Posts from ‘Crafts’
Judging by the window displays popping up around town, it’s not too early to start thinking about the holidays. Glass blower Laurie Thal is always thinking ahead. Thal is offering the chance to “friends and clients” a special opportunity to come on out to her Wilson studio and blow your own decorative glass ornaments. November 5 through December 18 2011, Thal is offering glass blowing parties. Her own “hot glass magic” provides families, office groups, or any collection of happy souls the chance to make some sparkling, one-of-a-kind gifts. Or, keep them yourself, you may feel a little Grinchy about your pretty ornaments!
Two-hour sessions are scheduled for groups of four to six people. Cost is $25 per person. Only groups of four to six; you bring your friends, and Thal will provide the materials. It’s like making a reservation at a restaurant, folks! Additionally, Thal will take 25% off the cost of all studio purchases made during your session. For more information, call 307.733.5096 or 307.690.2491. email: thalglass@bresnan.net.
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The National Museum of Wildlife Art’s fall “Harvest on the Hill” takes place Sunday, November 6, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm. The popular, family friendly event is free to area residents and is part of the Musuem’s free First Sundays series. “Wild About Penguins” is the theme, after the Museum’s exhibit 
“The Last Ocean: Antarctica’s Ross Sea Photographs by John Weller.” All kinds of family activities are planned, and here they are:
• 1 – 4 p.m. (ongoing, allow 20-30 minutes for completion) – Scavenger Hunt! Dress for active fun, rain or shine, and meet in the amphitheater for an all-ages scavenger hunt to explore the sculpture trail – with clues, surprising discoveries and free entry in a raffle for great prizes. Win a “Weekend Warrior” Pass or the chance to have a stone engraved on the sculpture trail pathway. Raffle drawing at 4:10 p.m. in the amphitheater.
• 1 – 2:30 p.m. – Craft for Kids: Paint Your Penguin! Kids can explore John Weller’s photographs and learn about the different varieties of penguins that live in the Ross Sea ecosystem before painting their own unique model version of the Antarctic birds to take home.
• 2:30 p.m. – 20-minute film: Plunge of the Penguins. Follow Gentoo penguin chicks on the Antarctic Peninsula as they encounter sibling rivalry, food denial by parents, and extreme weather.
• 2:50 p.m. – 35-minute film: Return to Penguin City. An intriguing children’s film that explores how Adelie penguins cope with rapid climate change in the magical landscape of Antarctica.
Checking out “Harvest on the Hill” is a great way to explore the Museum, spend family time, learn about wildlife and wildlife art and, most importantly, HAVE FUN! (Q: How do Penguins drink their cola? A: On the rocks!) www.wildlifeart.org
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Jackson Hole Public Art has posted a reminder Request for Qualifications for proposals to create functional art for Redmond Street in Jackson, Wyoming. Deadline for submissions is Sunday, October 30, 2011.
Project budget: $15,000. Have a question or need more info? Contact Carrie Geraci at 307.413.1474. To read the posting JH Public’s Art’s website, click here.
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Momentum is building for the Plein Air Convention & Expo in Las Vegas from April 12-15, 2012 , with the announcement that Scott L. Christensen, Jeremy Lipking, and Peter Adams will be giving lectures and
demonstrations during the event.
“Of all the artists, whose work I admire, it is an honor to be selected as one of the top participants,” Christensen says. Check out the extraordinary gathering of collectors, artists, and scholars: (www.pleinairconvention.com).
The National Museum of Wildlife Art’s (NMWA) 2011 “Western Visions” event was a success, bringing the Museum at least $600,000, funds that will benefit its education programs. This year, Tucker Smith’s oil painting East Fork Rams was the top-seller, going for $40,000 at the Museum’s September 16th’s finale sale. Awards were distributed to many notable and deserving Western artists; perhaps the highest honor went to painter Mark Eberhard, whose oil on board painting Snowy Owl won the Museum’s Trustee Purchase Award, making it part of the Museum’s permanent collection.
On October 6, 2011, award winning photographer John Weller will visit Jackson to present The Last Ocean: Antartica’s Ross Sea Photographs by John Weller. After reading research
and articles on enviromental threats to the Ross Sea, Weller took up his camera to document those waters, “one of the last pristine open ocean ecosystems on Earth.” Weller’s photographs will be on display at NMWA October 1, 2011 – January 29, 2012. An opening reception takes place at NMWA on October 6, 5:30 pm. Weller will speak at 7 pm, in Cook Auditorium.
“Through his remarkable images, award-winning photographer Weller takes viewers on a journey that celebrates the Ross Sea as one of Earth’s last healthy marine environments,” says the Museum. “Dramatic photos offer a glimpse into the lives of wildlife from Emperor penguins to silverfish inhabiting the remote region both above and below the Antarctic ocean’s surface.”
