Posts from ‘Conservation’
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all sciences.” ~ Albert Einstein
Einstein’s opinion on mystery is used to represent the intent behind artist Mike Piggott’s new body of works, Things That I See, now on view at the Tayloe Piggott Gallery. On exhibition through April 30, 2011, the show wants to defy categorization and over-description. Mystery is important to Piggott.
He wants you to think about what you are seeing–or not seeing–when you look at his paintings. Many works depict woodblock-like renderings of mountain forests; looming, shadowy trees look to be lodgepole pines, but Piggott rarely identifies
the species; he titles his works with a Zen consciousness—you’ll find “Alpine Glow,” “The Trees are Alive,” and “Quiet Pines” as titles. These are the impressions of forests we can only appreciate when we go into the woods and very quietly contemplate their core spirits. They have much to tell us, and Piggott interprets what he is seeing and hearing using a range of intriguing hues. We feel as if we’re lying on the forest floor, gazing up, feeling the earth turn slowly beneath us, while the sky turns colors and branches of these pines encircle us in some kind of universal ceremony.
“Within every composition Piggott strives to remove the trace of the ego and create a work devoid of any evidence of the artist hand,” notes the gallery. And as the artist says,“The only way a painting has to make sense is in and of itself.”
Mike Piggott will talk about his work at a gathering on Thursday, April 14 at 5:30pm, at Tayloe Piggott Gallery, 62 S. Glenwood, Jackson.
www.tayloepiggottgallery.com
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May 14 – August 14, 2011, the National Museum of Wildlife Art (NMWA) and the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff , in conjunction with the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) presents “a new exhibition that draws on the rich artistic history of the U.S.-to-Canada migratory corridor while conveying its importance for sustaining wildlife populations.”
Yellowstone to Yukon: The Journey of Wildlife Art will travel to the Whyte Museum after its stay at NMWA.
“Covering some 1.3 million square miles, the Y2Y region spans five American states, two Canadian provinces and two Canadian territories, and includes the Rocky, Columbia and Mackenzie mountain ranges. Works chosen by the two museums for the exhibition link centuries as well as the migratory corridor’s wide-reaching territory, depicting wildlife in the region by such masters as Albert Bierstadt, John Clymer, Carl Rungius and Bob Kuhn,” notes the museum.
NMWA tells us that painter Dwayne Harty was commissioned by Y2Y to travel the corridor, capturing landscapes along the route rarely sketched firsthand. ”Following in the geographic footsteps of renowned wildlife artist Carl Rungius, Harty painted the 17 “areas at risk” as designated by Y2Y along the Wyoming-to-Canada corridor, with his finished works serving as a “living thread” connecting main themes throughout the Yellowstone to Yukon exhibition.”
Oh, so late. An extended trip east has put the Art Blog a teensy behind. Will soon ramp up.
Today–Tuesday, January 18—at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Tuesday’s “Art After Hours” presents Wildlife on the Great Plains, the Conservation Challenge. Beginning at 7:30 pm, in Cook Auditorium, grab the chance to learn about the challenges and potential solutions currently affecting the Great Plains. Duane Hovorka, Executive Director of the Nebraska Wildlife Federation, will speak. Hovorka’s 25+ years of resource public policy in private, public and non-profit sectors make him one of the foremost experts on the topic.
Verbatim, from Amy St. Pierre: Join Dwayne Harty, the artist behind the upcoming summer exhibition, Yellowstone to Yukon: The Journey of Wildlife Art, as he leads visitors through African Adventures of William R. Leigh and his Contemporaries. Harty, Artist-in-Residence at The Murie Center and 2011 Fall Arts Festival Featured Artist, will discuss Leigh’s contributions to the famous dioramas still on exhibit today in the American Museum of Natural History. Guests will be given hands on experience with materials used in creating a diorama.
Contact NMWA’s Amy St. Pierre at (307) 732-5438 for more information.
Additionally, make plans to attend NMWA’s January Winter Quick Draw event, happening 5:30-8:30 pm, January 27, 2011. You know the drill: artists are given one hour to create works of art while attendees look on and all works will be available to purchase. Admission: $10 members, $15 non-members, with children 18 & under free. Chili and beer on hand, but you have to be Ron Gessler to get a
big bottle of suds.
