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Show OCTOBER 1995 Artist Don Weller Ain’t Your Average Cowpoke on Weller has a problem. It’s not D: problem faced by most worldrenown. illustrators: it’s his irrigation day in Oakley and he’s got to make sure his shares of the Weber River make it to his pasture. This, of course, isn’t as easy as it might seem, and the designer-slashartist has a wet shoe and pantleg to prove it. Although he spent his boyhood in the setting agricultural around Pullman, Washington, Don Weller has spent his adult life at < drawing table with a pen. All that is changing slowly. Weller now wears two hats — a cow- boy hat when he’s cutting cows or his specially-bred cutting horses, or no hat at all in his nearby studio, where most recently he designed a series of stamps for the US Postal Service. His work has also graced the cover of Time magazine as well as many foreign periodicals and can be seen in Park City, a coffee-table book and a slew of other hard-bound working tombs. twice-annual tourist magazine, Lode- Star. The Wellers escaped L.A. in the mid-1980s for Park City, after discovering Utah skiing. “We were always grumpy when we had to go back to L.A.” Don remembers. So, with the advent of the FAX, computer modem and Fed-Ex, they found little trouble moving to Utah. Don and Cha Cha built a house on top of a hill in Park City, where they thought they were settled. ut it was about then that Don began developing a fondness for cutting horses. It began innocently enough in 1984, says Don. “When we moved to Park City, I was looking for a book idea. I saw a copy of Western Horseman Magazine store . . . | remember in the c L Sy of Z SN) / Don Weller in his Oakley studio. grocery seeing a cutting horse competition . . .” As it turned out, Utah is 4 “hotbed” of cutting horses and cutting-horse : AVY competitiions. Soon, Don had his own cutting horse. But he couldn’t very well keep born in late February. Preparing to do a little cow-cutting for The Wasatch Mountain Times, Don pulls on his boots and fastens up his chaps. Cha Cha grabs her rubber irrigation boots and fol- the end, he explains, the horse does the work and the rider tries to stay in the saddle. The nimble cutting horses are actually quarter horses bred for their athletic ability and desire to herd cattle. Like big gymnasts, they literally can turn on a dime, as Don demonstrates in the corral by turning a steer this way ince and steers cut several been explains, Weller made his mark as an illustrator in L.A. It was there in the late ‘00s that he met his wife, Cha Cha, a native of Hiroshima, Japan. The pair now collaborate on many projects, including books and Park City’s poe peat ‘ ai DANA it at his hilltop Park City house. One thing apparently led to another, and today the Wellers live on a small spread in Oakley, with their studios next to a horse barn and four cutting horses — including a young colt lows to make sure the cows cooper ate. As he begins to cut a doggie out of the herd, Don explains some of the basics of cutting and the subtle signals he will give his horse. But in that. these they are have to the Mt. lunch. There, Air Cafe Don in Sag and the Wellers like it. @ ue AFFORDABLE 420 801-649-4400 800-825-8889 Nightly Rooms and Home Rentals Park City, Utah 1-800-649-4498 © 649-4498 PAG (2 +t 22ers Kamas for teases the waitress and Cha Cha orders a Mt. Air Burger with fries™its a long way from L.A. WILLIAMS PREMIER REALTY Don meaning they aren’t as responsive as the ones that have not been harrassed recently. Fortunately, Cha Cha is there on foot to spook the sour steer back toward Don and another demonstration of cutting. When the morning workout comes to an end, the Wellers repair — Honesty, Integrity] Experience already times, “sour,” |
