Posts from ‘Photography’
“I had never seen a truly iconic image of lightning hitting the high peaks of the Tetons and had envisioned this photo for at least a couple years. With patience and a little luck, the perfect storm finally pushed into the mountains, and I watched the intense clouds brew for several hours before deciding I had a chance of making the shot. It was 2 a.m. and I was the only one around…driving through GTNP was both exhilarating and daunting as all I could see was a wall of blackness fronted by a veil of occasional lightning strikes. These powerful stabs of light were my only gauge of the storm’s progress as it slowly engulfed the Teton Range and headed [straight] toward me.” ~Jeff Diener
There’s another photog in town.
In truth, Jeff Diener has been around Jackson and the Greater Yellowstone region for 12 years, doing very well for himself shooting outdoor and adventure shots for corporate sports clients like Cloudveil, Patagonia and Title Nine, and popular sports journals like Outside, Mens Journal and Backpacker. The work’s been lucrative, but now Diener wants to bond a little more with the world of fine art. And to that end, he’s built a new website, www.jacksonholegallery.com. (On this blog, you’ll find a link to his site under Arts Links.)
There’s something in the water…I’ve not researched it, but if anyone can point to a Jackson Hole sector exercising more entrepreneurial gumption than the arts, I’d like to hear about it.
Diener says his new site offers over 3,000 hand-picked images of Jackson, the Western U.S. and several international destinations. The site is the most recent venue to offer a way for photography lovers to search for new images. Featured galleries and photos guide visitors, and Diener has supplied ways to search for images via keywords and browsing. It’s a full-service photography and social-media connected site.
Diener talks about the inspirations for his work.
“The site has a high-end, well edited collection of landscapes available for fine art print purchase as well as outdoor adventure & active lifestyle pics on tap for stock photo licensing. The locations represented span the western U.S. and the world with a focus on Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park. (The collection) is growing….national parks, national forest lands and outdoor sports including skiing, trail running, backpacking, snowshoeing, hiking, camping, mountain biking, fly fishing, mountain climbing….everything under the sun including walking the dog, horse grooming, cruiser biking and tons of fun lifestyle images.
Conceiving and capturing powerful and soulful moments has been the driving force for my photography and provides the fuel for new work. I’ve spent the past fifteen years traveling the western U.S. and the world making iconic adventure sport and active lifestyle images for commercial clients.
Allan Bard once wrote that ‘there is a lure to the backcountry, to the unexplored, that is like the magnetic draw of the Promised Land to a wandering pilgrim.’ Whether deep in a wilderness river canyon or
planning locations for an upcoming shoot in the jungles of Thailand, I’ve always felt that draw. My hope is that the images I create give a window into the incredible beauty of wild places, my “Promised Land”, and that this imagery gives the inspiration for others to pursue stunning locales and memorable moments whenever possible.”
February 7-9 and Feb. 11-13 2011, getting-famous glass blower Charlotte Potter will hold two glass blowing workshops at The Factory/Teton Art Lab in Jackson.
As far as Potter knows, these are Jackson’s first glass blowing workshops. Material properties of molten glass, basic techniques and some “non-traditional” practices will be examined. Students will work in teams, doing “couples skill-based drills with material exploration to conclude in a series of glass objects.” Hands-on practice is supported with lectures and demonstrations.
Potter, who last year received her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (considered by many to be the country’s most prestigious arts university), says she is thrilled to pioneer a new arts program. Her time at RISD 
has been transforming. If you are a Jackson chick, you probably have a pair of Potter’s earrings. I took my blue ones right out of her ears back in the day, when Potter was a SRB wait person. If you frequented Teton Art Lab’s earliest exhibitions, you remember Potter’s cutting edge, wickedly imaginitive glass wildlife wall trophies.
She is in awe of glass. “Glass has binary qualities cloaked with competing characteristics: liquid and solid, elastic and brittle, captivating and humbling,” says Potter. Before she embarked on her graduate studies she wasn’t really “clear” about why she was into glass, compelled as she was to work with her medium. Gradually, she became deeply focused on traditional glass-making; she now understands glass as an experience that culminates in a tangible object.
“Graduate studies at RISD required self-analysis and alert questioning of why I remain…inspired by hot glass as an artistic medium. Integral to the glass blowing process is [one's] body, and working with an assistant. Perhaps for this reason much of my work is concerned with the way people relate to one another, and being grounded in the body….I am curious about the ways in which humans relate to one another and…I court the allure and illusion of fusion.”