This year’s roster of talented artists includes: Zachary Bagley (Jackson Hole High School), Tammy Callens, Daniel Esperson (Jackson Hole High School), Eliot Goss, Dwayne Harty, Victoria Hollingsworth (Jackson Hole High School), Fred Kingwill, Cathy Munson, Matt Montagne, Chad Poppleton, Hannah Rivers (Jackson Hole High School), Bill Sawczuck, Kay Stratman, Kathryn Mapes Turner, Sarah Webber and Kathy Wipfler.
Contact NMWA’s Jennifer Lee at (307) 732-5412 for more information.
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Wendell has new work! Yay! EXHIBIT: Wendell Field. February 4-24, 2011. Opening February 4, 6-9pm. Factory, 1255 Gregory Lane. www.tetonartlab.com. He’s very secretive, obviously spending all his time painting, and he’s just now (February 2) sent me images to promote his show. Thanks, Wendell!
This season, isn’t it right to consider wildlife with even more intent? What would holidays be in Jackson Hole, without the opportunity to look out your window and see a cow moose and her twins grazing in your yard–or to look up and see Trumpeter swans against a crystal blue sky, glittering like giant snowflakes? Or witness an otter’s playful creekside antics? Having a daily meeting with the Big Horn Gang out on the Elk Refuge?
Simply finding an animal’s tracks is holy.
One of my favorite non-profits, the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, never lets us forget these powerful lessons. This season we must be especially open to receive them.
A thoughtful, artful way to celebrate the wonders of nature is to drop by the Alliance’s monthly “Info Lunch,” 12-1:00 pm on Wednesday, December 15, for “Birds of Sage and Scree,” a talk by Jackson’s beloved birder Bert Raynes and noted landscape and wildlife painter Greg McHuron. A lovely and affordable book, a true labor of love, the book “Birds of Sage and Scree” is a collection of reproduced paintings of regional birds by McHuron, and accompanying essays by Raynes. McHuron’s paintings feature “Bert’s Birds,” but each work incorporates soft, spiritual reference to other wildlife.
Listening to these wise and talented Jackson sages is a special event, no matter your scientific or artistic expertise. A great idea for families. Bring your own brown bag lunch; treats will be on hand. Signed copies of the book will be available to purchase. All proceeds benefit the Meg and Bert Raynes Wildlife Fund, which supports Nature Mapping Jackson Hole, a project to gather data about wildlife for use in conservation efforts.
The Alliance offices are located at 685 South Cache, at the base of Snow King. Phone 307.733.9417. For more information about the book, log onto www.birdsofsageandscree.info.
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Diehl Gallery hosts a Holiday Show Opening Reception on Thursday, December 16, 5-9 pm. And Sunday, December 19, drop into Diehl anytime between 11 am – 2 pm for a special Holiday Brunch. Stop by to see new work by gallery artists & sample some delectable holiday treats. AND, beginning Friday,
December 17, and continuing through the ski season to March 25, 2011, the gallery will host a winter season of “Aprés Ski & Art,” every Friday from 5-9:00 pm. Late hours all winter: open until 9 pm, Tuesdays – Saturdays. New works by horse woman Ashley Collins are in to the gallery. www.diehlgallery.com
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Altamira Fine Art’s Annual Christmas Show and an artist’s opening reception, takes place Friday, December 17, 5-7:00 pm. Gallery artists Amy Ringholz and Duke Beardsley will present small and, needless to say, very well priced, works—some “signature” pieces will also be on exhibit.
Big, bold and bright are these two artists. Western “camp.” Beardsley’s ranching background and knowledge inject his work with contemporary cowboy wit. His signature repetitive images of cowboys on horseback harken to the first 20th century photographic experiments depicting humans in motion. Beardsley’s bio notes that his work “blends modern artistic elements with the traditional icons of the west.” Beardsely went
east to college–Middlebury College, my sister’s alma mater–and became immersed in the study of art history, particularly abstract expressionism and pop art.
