Posts Tagged ‘Jackson Hole Artists’
Jenny Dowd sends the following information on classes and updates over at the Art Association:
Figure Drawing Class meets between Christmas and New Year’s, on December 28th. If you bring some tasty holiday goodies, class will be that much more festive!
The Art Association’s winter/spring class schedule will be available soon; be sure to check the website often for updates. Dowd is excited about classes coming in the New Year—she lists such offerings as Sketchbook & Journaling for Beginners; a new class devoted to trying out oil paints, acrylics, and learn about brushes, surfaces, mediums and color charts; study of human and animal anatomy with Dwayne Harty; Tammy Callens will teach a portrait workshop; Meredith Campbell will teach botanicals. And, there will be day-long printmaking workshops!
Who Am I? Portraits of Our Community remains on display at the Center for the Arts until January 2, 2012. The show includes work by several Portrait Drawing Class student artists. Check it out! www.artassociation.org
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Check out the National Museum of Wildlife Art’s Tumblr Blog post for December 20th, and read a little bit about one of the Museum’s most powerful works: Ron Kingswood’s large-scale oil painting “Thou Shall Not Reap the Corners
of Thy Field.” Its title “reminds tillers of the fields to leave “a sheaf” behind, so that those less fortunate may be nourished. Here, Kingswood is thinking of wildlife’s winter challenges.” Blue magic.
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“A sure sign that art enthusiasts are still looking to invest in quality works of art, we are pleased to report that the 2011 Jackson Hole Art Auction resulted in a record breaking sale in its fifth year,” says Auction Coordinator Lucy Grogan.
“The auction held on Saturday, September 15, 2011, realized $9.5 million in sales with over 90% of the 250 lots offered selling well into and above their estimates.”
The auction is currently accepting consignments for next year’s auction, to be held Saturday, September 15,2012. To learn more about consigning to the J.H. Art Auction (an auction of past and present Masters of the American West), phone 866-549-9278, or visit www.jacksonholeartauction.com. Everyone is also welcome to stop by the auction office, upstairs in Trailside Galleries at 130 East Broadway in Jackson.
Trio Fine Art’s next group exhibition, Flight, opens at the gallery on Thursday, December 8, 2011. An opening reception takes place 5-8:00 pm, and a percentage of all sales benefit the Teton Raptor Center, and Center director Roger Smith promises to bring along a raptor resident.
It’s the Trio artists’ affinity for birds that inspired the show. Trio’s four artists —Jennifer L. Hoffman, Lee Carlman Riddell, Kathryn Mapes Turner and September Vhay—all have lofty aspirations and feelings for good things that take wing.
“My love of birds,” says Riddell, “came from my parents. Dad planted the flowers that attracted the birds to our yard, and Mom taught me to recognize the bird’s songs.
Recently a Calliope hummingbird nested outside my studio window and I was able to draw and paint the mother and two chicks.” It was a formative experience for Riddell. She adds that she and her husband Ed Riddell made contributions towards helping to rehabilitate injured raptors; the money paid for lots of frozen mice. The Raptor Center is one of Jackson’s great treasures, says Lee Riddell.
Mix’d Media, a new once-monthly adult arts n’ media n’ mingling event, debuts at the National Museum of Wildlife Art on Tuesday, November 8. The inaugeral party, a “convergence of music, art-making, conversation, and delicious fare,” includes checking out Exquisite Animal: A Community Art Exhibit, an updated version of a Surrealist parlor game, “Exquisite Corpse.” Assistant Curator of Art Bronwyn Minton is the exhibit’s mastermind. Participating artists were given a piece of paper folded in thirds – and each artist drew either a head, body or legs on the top, middle, or bottom of the paper without looking at the parts drawn by other artists. When the paper unfolds, sublime fantasy characters make themselves known. Many local artists lent their talents to the show, on display through February 5, 2012.
