By Western Hands Opens in Cody

A new gallery that promotes artisans in Cody opened its doors this week.

By Western Hands is a non-profit organization that was founded by Cody community members in order to preserve, promote, and educate new generations of American artisans in the western tradition.

Kristina Fong, director of By Western Hands, says the organization’s mission is to preserve, promote, and educate. These values come together in their new location on 12th Street, which boasts a museum, member gallery, and internship program.

The member gallery and museum is now open for spring hours as of Monday, between the hours of 10:00am and 2:00pm Monday through Friday this spring.

Fong points out that master artisans who create works of hand-carved wood, tooled leather and bone, and beaded textiles, to name just a few, are juried into the Artists’ Guild. Members’ pieces, as large as a wood and stained glass bar and as small as silver inlaid spurs and hand-beaded pillows, will be on display in the member showroom. Cody resident Wally Reber, who recently retired from the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, will establish the archive and curate the By Western Hands museum.

And the members will also serve as artists-in-residence at their onsite woodshop and demonstration space. A glass window from the member showroom into the woodshop invites visitors to engage with the creative process.