Jackson Hole Art Blog

As this is the Jackson Hole Art Blog, and not the Irish Artists Look at America Blog, I should probably begin this post with my “Art for Dummies” discovery that Thomas Moran, famed portraitist of Yellowstone, was not the only artist in his family.   In fact, most of his immediate family were noted artists, a bit of art history I recently discovered.

Instead I’m opening by turning you on to Irish painter Tom Molloy’s exhibit at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art.  Located in Ridgefield, Connecticut, the Aldrich is a gem, an “approachable” museum with great appeal.  A friend cautioned that the Aldrich was, at the time of our visit, “between exhibits.”  It was.  Most galleries were closed, but the exhibition we viewed was so powerful it was worth the time invested and more.

The show’s title, Tom Molloy, is as spare as this exhibit first appears. It is unusual because Molloy is an Irishman living in Ireland whose work is largely about American events and issues.  Akin to Pop Art, Molloy’s art utilizes real money, maps, other found objects and wordplay.  His “surgically precise” drawings and scale are magnetic.  Zoomed in, Molloy’s scathing opinions on global events, new world order and America’s role in global affairs reveal themselves.  Messages are punch-you-in-the-heart clear.

A self portrait depicts Molloy holding a newspaper featuring a photo of an Abu Ghraib detainee holding a photo depicting one of the detention facility’s nefarious prisoner abuses.  Map, one of Molloy’s best known works, is a cut dollar bill map of the world; not much larger than a dollar bill, we initially mistook the work for a wall doodle. Positioned at eye level, it is in fact a “….double-edged metaphor of American might and hegemony.”

Dead Texans, a series of fifty stamp sized portraits of death row prison inmates executed in that state during George W. Bush’s tenure as governor, captures each prisoner’s likeness, even providing glimpses of personality and fractured spirits. From a slight distance the portraits resemble inky thumbprints.  These men are simultaneously stripped of personal identity and confirmed as unique, individual beings. Each regards the viewer straight on.  Faintly visible penciled drawing grids further connote incarceration and the reality of fifty doomed destinies.

Standing in the gallery’s center, we realize that an exhibition as politically charged as this has yet to turn up in Jackson. With time, I believe we can open ourselves to exhibiting work with equal depth and commentary.

Tom Molloy remains on exhibit at the Aldrich until June 13 2010. Phone: 203.438.4519.

Item #2:

Went to dinner at my cousin’s house.  She’s a master artist in her own right, she needs to exhibit and show, show, show.

As we talked, she pointed out a substantially sized etching hanging over the sofa.  The work depicts a Pennsylvania open field, ringed by forest, and inhabited- Peaceable Kingdom style–by cows and other animals.  She pointed to the artist’s name:  Peter Moran (1841-1914).

My cousin found the etching at a flea market. She cleaned it up, and instantly spotted Moran’s signature.

Peter Moran, brother of Thomas Moran, favored Pennsylvania’s farmlands as subjects, but in 1890 he participated in the U.S. Indian census, and ventured into Yellowstone.  “Grand Tetons View” was, according to Grand Teton National Park, most likely painted while he was on that expedition.  A watercolor, this view captures the Tetons as they appeared from Idaho.  It is part of the permanent collection of the Roswell Museum and Art Center.

Peter Moran, the youngest brother in the Moran family, is said to have become his brother’s best art student.

Peter was three when his family arrived in America.  At age fifteen, he became a lithographer’s apprentice.  His interest in portraying animals was life long.  Moran’s efforts in this area are obvious;  the Teton painting seems an exercise compared to his animal scenes, which are rich in detailed devotion.

“I love the way my gallery looks right now; it looks like a New York gallery!” - Tayloe Piggot

J.H. Muse Gallery’s Tayloe Piggot made that comment a few years back; the gallery was then housed in its former West Broadway space.  But, far from moving away from aligning herself with NYC’s mega-arts culture, she continues to reach out, looking to translate that city’s contemporary energy to Jackson Hole’s art scene.

To that end, she and arts specialist  Camille Obering present “Influences of Nature on Abstraction,” opening at J.H. Muse on September 3.  Spotlighting contemporary masters Milton Avery, Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler and Joan Mitchell, the show remains up through the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival (power play!) all the way to October 14, 2009.  An opening reception takes place Friday, September 11, 5-8:00 pm.

