Rustic Atmosphere
The Montana home of Mike and Sheila Ingram primarily focuses on Old West-themed paintings and sculpture.
Mike Ingram describes the first art he and his wife, Sheila, bought in 1972. “It was the Tim Cox calendar which I would cut out each year and have matted and framed. I still have some of them today. If you look closely, you can see the little hole at the top of the picture where you could hang the calendar. From that point on, I started moving up and bought a lot of prints and even later on, signed prints. It was Eddie and Nadine Basha who really encouraged me to start collecting art and I saw their beautiful art that hung in their home.”
The late Eddie Basha was CEO of Bashas’, a chain of family-owned grocery stores. He amassed a collection of more than 3,000 works of Western and Native American art. He said, “When you’re passionate about something you want to make that personal connection because that is what really matters in the end.”
Mike says, “We really buy art from the artists whom we know and the pieces we really like, although we do have several pieces of deceased artists that resonate with us.”
Sheila adds, “I have always admired beautiful art and I love the Western lifestyle, history and heritage.”
The collection is spread among the couple’s homes. Sheila recounts: “We have a little different look at each of our homes. The Prescott home is geared toward wildlife artwork. Spur Cross Ranch in Bozeman, Montana, has a rustic atmosphere with Native American and Western painting that have a little of the Old West. We even have paintings in the horse barn. In Paradise Valley, anything goes. In the main house, we have some of everything from floral in the master bath to Pino d’angelico in the master bedroom. And, of course, Western and Native American art everywhere else. The guest house shows African culture with John Banovich and Trevor Swanson paintings.”
The couple has an affinity for the work of the artists in the Cowboy Artists of America. Sheila explains, “We bought our first bronze in 1998 at the CAA art sale. It was Oreland Joe Sr.’s Morning Star. Our first original painting was in 1999 at the Phippen Museum in Prescott where they were doing some quick draws. We