Jackson Hole Art Blog

Nicolai Ouroussoff’s March 31, 2010 article in the New York Times Arts Section brings to light a plan to reconstruct Haiti’s urban infrastructure by breaking up the population of over-crowded Port-au-Prince into smaller cities.   These compact towns, if realized, are termed “smaller urban growth poles,” and could dramatically change Haiti’s economic, social and political future.

If you haven’t already, you can click on the above link and read the entire article.  If you are short on time, here’s a bare-bones synopsis:

• The new urban distribution plan centers on the idea that many smaller cities would be established in areas of Haiti least likely to be struck by natural disaster.  Port-au-Prince would no longer be the dominant city.  Currently, Port-au-Prince has almost no sewage treatment and its building code is “barely two pages long.”
• Ouroussoff says these plans, still being developed, already best early rebuilding plans post-Katrina and post-Tsunami.
• Haiti’s woes go back a century, when America began concentrating trade ops in Port-au-Prince, shutting down other existing Haiti ports.   By 1960, François Duvalier shut down any remaining ports in a bid for total political control via a single power base.
• Over 20 years, the city’s population almost doubled, to 3 million people.  The “effect of the shift was an urban disaster – one that has put more and more pressure on the capital while draining the provinces of economic opportunity.”
• The quake has made redistribution away from Port-au-Prince’s major fault line and its exposure to landslides and floods a logical step.   Thousands of the city’s buildings were destroyed, practically leveling it, as the world has seen.   Refugees have fled, moving to other regions of Haiti.
• Planners hope relocation services like hospitals and schools will encourage re-establishment of new urban centers.  They propose organizing new buildings around public parks and the like, which would provide sorely needed civic center points.   Similar plans would be applied to rural areas, with farms surrounding central core services areas.   Public structures would be paid for by the government.
• Light rail is proposed.  Earthquake debris (millions of cubic tons) would serve as shoreline landfill, that could be turned into parks.
• One planner noted that “We should think in terms of the city’s urban evolution rather than large-scale development.”
• Haiti planners need access to money and ideas; the University of Miami’s “new urbanism” proponents can advise.
• Ouroussoff ends his article by observing that “….a connection between good urban planning ideas and political realities on the ground was never made (in New Orleans).  The best plans went nowhere.  Let’s pray that doesn’t happen in Haiti.”

Item #2:

University of Wyoming (UW) Adjunct Professor Nathan Abel’s print exhibition Origins, on display at Teton Art Lab May 7-31, also includes prints produced by members of the UW Print Exchange.

Besides being an accomplished artist, Abel is able to write with languid beauty about his work.   Working to connect with a father he has no conscious memory of,  Abel incubates his native landscapes, giving them new life that exists in binary-colored melancholy.

“In a time when oral history is diminishing I cling to the histories passed on to me by family members. My interpretation of those memories exist between the unconscious and the conscious mind. Through my work I explore the common ground that I feel I share with my father whom I never consciously knew. I utilize the rural landscape (where I grew up and still feel the most at home) in juxtaposition with integrated personal archetypes. The images exist as a dialogue between memories of the old family farm, photographs my father took, and my own personal narratives.”

Through his printing process, Abel is building what he calls a “dialog of history.”

“Wyoming” connotes thoughts of vast, wind blown space.   Memories, in pictorial and written forms, sift their way through the ages.   Abel is a highly conscious artist, taking history seriously.   This is the true road.

Are you a Friend of Jeff Newsom?   If you are, you are lucky indeed.  And you are probably aware that he has been diagnosed with ALS, aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease.  Jeff is a musician, a beloved brother, partner and friend.   He’s our neighbor.  He’s a musician.  He’s also a master Dobsonian telescope builder.

A benefit to raise money and mojo for Jeff happens Saturday, April 17, 2010 at The Wildwood Room-Bill Boney’s, in Victor, Idaho.   Time:  7:00-11:00 pm.   Ben Winship will lead a long, illustrious line-up of musical guests.   Plan to donate and have a ball — there will be plenty of great food, drink AND a private Auction.