“The nature of this game is that it is a surprise and a fast turnaround,” says Minton. “It’s exciting and suspenseful to let chance take a bit of control in this way. The artists don’t know who they are collaborating with, the animal will be imaginary – combining three parts of different animals – and the outcome is certain to be surprising, fantastical and delightful.”
Mix’d Media happens 6-9 pm, at the Museum. A $5 cover charge gets you in to meet the artists, make your own silk-screened artwork “inspired by exhibition artist DJ Vert-One,” enjoy comedy by Jackson’s Laff Staff, and check out a bar and great food from Rising Sage Café.
“Exquisite” artists include Dwayne Harty, Jennifer Hoffman, Jenny Dowd, Sharon Thomas, Kelly Halpin, Greta Gretzinger, Mark Nowlin, Amy Ringholz, and David Klaren. www.wildlifeart.org
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Years ago I had the honor of interviewing the Community Safety Network’s former director, Cathy O’Connor. I was researching a story about the pervasiveness and patterns of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking in Teton County. I also spoke with other CSN staff members, volunteer advocates, counselors and former victims. Meeting these women, learning about their experiences and feeling first hand the dedication and focus of the Community Safety Network is something I’ll never forget. To this day, when I come across any of the women I spoke with, I get goosebumps.
I recently had occasion to call upon Jackson’s Victim Services . I was being stalked, and the man was a “repeater.” Luckily, I never feared for my physical safety, but I was being followed and harassed. The case almost went to court, but at the last hour an agreement was struck that included making a sizeable donation to the Community Safety Network through Old Bill’s Fun Run. A very good resolution to a nasty experience.
Saturday, November 5, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm at the Wort Hotel, check out Handmade for Hope, an art sale benefitting the Community Safety Network. Textiles, wood carvings, jewelry, artwork, glass, pottery, candles and sculpture—made by local artisans—will be for sale. All proceeds benefit CSN. Admission is free, and attendees are eligible for a discounted lunch at the Silver Dollar Grill.
For more information, call CSN at 307.733.3711 www.communitysafetynetwork.org
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The Wyoming Arts Council Biennial Fellowship Exhibition opens in the Art Association’s ArtSpace Main and Loft Galleries on November
4th. An opening reception takes place 5:30-7:30 pm. Vistors can view work by ten Wyoming artists who have received Visual Arts Fellowships in the past two years. Artists will be on hand. The opening reception happens Friday November 4, 5:30 – 7:30.
Thursday, November 3, exhibition curator Nancy Bowen gives a talk at 5:30 pm in the gallery. The public is welcome! Free. For more info: http://www.artassociation.org/exhibitions/future.html
Additionally, the Art Association notes its popular silent auction Out of the Woods takes place at the Center for the Arts Theater Lobby on November 18, 2011, 6-9:00 pm. www.artassociation.org
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The new Jackson Hole Children’s Museum’s Grand Opening is scheduled for 4-8:00 pm on Friday, November 4, 2011. The newly renovated facility is located at 174 North King Street, in Jackson.
“The Jackson Hole Children’s Museum strives to inspire imagination and creativity by encouraging families to examine their world together through interactive exhibits and programming,” says museum Managing Director Paige Byron. “The museum is excited to open the doors to its new facility, which will include a variety of exciting exhibits. Families can play in their very own pretend grocery store, “The Mountain Market,” sponsored by Jackson Whole Grocer; boys and girls alike can play together on our indoor
“Climber,” sponsored by the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole. Families can learn about thermal air currents, simple machines, and light and shadow, returning time and time again to create new mazes and machines to further inquiry. Our youngest residents, under the age of three, will find developmentally appropriate sensory and motor activities in our “Backyard Tot Spot”….We are excited to be partnering with a number of local companies, organizations, and families, to offer the valley’s youngest residents a year-round place to play with their families.”