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Cool news from the Art Association’s Jenny Dowd: NMWA is looking for artists to collaborate in its upcoming (Bronwyn Minton inspired) exhibition Exquisite Animal: A Community Art Exhibit. Curated by Minton, the artist “game” is played by several people asked to draw a part of an animal; head, front legs, tail, fins, etc. on a “huge sheet of paper,” creating giant animal composites. Each figure presents unlikely combinations, juxtaposed into fantastical creatures. Contact Minton at bminton@wildlifeart.org for more info!
More from Jenny: She has been in contact with Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson, Curator at the Portland Art Museum. In conjunction with Laing-Malcolmson’s interest in Northwest art, she is working to build a library of art by artists in this region. Artists are invited to submit packets of work examples to be considered for future exhibitions—accepted works will not only be on display at Portland, but have the chance to travel to other museums in the area.
Very, very nice. Here’s what you do to apply: Mail a disk with up to 20 images of your work, a resume and artist statement to:
Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson, Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Avenue, Portland, OR 97205.
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From the Teton County Library:
Friday, October 7, from 5:30-6:30 pm, join the Library in the Center for the Arts Lobby for reception celebrating Renewal: Altered Book
Exhibition. “Local artists have spun new creations from discarded books and library-inspired words for this exhibit, celebrating the library’s renewal through the addition and renovation now underway,” says the Library. “The opening reception will feature book art; appetizers provided by the Teton County Library Friends; and an opportunity to see our building model! Architects and library staff will be available to answer questions about our building project.”
You can also make origami! And it’s free!
Through October 28, at the Center. Contact Adult Humanities Coordinator, Oona Doherty, 733-2164 ext. 135, odoherty@tclib.org. To learn more about library programs or construction, visit www.tclib.org.
Jackson photographer Jeff Diener will teach a Fall Photo Workshop in Grand Teton National Park, September 28-October 2, 2011.
“We’ll be using the best light of the day, sunrises and sunsets, and visit some great, and lesser known locations,” notes Diener. “I’ve been exploring and shooting in GTNP for the past 15 yrs. We’ll help participants get comfortable adjusting to changing conditions and sites and create dramatic high-end images. Location scouting, assessing locations and weather, helping participants get to know their cameras, practice with functions and new techniques will be covered. We’ll also spend time each day discussing post-processing computer workflow.” Cost is $875 per person.
Wild West Photos will sponsor the workshop–check the agency’s website here. Contact Diener for more information. 307-734-4450 jeff@jeffdiener.com
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The Jackson Hole Historical Society offers free children’s art classes for kids in grades 1-4, Tuesday mornings, 9:30-11:00 a.m., during 
August. Classes will include storytelling, museum exploring, craft making, and the all important snack. Class sizes are limited to 15 children. Here’s the calendar:
August 2: “Pots, Paper, and Pouches” has fun with stories of Indians, explorers, and settlers. Build a fort and make pemmican to carry in your own handmade pouch.
August 9: ”Rod, Reel, and Rifle” explores the important roles that hunting and fishing activities have had in the valley. Includes storytelling, the creation of a “story” hide and a hanging three-dimensional fish.
August 16: “Awe Inspiring Art” discovers the role of artists and photographers in preserving the beauty of Jackson Hole. Includes storytelling, plein air painting, cookie decorating activities and more.
August 23: “Laughs and Lariats” explores the questions “Does the cowboy wear his tools?” and “Does a rodeo have clowns?” Kids make their own chaps and ride into history with a real cowboy to discover the answers.
For more information, contact Mindy Barnett at 307.733.9605. jhhsmeducation@wyom.net
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Wyoming Gallery, upstairs at Jack Dennis Sports, holds an artists’ reception for Derek DeYoung, Jeff Currier and Jim Berkenfield on Friday, August 5, 4-7:30 pm.
Berkenfield says he has been fly fishing for eighteen years and guiding in the Greater Yellowstone area for the past twelve. “I have continuously photographed my fishing exploits,” he says. “I have recently begun to focus on new perspectives of trout…fish in hand, and during the moments of release.”
Currier’s work is published in fly fishing magazines, catalogs, brochures, and books. He is the author of Currier’s Quick and Easy
Guide to Saltwater Fly Fishing and Currier’s Quick and Easy Guide to Warmwater Fly Fishing guide books.
DeYoung’s work has “veered off from the traditional fish illustration style.” His contemporary paintings focus on style and color rather than rendering realistic images of fish.