Ringholz, a local favorite, keeps expanding her palette. Jewel-like colors prevail. “Amy’s vivid imagination sparked by boundless joy and a great amount of energy can be seen directly on each canvas. Painting with atypical color combinations using bold and saturated colors gives every animal their own playful personality,” says the gallery.
Additionally, Altamira will host a special holiday Chocolate, Dessert and Wine Limited Event on December 21, 5-8 pm. If you live in Jackson and savor exquisite chocolates, then don’t miss this ticketed event featuring internationally Awarded Pastry Chef Oscar Ortega from Atelier Ortega, and pairing Wines brought to you by Bob Merriman from Young’s Market Company. Ortega will be on hand, providing a “tour” of his culinary expertise and special chocolate chemistry.
Tickets for this limited event are $35 per person. Early booking highly recommended. Phone 307.739.4700.
You had to know an art exhibit inspired by the fracking debate would pop up. For every exhibit we hear about, my guess is dozens more exist.
I and my family have friends and colleagues in the oil and gas industries. They’re great people and are very earth aware, work hard, and are damn smart. They are scientists, geologists, capitalists and entrepreneurs, and they provide me with a sense of what is going on from their expert-in-the-field perspectives. I can only relate what I learn, from both sides of the issue. So, to those good friends: Thank you.
The situation pictured above looks bad, doesn’t it? The image, by the way, is courtesy of Exit Art; that organization posted it courtesy of photographer Jacques del Conte.
FRACKING: Art and Activism Against the Drill, opens at New York’s Exit Art on December 7. An opening reception takes place 7-9 pm that day, and the show runs through Februrary 5, 2011. Its goal is to explore the myriad controversies surrounding “fracking”, the process of extracting gas from “new shale.” Natural gas weaned from shale deposits is hailed by many as being America’s way out of foreign oil dependency; it’s also considered by the industry and supporting business and governmental entities as an economic saviour for those living in shale-rich regions. The economic benefits of a booming gas drilling industry would build coffers in any state engaged in significant drilling activity. Regions with dense drilling activity tend to be remote, lacking diverse industries capable of providing adequate jobs. Drilling derived income can turn lives around; it can also lower private property values when individuals lease acreage out to drilling.
Take Wyoming, for example.
By the way, a revealing—but still very well balanced—portrayal of the pressures, tensions and dealings connected to drilling in Louisiana and Pennsylvania appeared just a few weeks ago in the Times. In New York State, notes Exit Art, a drilling moratorium is in effect until the D.E.C. issues fracking regulation, which could happen as soon as 2011.
Proponents of natural gas drilling say it is safe. Critics say that chemicals used in fracking are dangerous because they contaminate water supplies. In some drilling locales, water is being piped in from other communities–a process draining water from its source. “Fueling” the conflict is the fact that so far, gas industries are not legally bound to reveal the names of the chemicals used in fracking. This new exhibition, a project of SEA, looks to create dialogue and educate the public via “documentary videos, photographs, commissioned works, public responses and literature…” Exit Art issued a call to artists and the public to submit original artwork on postcards, with written statements “verso,” on the topic of fracking. The responses are on view in this show. Submissions are accepted for the show through its duration.
(Hear that, Ricki Arno? Get the Adorables in on the project! Love you!)
That invitation is extended to Wyoming artists, of course.
If you are in NYC on January 12, 2011, 7-9 pm, you can attend a panel discussion on fracking and its effects, led by Actor/Activist Mark Ruffalo. In addition to Ruffalo, participants are:
Moderator: Tracy Carluccio, Activist.
Panelists: Joe Levine, Lobbyist / Activist; Michael Lebron, Grassroots Organization; Al Appleton, Policy; Michel Boufadel, Civil Engineer; Christy Rupp, Artist; and a representative from the documentary film, Gasland.
Support for this exhibition was provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Bloomberg LP; Jerome Foundation; Lambent Foundation; Pollock-Krasner Foundation; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn; and public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.
Check out www.exitart.org; phone 212-966-7745 for information.
