Jackson Hole Art Blog

The first part of this series (planned as two parts, it is now a three-part) touched upon landscape designer Walter Hood’s cursory views on Jackson’s approach to its own landscape. This second installment addresses Hood’s vision for a new NMWA sculpture garden and connective earth design.

“It is not the stuff you have. It is the stuff you no longer have. A lot of planning is too much about “what we need” v.s. “what we have.” In a reciprocal way, planning should be about the things that connect us-how to connect us. That makes us special.” - Walter Hood

Walter Hood has travelled to Jackson Hole to consult with the National Museum of Wildlife Art (NMWA). In a recent edition of NMWA’s member publication Call of the Wild, Hood described the beginnings of his collaboration with NMWA that will, ideally, result in a new museum sculpture garden.

It’s not as if Hood’s work to date has included an ongoing interest in wildlife museums, but the environment and how people use it drive his work on the project. Process and progress, inspiration ignited by how people choose to make “place.” On a certain level, he says, it’s all the same, whether one is talking about a sculpture garden or an entire community.

“The museum is interesting in that there are these cultural artifices, pieces of art, that are trying to represent nature,” says Hood. It’s a bit ironic that bronze elk are stationed at the base of the Museum’s driveway right across from the Elk Refuge; the installation seems an attempt to convince the public that there is a connection between NMWA and the Refuge.

“If the landscape itself was powerful enough it could move people in fantastic ways. That is what I am interested in. Standing out on NMWA’s hill, is there a way to allow a visitor to be in the Refuge? It is possible. NMWA’s architecture builds on the idea that it is “with the landscape,” and ironically that is one of the issues they are dealing with.”

Hood believes he could scale and shift existing landscape, so that art as well as the landscape is legible. “Attempt to eliminate design dichotomy, the experience of being either here, or there - either at the museum or in the landscape; either in Jackson or in the landscape.”

Check out parking lot ratios to the buildings they serve, suggests Hood. Looking at the Museum’s site, the parking lot stretches incredibly far, perhaps taking more space than the building itself. Part of the lot might be converted to trail, and a pervious surface is healthier for surrounding growth than asphalt, an oil-based material.

Rarely filled, and within a couple of miles of town, a reduced parking lot would be no problem if more mass transit options existed. “You don’t even want to know what asphalt is doing the environment; pervious surfaces would change our world drastically.”

Will NMWA pursue traditional design for its sculpture garden? Hood thinks both representational and contemporary design will be utilized.

“As a designer I have my own preferences, but when I do work I accept that scope,” he affirms. “What they are interested is figurative art with a long tradition, pre-Renaissance. But they had a show last year with Picasso and other contemporary artists rendering wildlife. Fantastic! Jane (Jane Lavino, NMWA’s Sugden Family Curator of Education) talked about the possibility of having contemporary installation in the landscape that would talk about wildlife in very different ways. I think then the project becomes broader in scope.

It is not about placing things; it is about creating more of a visitor experience where you can have permanent and temporary pieces co-interacting in the setting. Helping people make discoveries without bringing in the artificial. We have some strong ideas on how that might be achieved. It is my job to provoke. NMWA has the ability to create amazing indoor and outdoor experiences, and those are what museums are about today. It could be fabulous!”

It’s all already there. It’s only a question of how to make it visible.

The Art Association has named a new Executive Director: Jennifer Crawford. Karen Stewart, outgoing director, says Crawford has strong arts credentials, “infectious energy and ideas.”  Crawford takes over in January, 2010.  She replaces Stewart, who led the Art Association through 16 years of growth.  She guided the Association’s transition to its current home at the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts. Stewart will retire at the end of January.

Congratulations to Jennifer Crawford, and KUDOS, KUDOS, KUDOS to Karen as she begins the next phase of her life with family, friends and great projects.

NOW….

