Jackson Hole Art Blog

Jackson artists Shannon Troxler and Kay Stratman open their joint show Resonance at Trio Fine Art, with an artists’ reception on Thursday, September 9, 5-8:00 pm.   Troxler and Stratman will host a conversation from 6:30-7:00 pm.   On display September 7, the show runs through September 19, 2010.

“Resonance” refers to the ability to evoke or suggest images, memories and emotions.  Travel, exotic world destinations, equally exotic birds and animals and sensitive interpretations of the natural world comprise this show.   Both artists are painters;  Stratman works in the sumi-e style of watercolor painting, while Troxler uses a variety of painting mediums. Some of her paintings combine oils on silver or gold leaf on board; these works lend an Asian sensibility to Troxler’s work.  She plans to include a completed gold leaf screen in this exhibition.

While Troxler work is often big, bold, splashed with color, gilded, and rich—Stratman’s style is minimalist, a haiku. But Stratman’s employing sumi-e links the two artists, and the show has a unified theme inspired by ancient Japanese painting traditions.

Trio Fine Art’s Fall Arts Festival calendar also includes artist demonstrations during September 10th’s Palates and Palettes gallery walk, and on September 12 & 14.  Yum, a FAF “farewell” brunch Sept. 19, 11a – 3p. ….Special gallery hours are in effect during the residence of Resonance;  check the gallery for details.   307.734.4444.

Websites I visited that were alternately up and running or works in progress at this writing are:   www.triofineart.com, www.shannontroxler.net and www.kaystratman.com.

Item #2

Robert Coombs is Legacy Gallery’s artist in the spotlight this Fall Arts Festival. September 11-20, immerse yourself in the concept of the Romantic West —  Coombs, a Utah native, is noted for his tender, figurative paintings of women and children.  If you wish, you could say this Western artist has taken a path less traveled by embracing the warmth and humanity that women and children must often provide when life in the West becomes a tad hard bitten.   Coombs paints portraits of the women and children of today’s West, as well as those whose lives are now part of a rich pioneering history.

Coombs says that a life altering event occurred when he viewed the original works of Edwin Austin Abbey’s Shakespearean subjects on display at the Museum of Art at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. “For the first time in my life I could actually feel the emotional impact and power that painting could impart. I decided to seek after those attributes in my own work.”   Expect to view at least eight new works.

An artist’s reception takes place September 11, 1-4:00 pm.

Legacy will follow the Coombs showcase with its annual “Legacy of Nature” Group Show and Sale, opening September 17; a reception takes place that day from 1-4:00 pm.   Wildlife is the theme, and this exhibition includes works by these noted artists:  Ken Bunn, Ken Carlson, Julie T. Chapman, Michael Coleman, Luke Frazier, Brian Grimm, Carol Hagan, Krystii Melaine, Eugene Morelli, Chad Poppleton, Tim Shinabarger, George D. Smith, Trevor Swanson, and Brett Smith.

www.legacygallery.com

Item #3

The Art Association continues its relatively new embrace of plein air painting with its exhibition On Location with the Plein Air Painters of America, on display now through September 6, 2010. Fifty paintings will be on exhibition and for sale.  An opening reception takes place September 3, 5:30 pm.

As the Fall Arts Festival connotes romance, so does the Plein Air Painters of America (PAPA) history.  The group was founded in California, inspired by the California Impressionists. Color, light and quality of work are the organization’s hallmarks.

From their website:  “In 1982 Ruth Westphal published the resource book Plein-Air Painters of California The Southland, followed four years later by The Northland. Major collections were being built, and prices for historic paintings were rising. Burns, who was president of the Catalina Art Association at the time, felt the moment had arrived to educate collectors about contemporary artists pursuing the art of painting from life.”

Craig Spankie, a long time Art Association contributing artist, opens his show Export Quality on Friday, September 10, at 5:30 p.m.

“I try to limit my involvement with the materials as much as possible – not destroy the unique nature of something, but create simplicity by combining color, texture and space,” says New Zealander Spankie.  The artist works with raw materials, and quite a bit of lugging and tugging went into shaping this particular show.   Two years in the making, Spankie says that this collection has been put together in Jackson and New Zealand.  A large quantity of work was too large to reasonably transport between the two locations, so Spankie downsized.

The work ended up being “small enough to fit into his checked baggage, that required a maximum weight of 46kg.   Spankie  ”emptied years of collected contents from his shed onto an animal grazed front paddock to create most of Export Quality. Work was proudly created in New Zealand with unique and unsophisticated materials, giving a raw, real sense to the viewer.”

The Art Association notes that due to a special event, this exhibit will not be available to view Sept. 13-16.

Also coming up at the Art Association:  Chuck Close.

www.artassociation.org

Press materials describing the National Museum of Wildlife Art’s exhibit of field sketches from the American frontier read like the pages of a scholarly tome.  So I’m thinking a scholar–namely Adam Duncan Harris, NMWA’s Curator of Art–wrote it.

So it’s quite difficult to improve upon what Harris has already told me.

