Effie's Largest Exhibit Ever Comes to a Close
"An Afternoon with Effie" on February 14th rounds out our show.
by Steven Carlson, Curator
Welcome to another EFFIEgram tracing the art and life of Arizona’s earliest Impressionist desert landscape painter - Effie Anderson Smith (1869-1955).
A special THANK YOU to EVERYONE who responded to our Annual (Year-End) Fundraising Campaign and made a financial contribution. As an Arts Patron you made 2025 our most successful year yet in sharing Effie’s art with a wider world though our ongoing exhibits and online presence.
We also wish to thank all who made donations earlier in 2025 to the Effie Anderson Smith Museum & Archive in support of our exhibits and conservation efforts.
YOUR DONATION in any amount helps ensure we can continue our Mission of perpetuating the artistic legacy and inspiring life story of Arizona's earliest female desert landscape painter.
A special WELCOME also to our NEW SUBSCRIBERS to EFFIEgram who signed our guest register at our Desert Paradise exhibit at Sigler Western Museum in Wickenburg over the past few months. We appreciate your interest!
Impressions of the Desert - our newest display of the art of Effie Anderson Smith has opened at the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum and will continue through January 10, 2027!
If you are in Southern Arizona or visiting the Bisbee area soon please come see our exhibit and the many other wonders in the center of historic and intriguing Bisbee. This is the place where Effie’s life in the Arizona Territory began in 1895. Come see it for yourself. We have several events planned during our exhibit here in 2026 that we will announce in future EFFIEgrams but don’t wait to come enjoy all Bisbee and nearby Tombstone and Douglas have to offer.
Our DESERT PARADISE exhibit at Sigler Western Museum continues through February 15th.
In early 2025 Chief Curator Dr. Tricia Loscher of Sigler Western Museum and I renewed a conversation we’d been having for several years about mounting a truly comprehensive exhibit spanning Effie’s lifetime as an active artist in Arizona.
After extensive discussions with Tricia, last June I started gathering the first paintings of what would eventually be an exhibit of 57 paintings by Effie Anderson Smith and several by her most accomplished students for our retrospective exhibit Desert Paradise at Desert Caballeros Western Museum (now Sigler Western Museum ) in Wickenburg.
The 5000+ visitors who came through the doors of Desert Caballeros / Sigler Western Museum in the second half of 2025 to see our Desert Paradise exhibit and the other fabulous displays in this Museum means that more people are seeing Effie Anderson Smith’s art in person than in any other year since Effie began exhibiting regularly in 1921. In fact it is likely - by the time our exhibit ends on February 15th, 2026 - with thousands more visiting our show during ‘the season’ - more art lovers will have seen Effie’s timeless desert art embodying the Arizona experience - than ever before.
There’s still time remaining for you to see the largest exhibit ever of Effie Anderson Smith’s art!
On Saturday, February 14th I’ll again present An Afternoon with Effie at Sigler Western Museum in Wickenburg. Join me starting at 1:30p when I will take you through a 30 minute walking tour of Effie’s art and artifacts from her Arizona years in 3 galleries - and then I’ll present a 20 minute powerpoint presentation on Effie’s life, followed by a Question & Answer time.
AN AFTERNOON WITH EFFIE on February 14th will run from 1:30-3:00p and of course you are free to roam the other galleries of art and historical western artifacts and history that make up the fabulous collection at Sigler Western Museum. Hours are 10a-5p every day except Sunday when hours are 11a-3p.
For information on museum tickets, hours, parking and more please visit the website of Sigler Western Museum. Our exhibit DESERT PARADISE with CLOSE on Sunday, February 15th at 3:00p.
I’ll be at the exhibit in Wickenburg all day Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 15th. I’d love to see you there and give you a personal tour of the exhibit. If that interests you, please drop me an e-mail at Info@EffieAndersonSmith.org so we can arrange a time to meet in the galleries and experience Effie’s art together.
Our Biggest Exhibit Transition Ever across Arizona…
As our Sigler Western Museum exhibit in Wickenburg closes February 15th, we begin the process of moving many of the best paintings in the exhibit on February 16th to our newest show at the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum where you can see our full exhibit there - beginning February 20th.
Also during that week I’ll be stopping at the homes of many friends of the Effie Museum Project as I return paintings from our Wickenburg exhibit that were entrusted to us for this show by individuals and institutions.
We are grateful to all these wonderful Effie painting owners who loaned their treasured art by Effie from their family or personal art collections. Some have bought Effie’s art at auction or in antique shops or online who found Effie’s art to be inspiring - or it reminded them of the land around them where they grew up - and in many cases it was a family member a generation or more ago who acquired a painting directly from Effie in the early 20th century.
Our thanks to ALL the individuals and institutions who loaned Effie’s art, including Douglas Historical Society, Douglas Art Association, Cochise College, and Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum along with the archives of the Sulphur Springs Valley Historical Society and Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives.
WE ARE GRATEFUL TO OUR DONORS who help make all these exhibits possible and for us to continue to exhibit Effie Anderson Smith’s timeless art in Arizona and beyond.
In 2025 we have evolved from presenting sporadic exhibits a few times a year to partnering with major regional museums to keep Effie’s art on view all year long.
YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS ARE KEY TO THIS PROGRAM. We invite you to consider making a first time gift to the Effie Anderson Smith Museum in any amount.
For your gift of support we are happy to offer you a THANK YOU GIFT on our SUPPORT page and receive an art booklet featuring Effie’s paintings and life story - or a canvas art print shipped to you on a wood stretcher - ready to hang on your wall or suitable for framing.
Your donation in the amount of $ 50 or more (or $ 5 per month) brings you the opportunity to support our exhibits and to receive DESERT PARADISE with 9 of Effie’s most popular paintings and the most complete biography of her life in print.
A $ 100 donation (or $ 10 per month) makes PICTURES FROM THE DESERT available to you - with 17 full page painting images and full descriptions of the background of each of Effie’s art works shown.
And - for your donation of $ 200 ($ 20 per month) or more you may select from 9 of Effie’s most iconic and timeless Arizona paintings like these (canvas prints on stretcher) ready to hang or frame.
Please visit the SUPPORT page of our website at EffieAndersonSmith.org for more.
YOUR DONATIONS are making it possible to bring Effie’s art to new audiences!
And please consider SHARING this EFFIEgram with a friend. In addition to your donations, you can help grow the Effie Art Community as an Arts Patron by expanding the audience and increasing appreciation of Effie’s timeless Arizona art.