Obviously, public access to works by internationally known contemporary artists is  rare in Jackson.  We’ll all feel as if we’re partaking in a MoMa field trip, and that will be thrilling.  Folks living full time in the inter-mountain west, as a rule, don’t visit significant contemporary museums as often as urban dwellers  This show, says its organizers, depicts work “unconstrained” by “representational” rules—a comment seeming to allude to a belief that here, constraint and representation are the norm.

Emerging art movements often claim to be throwing off restraints of earlier schools, and they are.  But no school of art emerges from a vacuum.

Artistic “constraint” is a misconception; artists decide for themselves what feels like constraint.  If Clyde Aspevig were asked to paint like Frankenthaler, he may feel some constraint.  Aspevig doesn’t interpret and experience nature the same way as Frankenthaler.   Poetry is highly structured and disciplined, but often seems less formally conceived than prose.

These artists–Frankenthaler, Avery, Mitchell and Diebenkorn–created something new for themselves and for art history.  In creating something new, another set of rules for achieving the effect the artist wants is established.   Another guide is written, another opinion.  Artists’ efforts to tell the world as they see it are  opinions set to canvas, photographic paper, in clay.

Artistic vision is highly personal, but principles invariably apply.

From the age of seven, Picasso received formal, academic artistic training.  From those building blocks, his brilliance exploded.  Over and over again Picasso studied the human form.  Without this deep knowledge, Picasso’s abstractions would lose their magic.

Obering puts the Muse show artists in context:

“Milton Avery (1885 – 1965), often thought of as America’s Matisse, is best known for his conflation of abstraction and representation using a rich and unusual palette.

Richard Diebenkorn’s (1922 – 1993) aerial landscapes of California illuminated the light and line of this area by marrying color field painting and geometric abstraction in a bold personal style.

Helen Frankenthaler (born 1928), known as a color field painter and an abstract expressionist, utilized a technique known as “soak stain,” in which oil paints were diluted and painted onto unprimed canvas or
paper, resulting in stunning and luminescent paintings.

Joan Mitchell’s (1925 – 1992) powerful and energetic brush stroke played out nature’s patterns, light, and depth, making her work some of the most spectacular of the
Abstract Expressionists.”

I’d kill for a Frankenthaler; when I look at her work I feel as if I’m beneath the ocean’s surface—a favorite place to be—floating over brilliant corals, translucent kelps.   My sister would like an Avery, please.

For information, visit www.jhmusegallery.com, phone 307.733.0555—or, contact Camille Obering through her website.

Item #2  -  Not Too Late For a Little Cayuse!

Cayuse favorite Jack Walker is back, bringing new designs and best sellers, on Friday, August 28th from 5 - 8pm. Meet Jack and view his pure silver and leather hand crafted work.  He’s joined for the second year by Jackson jeweler and silversmith Dawn Bryfogle, whose work combines contemporary gemstone styling with vintage sterling treasures.  She’ll also be showing her new handmade sterling pieces.

Margaritas may make an appearance at tonight’s opening.  For info, email  info@cayusewa.com.

The Buffalo Bill Historical Center’s Whitney Gallery of Western Art is set to re-open June 21.   It has been closed for remodeling since October 2008.

Curator Mindy Besaw has been neck deep in the project.

“It’s been “all Whitney, all the time” says Besaw.  “I hope to provide visitors with a rich new perspective on the role of art in understanding the American West.”  Besaw feels the gallery’s 50th anniversary catch phrase, “Seeing the West in a whole new way,” captures its essence.  She notes that the “… reinterpreted gallery goes beyond a traditional chronological display of artwork to create a mixture of historic and contemporary art, grouped together based on such themes as, “Horses in the West,” “Wonders of Wildlife,” “Heroes and Legends,” and “Inspirational Landscapes.” Put another way, it “celebrates the past and envisions the future.” ”

The gallery’s history began when the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association commissioned a New York artist, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, to create a monument to Cody. She donated Buffalo Bill – The Scout, which was dedicated on July 4, 1924, and forty acres of adjacent land.

