Edmond Life and Leisure - September 25, 2025

Western Skies Painting by Clayton Beavers. Image Provided by the Artist.

Edmond Fine Arts will have Gallery Show on Oct. 2

Edmond Fine Arts invites the community to the opening reception of Western Skies, a duo exhibition by artists Clayton Beavers and VC Torneden, on Thursday, October 2, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

The gallery event is free and open to the public.

Western Skies explores the artists’ shared fascination with the vast and ever-changing landscapes of the West, presented through painting and photography. Together, Beavers and Torneden offer viewers collected snapshots of the modern West, an invitation to travel alongside them through open skies, rugged terrain, and iconic vistas.

For Clayton Beavers, a native Oklahoman, the West has always been both a place of wonder and a wellspring of inspiration. Growing up captivated by its wide-open spaces, Beavers has since traveled extensively across the landscapes that first sparked his imagination. His paintings often tell stories rooted in Western narrative and imagery, evoking a dreamy nostalgia for “Cowboys Lost In Time.” VC Torneden, by contrast, approaches the West as both an outsider and an admirer. A lifelong Southerner until moving to Oklahoma later in life, she discovered in its deserts, mountains, and prairies a new source of inspiration. Her photography projects, particularly those chronicling Route 66 and her travels across Western landscapes, form the foundation of this exhibition. Torneden’s multidisciplinary practice, spanning photography, painting, drawing, and printmaking, blends surrealism with documentary storytelling, often inflected with social commentary and wit. Her work has been exhibited nationwide and is held in private and corporate collections across the country.

Together, Beavers and Torneden create a dialogue between nostalgia and discovery, intimacy and vastness, narrative and observation. Western Skies captures not only the physical beauty of the West but also its enduring place in the American imagination.

The exhibition will be on display in the Edmond Fine Arts Gallery throughout the month of October. All works are available for purchase. Edmond Fine Arts is the community’s nonprofit arts organization offering visual and performing arts education for all ages, exhibitions, and cultural enrichment programs. Gallery exhibits are free and open to the public Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

About Edmond Fine Arts: Edmond Fine Arts is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing accessible arts education and fostering creativity in the Edmond community. Through classes, workshops, and community events, Edmond Fine Arts aims to inspire individuals of all ages to explore and embrace the arts. The Gallery is sponsored by BancFirst.