Potter believes that blowing glass immediately locates a person in their body, and quickly reveals dexterity’s importance. The process requires developing muscle memory crucial to creating an object.
“In my own studio practice, I am not wedded to glass or glassblowing, however I remain inspired by my native material, returning to glass studies when mystified [by] an idea. I believe I will always dip back into the well of glass for stimulation.”
Tuition for Potter’s class is $300. To register, call 307.699.0863 or email info@tetonartlab.com. To learn more about Potter’s impressive achievements, awards and exhibitions, and her art, log onto her website at www.charlottepotter.com.
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Before he left office former Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal announced the recipients of the 2010′s Governor’s Arts Award. Jackson’s own arts education non-profit pARTners is a recipient, and the group will accept that prize on February 11, 2011, in a celebratory event at Cheyenne’s Little America. The Wyoming Arts Council (WAC) award recognizes arts groups and individuals providing outstanding arts services to Wyoming.
“I think pARTners is a great fit for the award because we have such a strong, sixteen-year track record of bringing the arts into local classrooms to improve learning,” says the organization’s Matt Daly. “Each year we help students at every grade level participate in the creative process. I think the fact that Governor Freudenthal recognized pARTners for the award indicates the important place the arts have in our local schools. The arts can be integrated into every academic discipline, offering new challenges to all students. PARTners could not do our work if there weren’t teachers and administrators, artists and arts organizations who are all willing and eager to collaborate to bring the arts into the classroom. For us, receiving the award confirms the value Teton County places on the arts in the education of our young people.”
Congratulations, pARTners! To learn more about this arts non-profit and its award, log onto www.edu-partners.org/
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Jackson based photographer John Richter, who opened his shop on King Street last summer, has a new image, “Thanksgiving.” An edition of 250, the shot pictures Jackson Hole’s iconic Mormon Row barn. And though he’s seen lots of sunrises in his photographic career, Richter says this shot takes in one of the most beautiful sunrises he’s ever seen over the Teton Range.
“It was 20° below zero Thanksgiving morning, and I was struggling to record the beauty being presented to me as the biting cold literally sunk its teeth into my hands,” says Richter. “I could only imagine the hardships endured by the settlers who built this homestead a century ago!”
Stop into John Richter’s gallery, say hello to our new neighbors, and check out this and other images on display. It’s a riot of color in there, and the space transformed, now a den-like venue, dramatically lit. www.johnrichterphoto.com
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An artsy party benefitting theater in Jackson takes place February 5, 2011. The Madame X “Le Cabaret Artistique” cuts loose 6-9:00 pm at the Center for the Arts in Jackson. $100
buys you a festive evening enjoying the great music and talents of headliners Nicole Madison and Pam Drew Phillips, dinner, wine & dessert. Over 40 talented Jackson artists will take the stage. Proceeds benefit Off Square Theatre Company.
For information and to purchase tickets phone 307.733.3021. www.offsquare.org
Santa Baby, stick a painting (or a sculpture or a photograph, protected wilderness and wildlife…you get the gist) under the tree for me….I’ve been an awful good girl! Save the many typos, bound to be here…..
The print’s a teensy tiny, so in case you can’t make out the info on 2010′s Wilson Christmas Bazaar, the info is:
December 11 & 12 (Saturday & Sunday) • 10am – 4pm • 1520 Fish Creek Road, Wilson. Check out Didi Thunder’s collection of rugs, cashmere scarves and hoodies, sweaters, soap, and brass imports. The annual local’s bazaar with an international flair. A good portion of proceeds benefit the Rotary Interact Library in Nepal. So many lovely things to choose from. Call Didi Thunder at 307.733.4124 or email her at: didi@wyoming.com.
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Greetings and Salutations from The Brookover Gallery! This holiday photographer David Brookover’s beautiful, archival new book, The Road, makes a thoughtful and gorgeous gift. Featuring
56 black and white and platinum/palladium images representing 25 years of work, this book is masterfully printed.
“The Road reveals David’s sensibility and artistic eye and his enduring quest to capture subject matter at its visual apex,” says the gallery. “In purchasing this wonderful book, you are collecting an important span of photographic history, …a visual journey of light, form, empty space and presence.” $125 for a signed copy, free shipping though December 15.
And man, if you haven’t checked out David’s new platinum Yellowstone wildlife series…get yourself over. Extraordinary work.