Jackson artist Jenny Dowd is being honored at her alma mater, the University of Missouri. The university’s first Alumni Exhibition features Dowd’s sculptural aged forms…forms that look like teeth and books.  We wrote about that, and we are proud to have collaborated with Dowd on her Blurb Book, “Collection.” Dowd and her husband Sam work for Jackson’s Art Association, and are noted for their sculptural works;  Jenny is inspired by history, data and nature, while Sam creates fanciful, orbital and aerial inspired-forms, forms that would transfer very well to claymation.   Jenny’s work was also featured in the Premio Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro International Competition for Young Sculptors in Milan, Italy.

Item #2: Charlotte’s Arts - Why Not Here? Connect the Dots!

Charlotte, South Carolina’s arts, that is.  Charlotte’s Mayor Joseph Riley is solidly behind public arts initiatives in his city—and he’s been re-elected for NINE terms!  I’m excerpting some highlights from an article on the subject, compiled by various Gazette-Virginian staff, here:

“The arts, public grounds/parks and historic preservation are “the three basic reasons, the initiators” of Charleston, S.C.’s phenomenal change, keynote speaker Mayor Joseph Riley told Art & Creative Economy Conference guests, town and county officials Wednesday.”

Oh heck.  I’m crunched for time.  Here’s the rest of the article, and it’s a good one. I’ve italicized major points.

“Riley described downtown Charleston as almost dead in 1977, the year the Spoleto Festival USA debuted there. “But the arts, all those people coming, and all the flowerings started” igniting the rebirth of the downtown district.

However,  the seminal course change almost floundered.

Initially composer Gian Carlos Menotti started an arts festival in Spoleto, Italy in 1958, and a North American “sister city” was sought.

Charleston went courting, but some on the committee were not delighted with all aspects of the Italian festival – finances were described as a mess - and worried a similar event in Charleston might have a negative impact on the community and the existing arts.

Riley - backed by the committee’s 6-5 vote tabling the disbandment motion - fought for Spoletto Festival USA, “to make ourselves a stage for the arts.”

The city began raising money and cleaning up for the event.

Today, the 17-day Spoletto’s phenomenal impact on the arts and economy continues. “Spoletto began the artistic renaissance of Charleston. It’s never been so robust, but it goes so far beyond that,” he added, naming development of magnet schools for the arts at the high and middle school level.

The arts also are being used as a unifying theme to reach kids in an inner-city school.

“We are teaching everybody,” added Riley, describing the wonderful spectrum of the city.

The quality of life in Charleston also makes recruiting easier for businesses, Riley noted, with one businessman naming that asset as making it easier for him to recruit the employees he needs.

Historic Preservation
In the early 20th century, some wanted to tear down Rainbow Row, recalled Riley. “The ladies rose up, taking a stand for preservation,” he recalled.

Today, Charleston boasts the first Preservation Ordinance in America.

When the historic buildings are preserved for adaptive reuse, the structure takes on a forever aspect, according to the mayor. “You can’t create this from scratch,” he added, emphasizing the city’s historic preservation as one of the three basic reasons for its great revival and success.

Public Parks
“It is very important that there be public places,” emphasized Riley. “The more the better. The public realm is so important,” he repeated.

Vision, a hefty $750,000 private donation and creative negotiations with a property owner ultimately resulted in the city’s Waterfront Park.

“No one can imagine Charleston without Waterfront Park,” added Riley. “The community adores it. The moral imperative is that we make sure the city is an inspirational place for everyone,” he said.

The park also elevated the notion of the public realm, going to the extra effort to create beautiful places for the public, according to the mayor.

Charleston also fought for a bridge with bike and pedestrian paths, opening yet another avenue to the public, recalled the mayor.

“Great towns or cities, the size doesn’t matter, these principles are universal,” said the mayor, who speaks with almost 34 years experience as a master of transition in Charleston.

Prior to Mayor Riley’s introduction, one county businessman and civic leader observed: “I hope people can connect the dots linking the arts and the economy and ask, ‘Why not here?’”

Two things tend to happen when I’m away from Jackson and checking out cultural venues in other cities: I compare our arts scene to those of the places I’m visiting, and I talk a lot about our arts scene to the people I’m with.

I talk a lot about Jackson’s arts because my friends and family ask me about them.   Many of them have never been to Jackson Hole or either of our neighboring parks, and they want to understand more about what an arts culture in a town our size, in a magnificent and relatively remote region is like.   It’s not easy to describe, but when I finish trying to paint a picture (as it were) of all Jackson’s energy, initiatives, venues and artists, listeners seem impressed Jackson’s art scene is as vibrant as it is.

