Jackson Hole Art Blog

It’s exhilarating to be home.

Recently the JH Art Blog was down. Hardly an ideal re-entry scenario, but we’re up and running again, and working to catch up with Jackson’s arts scene. It only takes a brief reacquainting visit to galleries to realize that Jackson’s regional arts scene, for a town of its size, is truly exceptional.   It’s alive with eclectic work and great talent represented in every venue. We’re not New York or Paris or Chicago….or Miami.   But the quality of art here, the quantity of talent?  We should be proud.  Our subject matter reflects the region, yes. National and international influences are finding their way in, and when good management and vision are in play everybody wins.

Regarding the situation involving the Art Association and Aaron Wallis:  I’ve had my conversation with Wallis, so we’re done as far as that is concerned. However, the current situation between him and the arts community is very unfortunate.   No winners there.   Hope it can be resolved.

The good news:

The weather is here, wish you were beautiful and Artists in the Park (officially Artists in the Environment) features Wilson, Wyoming artist Jocelyn Slack this Saturday, August 14th, at Oxbow Bend Turnout in Grand Teton National Park. Slack, an illustrator, works primarily in watercolors, pen and ink.   She’s a regular contributor to Crane Creek Graphics and her work was included in the recent Center for the Arts exhibition of images of dancers.

Artists in the Park is sponsored by the Grand Teton Association and is free to the public.   Look for Slack’s easel and the event’s Artist Demonstration banner.   Artists in this series begin painting at 9:00 a.m. and end at noon.   Bring a chair, snacks, and paints if the spirit moves.

Phone:  307-739-3606.

Item #2:

“I am fascinated with painting white objects because, in watercolor, white subjects are what appears in the place where there is no paint. By painting the shadows on the form and the negative space around the form, the form itself appears.” – September Vhay

Essence.

What Jackson painter September Vhay does best, some might argue, is capture the essence—the nut—of the animals she paints.  Her new show goes up Saturday, August 18, at Trio Fine Art and features Vhay’s trademark graceful renditions of horses, wildlife, ranch animals, magpies and orchids.

The orchids are white, and Vhay says painting that particular flower connects her to her watercolor background.   Structurally, the flower may appeal to the painter’s other identity; she’s a trained and practiced architect.  In fact, orchid petals remind Vhay of draft horse haunches.

And the flowers hold still.

Trio’s artists are all trying new subjects.   Vhay also will exhibit paintings of longhorns.  For her, the bulls intrigue “…on many levels, from the shape of their horns to their symbolism of the West. Longhorns were the first cattle introduced to the U.S. in the late 1400’s due to their ability to handle harsh conditions and to breed easily. Their disposition is innately gentle, yet they appear intimidating due to the size of their horns, which can span up to 80 inches.”

“In one painting, this gentleness is expressed in the bulls eye,” Vhay said, “Yet his horns let you know that in an instant he would have no problem protecting himself.”

For info, log onto www.vhay.com, visit www.triofineart.com, or phone 307.734.4444.

Item #3:

Art Association Happenings!

The Jackson Hole Art Association’s Local Landscapes with Local Artists series features artist Tammy Callens on Saturday, August 14, 8:30 am – 12:30 pm.   The half day of creative fun and learning takes place at the Snake River Ranch.

This workshop costs $75;  Art Association members may attend for $50.   Billed as “Interpreting the Traditional Landscape,” (I take that to mean attendees will explore ways to interpret landscape in various ways) the morning includes:

· A one hour painting demonstration and talk by Tammy

· Two hours to create using the medium of your choice

· A critique and one-on-one direction from Tammy

· A simple picnic lunch will be included

Space is limited.   To sign up, or for more info, call 307.733.6379.

Talk Like an Egyptian?

August 12 – 15, 2010 | 5 Lectures | Attend one or attend them all!

