Illinois artist’s work to become permanent addition to SAMFA collection
November 3, 2025 | In the PressFrmo Concho Valley (https://www.conchovalleyhomepage.com/news/local-news/illinois-artists-work-to-become-permanent-addition-to-samfa-collection/)
A painting made by an Illinois artist will now permanently stay in San Angelo after it was selected to win a new award issued by the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts.
According to SAMFA, the painting, titled “1957,” was selected as the winner of the 2025 Elta Joyce Murphey Museum Purchase Award. The work was created by Lon Brauer of Granite City, Illinois, who “is one of five En Plein Air Texas Ranch Fellowship artists this year, chosen to live and paint on local ranches for three weeks and then exhibit their work at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts.”
“The Elta Joyce Murphey Museum Purchase Award is named for its generous sponsor, who has graciously supported the museum’s En Plein Air Texas events since 2014,” SAMFA said. “This new award is the only award given this year, for one outstanding work of art that exemplifies the goals of the Ranch Fellowship.”
Brauer’s painting is being displayed in the museum’s second-floor gallery through March 22, 2026, alongside works produced by artists Kirsten Anderson, Zufar Bikbov, Durre Waseem and Jeff Williams.
“These five artists were selected from a pool of past En Plein Air Texas competition participants, and for three weeks in September, they lived and painted on Quinn Ranch, south of Brady, and Rocking Chair Ranch, south of San Angelo,” SAMFA said. “Instead of a frenzied week of plein air competition in multiple locations, the residency is intended to give the artists the opportunity to absorb their surroundings, work together in fellowship, and to grow as artists while immersed in authentic West Texas ranch life and our uniquely beautiful landscape.”
The award-winning painting will also be added to the museum’s collection, allowing it to “become a permanent resident of San Angelo,” SAMFA stated.
