Jackson Hole Art Blog

It’s a sometimes dark, sometimes cosmic, and sometimes beautiful view photographer Thomas Macker shares with us in his new collection of images Western Heritage – Expansion/Consumption/New Age, opening at Teton Art Lab Friday, August 27. An opening reception takes place on the late side, (yes, I can hear the young folks laughin’) 7-9:00 p.m.

A visiting artist resident, Macker is in from Los Angeles.  He is a candidate for an MFA in Photography and Media at CalArts.

Macker describes this show as being concerned with “Wyoming and the western landscape….spiritual, cultural, and environmental tourism.”  In much of his other work, he takes special interest in the ironies and complexities of California.  Western Heritage delves into activities and issues as mountaineering, car camping, gmo seeds, migrant workers, alternative energy, “intergalactic colonialism,” Black Elk and the psychedelic.

I’ve spent an hour checking out Macker’s website.  I find his photography deeply affecting.  Intimate.  Political.  These are the kinds of photographs that, in this election season, those running for office should see. The photographs–portraits of place–illustrate ubiquitous ironies and plights. They more than hint at American tragedies. Private lives are exposed, fates admitted. Throughout his work Macker treats all his subjects, no matter how jarring, with unblinking honesty .

Without being noticed we watch from behind as a lone, aging man fills water bottles from a forest stream.  The night sky’s astrological patterns surrounding Perseus (The Hero) are reinterpreted by what I first thought were scattered bullets holes in glass.  A friend thought he saw the eyes of the universe. The connected spheres are in fact spores.  Domestic workers pose for Macker’s camera inside the properties they tend;  their employers are nowhere in sight.  These spotless, manicured California homes are proof of attentive care and work provided by these workers, not of the property owners. Nannies, likely immigrants, assume motherhood to babies they push in strollers.

One Macker series, With God, All Things Are Possible, depicts a region of the Ohio River Valley and is a not-so-subtle rip on the concept of a generous Deity.  A thick and heavy summer yard is vacant, save the black hole of an ignored trampoline.  A dead coyote lies at the side of a road, a woman nuzzles her shepherd; but the most heart-stopping image concerns a young cougar tethered to a pole in a back yard.  The cat stalks our photographer and its jailer—some guy I presume is trafficking in wildlife, or he works for a circus—plays ringmaster.

It took me a moment to notice the pistol lying on the bed next to a man in a motel room.  The man talks animatedly; he’s wearing a Carnegie Mellon t-shirt.

These are only descriptions of Macker’s photographs, and I fear I may put you off checking out the contents of Western Heritage. This show’s cover image  — girls in blue plastic innertubes lolling about in tall Wyoming grasses while a buff dude repairs a chain link fence protecting solar panels — reveals sharp, wry humor.  Go see it.  Put your thinking cap on.  In America, concerned as we are with issues of constitutionality and culturalism, this a potentially thought provoking show.

To view Macker’s work check out http://www.fotocoyote.com/

www.tetonartlab.com

Item #2

Jackson Hole’s 2010 Fall Arts Festival is fast approaching. Portions of the  National Museum of Wildlife Art’s Western Visions/Sixth Annual Photography Show & Sale/ Fourth Annual Sketch Show & Sale are now available to view.   Events continue through Sunday, September 26, 2010.

Highlights include:

• The Sketch Show & Sale (King Gallery) displays work by participating Western Visions artists and includes simple pencil sketches to studies in oil or acrylic.
• Tuesday, September 7, 2010 —  5:30 to 8:30 pm enjoy Tapas and a presentation by 2010  Featured Scupltor Simon Gudgeon for a special Art After Hours. Program is free. Reservations for tapas required and can be made by calling 307-732-5434.
• Thursday, September 9,  12:05 pm. —  Art Alive @ 12:05 features a talk by Simon Gudgeon.  Museum galleries;  free.
• Wednesday, September 15  —  12th Annual Jewelry & Artisan Luncheon, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Register by Wednesday, September 8.    307.732.5412.
• Thursday, September 16, 2010 —-  Plein Air Sketching Workshop led by Featured Painter Mary Roberson.   8-11:30 a.m.   Hands-on outdoor instruction overlooking National Elk Refuge.  Cost:  $45.    Reservations required via Jane Lavino.    307.732.5417.   ALSO: Museum Gallery Walk,  1-2:00 pm.  Led by Simon Gudgeon, he will talk about some of his favorite NMWA works.   Free for members or with Museum admission.  AND, Jewelry & Artisan Show & Sale begins today, continuing through Friday, September 17.  View and select offerings of exquisite handmade jewelry, silver items and accessories.