May 8 – August 29, 2010, visitors to the Museum will have a chance to see “…a veritable snapshot of wildlife roaming the American frontier in the early 1830’s, Swiss artist Karl Bodmer’s detailed field studies made while on expedition up the Missouri River…”

Karl Bodmer’s Western Wildlife: Original Sketches from the Joslyn Art Museum showcases some of the earliest works depicting the American West.  The sketches combine the best of two observing schools, Science and Art.   In fact, the exhibition has an accompanying, complementary exhibit, Travels in the Interior of North America: Etchings by Karl Bodmer, on display through October 17, 2010.

Studies are often closeted in favor of finished works, and that’s a shame because studies can offer up lively compositions and “first takes,” unfettered by possible over-working.    The show presents a fine opportunity for scholars and lay people alike; those who know these sketches exist but do not get a chance to see them will relish the opportunity;  those seeing wildlife art for the first time will appreciate its roots.

These sketches represent Bodmer’s observations from 1832 – 1834, while the artist was on the Missouri River Expedition.   Bodmer completed studies of animals, birds and reptiles, created either out in the wild or in studio, using deceased animal specimens.   Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum holds a great cache of Bodmer’s original work.

If you read the excellent monthly art magazine Western Art Collector, please take time to read Harris’ excellent essay (April 2010 edition) A Diverse View of the West: Works on Paper. I think Harris is one of the most passionate of curators.  He loves the wildlife art genre.   Time and time again he has expressed to the public–using either the written word or by giving a talk–his great ability to “see” what we may not immediately be able to describe to ourselves when looking at wildlife art.    Harris acknowledges the difficulty artists face trying to keep renderings of wildlife fresh; even when “fresh” is not an element in wildlife art, Harris knows what makes great wildlife art great.   And in the case of artist Geordie Millar’s large drawing “Moose #4,” it is simplicity of line and the fact that the artist pushes traditional boundaries by coming close to filling a 60 x 63 inch field with a female (not an antlered male) moose trying to stand.

First sketches often contain an Asian minimalist quality.  And that is lovely indeed.

More info:  www.wildlifeart.org

While we’re still in NMWA land,  I will mention that former NMWA gift shop manager and plein air artist Jen Hoffman is prominently mentioned in the May/June edition of Fine Art Connoisseur, as an Artist to Watch.   That is huge.   And, this art blogger is proud to be mentioned at the end of that article, in relation to Hoffman’s work and Blurb catalog.   Congratulations, Jen!

Item #2:

Whodunit?
Artspace Main & Loft Galleries
ONE NIGHT ONLY! | May 7, 2010

An annual favorite, Whodunit is a one-night event exhibiting and selling many dozens (that’s my best estimate) of small works (6 x 6 inches) that sell for $99 each at the close of the evening.   The twist is two-fold:   1)  Artist identities are unknown    2) Works are sold by lottery to one of the list of bidders listing their name as wanting to purchase the art.

Familiar with many local artists’ styles?  Well, you may guess correctly on who created what some of the time…but usually, there are many surprises.  Artist names known, artists names not-so-known;  it doesn’t matter, the talent and diversity of work is the stuff of legend.

A great fundraiser for the Art Association!  Check it out.     www.artassociation.org

PS:  Summer Classes sign up – Do it!   Lots of great classes to be taken, art to be made, creative roads to be traveled.   Classes start in June, and that is SOON.

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.

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

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.

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.

“Nice juxtaposition of future-oriented construction specifics and intense as-if-remembered snapshot panoramas.” — Guest book comment on photographer Michael Sherwin’s exhibit “Dis•Location.”

June 18-28, photographer Michael Sherwin will lead a photography workshop  in the Jackson area.  The workshop is sponsored by the West Virginia University College of Creative Arts , where Sherwin is on staff.  For a time, Sherwin and his wife lived in Jackson Hole, and his June 2005 Art Association exhibition, “Dis•Location,” remains one of my favorite local photography exhibits to date.  Sherwin arrived in Jackson from Oregon.   Sherwin is assistant professor of photography and digital imaging at WVU’s Division of Art and Design.

Sherwin practices his craft democratically, openly encouraging new and experienced photographers.  He’s accessible.   Ego: checked at dark room door.

The 10-day workshop will be held in partnership with the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts, meaning Sherwin will have access to its photography studio. The workshop is offered through the extended learning office at WVU so it is open to everyone, says Sherwin.  As a WVU program, college credit is available.  Visit www.michaelsherwin.com.  Application deadline is May 1.  Hop to it!

The workshop will cover a broad range of photographic practices and principles, with an emphasis on instruction targeted to the individual level of the student. Primary instruction will include the use of digital and 35mm film cameras, along with color inkjet or black-and-white darkroom processes. Students will also have the opportunity to explore work in medium- and large-format cameras and alternative processes.”

My Arts Observatory article on Sherwin, written for Planet Jackson Hole in June 2005,  is reprinted below.