I’ve just returned from St. Louis. I attended my high school’s reunion, and we had a blast.  I and my friends spent an afternoon exploring the Best of Missouri Art Fair, at the St. Louis Botanical Gardens. Nori Obata, a classmate and a member of one of St. Louis’ most prominent arts and architecture family legacies, had a booth.   St. Louis has a bit of a stodgy rep, but let me tell you:  that city’s arts scene is ripping.  Over the past couple of decades millions of dollars have been poured into building the city’s public arts and gardens. And the city’s public has responded enthusiastically. They are engaged, and the Best of Missouri was mobbed.  It was such a big venue, we literally could not find the end of the thing.  And people weren’t just milling, they were spending.   Money was changing hands all over the place.

We weren’t just happy to see a successful art fair, though.  We were all enchanted by the setting, the Botanical Gardens, a bit of Paris in the heart of the Midwest.  Acres of landscaped gardens are made even more magical with the addition of Dale Chihuly glass sculpture installations.  Rather than detract from the traditional and contemporary gardens and plantings, these bubbly, fantastic sculptures enhance.  They are unforgettable.   We didn’t want to leave.

Just thought I’d mention it.

So what happened here in Jackson?  Good stuff!

Results came in from the third annual Jackson Hole Art Auction, for one.  Because I was asked about the auction so much (its reputation is growing, growing!), I’m posting that info.  Seventy-six percent of the 235 lots sold, and the auction–which features Western Art and is jointly hosted by Trailside and Gerald Peters galleries–realized just under $6,000,000 total.   The auction says collectors represented more than 30 states and several foreign countries.  Highlight sale: Bob Kuhn’s painting, “Like the Down of a Thistle,” estimated at $75 - $100K, sold for $299,000.

You can view all the results on the J.H. Art Auction website, www.jacksonholeartauction.com.

Lynday McCandless SLAM update: More artists needed!  Send the word out to your peeps, she says.  Use the Facebook, use the email, Twitter.   Time slot will change to afternoons, 1-5 pm. Additionally, LMC gallery will host artfilm screenings every weekend this month.    PBS’s Art 21 series has a new season, and LMC will screen them Fridays at 6 pm, and Saturdays at 2 and 4 pm.   The series features interviews with contemporary artists working in all mediums. Themes include: compassion, fantasy, transformation and systems.

And, artists, you have homework:  Watch at least one of the videos, then create a work in response.  Next month’s First Friday will feature your creations.   For information, email lyndsay@lmcontemporary.com.

Onion Skins…

National Museum of Wildlife Art Chief Preparator Ron Gessler sends this arts related spoof from “The Onion.” Anything to jump start the arts economy…now, it’s o.k. to touch, scratch and smell the art at the Met.  Read the article here.

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

Lots and lots of National Museum of Wildlife Art news and updates!   Here is a full list of activities related to our museum on the hill.

#1:  Dr. Seuss!

Whose childhood–and by extension, adulthood–has not been charmed by Theodor Geisel’s opus?  We all occasionally find ourselves thinking “Seussical.”

“The Lorax: Original Illustrations by Dr. Seuss” is on display at the museum through September 7.   NMWA notes that the Lorax’s tale is a cautionary one, a tale ahead of its time, warning us of our own penchant for wrecking our beloved environment.   The exhibit gives us access to Seuss’ process, from conceptual sketches to to camera-ready line art.  Anthropormorphism of wildlife and our relationship to the natural world are the coal in creative story-telling engines; Disney has built an empire around these themes.   Stand out exhibit characters include Swomee-Swans and Humming-Fish.

“Seuss was not one to shy away from contemporary topics or social commentary. The Lorax is among his most pointed, taking to task a company whose greed causes grave environmental harm,” notes the Museum. ” This exhibit combines original art as it probes humanity’s relationship with nature, making a perfect match for the National Museum of Wildlife Art.”  The exhibit is on loan from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library & Museum.