• Thursday, September 16  —- 23rd Annual Wild West Artist Party,  6:30 – 10:30 p.m.  Location is National Museum of Wildlife Art.   Live music, dancing, plenty of good fare.   Register by Wednesday, September 8.   307.732.5412.

• Friday, September 17  —- Featured Painter Presentation and Poster Signing, 1:00 pm.    Mary Roberson will speak about her art and influences.  Free for members or with Museum admission.
• Friday, September 17  —-  23rd Annual Miniatures and More Show & Sale. Doors open 3:30 pm;  Bidding closes 5:30 pm; Presentation begins 6:30 pm.   Event features over 150 top American artists. Reservations required by September 8.   307.732.5434.

And, a new addition for 2010:

Wednesday, September 29 — Art A’Brewin’ 10:00 am – 4:00 pm.   Enjoy coffee and fruit at the Museum, and pick up your purchased artwork.  Browse works still available.  Fun, free, open to the public.

An online Western Visions Catalog can be found here; you can read succinct artist biographies and, for some artists, interview content.

www.wildlifeart.org

Long a haven for creative and curious souls, the Murie Center — former home of environmentalists Olaus and Mardy Murie — is redefining itself, as it has been since the passing of Mardy, in 2003.

The Murie Ranch, a National Historic Landmark located in Grand Teton National Park, is just up the road, then down a gentler road, from the new Grand Teton National Park Visitor’s Center in Moose, Wyoming.  The Center still feels like the Park’s best kept secret; hours that it is open to the public are limited, however group tours are offered free of charge every Monday and Thursday, 2:00 p.m.

The Center, “Conservation’s Home,” has a mission to “engage people to understand and commit to the enduring value of conserving wildlife in wild places.”

July 22-25, the Murie Center will conduct an Avian Art and Writing Workshop. An extensive three and a half day schedule includes such activities as an introduction to Olaus Murie’s artwork, exploratory writing sessions and exercises, meals, bird watching and sketching activities.    The Teton Raptor Center is providing live birds as inspiration and subject matter for sketchers, painters, writers, photographers and sculptors.

Long time valley resident and accomplished plein air painter Greg McHuron leads the sketching workshops; McHuron’s work is represented by Trailside Galleries in Jackson.  He recently co-authored “Birds of Sage and Scree,” with valley ornithologist Bert Raynes.   and Jackson-based writer Susan Marsh will conduct writing classes.

Sculptor Greg Woodard (represented locally by Altamira Fine Art) will provide a sculpting demonstration.

$595 includes lodging in a Murie Ranch cabin for three nights, all meals and tuition; $395 includes all meals and tuition only.  The Murie Center has provided the following tentative schedule of events – for more information email info@muriecenter.org or phone 307.739.2246.

Thursday, July 22

5:30 pm – Welcome reception

6:30 pm – Dinner at Homestead Cabin

7:30 pm – Introduction to the Murie Center and Olaus Murie artwork – guest presenter Dr. Jamie Cornelius talks about tracking the red crossbill on the Ranch as a Murie Center biologist-in-residence.

Friday, July 23

8 am – Breakfast at Homestead Cabin

9 am – Exploratory writing session with Susan Marsh around the Murie Ranch

12 pm – Lunch at Homestead Cabin

2 pm – Greg Woodard sculpting demonstration with live birds from Teton Raptor Center

3 pm – Writing exercise with Susan Marsh and live birds from Teton Raptor Center

5 pm – Dinner at Homestead Cabin

6 pm – Avian bird-watching/photography

Saturday, July 24

8 am – Breakfast at Homestead Cabin

9 am – Greg McHuron and Dwayne Harty lead avian sketching session

12 pm – Lunch at Homestead Cabin

2 pm – Greg McHuron leads avian sketching session with live birds from Teton Raptor Center

5 pm – Dinner at Homestead Cabin

6 pm – Avian bird-watching/photography

Sunday, July 25

8 am – Breakfast at Homestead Cabin

10 am – 12 pm – Tours and demonstrations on-site at the Teton Raptor Center in Wilson ($10)

On July 8, Lee Carlman Riddell and Ed Riddell will open a joint show, Joy, at Trio Fine Art.

