Tim Cox captures the cowboy way of life on canvas in a way few have achieved. Over the span of his career, Tim has been honored with awards acknowledging his dedication to creating masterful art representing the contemporary American West with its cowboys, cowgirls, their horses, livestock and varying landscapes with breathtaking skies. This past year, 2025 and going into 2026 marks a career spanning over 50 years and the addition of four prestigious awards to his collection.

Tim was honored in January 2025 at the “Heart of The West Gala” with the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award by Desert Caballeros Western Museum. It was an extraordinary event for our family, as so many worked to bring this exhibition together. This marked the first time a show featured only Tim Cox originals, all thanks to the gracious collectors and museums who loaned pieces to the exhibition.

Another great honor came as Tim was announced to receive the 2025 New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. “Each of these artists tells a part of New Mexico's story—our Indigenous heritage, our Western traditions, our multicultural identity. Together, they create a tapestry that reflects the full beauty and complexity of who we are as New Mexicans,” said Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham. This award has special meaning as it celebrates the significance of Tim’s work honoring the western tradition of New Mexico.

A third honor came as Tim received the Rural Impact Award recognizing his goal to “capture the essence of ranching and rural life.” One of Tim’s greatest ambitions is to accurately portray the western way of life in every last detail, such as the correct stance of a horse, a braying calf, well-used tack, light shining through autumn leaves, the ripple of water or the glorious colors of the western sky. The rural/agricultural lifestyle is driven by attention to detail and he aspires to achieve this with every painting.

The fourth honor and one of the most humbling, as it was voted on by the fans, is the Best of Western Horseman Artist, this marked Tim’s second time receiving this recognition. Fans voted for the artist who represents the Western lifestyle and strives to preserve the western way of life. Tim’s goal has always been to capture the authenticity of genuine working cowboys and cowgirls for the world to view and appreciate.

Over the course of Tim’s 50 years at the easel he has created close to 500 paintings, each one representing the spirit of the American West. The evolution of his artwork from the 1970’s to present day, depicts the contemporary western style for each time period. Also apparent in viewing the progression of his work, is the dedication to continual improvement as an artist to accurately portray every detail.

Tim continues to paint and the Tim Cox Fine Art family is excited to share Tim’s legacy of “Capturing the American West” for the world to enjoy.

Source: Tim Cox Fine Art

Tim Cox was born in 1957 and raised in the farming and ranching community of Duncan, Arizona near the New Mexico state line. In a 1975 high school English class essay he wrote that one of his fondest wishes was to be a member of the Cowboy Artists of America. His wish was granted in 2007 when he was invited to join the prestigious group. After serving on the Board of Directors, he is now the current President (2010).

Tim has been painting professionally since 1975 and has received numerous awards including the 2003 "Prix de West Purchase Award" and "Express Ranches Great American Cowboy Award" in 2004 and 2007 from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. In 2001, he received the "Will Rogers Western Artist Award" for Artist of the Year from the Academy of Western Artists and the "Olaf Wieghorst Best of Show Award" from the Mountain Oyster Club three times. Tim was voted into U.S. Art Magazine's "Print Hall of Fame" in 2000 and in 2008, Decor Magazine listed him as one of the fourteen "Most Enduring and Successful Poster Artists."

Tim Cox's work hangs in the permanent collections of the National Cowboy and Western HeritageMuseum, The Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia and in the Atlanta and in the Old West Museum in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

While most of his time is consumed by painting, Tim regularly rides and works on various ranches throughout the West. He combines the basic ingredients of color, value, perspective and pleasing design with his desire to be a perfectionist in portraying the real working cowboy. This perfectionism earned Tim the "Ayudando Siempre Alli Award" from the New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association for his contributions to agriculture. Alisa Ogden, President of the Association said: "Along with lifting our spirits, Tim Cox's special images keep the magic of the cowboy alive for literally tens of thousands of city folks across the nation and around the world."

Tim is a fourth generation Arizonan, but now resides outside of Bloomfield, New Mexico, where he continues to raise a few cattle and train horses with his daughter Calla and wife Suzie.

Sources:Suzie Cox, wife of the artist; Cowboy Artists of America 44th Annual Exhibition, 2009 . Publication of the Cowboy Artists of America and the Phoenix Art Museum. Artist files of the Phoenix Art Museum Library* For references, see AskART Glossary http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx

* For more in-depth information about these terms and others, see AskART.com Glossary http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx

The following was submitted by Isaac Klassen:

With a specialty of depicting the lifestyle of the contemporary cowboy, Tim Cox showed obvious early talent. By the time he was age 18, his paintings were being exhibited in an art gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Early in his career, he supplemented his meagre earnings from his paintings by working on a ranch. Mentors were Grant Speed, John Clymer, Jim Reynolds, and Gordon Snidow, all members of the Cowboy Artists of America. He also studied with William Whittaker at Brigham Young University for six months.

He and his wife, Suzie and their children settled in Bloomfield, New Mexico where he still helps neighboring ranchers and has his studio in his house.

Source:
Art of the West, March 1999

When Tim Cox isn't out rounding up cattle, he's in his studio painting so realistically of the West that many people think they are photographs. Attention to accuracy and detail has become a hallmark of Cox's work because he tries to please the ranchers and real cowboys who are often the subjects of his paintings.