Beginning August 12th, the Art Association will present a series of lectures by Hisham El Meniawy. A native of Cairo, Mr. Meniawy is a history and archeology specialist of ancient Egypt. He studied at the university in Cairo and has lectured for 20 years in Europe and at conferences and archeology sites throughout Egypt.

Egypt’s ancient arts are a keystone of the world’s art history.   Please contact the Art Association for more information on this series.

Coming up:  The second  Summer 2010 Jackson Hole Art Fair takes place August 20-22 at Miller Park, in Jackson.  www.artassociation.org

This summer visitors to the National Museum of Wildlife Art (NMWA) can reacquaint themselves with a group of works from the museum’s collection that have been on the road.  Wild at Heart: Highlights from the National Museum of Wildlife Art, returned May 22 and is on display through August 15, 2010.

More than 70 works make up the collection, an homage to America’s wild places. Paintings and sculptures are grouped by region (North, South, East and West of America) rather than chronologically.  Significant European and American artists are represented, including  Albert Bierstadt, William H. Dunton, Bob Kuhn, John Woodhouse Audubon, George Catlin, Charles Russell, Ken Bunn and Carl Rungius.

Artists heralded the power and magnificence of America’s wildlife and wilderness.

“Beginning with explorer-artists and continuing with the best contemporary painters and sculptors working today, wildlife has been a consistent subject in American art,” says National Museum of Wildlife Art Curator of Art Adam Duncan Harris. “We hope that this exhibit helps viewers see the connections between wildlife and art in new ways and prompts further appreciation for the wilderness that remains at the heart of what makes North America exceptional.”

Harris is the author of the recently published book, Wildlife in American Art, which includes many images from the Wild at Heart exhibition.

NMWA’s strong ties with the city of Pittsburgh may have played a role in the exhibition’s premiere at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in the summer of 2006.  The exhibit subsequently “toured”  the Rockwell Museum in Corning, N.Y., the Vero Beach Museum of Art in Vero Beach, Fla., and the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi.

For information on NMWA’s exhibitions and schedules log onto the Museum’s website, www.wildlifeart.org.

Item #2:

“Artists in the Park” was, I’m told, originally known as “Artists in the Environment.”  I’ve known it under the former identity; they are one and the same, however and here is this summer’s (2010) schedule of participating artists:

This coming Saturday, June 12, painter Eliot Goss will be painting from 9am – noon on the shore of String Lake near the main String Lake parking lot, in Grand Teton National Park, weather permitting.  The public is invited to view Goss as he works; bring your chairs, water, snacks, sketch books, paints, questions, cameras, whatever strikes your fancy for this summer’s first plein air painting demonstration.

The rest of this summer’s schedule is as follows:

July 10 – Shannon Troxler – Cottonwood Turnout, 9am – noon (first turnout on the right after Taggart/Bradley Lake)

August 14 – Joslyn Slack – Oxbow Bend Turnout, 9am – noon

September 11 – Kathy Wipfler – Chapel of the Transfiguration, 9am – noon

“Artists in the Park” is a great tradition of sharing the plein air process, as well as the special places in GTNP, with the public.   Make sure you catch at least one of these exceptional painters this summer.   For information, contact Liza Millet at
 
917-864-9395.

We now return to American Idle……

Now, I must say something—go a little outside my comfort zone—about Jackson’s green marketing blitz.

We’re over- market-greening, risking the individualism we Jackson Holers hold so dear.  An overall energy policy for Teton County would set a great standard for counties residing in such special territory.  Set standards, legislate for the environment.  Just don’t bury me in “green” emails and overtures and solicitations.  I know you are green.  We’re the green choir, we are.  My email box is crammed with solicitations for donations because the asker is “green.”    I’m asked to contribute to one green event after another.  Everyone seems to be finding ways to weave a green thread through their marketing.

