Archive for April, 2009
Smithsonian’s Grand Canyons Visit Library
Not many vistas are as powerful as Jackson Hole’s Teton Range. Only the Grand Canyon outranks our mountains. The art of capturing that great national park is touched upon in the Teton County Library’s April exhibition, Lasting Light: 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography, on view in the library’s gallery April 16-July 16.
A Smithsonian traveling exhibition, the color photo collection reminds us of the Canyon’s siren call to photographers. See the Grand Canyon as some of our best photographers have experienced it, absorbing its grandeur and its intimacies. Images take in miles of canyon rim, waterfalls, lupin and pine needles, and every kind of light and shadow. 
The canyon is a landscape; it is an abstract composition blending nature’s perfect forms. The exhibition is a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and the Grand Canyon Association. It is sponsored locally by Teton County Library Foundation. Cost: Free. Location: Library’s Exhibition Gallery. Contact: Adult Humanities Coordinator, 733-2164 ext. 135.
A couple of time zones away from Jackson Hole–it seems light years away–in Hartford, Connecticut, Aid To Artisans (ATA) has worked for decades to create opportunities for third world artisans. ATA provides small grants that go a long way towards educating artisans and crafts people in poverty-stricken regions, while keeping cultures intact. ATA helps these creative enclaves bring their goods to the American market. Once an artisan has established a relationship with a U.S. vendor, ATA steps back, allowing infrastructure to develop and the artisan to sustain its own business initiatives. 
ATA is passionate about all cultural traditions and makes sure environmentally sound practices are followed. ATA says it recognizes it can “…can only bring lasting economic growth if (it can) provide an integrated approach to product development, business skills training, market access and eco-effective processes.”
For 33 years, ATA has provided mentoring in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe and Asia. I’m proud to say my mom, Thyrza Christel, contributed years of service to ATA, working in the grants department and travelling solo to Armenia, for a month, in her mid-sixties. The experience changed her life, and the lives of Armenian women working in crafts collectives. Working for ATA and the warm, creative craftspeople around the globe has been one of her life’s great passions.
ATA is offering a Market Readiness Program Aug. 15-19 in New York City; the course coincides with ATA’s annual presence at the New York International Gift Fair. The course offers “…the latest trend and market information offered by industry experts.” Marketing, distribution, design analysis, buyer 
relationships, importing and exporting, strategies, how to prepare your work for export…these topics and more will be explored.
Deadline for registration is July 15. A discount is available for early registration. To learn more, log onto www.aidtoartisans.org. Phone: 860-756-5550.
The envelope, please.
Several spring seasons ago, the Teton County Library hosted a most memorable show. That spring, one could visit the library’s gallery and get lost in a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit, “Graceful Envelope.” It’s impossible for me, a person who values tradition (I feel about printed newspapers the way Charlton Heston did about guns; you’ll have to take it from my cold, dead hand!) to refrain from gushing over that show.
The contest’s website says “…Calligraphers and artists from around the world are invited to participate in the 15th annual Graceful Envelope Contest, conducted by the Washington (DC) Calligraphers Guild under the sponsorship of the National Association of Letter Carriers. The contest is open to all ages, with two separate categories for children.” This year’s theme is “Address the Environment.” Log on here to view the site.
You can still enter 2009′s Graceful Envelope Contest; entries must be postmarked by April 30.
A old friend recently asked for my mailing address, as she likes sending letters in lieu of email. She loves her writing paper. That request prompts this re-running of my original article on Graceful Envelope, below. Happy Easter!
“More than kisses, letters mingle souls; for, thus friends absent speak”.
John Dunne’s poetry embraces the tone of “Graceful Envelope”, a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit now on display at Teton County Library. If you haven’t been to see these illuminating, exquisite envelopes, go. The artwork evokes longing sighs, remembrance, and a feeling that you’ve tripped along a mossy, hidden path to discover a secret garden.
A hundred painted envelopes are included in the Smithsonian exhibit, that originated in 1995. Artists create envelopes for the competition, their subject matter based on a stamp or a theme chosen by the National Association of Letter Carriers. Ah, if every letter were thus conceived! The show is heartrending in its beauty. It is nectar. Step softly along the library’s walls to find artwork that seems rendered by fairies; 
elegant, wispy, fables for a 4 x 6 inch tablet. You will choose your own favorites, but I mention a few of mine 
here: Cathy Chilton, of New Mexico, fancied “Water, Earth, Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon”, an envelope inspired by stamps portraying those locations. The envelope is creased like an accordion, with alternating slices of bottle green, baked canyon orange, and an indigenous lizard. This Crafts-styled piece stands in sturdy comparison to envelopes weighted with laced grapevines and golden pears hanging heavy on the branch. Humorous takes on the funny papers include a work picturing Popeye knocking the stuffing out of the mail, and a careening “Blondie and Dagwood” sketch. “Celebrating Nature” bears a regal butterfly, emerald on its envelope, wings and antennae dipping into lacey calligraphy addressing the work.