For more information, contact Byron at 307.733.3996 or 615.335.0283. email: Paige@jhchildrensmuseum.org www.jhchildrensmuseum.org
Recently Jackson’s Cultural Council awarded its annual Award for Creativity to writer/filmmaker/conservationist Charlie Craighead. Craighead’s modesty and low profile belie his great contributions. Documentaries
and books such as “Artic Dance: The Mardy Murie Story,” “I’ll Meet You at the Wort,” and “Who Ate the Backyard?” touch lives, educate, entertain and, most importantly, their messages stay with us.
It’s what Craighead creates that matters; the fact that he does work within his means make his contributions that much more valuable. I’m thrilled he won, and I was also proud to nominate Jill Callaway. Jill’s contributions to Jackson’s community theatre history are extraordinary. I’d love to see the Cultural Council publish all nomination letters, so that the community can know more about the many people working to enrich our cultural scene. Here’s an excerpt from my letter:
“In 2000, Jill took it upon herself to form Jackson Community Theatre (JCT) because she believes deeply that communities need culturally based theatre. Jill does what she does because she knows Jackson is full of talent, and all talent deserves creative outlet. To that end, she insists JCT provide theatre experience for novices and seasoned actors. As the group’s leader, Jill has acted, directed, produced, stage managed, operated lights and sound, created costumes, props and sets. She oversees the company’s marketing and grants writing and manages the group’s accounting. All together, Jill has been involved in over 80 local productions….Her efforts are consistently on behalf of JCT as a whole….She is passionate about Jackson’s Western culture, its history, and family values. Many good people have lent their talents to community theatre, contributing to its longevity, but Jill provides the constant spirit, energy, and motivation propelling JCT….For 27 years, Jill has donated her time. She does not work for a performing arts company and has never received payment for her work in community theatre.”
The wave of the non-profit future must be to work within available means and facilities. Across the country, original missions have been unwittingly supplanted by underfunded real estate speculation, high salaries and high rents. There are instances, of course, of patrons and founders having deep enough pockets to build and maintain new buildings. As a friend on the West coast recently pointed out, at some point many non-profits concluded the best way to accomplish mission is to build grand facilities. Many of us were seduced. With the crash, pledges were not realized, donations slowed, costs accelerated. And although all the plans for beautiful buildings were well-meaning, these days too many original missions play secondary roles to a new mission of maintaining expensive real estate.
Hey, I have a room to rent as workspace! 250 square feet includes a full bath (two sinks!) and walk-in closet! I need help paying expenses, I’m in the same boat, ya’ll! Email me (tammy@jacksonholearttours.com) if you are interested! Seriously!
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Wednesday, October 26, at 7:00 pm, the Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum opens its doors for a special program. The talk, Artist Archie ‘Teton’ Teater will be presented by Dr. Teddy Khteian Keeton, a long-time friend of Teater and his wife. Keeton’s talk will focus on Teater’s early life, passion for painting, and his journey to becoming a successful artist.
Archie Boyd Teater was a painter, and a legend in his own time. His life and times are testament to the independent and eccentric artistic character typical of Wyoming. Though his name doesn’t come immediately to mind when thinking of the Western masters, Teater’s paintings have hung alongside paintings by Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, Thomas Moran and Thomas Hart Benton. Teater often “worked alongside miners, trappers and lumberjacks who had little patience or understanding for the sensitive artist, and so he would often take his wagon into the mountains, where he enjoyed the solitude, to work for days on his landscapes.”
The landscapes most inspirational to Teater were Wyoming’s mountains. According to his biography, Teater found work as a trail blazer in the newly established Grand Teton National Park. Beginning in 1928, Teater visited the Tetons annually, set up camp at Jenny Lake, and sold paintings right at his campsite. Biographers note that whenever Teater left camp, “ a note requested that art buyers pin their payments to a bed blanket.”
Teater’s log cabin gallery still stands in downtown Jackson; his Jackson Hole Art Gallery is now home to J.C. Jewelers.