For Lee and Ed, joy is the thing that, when cultivated, creates a better life.  ”A special friend taught us the importance of cheering each other on: remembering a birthday, cooking dinner for friends, attending weddings and graduations and …art openings. Volunteering your time. It is these special things that we can all do that give us satisfaction and a sense of community,” says Lee.

The couple, recently returned from Tuscany, are, according to Lee, “excited to be showing their new work created over the past year.”

Photographer Ed Riddell expects he’ll be showing ten to twenty new photographs, while Lee notes her paintings will include works as large as 18 x 18″, 12 x 30″ and 12 x 24.”

Ed is planning a “surprise” for the public with his new images; Lee will be displaying some new, more expansive landscape paintings. Red barns covered by snowfall, Snake River pelicans, hoary frost cottonwoods, the moon.  Tuscany’s landscapes are rendered in field sketches (which can be the most exciting part of any show). Nesting hummingbirds, very difficult to observe, housed themselves outside Lee’s studio—expect to see sketches of tiny, hovering Trochilidae.

Joy’s opening reception takes place 5-8:00 pm;  a salon-style conversation with Ed and Lee Riddell happens the same evening, 5-6:00 pm.   Contact Lee by phoning either 307.733.8093, x10 or 307.699.0923.

Watch for Lee’s contribution to the 2010 NMWA Western Visions Show.  One more accolade:  Lee’s work was accepted as part of the juried Yellowstone Art Museum 42nd art Auction.

Visit www.triofineart.com for more information.  In addition to Riddell, Trio Fine Art represents Kathryn Mapes Turner and September Vhay…and that painter up in Livingston….what’s his name……..Russell Chatham (humor attempt!).   Look for some guest artist appearances this season.  Summer gallery hours at Trio are Wed. – Sat., Noon-6pm.

Item #2:

I love it when the nudes come together!

Lyndsay McCandless, Director at newly opened Heather James Fine Art, would like you to come in and see some of her favorite things.   Marilyn is one of them.  Even “hetero” women are in love with Marilyn.   Can’t stop looking at her.

“When Hollywood photographer Lawrence Schiller, America’s first paparazzi, got the assignment to photograph Marilyn Monroe on the set of Something’s Got to Give, he thought nothing of it, just another fabulous Hollywood assignment,” says McCandless. “But he, and the world, were unprepared for the moment when Marilyn jumped into the pool in a flesh-colored bikini and came up out of the water au natural. The film crew brought out a birthday cake on that day, June 1, 1962 when she turned 36, and she gleefully sat before the sparkler candles…”

Schiller caught the moment, on a day that turned out to be her last on a movie set. Two months later Monroe would be dead.

McCandless also digs painter Timothy Tompkins’ nebulas; painted on aluminum panels they remind her of ethereal, glorious, galactic worm holes.  She notes that the work is inspired by images in modern media and how they relate to art history and the human condition; the works have a transitory effect.

There’s so much more, including an August “Wyeth” extravaganza.  Do not miss it.  307.200.6090 gets you Lyndsay.

Item #3:

Shoot, it’s Schenck!

My bad. Missed this item in my “drafts” stack.   Here are the facts!

ARTIST: Bill Schenck

WHAT: Book Signing: “Bill Schenck, Serigraphs 1971-1996”

WHEN: Saturday, July 10th 10 AM to 1 PM

WHERE: Altamira Fine Art, 172 Center Street

WHY:  It’s Bill Schenck! (Have you SEEN the magazine layouts of his cool southwestern home?)

