In a vast cavern of a building like an aircraft-hanger just a tad more than a stone’s throw from Newport Beach is a sparkling chrome vista that would set any motorhead’s heart a flutter. This waltz through recent history takes you from a sturdy-looking 1931 Ford Model A to a plushly upholstered 1948 Hudson Commodore to a 1956 Ford Thunderbird Convertible the color of a brightly polished London bus, and onwards.

The oldest, most venerable member of the gang is an open-topped 1911 Hudson Speedster—a throw-back to a bygone era of over-sized motor-goggles and Ahooga horns and white scarves fluttering in the wind. Among the rarest is a ’42 Hudson Super Six Wagon—one of only a few surviving “Woodies.”

Read more: Donnie Crevier: Vintage Cars and Fast Horses

When Tammy Pate was first dreaming about Art of the Cowgirl, bringing together experienced western artists with aspiring makers and providing mentorship was the ultimate goal. Now in its third year, the Art of the Cowgirl event attracts thousands of guests and generates the funds and support necessary to bring Pate’s dream to life.

“I thought it was very important that we honor women in the industry and let them be mentors,” Pate says. “Our Fellowship Program encourages arts and trades among western women, both continuing tradition and inspiring innovation.”

Art of the Cowgirl’s Fellowship Program provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for western artists to learn or refine their passion with some of the most talented makers in the business. Whether it’s fine art, functional trade or horsemanship, Art of the Cowgirl Fellowships seek to enrich, empower and educate, while honoring western heritage.

Read more: Art of the Cowgirl’s Fellowship Program Inspires Western Artists to New Heights

By Hope Ellis-Ashburn

Portraits by Shawna Simmons

Actress Melinda Van Dyck is a lifelong equestrian with Hollywood roots. The daughter of thespian Joan Bennett and screenwriter and producer Gene Markey, she was born in the 1930s and raised in the bright lights of Hollywood, California. While her childhood was unusual for most, it wasn’t uncommon for her social group.

Growing up on South Mapleton Drive in nearby Homby Hills, Melinda was surrounded by neighbors who composed a who’s who list of old-world Hollywood including Art Linkletter, Liza Minelli, Ronald Reagan, Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart and Bing Crosby. Her father, also a United States Navy rear admiral, counted John Wayne among his best friends.

Later in life, Melinda reconnected with Ronald Reagan. Since she and the future president had once been neighbors, she attended a rally during his candidacy. She was delighted to be given the opportunity to speak with him and to learn that he not only remembered her but fondly recalled her mother as well.

Read more: Melinda Van Dyck: Life on Stage and on Horseback

By Louise Dando for Equine Info Exchange

Equestrians around the world may have different opinions on many topics, but all agree on one universal experience: falling or being thrown from a horse is the worst part of riding. Whether seasoned or novice, all agree that this common experience can be frightening, embarrassing and annoying—sometimes, all in the same moment. Despite this, I find consolation in the knowledge that it happens to everyone. These celebrities all have taken tumbles off of their horses. Read on and decide: who do you think suffered the worst fall?

Johnny Depp - During the filming of The Lone Ranger, Johnny Depp was thrown from his horse and narrowly missed being trampled. As the horses picked up speed, Depp's steed started bucking, causing the actor to lose his grip and fall to the side. The horse continued to gallop as Depp clung to its mane, before eventually falling onto the ground. In an interview with the Daily Mail, Depp said “There was one moment in particular where it got unpleasant… My horse decided to jump a couple of obstacles in the desert but the horse was unaware that the saddle was fake - to give the effect that I was riding bareback. So when we came down the saddle slipped and I went to the left, and grabbed the mane of the horse. And then the next thing I saw were these very muscular horse legs, this death machine, and one word popped into my head: "Hooves". I figured fear would kick in but it didn't, I was very calm.”

Audrey Hepburn had a bad riding accident while filming the western The Unforgiven in 1959. Her horse was spooked by one of the crew members and the pregnant actress was thrown, breaking her back in four places. Also, one of her feet suffered a bad sprain. Hepburn recovered in six weeks from the back and ankle injuries and was able to finish filming — but sadly, the fall caused her to miscarry her baby. Fortunately, she did give birth to her first child, Sean, less than a year later.

Read more: Tossed, Kicked and Broken: 10 Celebrities Get Back on That Horse—or Not

By Gene Fowler

New Exhibition Spotlights the Artist’s Love of the Cowboy Way

Andy wore cowboy boots. Who knew? Wait—what? Andy who? If you were alive for very long in the last century, you know this particular Andy only needs one name. Andy Warhol, the pop artist who held a mirror up to American culture, the late, inscrutable hipster-trickster of the avant-garde, liked to slither around Manhattan with his dogs encased in cowpoke couture.

Actually, of course, it’s really no surprise. Cowboy boots…I mean, what’s not to love? The archives at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, the artist’s hometown, preserve some 27 pairs of Andy’s boots. Half a dozen of ‘em have temporarily headed west to Oklahoma City, where you can admire them right now as part of the exhibition, Warhol and the West, at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

Centered around the artist’s last major project before his death in 1987, a portfolio of 10 prints of Old West icons entitled Cowboys and Indians, the show also includes dozens of additional artworks and artifacts that reveal the artist’s lifelong interest in the West. Come July 1, the whole shootin’ match will homestead for a spell at the Tacoma Art Museum, between Puget Sound and Mount Rainier. And while previous exhibitions have touched on aspects of Warhol’s West, Michael Grauer, McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture and Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, says the current show is unique in its thorough exploration of “Warhol’s love of and devotion to the American West.”

Seth Hopkins, director of the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, where Warhol and the West debuted last year, tracks that devotion back to the artist’s childhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Born in 1928, much of Andrew Warhola’s earliest experience of the transcendent power of images happened at the Saturday matinee. Tex, Gene and Roy roped the West and saved the ranch, won the gal and sang about the sage on the silver screen. Andy’s boyhood scrapbook of movie star photos, which depicted many of his early cowboy heroes, is included in the exhibition, along with the Roy Rogers alarm clock from his childhood bedroom.

Read more: POP! Goes the West - Andy Warhol Went Thataway