Viewed on a pedestal at a museum exhibition, Wilson Capron’s spurs could easily pass for sculpture. The forms are balanced and graceful; the silver inlay is hand-engraved with a precision that takes many years to develop. But when you put them on, they work exactly as intended. That’s the point.
Capron is the 2026 Premier Artist at Trappings of Texas, the 40th annual gathering of Western artists and gear makers at the Museum of the Big Bend in Alpine, Texas. Running September 17 through October 31, with opening weekend events September 17–19, it is the longest-running exhibition of contemporary Western art and handcrafted cowboy gear in the country. For anyone who has never made the drive to Alpine for it, this milestone year is the year to make it happen.
Founded in 1986 by Gary Dunshee, owner of Big Bend Saddlery, and Joel Nelson, award-winning cowboy poet, Trappings grew from a simple conviction: the American West produces artists whose work deserves to stand alongside the finest craft anywhere. Four decades in, that conviction is still displayed every fall in Alpine. Juried artists come from across Texas and far beyond—painters, sculptors, silversmiths, blacksmiths, and gear makers whose deep knowledge of ranching life is visible in every piece.
Wilson Capron’s story begins where you would expect for a man who now makes some of the finest bits and spurs in the country: on a ranch. He was born to a family living on the 6 Bar Ranch north of Van Horn at the base of the Guadalupe Mountains, where his father Mike Capron—a highly regarded Western artist in his own right, who has exhibited at every Trappings since the very first—was working as ranch manager.
On the path from his childhood on the 6 Bar to a precision bit and spur workshop, Wilson team-roped for twenty years after high school, including 5 years roping professionally with the PRCA, and during his college career landed an apprenticeship with Greg Darnall, one of the country’s largest bit and spur manufacturers. He started at the bottom as a parts chopper, cutting large pieces of metal into small ones, and on the job, he learned everything a working shop demands. When he left three years later, he could handle any task in the place.
But when he tried his hand at engraving, everything changed. He loved to draw but did not want to be a painter, and something about the precision and difficulty of engraving consumed him the way roping once had. His father helped him put it into perspective:
“When my dad saw my engraving work, he said, ‘let’s learn Art!’ and started showing me artists, giving me lessons. When I told him, ‘I only want to make bits and spurs,’ he said, ‘what do you think that is?’”
Finding the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association in 2003 gave the craft a community. He had expected the competitive wariness he’d become used to on the rodeo circuit. What he found was something else: “It was the nicest, most welcoming group I’d ever met. I was so excited to be around them and learn from them, I was a big old sponge of learning!” He applied for membership in 2004 and, against the odds for a tight-knit group that requires a ¾ vote of the membership to join, he got in on the first try.
Twenty-seven years after setting out with his first handful of bit and spur orders, Wilson still has not caught up. The work has grown from engraving into something more complete — he describes himself now not as an engraver but as a bit and spur designer, a role requiring mastery of welding, fabrication, machining, silversmithing, and blacksmithing.
“You want to grab the viewer’s attention from across the arena, and maintain it the closer you get, all the way to a 10x loupe,” he says. “In the end, I feel like I am telling the story of the west: the bumps and bruises, sweat, tears, the glory of accomplishing the job. All that is told within my bits and spurs.”
The 40th anniversary opening weekend is the moment to see that work in person. Thursday’s preview party offers a first look at the exhibit. Friday brings the grand opening and sale — the opportunity to acquire a featured piece directly. Saturday features a chuck wagon breakfast and artist demonstrations, before the weekend wraps under the West Texas sky with a party and live auction at a nearby ranch.
Forty years. One weekend. Don’t miss it.