For more information: abby@brookovergallery.com, or tim@brookovergallery.com.
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Astoria Fine Art’s White Christmas Show celebrates all things “winter.” Visit the gallery December 15 – January 5, 2011, to view dozens of works embracing winter’s special beauty. Many paintings and sculpture by gallery artists will be on display, as will works by “historical” artists.
Astoria is featuring work by Jeff Tobey, Greg Beecham and Ed Kucera; but a more complete list of artists can be found by visiting the gallery’s website. More than 50 new works are available to visit and consider during the holiday season. Actually, by now, that number may have shrunk—so hurry on in! www.astoriafineart.com
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Kyrgyz clothing and fashion designer Aidai Asangulova is opening a new line of clothing with the help of Vista 360. December 9-13, 11:30 am to 7:30 pm daily, a “pop-up” (temporary) store showcasing her designs at 120 West Pearl Avenue (formerly home to Cloudveil), Jackson. December 9, an opening reception and fashion show takes place at that address, 7-9 pm. The new label, “AIDAI,” is best known for its “…stunning line of hand-rolled silk-and-felt scarves,…slippers, hats, bags and elaborate felt flower jewelry, as well as a contemporary home décor line.”
During store hours on December 10 – 13, from 4:30 to 6:00 daily, the AIDAI Pop-Up Store will offer tea, wine and discussion “focusing on and exploring themes of fashion, design and social action.
Aidai will be on hand to demonstrate her design process. And, although I’m not sure who they would be, Vista 360 says Jackson “designers and style pacesetters” will also be on hand. The show marks the establishment of a new Jackson business, “High Design,” with a mission to promote work by designers from mountain regions around the world.
“When a customer buys one of AIDAI’s designs, he or she joins a global partnership of people who believe in reaching across boundaries, the power of people working together and the inspiration of beautiful things,” says Vista 360′s Candra Day. info@aidai-design.com 307.733.3082
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Perhaps there’s no place nicer this time of year than our own Teton County Library. During December, make sure to visit The Refuge & the Muries: An Arctic Exploration, at the Library’s exhibit gallery. Olaus and Mardy Murie’s environmental heroism played a pivotal role in preserving the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Says the Library, ”The Murie Center celebrates the Refuge’s 50th anniversary with an interactive exhibit of stunning photos and sound recordings. See artifacts from the 1956 Murie Arctic Expedition, which 
provided political momentum for preserving the Refuge’s millions of acres of pristine wildlife habitat. Read journal entries and view photos from local writer and adventurer Molly Loomis, who in 2010 retraced the expedition, following in the adventurous spirit of the Muries. The Murie Center presents this exhibit, on view through Jan. 12.”
And on Sunday, December 12, Session #2 of Hand Craft Nativity Figures takes place at the Library, 1-4:30 p.m. Ages 7 and up. Celebrate Christmas by completing nativity figures with corn husks during this 2-day workshop (Participants attend both Dec. 5 and Dec. 12 sessions). Craftsman Oton Baez demonstrates how to make these precious figures to feed the Christmas spirit. Registration required at the Youth Services Desk. Location: Ordway Auditorium. Free. Latino Programs Coordinator, Pati Rocha, 733-2164 ext. 237 or procha@tclib.org. In Spanish & English.
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Galleries West Fine Art’s annual Little Jewels Holiday Miniature show opens Dec. 11, with a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception that evening, 3-7 pm.
“We couldn’t think of a more festive or better way to enjoy some art and get in the spirit!” says gallery owner and artist R. Scott Nickell.
“Little Jewels” are paintings measuring twelve inches square or smaller; sculptures have a maxium 1200 cubic inches mass. Nickell says price tags for these tiny artworks are little jewels themselves. For those collecting small works that often provide greater personal satisfaction, this show is a lovely opportunity. The show features works from almost all the gallery’s artists.
“I have a number of them myself. I love their intimacy,” says co-owner Debbie Bunch.”
For more information, phone 307.733.4412. (Hint, hint: I’d love an E.C. O’Connor!)
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Heron Glass Open Studio & Holiday Sale takes place at the artist’s Driggs, Idaho glass shop – 240 North 5th Street — on Saturday, December 11, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm. Visit glass artists MaryMullaney and Ralph Mossman. See them design
and make their signature glass pieces. Many pieces available for sale, and you can enjoy a holiday snack!