Facebook’s “Jeff Newsom Lives!” page says that “spontaneous participation events include:”

Best Song Dedicated To Jeff Newsom Contest (the more ridiculous the better)
Top Ten Conspiracy Theories by Jeff That Turned Out To Be True Contest
Top Ten Conspiracy Theories Jeff Will Offer In 2010

IF YOU CAN’T MAKE THE EVENT: Donations can be made online at:  http://jeffreynewsombenefit.chipin.com/jeffrey-newsom-lives

I met the Newsom clan years back, at an opening for Jeff’s brother David’s photography exhibit and book release, both entitled “Skip.” Skip is another Newsom brother, seemingly physically impaired, but incredibly magic.   David photographed Skip against Idaho’s snaggly, raw landscapes and the results were beautiful.  That show remains one of my all time favorites in my long memory of Jackson Hole art happenings.  Jeff was there and so was sister Ginny Newsom.   It was a great party, held at in the barn-like structure on West Broadway that housed the former J.H. Muse Gallery.

Jeff told me about his telescopes.  He drew me some sketches on cocktail napkins, and I started taking notes.   It was the beginning of a friendship with Jeff and the remarkable Newsom clan.  (Ginny Newsom is working her tail off on this benefit.  What a woman!) A few weeks later I found myself spending an adventurous afternoon with Jeff and his telescopes, and I wrote a newspaper story about the day.

What follows is an edited version of that original that ran in Planet Jackson Hole’s April 12, 2006 edition.  I want you to know him.   Here’s to you, Jeff!   I love the stars in your eyes.  Party on!   ~  Tammy

“Idahoan Enjoins Masses to ‘Come See the Moon!’”

“So there we were. We had one of these telescopes with a four-inch mirror in it, and Mars was going to make its closest pass in many years, and that’s what got it all started. You start looking through one of those things, and are blown away by what you can see! I thought, imagine what you could see with a bigger scope!”

So said Jeff Newsom of Driggs, Idaho, describing how he got interested in making telescopes. I thought that would be the subject of this story – I mean, is anyone else around here making telescopes? – no. Five minutes into my research and the full “scope” of what Newsom is doing and exploring began to crystallize and this little article became more of a humble introduction to a host of concepts and players, including, but not limited to:

Hydrogen, mirror-shaping classes, time, space, black holes, a re-examination of Big Bang theory, (which, according to www.bigbangneverhappened.org, could not have occurred), red shifts, wavelengths demonstrating a celestial object’s distance from earth; and John Dobson, renowned physicist, chemist, astronomer, “Star Monk,”  and visionary who has turned empirical evidence into philosophy.  Oh, and assists humans in seeing beyond their genetic programming.

“These are clouds, these are cats, these are bees, but when you see the moon through a scope you shut up,” Dobson has said.  Dobson founded Sidewalk Astronomers, a tribe of knowledgeable star gazers with a public service mission to introduce all citizens to space.   Dobson began the movement by setting up his homemade telescopes on San Francisco street corners and inviting passers-by to “come see the moon.”

Jeff Newsom was attracted to Dobson’s complete altruism.  Newsom learned how to build Dobsonian telescopes, made from precise, lightweight mirrors (Newsom carved his own), long focal ratios and extra wide apertures.    Newsom is also drawn to Dobson’s mix of Eastern philosophy and Western physics.  Because of Dobson, says Newsom, millions of people have “gone celestial.”

Newsom founded his own chapter of Sidewalk Astronomers, joining the mission to educate as many as he can on the secrets of the stars, planets, space, time, cosmic dust and, well, the origins of everything.  Spend a few hours with Newsom looking through his telescopes, and you may well become a convert, too.  Jeff Newsom has made it possible for all of us in Jackson, Driggs and the region to look into deep space if we want to.   Newsom engineered a visit by Dobson to Jackson Hole just a few years ago.

Peering through a giant telescope pointed towards the heavens, says Newsom, is like  “walking into the Winds for the first time or seeing the Grand Canyon. Your perspective is forever impacted.”

Jeff Newsom keeps giving and giving.  Give back.  We have his back, right?   I cannot attend this weekend’s festivities because I’m in New England;  however I’m thrilled to make a contribution that I hope will help raise funds, and my wish is that you will too.   As a friend of mine likes to end letters, “touching palms.”

