It’s hot in Eastern Arizona in mid-August, the kind of day when a man a’horseback would need to give some extra help to his trusty mount.

It’s the kind of day that artist Tim Harmon of Globe, Arizona, had in mind when he sculpted “Coolin’ Off,” depicting a hot, tired cowboy lifting up the back end of his saddle to give his horse some air.

And it’s entirely appropriate that as the America’s Horse in Art Show & Sale opened at the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum in Amarillo on a sweltering day in mid-August, Tim stepped up to the podium to accept the Steeldust Award. This prestigious award, given by a panel of judges, recognizes an artist for a superior body of work submitted to the show.

“I was just really surprised,” Tim said of the moment he learned he won the award.

He says he was honored to add the Steeldust Award to the list of other laurels he has earned from the Phippen Museum, Western Artists of America, Cowboy Artists of America and the Phippen Foundation.

Tim, 73, says he got a late start to sculpting, having turned out his first piece in 2004.

“I’ve always been pretty handy with stuff,” he says. He had whittled and sketched and even tried oil paints before realizing he was a bit color blind. But when sculptor Jack Wolf gave him some clay, along with a few pointers, things fell into place.

“The three-dimensional work is really satisfying,” Tim says, “so I stayed with it, and I’m still doing it.”

Although he attended workshops from renowned sculptors Mehl Lawson and John Coleman, Tim is largely self-taught.

Tim was a carpenter and remodeler by trade, and he worked at that profession as he and wife Frankie raised their two boys. By 2010, though, he was ready to retire from carpentry and concentrate on sculpting full time.

Or … almost full time.

Throughout Tim’s life, there has always been cowboying.

“I’ve been in ranching almost all my life,” he says, and he now runs cattle on his family’s ranch near Tonto Basin, Arizona. In his younger years, he worked as a cowboy full time in Arizona and New Mexico before realizing he needed a line of work that paid more, but he continued to day work on the side.

The place in Tonto Basin is 22 sections, and there’s some pretty rough country, Tim says. He has three American Quarter Horse geldings, which is nice because “I can pretty much wear one out in a day.”

“I’ve broke all of them myself,” Tim says, and “I’ve done all my own horseshoeing,” although he’s starting to think about hiring that out.

Next on his to-do list is starting a 2-year-old colt he bought from Fort Ranch Quarter Horses in Idaho. Tim’s friend – and last year’s America’s Horse in Art signature artist – Don Weller recommended that ranch and its good-minded horses. (See the August 2018 America’s Horse at www.aqha.com/americashorse to read the story on Don.)

Tim’s colt, Cowboy Kwackin Prom, is by Cow Kwacker (High Brow Cat-Kwackin by Dual Pep) and out of a granddaughter of Freckles Playboy.

“I’ve been working with him on the ground,” Tim says. “Once he turns 3, I’ll get a saddle on him and get more serious on his training.”

Although Tim doesn’t compete with his horses, he uses them on the ranch – and that in itself turns out some nice horses.

“I get them where I can work cattle on them and work in a corral,” he says. “I can rope off them, and I can cut cattle off them. And they won’t buck you off on a cold morning. That’s something that you really appreciate.”

Arizona ranch country can be rocky, and Tim pastures his horses in rough terrain, which ends up teaching them a lot.

“When I get on them, they know how to handle themselves a lot more than these horses that have been raised in a pen. They know how to climb, they know how to cross rough places. They just know how to handle themselves in the rock.” They’re self-taught – much like their artist owner.

Most of Tim’s sculptures depict working cowboys, and he gets ideas from both lived experiences and stories he hears from other cowboys.

“I really like to talk to the old timers who have a lot of cow in ’em,” Tim says. “They used to do a lot of cowboying that was pretty rough stuff. It was pretty western for them.”

One of his most popular pieces, “Switchback,” stemmed from a story Tim heard from his uncle, who had gone hunting for wild cattle with his uncle. The men came across a 3-year-old bull that had never been caught, they got him roped – and excitement ensued.

“There’s a lot of action in that sculpture,” Tim says, “and it really draws the cowboys.”

For “Coolin’ Out,” Tim says that piece represents a horse that has been working all day – daylight to dark – in that hot country he calls home.

Tim has also done pieces depicting Native Americans and prospectors, who were prevalent in Arizona in the 1800s.

If his work travels back in time, Tim makes certain that everything is historically accurate, as well as proportional. For the modern cowboy scenes, most of those details are ingrained in his daily life, so there’s no need for research. But he still pays close attention to proportions, even going out to take measurements on the horses that live just outside his studio.

Mehl taught him techniques to get proportions exactly right, and Tim says, “I’m real particular.”

Every detail is scrutinized, even some that at first glance wouldn’t seem to be that difficult – like hooves, for example.

“Horses’ hooves are hard,” Tim says. “A lot of sculptors hide them in grass. You wouldn’t think they would be, but they’re hard to get shaped right.”

Visit www.harmonbronze.com to learn more about Tim’s art and his attention to detail.

For more than a decade, the America’s Horse in Art Show & Sale has been collecting some of the best equine art in the world and offering it for sale in the best possible win-win scenario. Purchasers, of course, take home amazing bronzes or captivating canvasses, and a portion of the proceeds benefits the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum, a program of the American Quarter Horse Foundation, supporting its efforts to preserve the history of the American Quarter Horse.

The artwork of Tim Harmon, as well as that of many other artists, is available on a first-come, first-served basis. The art show opened August 17 and continues through October 12.

Art sales are available online at www.aqha.com/ahia, by telephone at 806-376-5181 and by email at artshow@aqha.org

Prints of the signature art by Buck Taylor are available for purchase in person, online or by phone. Signed prints are $110, and unsigned prints are $35.

America’s Horse in Art is underwritten by the Amarillo Convention and Visitor Council Art Committee, the Fairly Group and the American Quarter Horse Foundation. Learn more about the Foundation and its programming at www.aqha.com/foundation.