Besaw tells us that,”For 30 years, the Scout remained a solitary horse-and-rider at the outskirts of town. In 1954, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, the sculptor’s son, donated funds in his mother’s honor to create a western art gallery in Cody, Wyoming. Then, in 1957, the Honorable Robert Coe, acting for the Coe Foundation, purchased the Frederic Remington studio collection of paintings, sketches, and artifacts and gave it to the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association for a new art museum.”

And, as they say, the rest is history.  For information, contact  Mindy Besaw at mindyb@bbhc.org , or phone 307.578.4053

First Lady Michelle Obama’s remarks at ribbon cutting ceremony for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American Wing are stirring indeed.  The Jackson Hole Art Blog takes this opportunity to remind its readers of art’s crucial role in our education, cultural life and economy by reprinting her speech here.  The “…intersection of creativity and commerce…” The text of Mrs. Obama’s speech is supplied by the White House Press Office.   The ceremony took place at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 18, 2009.

MRS. OBAMA: Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you so much.  Please, rest.  (Laughter.)  Good afternoon and thank you, Emily, for that introduction, and thank you for reminding me.  You know, after 20-some-odd years of knowing a guy, you forget that your first date was at a museum.  (Laughter.)   But it was, and it was obviously wonderful; it worked.

So I am delighted to be here with you to celebrate American history through the arts.  From the beginning of our nation, the inspired works of our artists and artisans have reflected the ingenuity, creativity, independence and beauty of this nation.  It is the painter, the potter, the weaver, the silver smith, the architect, the designer whose work continues to create an identity for America that is respected and recognized around the world as distinctive and new.

The American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art captures this spirit in presenting a variety of American art forms and providing a link to history for us to learn from, appreciate and be inspired by.

Our future as an innovative country depends on ensuring that everyone has access to the arts and to cultural opportunity.  Nearly 6 million people make their living in the non-profit arts industry, and arts and cultural activities contribute more than $160 billion to our economy every year.  And trust me, I tried to do my part to add to that number.

The President included an additional $50 million in funding to the NEA in the stimulus package to preserve jobs in state arts agencies and regional arts organizations in order to keep them up and running during the economic downturn.  (Applause.)

But the intersection of creativity and commerce is about more than economic stimulus, it’s also about who we are as people.  The President and I want to ensure that all children have access to great works of art at museums like the one here.  We want them to have access to great poets and musicians in theaters around the country, to arts education in their schools and community workshops.

We want all children who believe in their talent to see a way to create a future for themselves in the arts community, be it as a hobby or as a profession.

The arts are not just a nice thing to have or to do if there is free time or if one can afford it.  Rather, paintings and poetry, music and fashion, design and dialogue, they all define who we are as a people and provide an account of our history for the next generation.

The President recently nominated renowned theater producer Rocco Landesman to chair the National Endowment for the Arts.  Rocco’s entrepreneurial spirit and his commitment to being a bridge between the philanthropic, non-profit and commercial arts community will ensure that all types of art and creative expression are provided fertile ground to live and to grow.

And that’s what we hope to do at the White House, that’s what we’ve been trying to do at the White House.  We’ve been trying to break down barriers that too often exist between major cultural establishments and the people in their immediate communities; to invite kids who are living inches away from the power and prestige and fortune and fame, we want to let those kids know that they belong here, too.

I want to applaud the Metropolitan Museum of Art for all the outreach that you do, for having kids like these here today to be involved in this and to experience this and to share this with us, because this is your place, too.  So we’re very proud of the Met for the work that they’ve done.

So we are excited.  Thank you for including me.  And now we can get to the — we’re going to cut the ribbon now.  (Laughter.)  Thank you so much.  (Applause.)

END
3:21 P.M. EDT

If you missed, as I did, the opening of “People of the Plateau: Native American Photography by Edward S. Curtis,” on loan to the Art Association from the University of Wyoming Art Museum, you have through May 25 to see this historic collection of photographs of Native Americans.   Curtis’s great work, “The North American Indian,” is 20 volumes in length, with 20 portfolios of over 700 copperplate photogravures. The exhibition is on display upstairs, in the ArtSpace Loft Gallery.