“Planning in the West,” the second annual conference on the topic of Intermountain West development, takes place in Boise, Idaho, June 2-3, 2010. The conference is billed as featuring “leading planners, policy-makers, architects, developers, and landscape architects from around the Rockies….to track planning and development trends, showcase best practices, and understand how thoughtful and place-inspired planning can help us shape our region in the most positive possible ways.”

Planning in the West’s keynote speaker is Mark Muro, of the Brookings Institution, a Washington D.C. based public policy think tank with a mission to  “conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals:

• Strengthen American democracy;
• Foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans and
• Secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system.”

Muro studies intermountain economic trends; you can find “Mountain Monitor – Tracking Economic Recession and Recovery in the Intermountain West’s Metropolitan Areas” when you do a search on the Brookings Institute website.  The study tracks trends through the fourth quarter of 2009.  It looks at large metropolitan regions (Denver, Boise, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque), and smaller areas (Reno, Fort Collins, Las Cruces, Boulder); but transpose Muro’s larger points on intermountain real estate booms, education, and diversity of economic base to Jackson’s profile, and you will get a pretty good idea of the pace of economic recovery Teton County might expect, and why.

Soft Opening for Heather James Gallery

Heather James Fine Art opens its doors at 172 Center Street, Suite 200, next door to Altamira Fine Art, in April.  This month’s opening is soft.  Lyndsay McCandless has been hired as the gallery’s director.

“We welcome our new neighbors, Heather James Fine Art, to the Center Street art district,” says Altamira Executive Director Mark Tarrant. “This is an important addition to the Jackson art market, providing the quality of fine art that people expect when visiting Jackson.  We are working with the gallery’s director, Lyndsay McCandless, and planning cooperative events that will set the pace for the Jackson experience.”

Based in Palm Desert, California, the gallery “represents a world-class spectrum of art-bridging genres including Impressionist and Modern, Classical Post-War and Contemporary, American and Latin American, Old Masters, design, cutting-edge contemporary and photography.”

A partial list of artists the gallery represents includes American artists Marion Kavanagh Wachtel, Oscar Bluemner and Irving Norman; Latin American artists Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, Francisco Zuniga, Naum Knop and Marta Minujin; and Impressionist/Modern masters Berthe Morisot and Alberto Giacometti.

A friend passed along a recent local art “review” —perhaps “commentary” is a better word — concerning the closing of the Oswald Gallery.

I’ve been criticized for some of my own commentary, and I know the sting of having someone in our close Jackson community express strong negative feelings about what I’ve written.   I also believe that the First Amendment is one of our most precious charges.  Thou shalt not shoot the messenger.

The piece I’m referring to was particularly bizarre.  Is the writer trying to be facetious?  If so, the effort fails.  (Sign up for Satire:101)  Here’s why:   The writer, an artist, should know better than to characterize all art galleries as a whorl of  “…musicians, models, artists, writers, homosexuals, and wealthy patrons milling around in unbearable hipness…….”

(Dude.  You have a show about rap artists interpreted as holy gospel singers.   Which isn’t such a stretch, but it’s certainly hip-hoppity.)

If, in fact, he’s pretending not to know about the gallery business, he did a good job.   If he really knew, and his writing was up to par (not saying mine is, I know my limits) we’d read his piece and think, “What a great skewering of the art scene!  Brilliant!”

That didn’t happen, so I’m going forward with this post taking the position he really doesn’t know.  If he does know, he should build himself a much, MUCH bigger platform before venturing out into such territory.   Think Woody Allen.   Or Colbert.  Or Tracy Morgan.   Or Mike Bressler!  Catch the Shouts & Murmurs “Cursing Mommy” column sometime.

The writer goes on:  “There would always be plenty of blow and smack at hand and somehow the entire enterprise makes money and garners international acclaim.”

Are you a kid?  Or are you just brain dead from your early days spent snorting and writhing around on the floor at Studio 54? Stuff happens, but this ain’t the 80’s.  I understand Leya is fond of you, and she may share some of your views, and you are lucky to have someone as professional and savvy as Leya in your corner.    But for those not in on your “inside” stuff, what you write is not cutting it.

“If any of you vultures reading this article want to save 25 to 50 percent on some really nice picture frames, now is the time.”