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Conference rooms. They’re not just for conferences anymore.
Local chanteuse, gal-about-town, gardener, mom and artist Lizzie McCorquodale spent much of the past year painting. Really getting into it. Back in September 2009, McCorquodale “goaled herself” with creating 100 paintings within a year’s time.
She achieved her goal, and her subsequent exhibition of paintings is now on display, papering the walls of the Center for the Arts Conference Room; that meeting place is located close to the Center’s Glenwood Street entrance, near the welcome desk and the Art Association’s gallery. It’s accessible any time the Center is open to the public, with the exception of scheduled conference times.
Even then, you can look through the glass and see some of McCorquodale’s vibrant and exhuberant oil paintings. The artist says the paintings represent highlights of her painting quest, or, at the least, “some of the biggest pieces.”
100 Paintings in a Year: Lizzie McCorquodale remains on display through December 30, 2010. Free. www.artassociation.org.
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Last summer we ran a piece on landscape designer/artist/public art activist Patricia Johanson, She spoke on the topic of sustainable landscaping at Jackson’s Community School. The Jackson Hole Art Blog advised:
This is a talk everyone who feels the Town of Jackson should evolve with consideration to new urbanism, and as a sustainable and cultural reflection of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, need attend. These are the ideas and concepts crucial to how Jackson, now an urban entity, can become a model of sustainable, artful urban existence in the midst of protected land. Jackson leaders mandate must be this: to consider all indigenous and cultural qualities of our region in their civic planning.
LandscapeOnline.com hosts articles on designing, building and maintaining eco-friendly landscaping. Johanson is featured—in fact writes about her own project—in an article on reclaiming a dessicated coal mining site. I’m providing an
excerpt from Johanson’s article that describes a design for her “Madonna Lily,” an installation collecting rainwater on the site. The collected water serves the campus of the site’s present owners, Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
“The “Madonna Lily” occurs at the edge of a site that has recently been restored by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation using typical engineering methods. Volunteer trees and vegetation have been removed, the land has been compacted into stabile terraces—now used as platforms for athletic fields, oversized rip-rap channels conduct water off the land, and all traces of mining history have been erased, in stark contrast to the five-acre wooded ravine that still exists.
Lying beneath these massive man-made terraces, the “Madonna Lily” captures and stores stormwater from the upper campus, and provides access to a constructed wetland filled with plants that purify stormwater. The five-foot wide paths over water create microhabitats for wildlife, and offer students opportunities for field study in phytoremediation, bioremediation, ecology and aquaculture.”
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Saturday, November 13, go back to school at the National Museum of Wildlife Art. “Saturday U” is sponsored by the University of Wyoming, University of Wyoming Foundation, Wyoming Humanities Council and co-presented by Central Wyoming College, National Museum of Wildlife Art, and Teton County Library Foundation.
The public may attend a morning of educational classes, free. This week’s syllabus covers three topics: What are the promises and perils of our increasingly digital world? ; Who pays for dealing with climate change? Who should speak at a public university?
Here’s the schedule for November 13:
8:30AM Doors open
8:45AM Introductory Remarks
9:00AM – 12:30PM Sessions
12:30 – 1:30PM Lunch and Discussion
More detail:
9:00 – 10AM Balancing the Books: Who pays for managing climate change? - Jason Shogren, Stroock Professor of Natural Resource Conservation and Management, and member of the IPCC (Nobel Laureate)
10:15 – 11:15AM Keeping up with the Joneses in a Digital World - Mary P. Sheridan, Associate Professor of English
11:30 – 12:30PM, The University as Forum: Free Expression in the Academy - Myron B. Allen, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
12:30 – 1:30PM, Join us for a lunch and discussion with the speakers in the Wapiti Gallery.
For information, contact Teton County Library Adult Humanities Coordinator, Oona Doherty, 733-2164 ext. 135 or odoherty@tclib.org
Participants may earn half a college credit (in-state tuition is $44.50) or half a PTSB credit free for each Saturday program from Central Wyoming College. To register for college credit or PTSB credit, call Susan Thulin, CWC outreach coordinator, 733-7425.