Terry Winchell, owner of Fighting Bear Antiques, opened the show April 10th.

The magnitude of Curtis’ work cannot be overstated. It brings together myriad people and languages.   I’m grieved to have missed Winchell’s talk, and in an effort to assuage myself and learn more about Curtis, I did a bit of research. I found a wonderful site, Edward S. Curtis’s “The North American Indian”/Edward S. Curtis in Context.

There you will find five other pages that together provide an excellent context on Curtis: A biographical timeline for Curtis; Curtis and the North American Indian; The Myth of the Vanishing Race; Curtis as Pictorialist and Ethnographic Adventurist; and a map of the North American Indians as experienced by Curtis.

Mick Gidley, Professor of American Literature, School of English, University of Leeds, England’s essay on “The North American Indian” is excellent.  Here is an excerpt:

“But when the seeming white brother appeared on the mesas of Arizona in the sixteenth century, the Hopi had been expecting him for hundreds of years. That is, they had an extensive history quite their own, and a corresponding literature. Indeed, all of the Indian peoples–however much the coming of horses and other later imports affected the bases of their cultures–had a history, a religion, a system of government, social customs, handicrafts, and myths and songs of their own which predated the coming of white people among them. Edward Sheriff Curtis’ The North American Indian was a truly magnificent effort to record a vast amount of very many of these aboriginal cultures. Published between 1907 and 1930 in twenty volumes of illustrated text and twenty portfolios containing more than seven hundred large-sized photogravures, The North American Indian, which was issued in a very limited edition and sold rather expensively on a subscription basis, contains millions of words: descriptions of homelands; accounts of religious beliefs that some might find strange; accounts of tribal organizations ranging from the aristocratic to the casually democratic; records of ceremonies so subtle in their significance, or so seemingly bizarre, that an alien eyewitness could easily not understand what it all meant; versions of haunting myths, songs and stories; descriptions of domestic chores and of intricate and skilled arts and hunting practices; and heroic tales of arms and men. In short. The North American Indian is a monument in words and pictures to a range of cultures which most white men could not or would not see.”

Where is the Spiral Jetty, perhaps the most famous land art sculpture, located?

The Great Salt Lake.

You probably knew that.

The Jetty is immediately identifiable with Utah’s Great Salt Lake, a memorable icon with a very positive connotation.  We connect forward-thinking creativity and environmentalism with this significant earth art.

The jetty is a giant earth logo.

The concept of Land Art appeared in the U.S. ..in the 60’s!  Of course.  In its purest sense earth is linked to the creative process, and becomes the art.  Land art can erode over time, be ephemeral, and leave us with only the memory of the work. Made entirely of earth elements, land art is truly sustainable because no matter how long it survives or transforms, no ecological harm is done.

Sculpture gardens are more permanent outdoor projects; they also create a strong, identifiable sense of place.   Google ’sculpture gardens’ and one of the first items you’ll come across is the Sculpture Parks and Gardens Directory,  provided by the International Sculpture Center.   The directory displays an emerald world map, and countries with notable sculpture gardens are indicated.  I clicked on USA, and up popped a map of the United States.  States with documented sculpture gardens had a yellow dot hovering o’er.

The map seems to indicate Jackson Hole, Wyoming has a world-renowned sculpture garden! A yellow dot floats above Wyoming’s upper left corner.  Click on that, however, and a link Colorado’s Museum of Outdoor Arts window opens.

MOA’s history vitae page tells us that the non-profit is a “…synthesis of fine art, architecture, and landscape design integrated into the community and business environment.  It is fully accessible to the public, exemplifying the belief that “art is a part of everyday life.”

Utilizing a One-Percent-for-Art program–Seattle’s program is a prominent example–the organization’s founders purchased commissioned art for site-specific projects.

Our town of Jackson seems a good place to create a stronger sense of place through incorporating new public placemaking art that is accessible to visitors and residents, and that interprets traditional themes and values in contemporary ways.  Outdoor art allows everyone to take it in on their own terms.  Yes, we’re in a recession.  What better time to re-think our downtown and what it might offer to us, and to visitors?

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.