How much will your art be worth in a few years?  If your stuff doesn’t sell, by what method will you toss the carrion into the yard? Maybe you’ll go “Ebay.”

We are in a Great Recession.  Not a mild recession, a GREAT RECESSION.   Picassos are selling.  Big stuff.  Because people with that kind of money can buy as much as they like, and are.   Many galleries are having their artists size down their work, to make it more affordable.  And we’re talking about all levels of artists, all genres.   Travis Walker does a great job of coming up with innovative ways for his artists to sell, and new collectors to collect.

There’s quite a bit of information on the art market out there.  Why don’t you read some of it?

I won’t touch the Wilson/butlers in the basement bit.

“Leya looks great in black, and I did not imagine anything beyond that was necessary for success in the art world.”

Perhaps you should apply for a gallery intern job this summer.   You will be lucky to get hired, even for free, but give it a shot.

“We are still surrounded by landscape paintings, of moose in front of the Tetons or Indians painted by white people.  So obviously Americans prefer art that does not make us think but rather reinforces stereotypes and clichés.”

By that logic, people would be buying landscapes and wildlife art in SoHo.

Why are YOU here in Jackson Hole?  It can’t be because of intense city energy, urban infrastructure and sounds, interstate highways and their traffic, or cultural diversity.

Maybe you’re here to snowboard?    On big mountains, surrounded by wildlife?

Can you name the photographers Oswald has carried since the day they opened?  Lots of landscape shooters……and damn, they’re hip!  One of Leya’s favorite photographers, Nine Francois, is largely about portraits of animals from the wild.  They aren’t in the wild, I don’t believe, when Francois takes her photos, but they are, at their core, wildlife.   I mean, this is the West.  If we were in Key West, what would you see?   Santa Fe?  Cape Cod?  San Antonio?  Art is a reflection of place.

What do you imagine people visiting Jackson Hole and the Parks want to think about while they are here?   What do you think they want to take back with them, and why?  I don’t have statistics, but my experience tells me that wealthy locals, many with several homes and access to all art markets, buy much of Jackson’s contemporary art.   We certainly need our contemporary arts in order to thrive.  I adore them.  I even like your work, but I’ve deleted my story about it because I feel what you are writing for your newspaper is toxic, bitter and scary; it may even foreshadow some violent act.   I hope your newspaper takes heed.

Most visitors buy art here for reasons having to do with the unmatched experiences they have in Wyoming.  And many collectors buy  representational and abstract or contemporary art.    Because it all has value.

Pop quiz: Who was Edward Curtis?

A huge benefit of Facebook is reconnecting with friends you thought you’d never see or hear from again.

I want to tell you about Elizabeth Galindo and her sister Pam.  Elizabeth was my earliest, best childhood friend.  I knew her as Beth Wright; she now goes by Elizabeth, or Liz.   We became friends in the ’60’s.  We went to elementary school together, up in the hills of Santa Monica, California.   She had long, dark, tendrils and olive skin; I was a squinty blond with blotchy pale skin and a bowl cut.  We both loved Barbie.  We loved the Mamas and the Papas, the Beatles, Nancy Sinatra, the Beach Boys, boys, swimming in the pool, riding, her mom’s hot dogs, granny gowns, 45’s, cool cars, lying on the beach, gym class, sleep overs, summer camp, Yardley lipsticks, Marco Polo.  We were inseparable.

That’s me on the far right, Beth next to me.  I and my brothers are hangin’ at the Wright’s pool.

I had two baby sisters, Sarah and Annie.  Beth had an older sister, Pam.  We idolized her, of course.   We never thought we’d grow up, but if we did it would be very hip to look and act like Pam.  She was a loving big sister.  She watched over us when she was asked to, she chuckled at our little girls games, she was very protective of Beth.  And, as you can see from the photo top left, she was gorgeous.

About a year ago, out of the blue and after decades of not having a clue what had become of my childhood friend, Liz found me through Facebook.  A miracle!   Liz–I will refer to her as Liz from here on–had very recently lost Pam to lung cancer.  If ever a broken heart jumped through a website it was Liz’s as she spoke of her loss and emotions.   Pam would have been just 61 a few weeks ago.  These sisters had a powerful connection; they were best friends,  continuously supporting one another.