Visit the Heron Glass website here. Phone 208.354.2759.
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Sunday, December 12, join artist Shannon Troxler at her home — 2160 Coyote Loop, Wilson, WY — for a Holiday Show of new and recent paintings. Time is 12-6:00 pm. Lots of good cheer and refreshments on hand! Especially chocolates…
www.shannontroxler.net; email Shannon at paintergirl@bresnan.net
Paul West, "Key West Pier," copyright 2007
“The Photography” is here, and Edward Riddell brought it. Riddell’s affinity for European flair — particularly Italy’s culture and language—inspired him to title his new collection of curated fine prints Le Fotographie.
Photographers represented on the site are long-standing friends of Riddell’s, and he’s taught the craft alongside many of them. Knowing Riddell’s penchant for professionalism and perfection, colleagues were more than willing to test the idea. A ringing response to a challenging economy and a boon to photography collectors challenged by high prices, Le Fotographie offers the opportunity to purchase great photographic prints. Riddell calls photography one of America’s truly original contributions to the art world, and it just seems appropriate to make photography—a medium that can be replicated almost infinitely—available to anyone.
At this writing, Riddell has just re-structured his pricing. Prints are available beginning at $24.95 plus shipping and handling. Periodically the new business will offer free shipping on purchases over a certain amount. Prints are delivered in special boxes containing an embossed portfolio folder for the print, and a transparent, embossed protective tissue.
If Riddell is successful, his new resource stands to create solid competition for galleries charging much higher prices for limited edition prints. Le Fotographie is the second major innovative Jackson-based arts marketing project in as many months.
(These dynamic initiatives are at the core of what the Town of Jackson needs to incorporate as we plan for the future. We need to be in the business of creating a distinct identity, instead of trying to replicate Teton Village and Shooting Star aprés ski ambience. We don’t have the location, and we need to diversify our economic base. If you had $500/night to spend at a ski resort, where would you stay? In town, or at Teton Village/Shooting Star/Amangani?)
Riddell says Ansel Adams’ Yosemite portfolio is really responsible for the creation of Le Fotographie. In 1958, Adams made affordable prints of some of his most famous images. His will stipulated that those prints would continue to be made
Matt Mallams, "Purse Snatcher," copyright 2006
after his death; he reserved the other negatives, which will never be available for sale.
“As Ansel told the story he believed tourists and visitors to Yosemite ought to be able to have a really beautiful souvenir, something other than “rubber tomahawks” sold in so many of the shops. So to this day the prints are available for only $225, which is incredibly inexpensive for a real Adams print,” explains Riddell. “They are unsigned and stamped ‘Ansel Adams Special Edition Print.’ A signed version of any of those prints would be worth many thousands of dollars.”
Limited supplies are pricier, but few editions of any photogrpaher’s work sell out.
“The concept of limited editions is inherently ‘unphotographic.’ After all, photography is virtually the only art form with the ability to produce infinite original prints from a single image,” explains Riddell. Le Fotographie offers unlimited images of every image cataloged.
Riddell’s expertise, love of the medium and, frankly, exquisite taste, curated the collection; but he offers a “democratic” product. Riddell thinks Adams would have championed the concept, and he has stamped “Le Fotografie Authorized Special Edition Print” with a copyright notice for the photographer on each order.
Using the highest quality archival paper and pigment inks, each print is made after the photographer has approved a master print of each image on the site. Riddell will add more images–change things up–monthly. The site offers a newsletter, reviews, and (GASP!) a blog that will cover topics relating to photography and the website.
“This way photographers can continue to sell signed editions of their prints to collectors willing to pay a premium for the signature. But for those who just enjoy a beautiful photograph they can afford to buy it and enjoy looking at a beautiful print every day,” says Riddell. Much more information is available on the website: www.lefotographie.com.
Photo Credits: Top, left: Paul Adams, “Key West,” © 2006; Middle, right: Matt Mallams, “Purse Snatcher,” © 2006; Below, center: Jon Stuart, “Backstop at la Taos Church,” © 2007.
Jon Stuart, "Backstop at la Taos Church," copyright 2007
Buy five, get one free. That’s the simple and sound model for a new brochure-ticket created by five regional museums in the Greater Yellowstone area. Wyoming’s Buffalo Bill Historical Center (BBHC) in Cody, WY; the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, WY; the Carbon County Historical Society and Museum in Red Lodge, MT; the Yellowstone Historic Center in West Yellowstone; and the Yellowstone Gateway Museum, Livingston, MT are offering families a chance at a free family membership.
