The Art of Billy the Kid Is Landing In Scottsdale Today

 September 25, 2025

   Got word from Thom Ross yesterday that a big truck loaded to the seams with Thom's art and Buckeye's art had been loaded and is probably cruising down the I-17 even as you read this.

   It's all for a joint project between Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West and True West magazine to bring the West's most well-known and notorious outlaw figuratively back to life in the exhibit "The Resurrection of Billy the Kid" which will open to the public on October 4, 2025.

The artist's reception is the night before

   This will be part art show, part seance and part Old West showdown, and it will explode and reimagine the legend of Billy the Kid in a series of electric and eclectic pieces created by Thom Ross, Buckeye Blake and myself.

    And, of course, the show stopper at the end of the exhibit (under a stairwell!) will be a haunting, life-size sculpture of Billy on his death bed by Buckeye, and it will be staged like a wake complete with candles, curtains and a guest book for mourners.

I repeat: It will be staged like a wake complete with candles, curtains, and a guest book for mourners. Bring a handkerchief, or two.

"There's always somebody better than you. It's just another job, and we all just try to our jobs well."

—Ed Mell