I am pretty green myself.  I’m not perfect, but I try.  Our marketing is homogenizing, and I cannot tell the difference between recycling centers and hotels and retail stores and restaurants and  ANYTHING!!!……I’m often chastised because I still read news printed on paper, and I enjoy reading real books–not flat, tiny iridescent slabs costing hundreds of dollars apiece, soon to be outdated.   We’re an army of iPadding, iPodding, crackberry droids.  We look silly!

There is, actually, evidence that books are much greener than electronic readers.   Every big event promoting initiative costs money and creates a large carbon footprint.

“How Green is my iPad?”

When will one of our leaders take a leap and begin campaigning for JOBS in Jackson?   That’s the elephant in our room.  We know how to ask one another for money.  Can we please confer on how to create jobs that will provide long-term salaried positions in Teton County?   Our real estate prices remain among the highest in the country;  as sales statistics show only the most expensive properties are seeing some movement.  As for the rest of the inventory, it’s reasonable to expect a rebound lagging behind most of the rest of the country, because we are not showing any inclination to nudge asking prices down to an acceptable level in this recession.   That means all the real estate based jobs we’ve lost in Teton County will be slow to recoup.  And that sector is where a high proportion of salaried jobs have been.

The technology sector is widely viewed as the sector most likely to create jobs for the future.   How can we attract that sector to Jackson?   There are ways, but I fear that the same single vision for Teton County–a rich county basing income on expensive real estate and tourism–is remaining intact with our political and civic “deciders.”

We’re ever more elitist and controlling; this is the same sort of restraint one finds in country clubs where rules are rigid and there is real trouble if you’re

caught wearing anything but white on the tennis court.   PLEASE, Jackson Hole — consider our visitors.  Only the wealthiest of the wealthy will be able to afford (and for that matter be attracted to) a destination that has plastered over every sign with green paint.

I don’t want to go for “green drinks.”

We are GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK.  We are YELLOWSTONE.  We are JACKSON HOLE.  We’re losing the ability and will to stand out amongst ourselves, and if it gets blurry for us, it gets blurry for the public at large.   I don’t idle my engine, but I hate the idea of a see-all community eye gauging my every errand and measuring my idle index.  If I park my car outside in sub-zero Jackson winter weather, it’s going to idle for a while after I get it started before I drive it.  Particularly if I don’t have a block heater.

We need JOBS.

I’ll say this too:  The Virginian got a raw deal.   Talk about stealing a last toehold from the original population of Teton County. The Virginian is one establishment, one eatery and bar, for God’s sake!!  We’re arrogant in our persecution of its smoking policy.  If you hate smoke, don’t frequent the Virginian.   People I know and admire very much support cutting the Virginian off, but their judgement is in error here; a line was crossed. Eventually, possibly as soon as the next generation, the Virginian’s status will evolve because the good people frequenting it will no longer be with us.  But leave the Virginian, a vintage (one of the last un-monkeyed with vestiges of Jackson) and salty Western holdout of Jackson Hole, to its own devices.  We’re squeezing out the “undesirables.”  When will we see the first harassing graffitis sprayed on the doors of those we deem “non-green-compliant?”

We’re an army of drones. Be conscious, but know, too, when your marketing and driving “greenego” © requires an intervention.

Yikes! This mass marketing is so pervasive it’s redundant and …vain.   Lead by example, not persecution and retort.  Our agendas are proved not by what we proclaim or explain, but by what we do.  The action is the measure.

I’m talking here about marketing outside the realm of scientific conservation;  NOT about the mission of orgs like the J.H. Conservation Alliance and their sister science and research-based groups. We need to support such organizations in every way we can, keep the pressure on full blast lest we lose the wilderness we’ve managed to save thus far.

I’m a registered Democrat and an independent thinker.

Item #3:

The Art Association holds its Free Art Class Sampler on Thursday, June 10.    From 5-6:30 pm the public is invited to the Center for the Arts to get a taste of the many classes offered by the Art Association this summer.   Head on up to the third floor studios for an opportunity to get to know a bit more about the large variety of classes offered.  Meet the teachers, tours the studios; it’s all FREE.   Sign up for a class that night and get a discount–10% off your class cost.   For more information, call (307) 733-6379, or log onto www.artassociation.org.