STRAIGHT FROM THE GALLERY’S MOUTH: Over the past four decades Bill Schenck’s hard-edge oil paintings examining the realities of modern Western life have ranged from the nostalgic and the surreal to Photorealism and Conceptualism. Yet little attention has been given to the unique serigraphs he created over twenty-five years. Between the early 1970’s and the mid-1990’s, Schenck created fifty-two editions of serigraphs encompassing a variety of themes including fictionalized Western histories, Native American subjects, and depictions of the modern cowboys and cowgirls. These silkscreen prints reveal the serious, the playful, and the critical aspects of his fascination with the West….His Photorealist style lends itself to a contemporary interpretation of the West in a melding of Pop art graphic boldness and Warhol-like mythmaking. To heighten the glamour and drama of his subjects, he pays sharp attention to compositional elements such as setting, viewing angle, light, and color.

email:  connect@altamiraart.com

“In the years since meeting David, I’ve come to respect his ability to combine his artistic eye with a strong understanding of the craft of photography, the technique of putting light on paper. A stunning example of this is David’s unique interpretation of platinum/palladium printing, which incorporates many layers of visual information, giving it a painterly quality. The effect is to draw the observer back to the image repeatedly, unlike a typical photograph that can be absorbed in a single viewing. This is why David’s work is fine art that transcends specific time and place.” – Angela Pearson Bramson

Photographer – entrepreneur David Brookover, now the owner of two galleries showcasing his large format photography, has published his new book, The Road. Brookover is publishing two versions, each with its own price point.  The book becomes available in June 2010.

The Road – The Photographs of David Brookover will be published in a “trade edition” and a “collector’s edition.”   The former is available for $125, and the book’s first run is 1350 editions;  the latter sells for $975 and will have only 150 editions printed. Portfolio cases will be Kanji stamped with the Japanese symbol “Michi,” Japanese for “Road.” Brookover is using heavy Italian cotton rag paper, with “absolutely no optical brighteners so the images will be around for a very long time.”

That’s a heck of a price differential but Brookover is a savvy,  hands-on marketer.  The Road collector’s edition will be bound in rich red cloth and housed in a clothed portfolio encasing a Brookover platinum palladium print.  Two years ago, feeling the need to move away from the large, sexy color photographs (noted for seemingly endless depth of field and detail) that built his reputation, Brookover began creating platinum prints from existing plates, as well as taking new photographs.

The Road catalogs Brookover’s platinum prints, the focus of the photographer’s endeavors in recent years.  A few images depict physical roads, but the book’s title signifies Brookover’s continual travels around the United States and Japan in pursuit of his muse.   His camera captures deserts, coastlines, forests, the Southwest, pueblos, canyons, solitary trees of garden, woods and valleys, and Japanese gardens.   The book includes one nude portrait.

The Road, self-published, is only available for purchase at Brookover’s two galleries, located in Jackson Hole and Santa Fe.   www.davidbrookover.com.

Item #2

Collage artist Ricki Arno divides her time between Jackson Hole and New York.   A native New Yorker, Arno has been steeped in that city’s arts culture all of her life.  Her one-woman show, “Ricki Arno,” goes on display at Teton Art Lab on June 4, and a reception will be held that evening.

Her art is heavily influenced by New York’s fast moving, self-updating art movements.  Arno, a grandmother, is a graffiti artist at heart. Do not look for an artist dudette, even though Arno is, by her own account, an “urbanista.”  When you find yourself attending this show’s opening reception, look for the lady resembling Edith Head.

“Street Art that has become a part of my vision living in NYC, and the constant barrage of natural crisis and world events heavily pepper my work by influencing my eye, my heart and my hand. I love passionately seductive colors and have used them full force in my new works,” says Arno.

A woman, presumably the artist, is at the core of most of Arno’s compositions, which she calls “sketches.”  These are personal works reflecting the effects of global change and life experiences on Arno;  dream content floods each space.   Arno’s attention to, and ability to manipulate, detail is almost excruciating in its exactness.  Years ago, NYC life had her working in fashion and textile design, advertising and….cake decorating.  Arno’s decorated sweets and confections were legend for New Yorkers demanding her work, and brought Arno to the attention of many industry publications.

In my mind Arno’s dramatic, multi-dimensional and hotly colored compositions are operatic.  In her next life, she’ll make a grand set designer.

Though I know quite a bit about Arno’s creative process, I am going to keep that knowledge to myself;  mystery is part of this magic. See her results first, get everything you thought you knew about collage blown away.  Then, ask Arno about her process.

If the deadline has not passed, you might sign up for her summer 2010 Art Association Class.   Arno will lead her workshop “Mixed Media Collage: Combining Bare Bones Photoshop with Traditional Palettes” June 21-25.    Check their website for more info or call Mallory at 307.733.6379.