Special fun-for-kids activities tied to Seuss’s art will be offered throughout the Museum. The Lorax exhibition is included in Museum admission: $10 for adults, $5 for kids 5-18, and free for children under 5. A family rate of $30 for the first two adults, first two children, and $1 for each additional child helps make the Museum affordable for larger families.

#2:  Out of the Box!

NMWA’s biennial “Out of the Box Show and Auction” is one of the museum’s best-loved events.  This year, the show and sale takes place Friday, June 12 and includes over 115 creatively altered boxes by regionally and nationally acclaimed artists.   Prices have typically ranged from an affordable $25 to $4,000 and more.  Proceeds support the Museum’s adult and youth education programs.

Each box is unique, and artists are invited to work in any medium as long as the work retains its function as a box.  The box artworks will be auctioned by auctioneer Jim Loose, and the evening’s M.C. is KMTN’s “Fish.”   Of course, there are door prizes: two CityPass books, a two-hour art appraisal by Art Appraisals of Jackson Hole, LLC, two bird-themed notions boxes and a tour of the newly opened Jackson Hole Raptor Center with guide Roger Smith.

Volunteer Chair Ann Nelson notes the event is a labor of love, with 15 volunteers devoting much of the last two years organizing the show.    “The community of Jackson Hole anticipates Out of the Box with great enthusiasm; this show will have something for everyone,” says Nelson.

Out of the Box is free for museum members, $7 for non-members; free for children.  Event admission includes light hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar.  Doors open at 5:30 p.m.    733-5771.

#3: Wyoming 2009 Junior Duck Stamp Winners!

Through August 23, take time to visit this year’s entries and winners of the Wyoming Federal Junior Duck Stamp Contest. Now in its 15th year, this exceptional program, a national art competition for students in grades K - 12 simultaneously teaches art, conservation of wetlands and natural resources, and awareness skills.

The exhibit is traditionally on display in the Museum’s King Gallery; check with the front desk to confirm.   The list of winners is long, and every entry is a winner in itself.

The following information on is provided by the Museum.

Eighteen year-old Bryant Helm, of Cokeville, Wyoming, received the 2009 Best of Show award for his painting, “Provocative.”  His oil painting depicts a striking portrait of a Long-tailed Duck.  Bryant’s painting represented Wyoming at the Federal Jr. Duck Stamp contest Wednesday, April 22, 2009, at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. The winner of the national competition will receive $5,000, a trip to our nation’s capital along with a parent and the art teacher, and have his or her artwork used to make the 2009-2010 Junior Duck Stamp.  Proceeds from the sale of the Junior Duck Stamps, which cost $5.00, support conservation education.

Baily Schupp, a eight year-old student from Pinedale, for the second year in a row,  won the 2009 Betty Nelson Artistic Promise Award for the best art in the youngest age group.  The Betty Nelson Artistic Promise Award was established eight years ago to recognize the artistic accomplishment of students in the K-3rd grade age group and to honor the late Betty Nelson, a generous supporter of the Junior Duck Stamp program.

The 1st through 3rd place Wyoming winners of the Jr. Duck Stamp contest can be viewed online on the Museum’s web site, WildlifeArt.org.  The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place contest winners will be honored at a dinner and awards ceremony at the National Museum of Wildlife Art on Saturday July 18, 2009.

For more information, please contact Amy Goicoechea at (307) 732-5435.

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

Public Art and Placemaking are, as many of us in the arts community have been saying, inextricable from contemporary, smart, even green, urban growth.  Right now, the Teton County Comprehensive Plan is available to for the public to review.  This is our chance to comment on the way we will grow, not only quantitatively, but qualitatively.   Quality urban growth must include public urban spaces and public art.

If Jackson Hole’s citizens do not make reviewing this plan a priority, we essentially determine not to vote.  And those of us determining not to vote lose a lot of “street cred.”   Writing letters to the editor is a crucial public right;  writing them when you’ve opted not to be a part of the process by showing up at town meetings or workshops is a bit fraudulent.  The Comprehensive Planning process has been activated for many, many months.

YOU are the Plan.