* New Photography Studio Clicks

“Wow!” responds Sherwin.  “Future-oriented in the sense that these things were mapping structures underneath the ground, intended, I guess, for safety.  So when you began the construction you wouldn’t dig up or damage what is underneath.  And I love the idea of a snap shot panorama.  I frequently talk about this work as a panoramic of experience, in that it’s not one single image, but a segment of time, riding the fence between still and moving images.”

Uncovering Fred Hayden’s spot-on observation of Jackson photographer Michael Sherwin’s exhibit, “Dis•Location,” now on display at ArtSpace’s upstairs gallery at 240 S. Glenwood, was kismet.  In fact, our interview was blessed with a confluence of happy incidents.   As Sherwin and I began to review his work, Diane Hazen, a gallery visitor, remarked that she was a long-time resident of Eugene, Oregon, where Sherwin’s photographs were shot. She recognized the locations.  Hazen is also a city planner, and was that day transfixed by Sherwin’s fluorescent street symbols and overlapping, exposed images.  Sherwin’s color photographs are extended, abstract urban street scenes, patterned with construction symbols, maintenance markings, and dynamic linear composition.  Looking at his work, you might be reminded of a path.

“Yes, the path as the narrative act is a big part of this work.  I was studying the idea of psycho-geography, which studies the way different geographies in the city and country affect us emotionally.  That idea of the path really played into this work.”  Contemporary work harkening back to the ancient.

How did Sherwin come to photograph urban road markings, putting them into the panoramic format that he does?  “I was walking and biking to school. I always had my camera on me, so I was paying attention to what was going on around me.  Using a toy camera, and using an entire roll of film really started here in Jackson. I was fascinated by how my walk was being mediated by man-made constructs.  Here I was interested in the road signs and other things coming into my contact. In Eugene, it started with noticing different paint on the streets, different colors.  I followed them through the landscape, and I documented where they were falling at my feet and the landscape as I moved through it.  That led to graffiti, and subconscious types of art.  Unintentional aesthetic acts.  I was interested in the boundary between things that are seen as logistics and things that are considered aesthetic.”

“You photograph the low part first, which is technically under exposed, and then when you photograph the back it brightens the whole image,” said Hazen.  “Exactly,” replied Sherwin.  Sherwin used a toy camera to capture his urban street photos, and his success in capturing the subtle interlocking patterns that occur when nature meets city proves once again that it is the photographer, not technicals, that renders good results.  “It is a process of trial and error with this camera,” Sherwin continued. “You really don’t know what you are going to get. The city is either sunny or cloudy, and you learn what weather works best, with what exposure.”  Examining one image, “13th Avenue University of Oregon, #13496,” Sherwin and Hazen noted the hot pink road markings. “This paint is by far the most colorful, the most fluorescent I’ve photographed. Who would think hot pink? And it is the most hieroglyphic of all of the [street markings]! Random marks that weren’t signifying anything that I could tell.”  Indeed, the markings are like petroglyphs.  “Yes,” agrees Sherwin. “There’s almost a male/female symbolic language going on. It was really fascinating, these street equations that were worked out that have no logical meaning to me at all.  It’s purely aesthetic.”  Discussing the symbols we realize that such records are chosen as communication vehicles, and are recognizable to a culture, because of their universality.  There is no difference between the determining of ancient petroglyph symbols and the cryptic street markings recognized and easily read by urban planners.  Sherwin’s markings represent an acquired knowledge reflecting a distinct community element.  Sherwin notes that the other interesting element of these particular pink markings was that they were water-based.  The evening of the day Sherwin photographed them, it rained.  Virtually all the symbols were obliterated.  “And that made it the chance of a lifetime, photographing that pink,” says Sherwin.

End.

Jackson Hole’s Art Association presents new works by painter Susan Durfee Thulin, January 23-March 4 2009, in the Center for the Arts ARTSPACE Theater Gallery.  An opening reception for the show, “Circle of Shadow and Light,” takes place Friday, January 23, at 5:30 p.m.

I’m a huge fan of Susan’s early work.  I recall seeing my all time favorite Thulin painting hanging on Mary Grossman’s living room wall.  I haven’t seen this show yet, but I love what I can make out of “Moonlight Marsh,” an abstract landscape arranged in horizontal fields of color.  A moss green pond nourishes waving fronds and Matisse-like plants below its surface.  Above, Thulin’s charcoal verticals bisect arcing shades of blue, mingled with pink patches of sky.  A moon’s golden strip floats.

Looks like information can be found at www.lmcontemporary.com;  Thulin is represented by Lyndsay McCandless.

Cut and pasted below is information on the Art Association’s call for artists wishing to participate in 2009 Art Fair Jackson Hole:

Call to Artists!

Art Fair Jackson Hole applications are now available on-line through www.zapplication.org and will be available through February 28, 2009. The July and August Art Fair Jackson Hole fairs are juried, three day events July 17, 18 & 19 and August 14, 15 & 16 taking place in Miller Park. Produced by the Art Association of Jackson Hole, the fairs offer high-end arts and crafts, as well as children’s activities and entertainment.

For more information please go to www.jhartfair.org, www.zapplication.org or call 307.733.8792.  Thanks!