People come together for a reason.  We are sent to one another to learn and exchange energies and passion and lessons.   And hopefully love.   When Liz contacted me, she had no idea that I too had lost a sister to cancer.  Annie, the baby in our family, had died five years earlier, a victim of metastatic colon cancer.  She was 35.

Pam’s birthday is February 15.  Annie’s is February 18.

Liz is a couture designer and researcher.   She designs remarkable period costumes and gowns for the film industry.  She has two sons she loves with fervor.   And Liz has created a remarkable way to commemorate Pam and to raise funds for cancer research.   Here is her story, a story that began in the Fall of 2008:

“While taking care of my best friend and sister Pamela during her battle with lung cancer,  I began doodling on my clothing.  I doodled on jeans, skirts and blouses—whatever I had on, as I waited outside Pam’s treatment rooms.  I doodled as I watched her sleep. Writing in a journal was not personal enough at that time;  I wanted to create something  I could physically feel as well as write down my thoughts and prayers.  Drawing was my way of keeping in touch with my passion for art, fabrics and my “couture sister.”

After more than a year of mourning I finally approached my dear friend, pattern-maker Colleen.  She helped me create garments I call  Journal Skirts. I wore them to various functions and my classes (Liz is pursuing a PhD).   I used the journals for taking class notes, doodling, autographs, recording memories…. all sorts of record-keeping!   After a while, people began asking me where they could purchase a skirt or journal;  and that is when I knew Pamela was guiding me towards an idea that would help raise funds for cancer research.

20% of every journal skirt purchase price will be donated to the American Cancer Society.   This link will bring you to my Journal Skirt Website: http://web.me.com/journalskirt/Journal_Skirts/Welcome.html .  These skirts are wearable art, they’re performance art, and they are art from my heart to yours.  Go forth and create.  And thank you.”

Sincerely,  Elizabeth P. Galindo

World crises bring opportunity.  In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Jackson’s Diehl Gallery is altering its philanthropic schedule in order to assist victims in that razed and impoverished country.

Diehl has already begun donating a percentage of art sales to various Jackson area non-profits.  Through February 12, the gallery says it will donate 10% of sales costs to either the International Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund or any other disaster relief charity benefiting the Haitian people.

After February 12, charitable donations made through the sale of art will benefit WomensTrust.

There are many relief organizations; do take time to research which charities you feel use their funds in an effective and ethical manner.  It’s difficult to know everything about organizations we donate to, but we do a disservice to ourselves and any relevant community when we take marketing efforts at face value.  In today’s world, vigilance and accountability are of the utmost importance.

Please call the Diehl Gallery at 307.733.0905 with questions.

I’ve sprinked this post with a few images of Haitian crafts. Despite hardships we cannot begin to imagine, their art is full of joy.  Sitting here in my Connecticut home, I am surrounded by paper mache butterflies, crafted in Haiti.   Images courtesy of Aid To Artisans, a non-profit organization working to help crafts people in impoverished countries around the globe bring their goods to the U.S. market.

Yo!  Been off-line for two weeks, give or take a sunset.   The J.H. Art Blog is being administrated three quarters of the country away from Jackson Hole. That’s the case all winter, but we’ll keep posting and inquiring and spreading the word.   Here are a few last minute postings, and….I know you know.  They’re up anyway.

Rossetti, McCandless and the Art Association join hands for this one; an opening reception takes place Friday, December 11, 5:30 – 7:30 pm at the Center for the Arts.

Miga Rossetti’s first show in a while, Where to Put it All,  mixes the chaos of Rosetti’s life with the efficiency she strives to inject.  In NYC, many artists and art lovers are converting their homes into galleries, holding mini-shows for artists whose work is not marketable in the current….market.  They find ways to stash their “personals,” and maybe Rossetti looks to pick up on that trend.

“Fitting it all in, stashing it, layering it, isolating certain things, giving over to many – all of this is considered,” says Rossetti.  Our efficient winged friends are considered–creatures who can keep a neat house in a tiny circle, frenetic as each day might be.  Materials include mixed media on board, including acrylic paint, natural materials and paper collage.