Another cool fact about Teater is that he and his wife, Patricia, commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design and build a custom home–that house is situated in Hagerman, Idaho. Boy, would I like to take a tour; if it’s anything like Fallingwater, I’ll swoon…….Wednesday evening, enjoy stories about the artist and view some of his works. Free for members, $3 for non-members. Refreshments served! 307-733-9605. www.jacksonholehistory.org
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Legacy Gallery has announced that artits David Mann, Merrill Mahaffey, Richard Hall, and Walt Wooten have joined the gallery. Legacy’s show Western Reflections is currently on display, and the gallery plans a Holiday Small Works Show, opening December 8, 2011. www.LegacyGallery.com
Jackson Hole artist Erin C. O’Connor will give a free plein air painting demonstration at String Lake, Grand Teton National Park on Saturday, September 10, 2011, 2:00-5:00 pm. O’Connor’s appearance winds up the Grand Teton Association’s 2011 “Artists in the Environment” plein air series, and coincides with the opening days of Jackson Hole’s Fall Arts Festival. (Tuesday, September 6th, the Jackson Hole Art Blog will post the first of two Fall Arts Festival calendars!)
O’Connor finds her greatest inspiration by painting directly within the environment. Noted for her participation in many prestigious plein air events, she is represented in collections and exhibits throughout the country. Since being awarded the 2009 Joshua Tree National Park “Artist-in-Residency”
post, she has taken part in numerous Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters (RMPAP) events, most recently being awarded “Artists’ Choice, Best Body of Work” by her peers at RMPAP’s Pagosa Springs, Colorado competition. Plein Air Magazine’s Spring 2011 issue named the artist one of “Today’s Masters.”
“To gain the endorsements of your fellow artists–there’s no higher accolade,” O’Connor says.
O’Connor came to Jackson 25 years ago, and stays because it’s a place where she and so many others are free to “follow their bliss.” As an artist, you can never paint as much as you’d like, she says. O’Connor sees the world around her afresh daily. It’s a point of ecstasy or a point of madness–but for her, wanting to paint everything you see–and seeing everything as a painting–is a gift.
O’Connor drew and painted from the time she was little.
“When I first started painting en plein air I’d say I strove more to capture details and “true” colors than I do now,” she notes. “Now, I don’t get as wrapped up in those details. It’s the essence behind the details I want to capture. That was never a conscious decision–you’re not going to change the way you paint, it’s like your signature. My style is not really contemporary, not really traditional. The Taos Ten greatly influenced me, and the California Impressionists–the people in the U.S. who were painting outside. It was their clarity of light and brilliant color.”
Describing herself as essentially a “solitary individual,” O’Connor has lately been painting hay bales–”round bales, square bales, hay loaves, hay
laying on the ground, in stripes and in piles!” Painting alone allows her to stay in her “zone,” frees her to get into her signature style. Summers, O’Connor works as a landscaper. The job gets her outside, and she can think about how to access certain scenes.
“I’m not above stopping on the Wilson Bridge and placing orange cones around me so I can paint! But there’s usually an easier way,” says a smiling O’Connor.
A few years ago, while painting at String Lake, a Western Tanager flew down to perch on the artist’s easel.
“I don’t know if it was attracted to the colors of the paint or if it was a mooch! It was a great experience,” recalls O’Connor. “There’s so much going on at String Lake. There are the mountains, so dramatic. There’s the lake itself, quiet and serene. It’s shallow enough to see logs beneath the water’s surface, everything is so interesting, there’s so much to choose from. And it’s an honor to be asked back to “Artists in the Environment.”
NOTE: There are several parking areas at String Lake. To hook up with “Artists in the Environment,” proceed to the furthest parking area–String Lake’s Picnic Area lot. Walk a short distance north, up the shoreline, and find O’Connor “in plein sight,” alongside the lake.
Contact: Tammy Christel tammy@jacksonholearttours.com