From the Buffalo Bill Historical Center comes this release:

According to Michelle Anne Delaney, Curator of the Photographic History Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, New York photographer Gertrude Käsebier embarked on a deeply personal project in 1898.

“Her new undertaking was inspired by viewing the grand parade of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West troupe en route to New York City’s Madison Square Garden,” Delaney explains. “Within a matter of weeks, Käsebier began a unique and special project photographing the Sioux Indians traveling with the show, formally and informally, in her 5th Avenue studio.”

Delaney brings Käsebier’s work to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in an exhibition titled: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Warriors: Photographs by Gertrude Käsebier, on view in the John Bunker Sands Photography Gallery April 10 – August 8. On Friday, April 9, 5 – 7 p.m., a Patrons Preview for Historical Center members precedes the public opening April 10.

Delaney describes the collection as “original platinum and gum-bichromate photographs printed from original glass negatives, pictograph drawings made by the Sioux Indians while at Käsebier’s studio, historic camera and studio equipment, and select items representing Buffalo Bill’s Wild West from the Smithsonian and Historical Center collections.

“These prints rank among the most compelling of her celebrated body of work,” Delaney continues. “Eventually, she became the leading portraitist of her time and an extraordinary art photographer. Since 1969, more than one hundred of these photographs have been preserved in the Photographic History Collection at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.”

http://www.bbhc.org

Half a mile from the county fair
And the rain keep pourin down
Me and billy standin there
With a silver half a crown
Hands are full of a fishin rod
And the tackle on our backs
We just stood there gettin wet
With our backs against the fence

Oh, the water
Oh, the water
Oh, the water
Let it run all over me…

The Art of Water, a public art exhibition celebrating the beauty and role of water in the Teton Watershed and its surrounding area, is on exhibit at the Driggs City Center. Opening day March 24, will include an open-to-the-public reception 5:30-7:30 pm, at the Driggs Senior Center.   The exhibition, a collection of photography, paintings and sculptures, courtesy of Friends of the Teton River and the Teton Arts Council, hangs through the month of June, 2010.

March 24th’s schedule of events:

5:30: Welcome by FTR and TAC representatives
Gallery open for viewing 5:30-7:30 PM

6:00: Sounds of the Teton: Audio recording natural sounds on the Teton River
Audio recording artist Charlie Otto

6:15: Performances of Poetry and Prose
Poet Garl Drake
Poet Ty Mack
Author Bruce Smithhammer

6:30: Healing Waters: A journey into the waters of Idaho, California, and Chile
Filmmaker Joe Lindsay

6:45:  River Songs
Singer/songwriters Thomas Sneed and Ted Wells

7:30 Closing thoughts by FTR and TAC representatives

Participating artists include: Bart Walker, Kelly Sullivan, Dorothy Galloway, Marcia LeMire, Dan Burgette,  Sue Tyler, Marina Nell, Teri Manigalt, Beach Huntsman, Carole Flaherty, Anna Taylor, Rosemary Thomas, Claire Vitucci, Cynthia Guild Stoetzer, Philbin De Got, Mary Lou Oslund, Virginia Grosse, Michele Farrier, Shauna Crandall, Tami Milligan, Nancy Nielson and Rosemary Franz.

The exhibition pays homage to the river’s fresh water and the creative personalities interpreting its particular bountiful beauty.    A light meal of soup, along with bread by the new local bakery 460 Bread will be provided.

For more information and a schedule of the evening’s events, visit www.tetonwater.org. Megan Hatch is the Friends of the Teton River contact.  Email Megan at megan@tetonwater.org.  Phone:   208.354.3871.

February 5, it’s all happening at the Art Association.

Really!  Sounds like a happening, 1960’s style, with symbolism and emotions and poetry readings and exploration of the human body’s nuances (Our Bodies, Ourselves, a ground breaking book about sexuality and women’s bodies, still available and updated, btw…), power and faith, Arlo Guthrie and Aristotle.

Arlo, Aristotle, Art Association: Triple “A” alliteration.

These shows represent a quantum leap forward for Jackson’s art community.  Don’t miss it. A joint opening reception happens at the Center for the Arts on Friday, February 5th, at 5:30 pm.