Martin Garhart & Valerie Seaberg: Falling Awake combines a contemporary painter and printmaker’s artistry with local artist Valerie Seaberg’s undulating vessels.  Garhart has served as Professor of Drawing, Painting and Printmaking at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, for over 30 years. Valerie Seaberg describes herself as “an ocean child” destined for mountain life. Her mixed media vessels are like great, tumbled beachcombing finds, undulating clay forms encircled by pine needles or horsehair. They are high country marriages between an ancient ocean and raw land. Seaberg’s works are muscular, sensual and convey a deep sense of time, earth, and element.

Wow—Whoever wrote that is really good!  www.artassociation.org.

Item #2

Hot off the Facebook presses:

Lyndsay invited you to “Affordable Art Weekend with Oswald Gallery and LMC” on Friday, December 11 at 12:00pm.

Event: Affordable Art Weekend with Oswald Gallery and LMC.

What: Exhibit
Start Time: Friday, December 11 at 12:00pm
End Time: Saturday, December 12 at 8:00pm
Where: Oswald Gallery, 165 North Center Street

Join Lyndsay McCandless Contemporary and Oswald Gallery as we kick-off our Contemporary Art Collaboration in the Oswald Gallery space with an Affordable Art Weekend. Works by artists in both galleries will be on view and all artworks on view will be $3,000, or less, with many works under $1,000.

Please consider donating 10% of any purchase price to one of several arts non-profits.   A nice gesture from McCandless, recently forced to call it quits — it will really happen this time, I think — because of late-to-the-game town rulings on the state of her space.

Why now? Lyndsay has been in that space six years, TOJ.  Come on.  Give a hand, don’t slam her door.  If you had problems, or if anyone did, why didn’t you voice them?  Why didn’t you do something pro-active to keep LMC cooking?   I hope there is a bit of investigating on the part of the two newspapers.  If everything is on the up-and-up, so be it.  If this is a sudden, last-ditch effort on the part of LMC’s next door developers to beat back the common peeps, that stinks.  Fix it up, instead. You have the money.  And, it would do your complex (that nobody is living in) good stead.

The gallery will be open from noon until 8, with a cocktail reception each night from 6 to 8 pm.

Item #3:  It’s Bazaar.

This Christmas, please come for some good cheer and bargains — and to support the JHHS Rotary Interact teenagers who are selling great gifts to raise money to open a village library in Nepal.

Many new rug designs and selected imports have just arrived. Bring your neighbors!

Sat. & Sun. December 12 & 13 10 am to 4 pm.  Steer your sleigh to 1520 Fish Creek Road, in Wilson.  Look for the prayer flags.  For more information, contact hostess and Nepal benefactor Didi Thunder, at 307.733.4124.

Wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen’s October presentation at the National Museum of Wildlife Art was so packed, they had to send people away.  So, Mangelsen is generously presenting his program again–at NMWA–on Thursday, November 19th, at 7:00 p.m.  Mangelsen will talk about his nature photography, specifically the work now on view at the Museum.  That exhibition, “The Natural World: Photographs by Thomas D. Mangelsen,” is on display through April 25th, 2009.

I can make this one, yay!   By the way, the last post on Mangelsen’s show was Twittered about, out in the enviromental-creative universe….proof we’re all connected.  Proof that Wyoming’s artists are among the best in the world when it comes to representing this powerful place.

For information, give NMWA a call at 307.733.5771 or log on to www.wildlifeart.org.

Item #2:  Repeat Arts Grant Opportunities

A second deadline has been added to receive grant money from Art Works of Wyoming (AWW), a Wyoming Arts Council program.  Funding comes from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Timeline is as follows:

• December 11, 2009 2nd deadline to apply for AWW funds.

• February 11-12, 2010 WAC Board meeting and 2nd Art Works for Wyoming Panel.

• February 19, 2010 Award letters for second funding deadline issued.

For full details and guidelines, log onto the Wyoming Arts website here.

Item #3:

Colorado landscape painter David W. Mayer’s paintings “Autumn at String Lake” and “Spring Runoff” are to be included in the C.M. Russell Art Auction, in Great Falls, Montana next Spring.  The auction takes place March 17-20.

Mayer, a colleague of painters Scott Christensen, T. Allen Lawson and other painters; he is an acolyte of such writers and artists as Richard Schmid, Edgar Payne, Joaquin Sorolla and the California Impressionists.