The store and gallery are noted fortheir fly fishing equipment, guiding and expertise. A.D. Maddox also calls Wyoming Gallery home. www.jdwyominggallery.com 307.733.7548.
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What is this? That’s what my Facebook friend Steve Mooney (SVP, Jack Morton Global Brand Experience!) would ask.
Answer is, it’s a detail (I think!) of one of two walls, each displaying 40 fused glass bricks. The wall is part of the new Home Ranch project, and will be designed and created by Jackson glass artist (and Facebook friend!) John Frechette. The shuffled, stacked stained glass resembles bison and grizzly DNA.
What do you say to that, Facebook friend “Grizzly 399?”
Native New Yorker and artist Jane Rosen’s exhibition Two Natures opens at the Tayloe Piggott Gallery this month. On exhibition through August 23, 2011, the show opens with a reception on Thursday, July 14th, 5-8 pm at the gallery.
Visiting any great museum’s ancient collections of Egyptian, Greek, or Native American artifacts, I’m cloaked in hushed reverence. I expect Two Natures elicits similar response. Winds of time have worn these sculptures down to their souls. What’s left is an exquisite silent truth.
Though born on the East Coast, Rosen “found herself captivated by the accessibility of nature on a visit to the West Coast.” Rosen’s work channels ancient world cultures; she has said that 
Eskimo, Native American and Egyptian art histories inspire her. She’s also influenced by daVinci and Michelangelo. A chapel, a graveyard. Rosen’s sculptures stand like Stonehenge’s rock pillars, full of mystery and great powers. These animal forms are not sex specific; but they recall the Acropolis Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheion.
“Rosen’s drawings act as her journal where she studies and understands the form before chiseling a limestone sculpture or hand blowing a glass bird,” the gallery says. She relishes process,
the “alchemy.” Works reach their final form after Rosen scratches away and adds layers of sumi-e ink, paint, coffee, beeswax, Korean water color and marble mix.
Gallery owner Tayloe Piggott likens seeing Rosen’s studio to “witnessing the flash of spirit that Brancusi sought to capture.”
“With this perspective framing my vision I capture the profound essence of nature and art seen through the animal life. It was our reciprocal vision of the life force that instinctually and immediately connected me to Jane’s work. Her art, whether bird, fish or fowl, resonates with the fundamentality of the being’s spirit. The word “essence” is defined as “the permanent as contrasted with the temporary element of being.” Her sculpture is essence,” Piggott says.
The gallery has also collected several stunning Dale Chihuly glass vessels. Transluscent and fluid, they provide sparkling juxtaposition to Rosen’s avian sculptures.
For more information, email art@tayloepiggottgallery.com.
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Wyoming Gallery, upstairs at Jack Dennis Sports, welcomes artists Meredith Campbell, Ruth Rawhouser, and Teri Billingham at an opening reception Friday, July 15, 4-7:30 pm.
Campbell paints wildlife scenes on wood; she began painting functional pieces, but her work evolved into the fine art arena. Not long ago she began creating oil-on-canvas animal portraits. Rawhouser paints en plein air, relishing the
world as it is in any given moment. Interestlingly, she never paints in fences or other signs of humananity’s presence in the Wyoming landscapes she loves. Jackson native Teri Billingham’s stained glass panels reflect the artist’s love of the Tetons and surrounding landscapes, its wildlife and inspiring childhood memories.
For information, contact Mindy at jdwyominggallery.com. www.jdwyominggallery.com
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Here it comes again….the Art Fair Rap!
Dude, it’s July, so it’s time to share
‘Bout that annual gig, the Jackson Hole Art Fair!
Or, “Art Fair Jackson Hole” as it prefers to be called;
Nobody asked me. I’m not involved.
Hey man, don’t be bored!
Sometimes Harrison Ford
Comes to check out the art, and he brings Flockhart.
Buy ceramics, toys, fibers – this poem’s the town crier
For an Art Fair Weekend, come rain or come shine-er.
Paintings, baskets, jewels, tents
Sunscreen, beer & fivers
All make for a day art lovers could die for!
See the Fair! Have Fun! This rap is all done.
The Jackson Hole Art Association Art Fair 2011 dates are July 15 – 17 & August 19 – 21. The fun happens at Miller Park, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Daily entrance fee is $3. www.artassociation.org
Saturday, June 18, 2011, the doors at Factory Studios open at 6:30 p.m. sharp. Doors will close at 7:30 p.m. and Art+Cloth+Street kicks off. If you show after 7:30, you don’t get in. The show is a fundraiser for the Factory Studios and tickets are $75 for front row seats and a limited edition Teton Art Lab print & four drink/raffle tokens; $20 for standing room and one token. Tickets are on sale at Valley Bookstore, Shades Café and via Factory Studios.
