Presentation: Knowing the West
June 12 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm MDT
Knowing the West
A Presentation by Mindy N. Besaw, PhD
June 12, 2025
6–7:30 p.m.
Join us the evening of June 12 for a special presentation in our Peter Hassrick Public Program series. Former Whitney Western Art Museum curator Mindy Besaw will present Knowing the West, a traveling exhibition she co-curated with Jami Powell. The show premiered at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, where Besaw has worked since 2014.
About the Program
Mindy Besaw offers a fresh look at Knowing the West, the first major traveling exhibition to present the American West as a more inclusive and complex place shaped by many cultures. While many Americans feel they already “know the West”—through personal experience or popular media—this exhibition encourages deeper reflection. Featuring over 120 works by Native and non-Native artists, including textiles, baskets, paintings, pottery, and more, it invites a broader understanding of Western art and life. Besaw will highlight standout pieces, share artists’ stories, and provide a behind-the-scenes look at the collaborative process that brought the exhibition to life.
Knowing the West premiered at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (September 2024–January 2025). It travels to the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida (March–August 2025) and North Carolina Museum of Art (March–May 2026). The exhibition is accompanied by a multi-author, full-color catalogue, published by Rizzoli.
About the speaker
Mindy N. Besaw, PhD, is Director of Research, Fellowships, and University Partnerships, and Curator, American Art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, where she has been since 2014. Besaw is co-curator, with Jami Powell, of Knowing the West (2024–2025). At Crystal Bridges, Besaw has curated and co-curated several exhibitions including Art for a New Understanding: Native Voices 1950s to Now (2018), Cross-Pollination: Martin Johnson Heade, Thomas Cole, Frederic Edwin Church and our Contemporary Moment (2020); Companion Species (in partnership with the Museum of Native American History, Bentonville, 2020).
Prior to her current post, Besaw was curator of western American art at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming; and curatorial associate at the Denver Art Museum. Besaw holds a PhD in American Art History from the University of Kansas.
About the series
Peter Hassrick was one of America’s foremost scholar-authors on western American art. The Peter Hassrick Public Program Series perpetuates his passion for innovative and creative public programming through the Whitney Western Art Museum.