The C.M. Russell Art Auction is juried.

Man, I am so old.  I go lookin’ for images to post up for Teton Art Lab’s call to artists, for its upcoming “Wallpaper” exhibition, and I think I will find oodles of gorgeous decorator wall papers.  Grass paper, Ralph Lauren patterns, accents, borders, stenciling, flocks; and themes like “The Hunt,” “Jungle,”  “Rose Garden,” “Zen,” “Star Wars,”….

But no.  It’s all about “Anime” and desktop and video games and such.

Teton Artlab is seeking entries for its second annual “Wallpaper” exhibition, to be held from December 4th – 23rd, 2009.

All works on paper are eligible, provided they are UNFRAMED and under 48″ on the longest side. Submissions must be dropped off at Teton Art Lab (up on the third floor of the Center for the Arts) by November 27th. This is a juried show, and works that are not destined to be part of the show will be returned by December 3rd.

Entries should have the artist’s name, phone number, and email, either on the back of the work or included with a portfolio.

For information, send a note…not written, but emailed…to :info@tetonartlab.com.

Item #2

Lyndsay McCandless has announced she is “pushing the pause button”  on SLAM, Jackson’s grass roots artist market modeled on the town’s Saturday Farmer’s Market.  She will also cease producing First Fridays, music events and all parties for now.

McCandless says the Town of Jackson has deemed her gallery space “not up to code,” and has notified her that the gallery may not hold gatherings with more than 45 people.

Well, that’s huge, because McCandless has transitioned the gallery space into the local contemporary art community’s primary gathering place.  She has been the heart, the Energizer Bunny, for young visual artists here.   The ceasing of McCandless events leaves a big black hole in our arts scene.  I don’t know the extent of SLAM’s effect on our local arts economy, but any slice taken out of our artistic family’s financial pie is a painful loss.

I call again on commercial property owners to offer up empty store front space to local artists!   This is ridiculous!

McCandless says the shut down forces her to reevaluate LMC’s future.  Stay tuned.

I’ve asked McCandless why, after occupying the space on Jackson Street for as long as she has, the space is suddenly deemed not up to code; if it’s printable, I’ll give you the answer when I receive it.

Yikes, I hope there’s still time to check out Jarrod Eastman’s artwork over at Full Circle Frameworks--A party happened this past Friday evening, and judging from what Rocky Vertone posted on Facebook, Eastman’s works look pretty alive and fun.   I’m so not a smarty when it comes to the lingo of the 20 and 30-something Jackson art crowd, but I do know that Rocky’s venue is one-of-a-kind and that he is providing a much needed service for up-and-coming Jackson Hole artists.

Available Eastman art includes original works and limited edition prints.  Vertone also says some “one off” pieces are up for sale at very affordable prices.   So check it out, give Vertone a buzz for an update.   733-0770 at the shop.

Item #2: Art Association Offers Fall Classes

The Art Association of Jackson Hole has a full and diverse fall arts class schedule.  Painting, drawing, ceramics, mixed media, metals, fiber, glass, photography, printmaking and sculpture are all on the roster.   Classes are taught by an impressive group of artists, including but not limited to:  Valerie Seaberg, Alissa Davies, Sam Dowd, Sharon Thomas, Kathy Turner, Amy Larkin, Georgia Mayer, Abbie Miller, Greg Epstein, Aaron Mitchell….

Visiting artists for adult classes include: Lian Quan Zhen (Class: Spirit of Life: Watercolor and Chinese Painting), Charles Reid (Figure in Watercolor), Donna Rozman (Ceramics, Color and Design), Danielle Corriea, Daniella Woolf, Rebecca Stern & Bronwyn Minton (Encaustic & Photographic Processes), Dan Haga (Advanced Silver Workshop), Bob Smith (Wildlife Photography), Elizabeth Opalenik (The Figure in Motion) and Johan Hagaman (Sculpting in Concrete: From High Art to Yard Art).

There are plenty of art classes for kids, too!  Check out The Avery Mathieu Youth Scholarship Fund page to learn about a meaningful way to contribute to the Art Association’s ongoing commitment to youth.