Show #1:

Nekkid, a group figure exhibition, includes a noon Brown Bag Lunch Art Talk with participating artists. In our “democratic”, post-industrial, high-tech country  we still struggle with being cool with nudity (unless you are John Edwards).  This show offers a chance to probe that resistance.   Works in various media alternately explore and celebrate the human body.  As part of the evening’s festivities the spirit of the Beat Poets will resurrect, with live poetry readings.

Participating artists include, but may not be limited to: Eliot Goss, Sue Sommers, Shannon Troxler, Suzanne Morlock, Susan Thulin, Bobbi Miller, Amy Larkin, Barbara Trentham, Mark Nowlin, Jenny Dowd and Valerie Seaberg.

Writers/poets to date include: Sarah Kariko, Marcia Casey, Valley Peters Bradley and Nicole Burdick.

(Bressler, where are you in this?  You write great poetry about nudes!   Get going, don’t make me bring out the poem  you wrote a few years back…..yes, I still have it, it’s bookmarking my souffle recipe.)

Show #2:

Power & Faith: The Photography of Paul Adams will be on display in the Artspace Loft Gallery.    Here, I defer to Paul Adams’ quotation describing the inspirations for his work.

“Through most of my professional photographic career I have tried to make beautiful photographs simply for the sake of beauty. Recently though I find myself motivated more by the same challenges the American folk singer Arlo Guthrie faced when he said, “For me it is not enough to write a song that is good. I want to write a song that is good for something.” The stimulating and exciting challenge for me as a photographic artist is to try and seduce the viewer into thinking as deeply as they feel. As we look into the faces of these Spiritual Leaders I hope to accomplish Aristotle’s goal for art when he said, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”

Show #3:

The Scotch and Watercolor Society, comprised of painters Barbara Barella, Holly Bishop, Barbara C. Kuxhausen, Skip Larcom, Michele McDonald and Joan Melius, deliver their creative messages solely in watercolor.

Watercolors are considered by many to be the most difficult paint medium to master.  Artists in this show offer up a variety of impressions, interpretations and subjects in their paintings.  The exhibition will be on display in the Artspace Theater Gallery.    Perhaps a fine single malt will be served.

Show #4:

Art Association Ceramics Director Sam Dowd is, in my opinion, a great ceramicist.  His space-inspired clay compositions are sheer intergalactic fantasy.

It’s exciting that Dowd’s collaboration and guidance of Jackson Hole High School students has resulted in this new art project and show, Blast from the Cast.

On display in the Artspace Lobby Gallery, students from Shannon Borrego’s art classes will mount their sculptures and vessels.  Students have learned the slip cast mold process, and created works depicting, or speaking to, objects “chosen from life,….making a plaster mold… to produce several reproductions. The students then created clay projects that incorporated, repeated, and altered the mold pieces.”

And that’s quite a process.  Results are colorful, well-designed and fanciful.  Art created by youth is the most free; with Dowd teaching them, these students may hang on to that creative joie de vivre.

The Art Association may be contacted via their website, or you may phone 307.733.6379.

The University of Wyoming has put out the call for entries for their nationally acclaimed literary and arts journal, the Owen Wister Review (OWR).  The competition is open to all writers and artists contributing work about the Western experience.

The University recently provided the following information:

OWR, printed each spring, won its second Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker, the college equivalent to a Pulitzer Prize in October.

“We are looking forward to another great year and can’t wait to start looking through this year’s submissions,” Editor Joshua Watanabe said.

Journal editors will be selecting original works of fiction, poetry, photography and art for inclusion in the 2010 edition. Submissions are open to artists, authors, poets, photographers or designers of any age.

Visit www.uwyo.edu/studentpub/owr for detailed submission requirements and contact information. All submissions, regardless of media, must be unpublished, original works and may not be simultaneously submitted elsewhere. Submission deadline is February 15, 2010.

University students published OWR’s first edition in 1978 with the goal of producing a magazine “the magazine reflected the talents of writers and artists in our community, recognizing them in the great tradition of Western literature and art.”

Named after Owen Wister, who set the first modern western novel, The Virginian, in the town of Medicine Bow, the review’s focus remains on the western experience interpreted by western people, but all writers and artists are invited to contribute their visions and stories.

Item #2

The National Museum of Wildlife Art’s Winter Carnival Quick Draw takes place Thursday, January 28, 5:30-7:30 pm.   Proceeds from the 1-hour paint-in and auction benefit NMWA’s educational programs.

