‘The myth of the Wild West lived strong in him’: Local artist honors father’s memory with exhibition of his handcrafted holsters

When the late Western Mass. artist Tom Bernard was in his 70s, he opted to turn his lifelong passion for the American West into a collection of handcrafted holsters for toy guns. Now his daughter, artist Gretchen Jennings, is showcasing her father’s love and work with an exhibition, “Cowboy Art.”

The collection itself is made of 117 holsters, including one on a mannequin outside the studio, hung up in two sections and arranged on one side in rows separated by replica train tracks. Above them is an arrangement of model railroad equipment Jennings jokingly refers to as “our Hoosac Tunnel.” No two holsters are exactly alike. Some are studded with rivets; others have silver badges and dangling leather lace. A few of the holsters feature the names or initials of key figures in Wild West iconography: Kit Carson, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Tom Mix.

Jennings’ father, Tom Bernard, was fascinated with the Wild West his entire life. “We have hundreds of sketches. He was always sketching, and most of them are cowboys on horses, trains – the myth of the Wild West lived strong in him,” Jennings said. “He just loved that era.”

The son of an Italian-born mother and Scottish-born father, Bernard grew up near the railroad tracks in North Adams and shined shoes outside of Jack’s Hot Dog Stand. Even at a young age, Jennings said, “he was a brilliant man, always the best in his class, well-read.” As a child growing up in the 1930s and 1940s, he loved going to see movies – especially Westerns.

Bernard served in the Korean War, then returned to western Massachusetts and took art classes at North Adams State College after his service. He later taught American history.

“I never had him as a teacher in North Adams, but I got plenty of feedback from students that he was a storyteller teacher, and I’m sure he made that era come alive,” Jennings said.

From 2004 to 2012, Bernard decided to take his passion for the Wild West into a new medium: leatherwork. He taught himself how to cut leather, make patterns and lace pieces together. He sourced his material from secondhand wallets and belts that he got at tag sales. (One of Jennings’ siblings did end up buying his father a sheet of leather at one point, though, to give him more material to work with.) Bernard didn’t exhibit his holsters publicly but, instead, gave some to his children as Christmas gifts.

Bernard died in July 2021.

Interestingly, he was decidedly not “a gun guy,” Jennings said – he didn’t even own a real gun himself. Underneath the holsters is a box of cap guns – one for each holster – which Jennings chose to separate from the main collection, not only because she felt it was more appropriate for the culture of the Pioneer Valley but also because “I actually think they look more beautiful without the guns in them,” she said.

Bernard’s artistic skill and love of the Wild West both influenced his daughter: Inside Jennings’ jewelry studio in Eastworks is a collection of small animal skulls, a number of turquoise necklaces and books about guns and Native American art and design.

“When I was setting this up with the help of my daughter and my nephew, I started thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, creatively, my father and I were a lot alike’ – like, make a piece and get inspired to do something else,” she said.

Still, jewelry-making is not Jennings’ full-time job – she works as a craniosacral therapist and supplements her income with two Airbnbs in her home, and she sells her art at just a few music festivals during the summer – but she still loves to create. Her studio, she said, is her “happy place,” which she works in four or five times a week.

If Jennings could exhibit the holsters anywhere, she’d exhibit them at MASS MoCA, only a block from where her father grew up. It’d be very full-circle, she said – her grandparents met in the former Sprague Electric factory that now houses the museum, and her father grew up within walking distance to it. Showing his work there would be a fitting tribute to his life.

“He raised my four siblings and I so well,” Jennings said. “He was a kind and beautiful man, and he and my stepmom were one of those love-love couples. He fostered art and reading and history in all five of us.

“I’m really impressed by his artwork and what he has done,” she added. “And during the opening, when all four of my siblings and my stepmom came here, it just felt like, ‘Oh my gosh, Dad’s here!’ It was just overwhelmingly beautiful.”

Ironically, Jennings said, she doesn’t think her dad would have attended a show of his own creations.

“He was a very humble man,” she said, “but we’re all proud of his work.”

“Cowboy Art” will be open at Eastworks studio #048 on Friday, May 23, from 3 to 7 p.m.; on Saturday, May 24, from 2 to 7 p.m.; and on Tuesday, May 27, from 3 to 7 p.m.

Carolyn Brown can be reached at [email protected].