Under the stewardship of the Art Bridges Cohort Program, which fosters partnerships among museums to create collaborative exhibitions, the Smithsonian American Art Museum co-curated an expansive, multimedia experience with four museums in fast-growing areas of the western United States: the Boise Art Museum in Idaho; the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington; the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon; and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts at the University of Utah. For the past two years, the exhibition has stopped at each location; on July 28, it will open at our American Art Museum, its final venue.

The exhibition is curated around three major categories: Boundary Breakers, which examines diverse ways of disrupting the popular understanding of the American West; Memory Makers, which focuses on sharing stories across generations; and Caretakers, with the theme of preserving land and cultures. This stunning collection highlights communities often marginalized or excluded from the vernacular of the West; it features artists who identify as Black, Indigenous, Asian American, Latino and LGBTQ.

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