In a profile in "Country Extra" magazine, he said, "I try to capture the individual characteristics of every cowboy, along with the relationship they have with their animals. They love being able to identify each horse and cow as well as each other. They take pride in being in the painting. It's their 15 minutes of fame, you might say, and I want to portray them in a positive light."

All of his paintings are drawn from scenes and people who are familiar to Cox. He says, "Everything I paint is something I've seen or done myself. It's all first-hand experience. My subjects come from small ranches where the parents and their kids do most of the work and the neighbors gladly pitch in to help each other when the need is there." He paints in oils on masonite; and he paints the language of those cowboys and ranchers.

Cox grew up drawing pictures of horses and cowboys and sold his first painting when he was in the eighth grade. Along the way, Cox has augmented his art training by studying with some of the country's leading contemporary western artists. Among them William Whitaker, Gordon Snidow, Grant Speed, Mehl Lawson, Bill Owen, Herb Mignery, and James Reynolds.

Among Cox's honors are winning the 2003 Prix de West, Museum Purchase Award three times and the Print Award twice in the Cheyenne Frontier Days Governor's Invitational Art Show and Sale. He is the only artist with that distinction. A copy of his 1989 Print Award winner, "Helping Dad", was given to President George Bush when he attended Cheyenne's Centennial. He has been nominated twice in the fine art category for the Academy of Western Artists' Will Rogers Cowboy Award. In 1999, he was the featured artist to the Cattleman's Western Art Show in San Louis Obispo, California, and for the past two years, Cox has won the Olaf Wieghorst Best of Show Award at the Mountain Oyster Club show in Tucson, Arizona.

Cox has been profiled in a number of publications including Western Horseman, Southwest Art, Equine Image, American Cowboy, Cowboy & Country, and Quarter Horse Journal. He is also listed in Contemporary Western Artists by Peggy and Harold Samuels, The Art of the American West by Caroline Linscot, as well as two books by Les Krantz, and the Southwest Art Review.

As a young child, Tim Cox vowed he "was going to be a cowboy artist" when he grew up, and he has lived that dream for 30 years. Growing up in a small farming and ranching community in Arizona was a natural environment that influenced Cox's love for being surrounded by cattle and horses and the wide open spaces. While most of the artist's time is spent painting, he rides and works on various ranches throughout the West and also raises cattle and trains horses he owns.

Cox's everyday experience with the cowboy life is reflected in the outstanding works that he creates. He combines color, value, perspective, accuracy, and design in his scenes of the daily life of the cowboy. As a perfectionist, his attention to detail and hands-on knowledge of the cattle and horses he so loves to paint have earned the artist legends of admirers and collectors who appreciate his accurate portrayals of western life. Viewers are brought up-close and personal with the animals and people who inhabit Cox's world. The West comes alive in his paintings.

Cox has won numerous awards for his wonderful art. In 2008, Décor magazine featured Cox as one of the 14 Most Enduring and Successful Poster Artists. In 2007, his painting, "Good Horses and Wide Open Spaces," won the Express Ranches Great American Cowboy Award; at this same exhibit in 2004, "Along Eagle Creek" won the award. In 2003, the artist was honored with one of the most prestigious awards in western art at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum exhibit. Cox's painting, "On to Better Pastures," won the coveted Prix de West Purchase Award. In 2001, the artist was awarded the Will Rogers Western Artist of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists and Friends of Western Art. Cox is also a three-time winner of the Olaf Wieghorst Best of Show at The Mountain Oyster Club.

Tim, a fourth generation Arizonan, and his wife, Suzie, enjoy the life that the artist paints on their ranch in New Mexico that they call home. Surrounded by their cattle and horses, they truly live the western life that most of us can only dream about.

Tim Cox
Endless nights of painting until dawn are finally paying off for Tim Cox, having been voted into the U. S. Art Magazine¹s Print Hall of Fame - 2000, and U.S. Art's "Gallery owners survey" named Tim one of the top two most popular Western print artists in 1999.

Tim Cox's paintings have appeared on over 110 magazine covers through the years, and he has been featured in articles in at least 16 different publications, including Southwest Art, Western Horseman, Art of the West, American Cowboy and Beef.

Tim Cox was born in 1957 in Safford, Arizona and grew up in the small farming and ranching community of Duncan, near the New Mexico state line. When only 5 years old, Tim vowed he "was going to be a cowboy artist" when he grew up. He currently lives in northern New Mexico.

While most of his time is consumed by painting, Tim continues to raise cattle and train his horses. He also finds the time to coach young riders who compete in cutting competitions and other competitive horse events. Tim combines the basic ingredients of color, value, perspective and pleasing design with his desire to be a perfectionist in portraying the real working cowboy. This attention to exactness is appreciated by most ranchers and cowboys as well as the recreation horse owners around the world.

He was awarded the Will Rogers Western Artist of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists and Friends of Western Art's Artist of the Year for 2001. His paintings are exhibited at the Prix de West Art Show at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City and he has been a three time winner of the Olaf Weighorst Best of Show Award at the Mountain Oyster Club Show in Tucson.

In 2003, Tim Cox was honored by the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, when the National Academy of Western Art chose his painting for the coveted Prix de West Purchase Award, which includes a $5,000 cash award plus a gold medal. Cox's On to Better Pastures was the judge's favorite of the over 300 works of art at the 2003 Prix de West Show which featured the works of ninety two highly acclaimed artists. His painting, Along Eagle Creek, was selected as the 2004 winner of the Express Ranches Great American Cowboy Award.