This year’s Quick Draw will include more than a dozen artists, including four young up-and-comers from Jackson Hole high schools.  $10 admission for members, $15 for non-members, and children under 18 are free.   Get your “Chilly Bar, and some short beers, courtesy Snake River Brewing. Gessler gets tall ones, and so does McHuron.  Not sure why….Website: www.wildlifeart.org.  Phone: 307.733.5771

Last year something good did happen.  Photographer Edward Riddell experimented with a new kind of photography workshop, taking students on a photographic journey through Tuscany, Italy.    Those workshops were so successful, he’s repeating the program in 2010.

This spring, Riddell will take another small group of students through Tuscany; come fall, those who sign up will follow Riddell through Yellowstone National Park.  A Jackson Hole resident, Riddell has been shooting the Park’s landscapes for decades and conducting workshops for 33 years.  If you’ve lived here for any length of time, and have been paying attention to photography, you should be familiar with Riddell’s Ansel Adams-like black and white landscapes, and his more abstract color compositions.

Students must submit images to Riddell in order to be considered.  Workshops are geared to intermediate and experienced photographers.

With an emphasis on shooting in the field, and lots of personal attention and day-to-day critique from Riddell, class sizes are limited.

“Landscapes, People and Life of Tuscany” runs April 28-May 5, 2010.   This class is limited to six students; Italy’s touring vehicles are smaller than U.S. vans.  Cost is $1,995.   Riddell, who recently published “Range of Memory” with the writer Terry Tempest Williams, has branched off into portraiture.  Students will work with human subjects, as well as the natural world.

“Fall in Yellowstone – From Photograph to Gallery Print,” is scheduled for September 25 – October 1, 2010.   Limited to eight students, the cost is $1,250.

“The class will focus on morning and evening field sessions spent at Ed’s favorite locations (very generous in the world of photography) along with daily critiques of the previous day’s shoot. The goal of the course will be for each student to develop a portfolio of 6 to 10 photographs taken during the workshop,” says Riddell.

The Yellowstone session will give students the opportunity to produce exquisite inkjet prints at Riddell’s home studio, learning the basics of his editing and printing techniques.   Each student will leave with at least one finished print, finished with the best archival materials available.

I believe travel is included in these prices, but that is NOT confirmed, so please make sure you are clear on workshop costs.  Sounds like a deal to me!

Further details and links to signing up for either or both workshops can be found at http://web.me.com/edriddell/Riddell_Photography_Workshops.

Telephone Ed Riddell at 307.733.9093 or 307.690.3980.

One tough thing about not being in Jackson is being absent from watershed events. Karen Stewart, Art Association steward for the past 16 years, officially leaves her post as Executive Director of Jackson’s prominent arts non-profit this month.

If you are in town on Friday, January 15, please take time and good energy, and stop into the Center for the Arts to thank Karen. A reception is being held in her honor in the Center for the Arts Theater Lobby that day, from 5-7 pm.

Most of the time we don’t tell each other what we’ve done right. It’s hard for many of us; this is an excellent opportunity to practice your gratitude skills. Many other Jackson art venues might not exist if not for the ground breaking efforts of the Art Association and those who have, at one time or another, contributed and worked for its success.

Farewell, and Fare Well, Karen! Thank you for caring about Jackson’s visual arts. Thank you for all those years of service. Sixteen years heading up a Jackson non-profit may be some kind of record. I certainly hope to see you when I return.

Now, Ms. Stewart–go relax! Rev up the Vespa, pop a few corks, breathe.

Contact Cathy Wikoff, the Art Association’s Director of Development, for details. www.artassociation.org.  307.733.6379.

Also happening at the Art Association: Many Moose!

The Show: Twenty-six Moose: A Winter Photography Exhibit

The Dates: January 13 – February 2.

Opening Reception: Wednesday, Jan. 13 5-7:00 pm

The Space: ArtSpace Loft Gallery, Center for the Arts

By the time this posts, the first twenty-six photographs of moose brought to the Art Association’s front desk after the call went out, will be on display.

Apparently, unframed photographs are nailed to the wall. (Trying to block that taxidermy image….) It’s a great idea, this exhibit. First come, first serve. An excellent chance for fledgling/new/semi-pro photographers to show their work along side that of more established shooters.

Website: www.artassociation.org