The Buffalo Bill Historical Center (BBHC ) in Cody will receive $190,000 to study and digitize William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s personal papers.   The earmark, part of the 2009 Federal Budget Bill, also known as the Omnibus Bill, was introduced by then Representative Barbara Cubin.   Cubin left office in January.

Lee Haines, BBHC’s Director of Public Relations, says it will most likely take several months to receive the funds.  Once received, the money will be used to create three new jobs: an editorial assistant and two researchers.

“We anticipate that the entire project will be completed within three years,” says Haines.  “That said, we don’t plan to wait three years before we begin to share what we have found and make information available online.”

What shape the information will take as it is presented to the public is unclear, but Haines says it will probably be organized much like chapters in a book.

Why is a bill sponsored by an out-of-office representative still alive?

Federal budgets are planned two years in advance.  Budgets are combed over and passed on to the Administration, which then submits it to Congress.   The idea is to get it ironed out before the fiscal year the money is to be spent.  It all bounces around, is adjusted, and moves from agency to Congress to the Administration and back before being signed.

“Museums everywhere are trying to realize such projects so that people can have access to information,” says National Museum of Wildlife Art CEO Jim McNutt.  “We have our collection online, and any such project is worthy no matter where the funding comes from. I can’t comment on the BBHC’s process, but I’m very much in favor of such projects.”

The earmark has been widely questioned.  “Taxpayers for Common Sense,” a watchdog group, singled out the BBHC funding, gaining the project national attention.   Critics, including Republican Senator John McCain, tagged it as typical wasteful pork barrel spending.  Proponents argue Bill Cody’s papers are a national treasure and should be preserved via federal funding.

In other fundraising efforts, the BBHC has secured $310,000 from private donors and $300,000 from the Wyoming State Legislature.

In a February 25 statement, House Representative Cynthia Lummis said, “Congressional leaders are turning a blind eye to the plight of millions of Americans by passing this bloated pork-laden spending bill.”

The BBHC takes issue.  “This funding request is a normal part of the process that museums and many other institutions go through to secure funding, not only for particular projects, but for general operating support,” Bruce Eldredge, Buffalo Bill Historical Center Executive Director and CEO, said. “This request will provide additional support for what we consider to be important scholarly work. It’s unfortunate that some people appear to regard scholarship as unnecessary.”

End.

She may have already sold it, but Mary Schmitt and Cayuse Western Americana have obtained a hand made Sioux beaded horse neck ornament.  Dating from the late 19th century, it is, according to Schmitt, the only known neck cover on the market since 1989.  “Very few exist in museum collections,” she says.

After the Civil War, beading became more and more popular; outside influences increased, and Americans, other than Indians, collected and bought beaded goods.  Tribes were more relegated to reservations and time available for beading and crafts increased.   Designs changed, and the American flag motif was developed.

But finding such an excellent specimen is “…a once in a lifetime occurance,” says Schmitt.

Cayuse Western Americana is located at 255 N. Glenwood, Jackson, Wyoming. Phone 307.739.1940 or 800.405.4096

Tuesday, March 3

Art After Hours
Presented by the Dragicevich Foundation
7:00PM in the Cook Auditorium
FREE

It was a century ago when William Hornaday, Theodore Roosevelt, and early members of the American Bison Society (1905) established the first bison reserves. These early efforts were primarily directed at the capture and containment of the few remaining bison on fenced preserves to save the species from extinction. Present efforts to conserve the largest land mammal, the American bison, are far reaching and complex.

In 2006 the American Bison Society was re-established with a new mission directed at the ecological restoration of the species. Keith Aune is Senior Conservation Scientist for the North American Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and works on several conservation issues including ecological restoration of the American Bison.

Aune has been involved in wildlife research in Montana and Wyoming for 32 years. He has conducted field or laboratory research on black and grizzly bears, wildlife diseases, wolverine, cougar, and, more recently, bison. Aune is currently based in Bozeman, Montana, and will discuss the history of bison conservation and recent bison restoration efforts by WCS through its American Bison Society Initiative.
Co-sponsored by the Wildlife Conservation Society.

For information regarding this and other NMWA programs, phone 307-733-5771 or log on to www.wildlifeart.org.