Posts from ‘Politics’
The envelope, please.
Several spring seasons ago, the Teton County Library hosted a most memorable show. That spring, one could visit the library’s gallery and get lost in a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit, “Graceful Envelope.” It’s impossible for me, a person who values tradition (I feel about printed newspapers the way Charlton Heston did about guns; you’ll have to take it from my cold, dead hand!) to refrain from gushing over that show.
The contest’s website says “…Calligraphers and artists from around the world are invited to participate in the 15th annual Graceful Envelope Contest, conducted by the Washington (DC) Calligraphers Guild under the sponsorship of the National Association of Letter Carriers. The contest is open to all ages, with two separate categories for children.” This year’s theme is “Address the Environment.” Log on here to view the site.
You can still enter 2009′s Graceful Envelope Contest; entries must be postmarked by April 30.
A old friend recently asked for my mailing address, as she likes sending letters in lieu of email. She loves her writing paper. That request prompts this re-running of my original article on Graceful Envelope, below. Happy Easter!
“More than kisses, letters mingle souls; for, thus friends absent speak”.
John Dunne’s poetry embraces the tone of “Graceful Envelope”, a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit now on display at Teton County Library. If you haven’t been to see these illuminating, exquisite envelopes, go. The artwork evokes longing sighs, remembrance, and a feeling that you’ve tripped along a mossy, hidden path to discover a secret garden.
A hundred painted envelopes are included in the Smithsonian exhibit, that originated in 1995. Artists create envelopes for the competition, their subject matter based on a stamp or a theme chosen by the National Association of Letter Carriers. Ah, if every letter were thus conceived! The show is heartrending in its beauty. It is nectar. Step softly along the library’s walls to find artwork that seems rendered by fairies; 
elegant, wispy, fables for a 4 x 6 inch tablet. You will choose your own favorites, but I mention a few of mine 
here: Cathy Chilton, of New Mexico, fancied “Water, Earth, Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon”, an envelope inspired by stamps portraying those locations. The envelope is creased like an accordion, with alternating slices of bottle green, baked canyon orange, and an indigenous lizard. This Crafts-styled piece stands in sturdy comparison to envelopes weighted with laced grapevines and golden pears hanging heavy on the branch. Humorous takes on the funny papers include a work picturing Popeye knocking the stuffing out of the mail, and a careening “Blondie and Dagwood” sketch. “Celebrating Nature” bears a regal butterfly, emerald on its envelope, wings and antennae dipping into lacey calligraphy addressing the work.
Rhapsodic, I realize, but this exhibit unleashed such images and memory. Days of Easter Egg hunts, overgrown gardens choked with wild roses, sprawling hillsides and ladies with parasols looking down from the top of sunny hillsides to a picnic in the meadow. And I remember writing on thick paper, pages and pages of summer letters sent and received as a child.
Save your letters and envelopes. As exhibition curator Ester Washington notes, “Letters were once precious possessions, tied in bundles with silk ribbon, and kept safe in scented drawer.” We can recreate that time. Let’s try.
The Buffalo Bill Historical Center (BBHC ) in Cody will receive $190,000 to study and digitize William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s personal papers. The earmark, part of the 2009 Federal Budget Bill, also known as the Omnibus Bill, was introduced by then Representative Barbara Cubin. Cubin left office in January.
Lee Haines, BBHC’s Director of Public Relations, says it will most likely take several months to receive the funds. Once received, the money will be used to create three new jobs: an editorial assistant and two researchers.
“We anticipate that the entire project will be completed within three years,” says Haines. “That said, we don’t plan to wait three years before we begin to share what we have found and make information available online.”
What shape the information will take as it is presented to the public is unclear, but Haines says it will probably be organized much like chapters in a book.
Why is a bill sponsored by an out-of-office representative still alive?
Federal budgets are planned two years in advance. Budgets are combed over and passed on to the Administration, which then submits it to Congress. The idea is to get it ironed out before the fiscal year the money is to be spent. It all bounces around, is adjusted, and moves from agency to Congress to the Administration and back before being signed.
“Museums everywhere are trying to realize such projects so that people can have access to information,” says National Museum of Wildlife Art CEO Jim McNutt. “We have our collection online, and any such project is worthy no matter where the funding comes from. I can’t comment on the BBHC’s process, but I’m very much in favor of such projects.”
The earmark has been widely questioned. “Taxpayers for Common Sense,” a watchdog group, singled out the BBHC funding, gaining the project national attention. Critics, including Republican Senator John McCain, tagged it as typical wasteful pork barrel spending. Proponents argue Bill Cody’s papers are a national treasure and should be preserved via federal funding.
In other fundraising efforts, the BBHC has secured $310,000 from private donors and $300,000 from the Wyoming State Legislature.
In a February 25 statement, House Representative Cynthia Lummis said, “Congressional leaders are turning a blind eye to the plight of millions of Americans by passing this bloated pork-laden spending bill.”
The BBHC takes issue. “This funding request is a normal part of the process that museums and many other institutions go through to secure funding, not only for particular projects, but for general operating support,” Bruce Eldredge, Buffalo Bill Historical Center Executive Director and CEO, said. “This request will provide additional support for what we consider to be important scholarly work. It’s unfortunate that some people appear to regard scholarship as unnecessary.”
End.
The Wyoming Arts Council, a state agency promoting and supporting the arts in our state, says it will receive $290,000 in funds. Those funds will be sliced from the $50 million the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is distributing to arts entities around the country.
The NEA is a standout amongst the countless arts concerns struggling to survive. The Wyoming Arts Council receives more dollars per capita than any other arts agencies; Wyoming is also the country’s least populous state.
Americans for the Arts post these numbers relating to the important role arts play in our lives, our livelihoods:
5.7 million — jobs
100,000 — nonprofit arts organizations
612,000 — arts-centric businesses
4.3 percent — of all American businesses
$29.6 billion — in tax revenue
$166.2 billion — total economic impact
The Art of Finding Funds: Utah Arts Organizations Retool for Leaner Times,a Salt Lake Tribune article on how that state’s art organizations are coping, provides some interesting perspective. Here’s an excerpt:
“And in trying economic times, many in the nonprofit world have rallied around the time-honored advice of nonprofit arts guru Michael M. Kaiser. Maintain the strongest programming possible, advises Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and look to diversify funding sources….For Utah arts organizations, that means considering offerings with a fresh set of eyes, looking to staff for more talent and resources, and, yes, scaling back fundraising events while searching for additional funds with renewed determination.”
The University of Wyoming Art Museum and the Wyoming Arts Council are taking up the matter of public art placemaking, hosting “Public Art and Community: Inspiration and Reflection.” The conference takes place April 2-4.
The focus is public art and its role in shaping community–in this case, participants will discuss public art’s role in civic matters and it’s place on campus. All are invited to attend. Those working in arts-related fields are especially encouraged, and we assume public planning and government officials on all levels would be welcomed. Public art planning does not happen in a vacuum; it takes a special effort by artists willing to engage in public process.
Participants may opt to attend one day of meetings or the entire conference. Presenters will speak on topics such as “Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational,” Wyoming public arts programs, public policy and other related subjects.
Discounts are available for early registration–which ends Sunday, March 15. For tickets and more information, log onto the University of Wyoming Art Museum’s website, or phone the Wyoming Arts Council at 307-777-7742.