All you have to do is visit each of these museums before December 31, 2011. With each visit you will receive a passport-like “stamp.” Once the fifth and final museum is visited and your passport is full, a free family membership to the to the
final museum is awarded. Hence, if you have a hankering for a BBHC family membership—good for a year—make that museum your fifth stop.
A query as to whether passport owners may request the reward of a family membership to be gifted to another family has not been answered; but it seems a good way to get even more people to visit the great consortium of museums surrounding Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. For now, go with the assumption that the gift is non-transferable.
Questions? Contact Marguerite House (307.578.4137/margueriteh@bbhc.org ) OR Lee Haines ( leeh@bbhc.org/ 307.578.4014) at the BBHC.
The BBHC released the announcement, and you can visit their website at www.bbhc.org.
The Great Plains, for many an undefinable space, is “….a place that you can feel deep in your bones, a place where you cross into this space where the land is mostly just an anchor for the sky–it’s a place where you can’t open your arms wide enough to take it all in.”
Michael Forsberg’s photographic embrace of America’s great, sweeping prairies Great Plains – America’s Lingering Wild, on display at the National Museum of Wildlife Art (NMWA), reveals that region’s ecosystem’s tender underbelly. The great magic of the plains is mystery—its ability to “camouflage” its own natural wonders.
Nature’s camouflage, though, is natural wonder. In this enchanting exhibition Forsberg wakes us up to the fact that what many people might dismiss as dull, in-the-way detrius is critical foundation for this embattled grassland ecosystem. Like many wildlife photographers, Forsberg
stuffs himself into a bivy and otherwise does what he needs to do to capture his images of wild lands and wild species. But Forsberg’s photography is friendly–not freaky. A wide angle view provides hemispherical landscapes; viewers swim through these prairies, spotting primrose, cougars, bird species, butterflies, tiger salamanders—and of course the great Bison—from behind diving goggles.
You can stand out in the tall grass prairie and not move all day, says Forsberg, and see all sorts of creatures that will come your way. But, he clarifies, you can also just look at your feet and see hundreds of species….(the prairie) is just teeming with life.
Childhood innocence, that scampering into twilight when fireflies commence their blinking. That’s what Forsberg accesses. We’re playing hide-and-seek in these waving, flowered, delicately populated fields. This is a treasure hunt. Forsberg handles his subjects with utmost delicacy, lest they break.
Great Plains – America’s Lingering Wild, remains on display at NMWA through January 30, 2011. www.wildlifeart.org
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Last week Governor Freudenthal’s office and the Wyoming Arts Council released Wyoming’s Creative Vitality Index.
The (pie chart rich) 107-page report “measures the changes in the economic health of an area by integrating economic data streams from both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Through per capita measurements of
revenue data from both for-profit and nonprofit entities as well as employment data from a selection of highly creative occupations, the system aggregates the data streams into a single index value that reflects the relative economic health of a geography’s creative economy. The CVI provides an easily understandable measure of economic health to help communicate information from a broad arts coalition to policy makers and stakeholders.” *
Where did this report come from?
“The CVI grew out of a conversation about whether to undertake an economic impact study of the arts. The staff leadership of the Washington State Arts Commission and the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, in collaboration with others, explored ways to expand and enrich the economic argument for support of the arts and especially public funding of the arts. In doing so, the group was influenced by two national conversations concerning economic development: the defining of a creative economy and the outlining of the concept of economic development clusters. Those conversations did something the nonprofit arts community was very late in doing–they included the related for-profit creative sector in a universe normally reserved for nonprofits.
The public value work articulated by Mark Moore also played a role in the development of the CVI. That work helped the public sector component of the nonprofit arts funding community move away from a perspective oriented toward saving the arts to considering ways to be responsive to what citizens wanted in the arts. The approach also worked to shape agency deliverables to reflect their actual value to the public rather than the value arts aficionados considered them to have for the public.
One result of this influence was that the CVI was developed in a context of thinking in which individuals are assumed to have choices and that, to remain viable, public sector arts funders need to offer choices the public will value and thus select. In this concept of selection is the understanding that choice in the arts ranges outside the nonprofit arts and that the public sector arts agency needs to ensure that such choice is available.” *
You can download the entire report by visiting www.wyomingartscouncil.org. * excerpt from Wy. CVI