I know it’s hard; but make this a priority.  Here’s a way to start.

TUESDAY, MAY 12, beginning at 5:30 p.m., attend a public meeting at the CENTER FOR THE ARTS. The meeting takes place on the Center’s third floor, in Teton Art Lab’s new space.  The Art Association’s digital photography studio will be available for those wanting to contribute comments electronically.   Members of our arts community will ask questions and submit comments on the inclusion of public art and placemaking in Teton County’s Comprehensive Plan.  Please try and make time to study Themes 3 and 7, in particular.

Preserving environment and quality of place, managing growth, and creating a more viable, broad-based economy are Jackson’s great challenges. Most crucial is ensuring we promote and protect our wildlife, its habitat and other environmentally sensitive areas.  In our region, the arts are a keystone in preserving place.  Although our Town Square’s monument,  various land art and myriad creative educational projects provide continual reminders of our inherent love for the arts, we’ve so far not included researching and moving towards making the arts a part of our “constitution,” as it were.   We can remind ourselves and all visitors of this history by including beautiful and lasting public place making in our Comprehensive Plan.   Such planning aids in building tourism and strong market values. Think logo.

Art captures the essence of the places dear to our hearts.  Successful public art resonates on a national level.   Our traditional themes may be translated traditionally; they may also be translated using contemporary aesthetics and materials.

We must not only include the words.  We must decide upon a logical process of implementation.  Without implementation any plan is simply an exercise.

For information, contact Don Kushner at don@jhcenterforthearts.org or Carrie Geracie at carrie@centerofwonder.org.

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?

Oh, I LOVE this.  This is a story about Vertical Gardens.  The Art of Green.  Green urban gardens. Happy Earth Week, Jackson Hole!  The photo above is from Vertical Garden’s Exit Art website.

Vertical Gardens is “…an exhibition of architectural models, renderings, drawings, photographs and ephemera that depict or imagine a vertical farm, urban garden or green roof.”

Imagine Jackson’s new downtown garage transformed as a vertical garden.  A vertical forest, a vision of vines!   Imagine it surrounded with indigenous wildflowers and plants, an ever-changing public art installation, transforming itself with every season.  Wow.

Vertical Gardens encompasses over 20 projects by “…artists and architects that envision solutions for building greener urban environments.” Cities all around the world are finding ways to include gardens in their planning, knowing the urban aesthetic will increase a hundred fold.   They’re great ways to feed and inspire urban dwellers, and since Jackson’s downtown is bent on adding multi-million dollar commercial and residential spaces, how about including green gardens in the design?   Provide space for sustaining, aesthetic projects in every development and pay it back, pay it forward to the community.   And bring our town’s profile up to new age marketing snuff while you’re at it!   Bring the region’s great beauty right past the city line and into…town’s heart.

Here’s more from their site:

“Largely based on the principles of hydroponics, vertical gardens would also be mostly self-sustaining because they would capture large amounts of natural sunlight and water, and could use wind as an energy source. In a country where cities are suffocated by high rises, cement and industrial materials, where can green space exist? As this exhibition demonstrates, one possible answer is “up.” These and other urban parks and gardens provide areas for socialization and recreation; a location for a city farm or community land-trust; an outlet through which hundreds of people can learn about farming and agriculture; and the addition of much needed plant and animal life to the otherwise concrete jungle.”

Vertical Gardens is a project of SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics) , which is an off shoot of Exit Art, which “…is an independent vision of contemporary culture prepared to react immediately to important issues that affect our lives.”  The New York City center, 25 years old, engages in “…experimental, historical and unique presentations of aesthetic, social, political and environmental issues.”  Exit Art says it “absorbs cultural differences that become prototype exhibitions,” and embraces multiple disciplines.   Starting as a ‘grass roots’ project, it has grown into a contemporary green, artistic powerhouse.  Always changing, it is now internationally recognized for its innovations, curatorial depth, media savvy and stick-to-it-ness.

Few endeavors build community like gardening.  And few activities provide the warm sense of well-being that gardening does. Win. Win again.  If we incorporate the Verticle Garden vision into ours, we won’t be able to take our eyes off the results.

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.