attend our Eleventh Annual Exhibit and Sale. With our four new members it will be one of our best shows with many fantastic pieces offered for sale. Please make your plans to attend.

2009 High Noon Show

For those interested the TCAA will again be at the High Noon Western Americana show and auction again this year with demonstrations in silver engraving by Scott Hardy, leather stamping by Cary Schwarz and rawhide braiding by Leland Hensley. There will also be work by some of the TCAA members offered for sale. The High Noon Show will be held in Phoenix, Arizona February 7 & 8, 2009. The High Noon show is always a great show to attend and this should be one of their best. Please stop by our TCAA booth, take in the demonstrations and meet the members that will be there.

2009 TCAA Workshops

In 2009 the TCAA will have a number of workshops. February 11-14, 2009 will be Ornamental Chasing & Repousse Workshop by Valentin Yotkov. September 22-25, 2009 Silver engraving Workshop by Mark Drain and David Alderson. There is limited enrollment for these workshops so advance reservations are required. Please contact National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum at (405) 478-2250 ext. 219 to make your reservations. Don't miss out on these opportunities!

2008 Summer Newsletter

This is the second of our newsletters to be available for download. You will need the free Adobe PDF Reader to view it. If you don't have it already, you can download it this link to Adobe. When you're ready, you can download our newsletter with this link. The previous newsletter can be downloaded with this link.

Upcoming 2009 Events

There are lots of events coming up this year. Make sure to visit the Upcoming Events section of our website to find out about them all.

What are people saying about TCAA?

Visit this new area of our website for articles of interest concerning outside perspectives of TCAA.

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