An “evening of art and fashion,” the show features exciting new work from three of Jackson’s most creative emerging clothing designers, Abbie Miller, Calla Grimes, and Owen Ashley.” Local arts specialists Lyndsay McCandless and Suzanne Morlock will discuss–perhaps debate–the intersection of clothing, art, and fashion. A runway show follows.
Abbie Miller/A.M. Renegade : “I’m working with the idea of geometry instead of drape,” she said. “I always like to see how far I can tip everything to the stage of bad proportion or ugliness, and then pull it back to a point where its flattering on the body. I like a play between natural and urban, earth tones and synthetic colors. It has to do with my fascination with cities and my weird romance with construction sites mixed with the experience of living here…” www.abbiesumiller.com
Calla Grimes: “My approach to designing clothing starts really with my own desire to wear easy everyday clothing that features the body’s best assets,” Grimes said. “I love to feel that I am in a wonderful piece of clothing that can be worn day into night, with a very strong element of the feminine. I use linen, linen blends, wool jerseys and fine knits, and silks of every kind.” callajacobson@gmail.com
Owen Ashley/Ashelter: Owen Ashley is a Jackson native and a founding designer for Anomoly Farm. His own label, Orson Ashelter, features functional outdoor-inspired fashion. “You can wear all of it outside and it won’t get ruined,” he said. “If it is meant to keep you warm it will; if it is supposed to keep you cool it will.” Ashley is currently working with shotgun-perforated vinyl faux leather, reclaimed from the Jackson Hole Airport. owen@anomalyfarm.com
www.factorystudios.org. Contact: Abbie Miller, abbgrab@gmail.com or 307-760-5035
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“The landscape is the tangible connection between man and God. It is a very humbling task—trying to paint the unseen qualities of a landscape as well as what is seen.” – Glenn Dean
Altamira Fine Art presents Bill Schenck, Glenn Dean and Logan Hagege in a new show, Earth & Sky, opening Thursday, June 16, with an artists’ reception from 5-8pm. Works remain on exhibit through June 26.
Schenck is the West’s Roy Lichtenstein. A bold, flattened pop-art style is Schenck’s hallmark. A former Jackson Hole resident, the artist now
lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His work reflects his environs and their people. In his early paintings, a sense of ‘makin’ a bit of fun’ of Western cowboys and cowgirls was common. Though Schenck continues to paint in a bright comic book style, a new reverence for indigenous peoples is evident. Native Americans are depicted in softer romantic hues, horses are purple spirits set against vast Southwestern deserts. “His work is characterized by hot colors, surreal juxtapositions and patterning which explore clashes between wilderness and civilization, the individual and community, nature and culture, freedom and restriction,” notes the gallery.
Hagege was born in 1980; he’s a mere 31 years old. A biographical profile describes Logan as being influenced by diverse past masters: Gustav Klimpt, N.C. Wyeth, T.W. Dewing and
Maynard Dixon. In Hagege’s works I see Klimpt’s sensuality of line; N.C. Wyeth’s dramatic, historic compositions; Dewing’s proud, emblematic portraits; and Dixon’s electrifying Southwestern vistas. I can’t help thinking that German painter Hans Holbein (1497-1543), the greatest portraitist of his day, has cast his spirit into Hagege’s paintings.
Dean is a landscapist. Maynard Dixon’s powerful influence reappears in Dean’s glowing Southwest mesas and endless skies. Clouds billow & morph, pulling us toward Heaven. Ranch hands and cowboys are tiny figures passing through great canyons and deserts. Nature is dominant. Western landscape painters of the early 1900′s “…emphasized the importance of seeing the color of light combined with interesting compositions and seemingly effortless designs, while carefully observing the simple and basic characteristics of a specific location,” says the artist. “It still feels like I’m at a magic show when I see work by those artists.”
Magic runs through it; and by “it,” I mean this show. www.altamiraart.com
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Saturday, June 18, is “Saturday U” day at the National Museum of Wildlife Art. Two presentations to note:
9-10 a.m. — “The Oglala Lakota (Sioux) and the Modernization of American Culture, 1848-1890,” presented by Jeff Means, history assistant professor.
10:15-11:15 a.m. — “Public Art and Community: Building Partnerships through Art,” presented by Susan Moldenhauer, UW Art Museum director and chief curator. Why is public art important, and what can it do for a community? Moldenhauer discusses how the program “Sculpture, A Wyoming Invitational” was created and implemented.
For more details, or to register for college credit or Professional Teaching Standards Board (PTSB) credit, call Susan Thulin, CWC outreach coordinator, (307) 733-7425.