Press materials describing the National Museum of Wildlife Art’s exhibit of field sketches from the American frontier read like the pages of a scholarly tome.  So I’m thinking a scholar–namely Adam Duncan Harris, NMWA’s Curator of Art–wrote it.

So it’s quite difficult to improve upon what Harris has already told me.

May 8 – August 29, 2010, visitors to the Museum will have a chance to see “…a veritable snapshot of wildlife roaming the American frontier in the early 1830’s, Swiss artist Karl Bodmer’s detailed field studies made while on expedition up the Missouri River…”

Karl Bodmer’s Western Wildlife: Original Sketches from the Joslyn Art Museum showcases some of the earliest works depicting the American West.  The sketches combine the best of two observing schools, Science and Art.   In fact, the exhibition has an accompanying, complementary exhibit, Travels in the Interior of North America: Etchings by Karl Bodmer, on display through October 17, 2010.

Studies are often closeted in favor of finished works, and that’s a shame because studies can offer up lively compositions and “first takes,” unfettered by possible over-working.    The show presents a fine opportunity for scholars and lay people alike; those who know these sketches exist but do not get a chance to see them will relish the opportunity;  those seeing wildlife art for the first time will appreciate its roots.

These sketches represent Bodmer’s observations from 1832 – 1834, while the artist was on the Missouri River Expedition.   Bodmer completed studies of animals, birds and reptiles, created either out in the wild or in studio, using deceased animal specimens.   Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum holds a great cache of Bodmer’s original work.

If you read the excellent monthly art magazine Western Art Collector, please take time to read Harris’ excellent essay (April 2010 edition) A Diverse View of the West: Works on Paper. I think Harris is one of the most passionate of curators.  He loves the wildlife art genre.   Time and time again he has expressed to the public–using either the written word or by giving a talk–his great ability to “see” what we may not immediately be able to describe to ourselves when looking at wildlife art.    Harris acknowledges the difficulty artists face trying to keep renderings of wildlife fresh; even when “fresh” is not an element in wildlife art, Harris knows what makes great wildlife art great.   And in the case of artist Geordie Millar’s large drawing “Moose #4,” it is simplicity of line and the fact that the artist pushes traditional boundaries by coming close to filling a 60 x 63 inch field with a female (not an antlered male) moose trying to stand.

First sketches often contain an Asian minimalist quality.  And that is lovely indeed.

More info:  www.wildlifeart.org

While we’re still in NMWA land,  I will mention that former NMWA gift shop manager and plein air artist Jen Hoffman is prominently mentioned in the May/June edition of Fine Art Connoisseur, as an Artist to Watch.   That is huge.   And, this art blogger is proud to be mentioned at the end of that article, in relation to Hoffman’s work and Blurb catalog.   Congratulations, Jen!

Item #2:

Whodunit?
Artspace Main & Loft Galleries
ONE NIGHT ONLY! | May 7, 2010

An annual favorite, Whodunit is a one-night event exhibiting and selling many dozens (that’s my best estimate) of small works (6 x 6 inches) that sell for $99 each at the close of the evening.   The twist is two-fold:   1)  Artist identities are unknown    2) Works are sold by lottery to one of the list of bidders listing their name as wanting to purchase the art.

Familiar with many local artists’ styles?  Well, you may guess correctly on who created what some of the time…but usually, there are many surprises.  Artist names known, artists names not-so-known;  it doesn’t matter, the talent and diversity of work is the stuff of legend.

A great fundraiser for the Art Association!  Check it out.     www.artassociation.org

PS:  Summer Classes sign up – Do it!   Lots of great classes to be taken, art to be made, creative roads to be traveled.   Classes start in June, and that is SOON.

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.