O’Keeffe’s WT Years to Be Highlighted in Season Premiere of ‘Around Texas with Chancellor John Sharp’

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, cchandler@wtamu.edu

CANYON, Texas — Iconic artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s time at West Texas A&M University is in the spotlight in the Season 4 premiere of “Around Texas with Chancellor John Sharp.”

The episode will roll out around the state beginning Oct. 5. The series airs at 11 p.m. Sundays beginning Oct. 8 on Panhandle PBS in the Amarillo area.

Dr. Amy Von Lintel, WT’s professor of art history and director of gender studies, discusses O’Keeffe’s fruitful time in Canyon and Amarillo.

“She lived or resided in Texas, was on the ground here, for maybe 37 months out of her 98 years—she was incredibly nomadic—but we have a huge and beautiful and very foundational body of work from 1916 to 1918 when she was … here in Canyon and when she was teaching at this very institution,” Von Lintel says in the episode.

Von Lintel is a renowned expert in O’Keeffe’s life and career and published “Georgia O’Keeffe’s Wartime Texas Letters” in 2020 and “Georgia O’Keeffe: Watercolors, 1916-1918” in 2016.

Also interviewed for the segment are Dr. Brian Ingrassia, WT associate professor of history; Deana Craighead, curator of art at Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum on the WT campus, and Alex Gregory, curator of art at Amarillo Museum of Art.

“I think the wild nature of the (Palo Duro) Canyon stuck with her,” Gregory said.

“It’s just a really beautiful, transformative, transforming place,” Craighead echoed.

Von Lintel said that O’Keeffe clearly considered her Texas years to be formative.

“The work that she does here, she kept in her private collection for her life because, I think, it was so foundational for the way she thought about art—not only for her Western aesthetic but also for her balance of nature, inspiration and abstraction,” Von Lintel said. “She starts that here.”

The O’Keeffe segment takes its name, “On the Edge of the Plains,” from the title of an exhibition, on view at PPHM through January, of works by the artist and others offering their interpretations of Palo Duro Canyon. The exhibition title itself is a quote from a letter written by O’Keeffe describing a supper on the canyon rim.

The PPHM exhibition centers on O’Keeffe’s “Red Landscape,” part of the museum’s permanent collection and one of only four oil paintings she made while living in the area.

AMoA’s permanent collection includes four O’Keeffe watercolors, all inspired by her life in Canyon and on the WT campus.

“Around Texas with John Sharp” episodes run about 30 minutes and include two segments and two in-studio interviews conducted by Chancellor Sharp.

An additional segment about WT—this one focusing on the internationally successful meat judging team—is set to air in the fourth episode of the season, scheduled for Oct. 29 on Panhandle PBS.

Listings and full episodes are available to stream online at www.sharparoundtexas.com.

Fostering both an appreciation of the arts and of the distinctive Texas Panhandle region are key components of the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

That plan is fueled by the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign’s new goal is to reach $175 million by 2025; currently, it has raised more than $150 million.

About West Texas A&M University

WT is located in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT, a Hispanic Serving Institution since 2016, boasts an enrollment of about 10,000 and offers 59 undergraduate degree programs and more than 40 graduate degrees, including two doctoral degrees. The University is also home to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, the largest history museum in the state and the home of one of the Southwest’s finest art collections. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 14 men’s and women’s athletics programs.

About PPHM

Located on the campus of West Texas A&M University, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum is the largest history museum in Texas. PPHM offers visitors a chance to step into panhandle history with special exhibits, a permanent collection, Pioneer Town, educational tours and special events. PPHM promotes the stories of this region in order to build community, enhance learning, and nurture creativity. For more information about PPHM please visit panhandleplains.org.

Photo: Warren Stricker, director of Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum's Research Center, is filmed for a segment on Georgia O'Keeffe's time at West Texas A&M University for "Around Texas with Chancellor John Sharp." The episode airs at 11 p.m. Sunday on Panhandle PBS.

—WT—