Louis “Buzz” Sands made his fortune selling cars around the Valley.

The art at the multi-million dollar museum expansion he is funding indeed celebrates horsepower – of horse-drawn carriages and Native Americans riding through Western landscapes in the days long before automobiles took over Scottsdale.

The Old Town art anchor Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West will unveil a major expansion the week of March 24.

“The grand opening of the Louis Sands IV Center marks a transformative new chapter for Western Spirit Museum and a defining moment for Scottsdale as the ‘The West’s Most Western Town.’ This must-see destination was designed to inspire pride in our community, spark curiosity, and deliver a powerful, immersive cultural experience that really connects with our guests,” said Todd Bankofier, CEO and executive director of Western Spirit Museum.

In the fall of 2023, Sands made a $12 million donation to fund an expansion adding two new floors and two galleries.

That was quickly followed by another eyebrow-raising gift: the donation of the Eddie Basha Collection of American Indian and Western American fine art. 

A staggering collection put together over four decades by the late Bashas’ leader will be split between the Scottsdale museum and the Heard Museum in Phoenix. 

The Louis Sands IV Center will feature this and three other new exhibitions, which Bankofier calls “a milestone moment for Scottsdale and its community.”

The Louis Sands IV Center is a two-story, 12,000-square-foot addition that expands the museum by a quarter, to 55,000 total square feet.

Western Spirit Museum will host a weeklong celebration inspired by the theme “Unmistakably West,” displaying Western American and American Indian art, painting, sculpture, jewelry and ceramics.

On the main gallery level, three interconnected exhibitions present the West through three-dimensional art forms.

“Visions in Bronze” explores how sculptors have used this enduring medium to shape modern myths of the frontier. 

The exhibition draws on more than a century of work, from the classical inspirations of Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell through contemporary works by American Indian and women artists.

“From Earth to the Stars” traces the evolution of American Indian jewelry, revealing how artists transform silver, turquoise, and stone into expressions of identity.  

The exhibition showcases masterworks by artists such as Preston Monongye, Jesse Monongya, Charles Loloma, Verma Nequatewa (Sonwai) and the Yazzie family.

“Fire of Ages” explores over six centuries of American Indian ceramic traditions, showcasing how Hopi and southwestern potters have shaped clay and fire into vessels of extraordinary beauty and meaning. Major exhibits are from the Allan and Judith Cooke Collection and the Arthur and Linda Pelberg Family Collection, showing the products of fire, clay and vision.

Basha collection

The upper level of the new Sands Center is dedicated to “Working Pardners: Masterworks from the Eddie Basha Collection.”

This is the inaugural public presentation of what Bankofier calls “one of the most significant collections of Western American and American Indian art assembled.”

At a 2023 event celebrating the huge donation, Nadine Basha said her late husband’s collection is in good hands and that “these two world-class institutions will be excellent partners in fulfilling Eddie’s wish to continue to share the collection and have it remain in Arizona.”

Edward “Eddie” Najeeb Basha Jr., who died in 2013, was the chairman and CEO of Bashas’ Inc., Arizona’s only family-owned grocery store company. 

After taking over Bashas’ when his father died, he and his fellow Bashas’ members expanded the small company to a chain of 160 stores. 

In 1971, under the encouragement and guidance of his aunt Zelma Basha, Eddie began collecting art inspired by and reflecting the American West.

The museum will show paintings, sculpture, and works on paper that reflect Basha’s lifelong commitment to Western arts and artists.

The sprawling exhibition “reflects the depth of Eddie’s partnerships with artists,” said Tammy Fontaine, associate curator. “This exhibition gives visitors a rare opportunity to experience his love for the West, its land, and its people.

“From bronzes and paintings to prints and carvings, ‘Working Pardners’ invites visitors to see the West not as a solitary frontier,” Fontaine stressed, “but as a shared landscape of labor, kinship, ceremony, and collaboration.”

The Basha exhibition features masterworks by the likes of Joe Beeler, David Johns, Larry Yazzie, Gary Niblett, Martin Grelle, Russell Houston, Ernest Berke, Cecil Calnimptewa, Howard Terpning, David Halbach, James Reynolds, Bill Owen, Ken Riley and Roy Anderson.

Rather than cramming Basha’s invaluable collection into the pre-expansion museum space, the new exhibit will have a home of its own.

“The Louis Sands IV Center allows us to tell the story of the West in a new, more expansive way, placing painting, sculpture, jewelry, and ceramics into conversation across two floors,” said Andrew Patrick Nelson, chief curator.

“The grand opening of the new expansion will not just be an unveiling, but a meaningful cultural experience,” Nelson promised. 

Receptions and special events will be held March 24 through March 29, honoring the museum’s expansion and “celebrating the enduring spirit, artistry, and heritage of the North American West.”

Western Spirit is located at 3830 N. Marshall Way, Scottsdale.

Infromation:  westernspirit.org.

Marketing funding

At its Jan. 27 meeting, Scottsdale City Council approved a museum request of $90,000 “in support of a one-time funding agreement for marketing the grand opening of the Louis Sands IV Center Museum expansion.”

One month earlier, the Tourism Development Commission recommended City Council allocate up to $90,000 from the portion of the Tourism Development Fund for the museum’s grand opening event.

After a presentation, Councilman Barry Graham made a motion to approve the funding “on the condition that staff reports back to the City Council on how funds were allocated,” with “key performance indicators such as attendance increases and visitor origin data and economic impact.”

Graham’s motion carried 6-1 – with Mayor Lisa Borowsky opposed.

Borowsky called herself “a huge fan of the museum … But I can’t vote for this tonight based on what I’ve heard and what I’ve read. I don’t think there’s a clear marketing plan.”

According to the agenda report, “A similar effort was approved on Feb. 23, 2016. Museum of the West, Inc. received $500,000. related to a gallery development and marketing project. The requested amount included $100,000 to market and promote the new exhibit.”