Rhapsodic, I realize, but this exhibit unleashed such images and memory. Days of Easter Egg hunts, overgrown gardens choked with wild roses, sprawling hillsides and ladies with parasols looking down from the top of sunny hillsides to a picnic in the meadow. And I remember writing on thick paper, pages and pages of summer letters sent and received as a child.
Save your letters and envelopes. As exhibition curator Ester Washington notes, “Letters were once precious possessions, tied in bundles with silk ribbon, and kept safe in scented drawer.” We can recreate that time. Let’s try.
Landscape painter Erin C. O’Connor, of Wilson, has been awarded the coveted three week Artist-in-Residency post at Joshua Tree National Park. O’Connor is represented locally by Galleries West Fine Art, in Jackson. Her residency runs April 6-26, 2009. The following information was released by the artist:
“I’m truly honored,” O’Connor says. “Having the time and artistic freedom to explore Joshua Tree is an incredible opportunity. My goal is to show the inherent beauty within a very harsh environment.” She plans on creating upward of forty paintings during the Residency, one of which she will donate to the Park’s permanent collection.
Promoting a deeper understanding of the region’s deserts is the aim of Joshua Tree’s Artist-In-Residency Program. The Park, in partnership with the Riverside Art Museum (Riverside, CA), oversees the selection process. “Dozens of nationally acclaimed artists submitted proposals,” states Daniel Foster, Executive Director of the Riverside Art Museum. “The jury was quite impressed with the quality. We’re proud to extend our congratulations to Erin, and we look forward to the work she’ll create here.”
O’Connor’s motivation behind the Residency stems from witnessing the 
pressure for industrial development on public lands. “Many people perceive undeveloped areas as valueless and inhospitable. In no place is this more true than our nation’s deserts. I’ve seen gorgeous, untouched expanses lost due to simple apathy in the public comment process. Art has the power to reawaken our perception of these places – even for those folks who’ll never venture past the pavement, art can make all the difference in inspiring preservation. By portraying the unique fragility and strength of a seemingly forbidding environment, I hope my paintings can make an impact on behalf of our desert lands across the West.”
Curt Sauer, Superintendent of Joshua Tree National Park, adds, “We’re seeking ways to reach broader audiences and more diverse user groups. The Artist-In-Residency Program is designed to inspire people through creative values.”
O’Connor’s style is highly recognizable. Color and graphic line form compositions that are bold, yet sensitive. By painting on location, the qualities within in her landscapes are heightened; shadows deepen, light radiates, and the connection she feels with her subject matter is evident. She is a familiar artist at many prestigious plein air events across the West, and her strong following includes collectors throughout the U.S.
Adding to her strict painting schedule at Joshua Tree, O’Connor will be available for public presentations, including outings with the 29 Palms Art Guild and the Plein Air Artists of Riverside. From August 6-19, a one-person show at Galleries West Fine Art in Jackson will showcase her work as Artist-In-Residence.
Contact:
Erin C. O’Connor
307.733.0749
www.oconnorscapes.com
erin@oconnorscapes.com
Galleries West Fine Art
70 S. Glenwood 307.733.4412
PO Box 3905, Jackson, WY 83001
www.gallerieswestjacksonhole.com
info@gallerieswestjacksonhole.com
Jackson Hole contemporary art impresario Rocky Vertone holds an opening –excuse me, that’s “Art Extravaganza!!!”– for artist Benji Pierson this Friday, April 3. The party gets started 5:30 p.m. at Frameworks Art Gallery and rolls until 9:00 p.m.
Vertone describes Pierson as a one-of-a-kind artist, one who conquered epilepsy early in life, making the condition a boon to learning how to draw. Pierson is influenced by “Sci_Fi art geniuses” Joe Johnson and Ralph McQuarrie.
A bit about digital media: it defines our lives. It springs from, is imbued with, art. All arts. Rebuffing the arts, saying they’re not crucial to a healthy economy, is dumb.
I’m out of my element. The dude is a snowboarder, his nickname is “Ruckus,” and he’s studied graphic design; this is evident in the show’s flyer art, above. Pierson came to Jackson in 2002. Vertone notes the artist is Director for Storm Show Studios; he’s also “primary artist” at Rob Kingwill’s Avalon 7 snowboarding collective. A recent Brew Pub show is down, but Vertone’s exhibit gives the gang another chance to pick up a Pierson.
Seattle’s DJ Sessions will be spinning the tunes.
“Who knows? Maybe some celebs will be there!” says Vertone. Here’s your contact data:
307.733.0770
Email:
rockyfour4@gmail.com