For information, log onto the Art Association’s website here, or email signup@artassociation.org. You can download a pdf describing all courses and special programs.    Phone:  307.733.6379.

PS: Rumor has it that the position of Art Association E.D. has been offered to someone from the field of applicants interested in that job.

Item #3:  New Casting at Galleries West

Jackson hole sculptor R. Scott Nickell has a new bronze in the works – an Arapaho Dancer. The figure depicts a warrior relating his story of valor through ceremonial dance.  If you’ve ever attended a pow wow, you know how gorgeous and mesmerizing these dances are.

Says Nickell, “Gripping a war shield in one hand and a gunstock war club in the other, (the dancer’s) performance illustrates the act of counting coup during battle.  In Native tradition, counting coup (touching an adversary with the tip of the war club) was a braver feat than killing an enemy, since it involved more danger to the warrior himself.  Feathers were given as rewards for these acts of bravery and were displayed like medals of honor by the warriors.”

I haven’t told you about the deal: Nickell is offering a pre-cast discount for those ordering before November 15th.   Pre-cast price is currently $5500, but if ordered by November 15th, a 5% discount is applied.  Time to start thinking about those holidays…..For full details on the piece and special payment arrangements, contact Galleries West at 307.733.4412 or email info@gallerieswestjacksonhole.com.

A few months back–a few warmer, sunnier months back– toy photographer Brian McCarty came to town and introduced his neat-o, media activating work.   He is the step son of local philanthropist and producer Mickey Babcock; McCarty’s opening took place at Babcock’s new home.   The Jackson Hole Art Blog posted a story on his work, and McCarty keeps in touch.

Here’s one of his latest, “Moon Wanderers,” shot in the Tetons.  McCarty says the little guys are resin figures.  The toys are created by Russian Sergey Safonov, who, says McCarty, has “… hand-built a mysterious cast of characters that exist only at night. The Moon Wanders float along, sleeping and waiting.”

McCarty openly discusses his process, and in this case the process began with an imagined image of small figures afloat under a paper moon.  The toys were mounted on metal rods placed in soft mud, at Two Oceans Lake, in Grand Teton National Park.  ( Is this legal?  Not sure.  But I didn’t do it! )  A long exposure taken by a camera atop a semi-submerged tripod “…made the water seem glassy, except for the rippled reflection of strobe light off a paper moon suspended in the background.”

The Tetons can provide a lot of interference if they want to.   McCarty was challenged by nature a few times.

“Things started getting a little edgy with the growing army of leeches seen attaching themselves to my waders. A too-close-for-comfort moose followed in close succession, at first looking confused at the humans walking around his lake at midnight, then a bit annoyed. I’d like to think that we scared him off with our flashlights and noisemaking, but it may have been what followed next. Through the mist, something that sounded much larger than the moose was splashing around. Unable to see, I’m going to wager it was a grizzly bear or perhaps a sasquatch. Hard to say,” says McCarty.

I saw McCarty’s show with my (dear) artist friend Ricki Arno--who I haven’t heard from in like, two months.  Ricki, where are you?   Please call.   Have you gone back to Planet New York?

From Planet Laramie: Nationally known, Colorado-based artist James Surls will give a talk at the University of Wyoming’s Coe Library on Saturday, Oct. 24, beginning at 1:00 pm.  The University’s Art Museum blog says a reception will follow; all will celebrate the installation of Surls’ new work, “Rolling Flowers.”

What a great title!

UW’s blog says Surls is noted for his work with emerging artists–he’s a mentor.  He also works quite a bit with non-profits and he and his wife, Charmaine Locke, (Her website cover page shows a gorgeous shot of her large scale bronze, “Open Book.”  Please look.)  have large-scale pieces in that wonderful venue, “Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational.” Check the above U.W. Art Museum link for more information.

From the Wyoming Arts Council:  Art Aid

Wyoming Entrepreneur, at the University of Wyoming, offers free web marketing counseling for small businesses, and the Wyoming Arts Council has an Individual Artists Professional Development (IAPD) grant program.   Grants provide funds for artists to hire web designers ( wow!!!! artists lose lots of precious creativity time working on websites.), pay for hosting and other needs.  A one-to-one match is required, and up to $500 can be awarded.

For info: Email mshay@state.wy.us.