Posts Tagged ‘Jackson Hole Arts’
Sweater, that glittering Charlie Brown-inspired Artspot sculpture, will visit California’s Charles Schulz Museum, as part of its June show, Pop’d from the Panel. Pop’d takes a look at the many ways fine art has interpreted themes related to Schulz’s beloved comic strip “Peanuts.” Sweater creator Suzanne Morlock has been invited to the museum in order to be filmed working on and installing her giant metallic Charlie Brown sweater sculpture. Film footage will be incorporated into a continuous loop that is part of the exhibit.
“The Sweater is slated to be mounted on the front of the museum building, and I get to go to northern California in the spring,” says Morlock. The Carl Shulz Museum says this show”…examines the intersection between fine art and cartoon art in the works of such artists as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Co-curated by the Sonoma State University Gallery Director and Professor of Art History, Michael Schwager, Pop’d From the Panel will feature two and three-dimensional works of art.”
The show runs June 25-December 11, 2011. www.schulzmuseum.org
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Art installation “Council of Pronghorn,” a collaboration between Jackson Hole sculptor Ben Roth and writer/activist Terry Tempest Williams, is slated to travel to New York City’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine in late August. Currently displayed in Jackson’s Center for the Arts courtyard, the work will join others in “The Value of Water: Sustaining a Green Planet,” on exhibit at St. John the Divine September 2011-March 2012. The exhibit explores water’s pervasive,
but often unseen importance in the Cathedral’s very existence, and its crucial place in our ecosystem. Thirty painters, sculptors and media artists will have work installed in and around cathedral grounds.
“As interpreters of the unseen, artists will help us to see what has been there all along; to strengthen our awareness of water, and to prompt our imaginations in the contemplation of water, from wells and underground springs to surging seas and mighty rivers. With this collection of powerful presentations, there really will be water, water everywhere,” writes The Reverend Canon Tom Miller.
Learn more about this spiritually based, powerful show by logging on to St. John the Divine’s website here. Congratulations to Ben and Terry!
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Noted landscape painter Scott Christensen leads an “Advanced Concepts” workshop February 19-23, 2011. Limited to five students, the class is offered first-come-first-serve. One must commit, and at this posting the class–inspired by Christensen’s recent trip to Russia–is very likely filled. But you can keep in contact with Christensen Studios by phoning or emailing Kristin. Phone: 2o8.787.5851 email: kristinm@christensenstudio.com website: www.christensenstudio.com
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Lines Gallery continues to accept submissions for their March, 2011 “Salon Style Exhibition.” All mediums and subject matter are eligible. Work by local artists Camille Davis and Mark Morgan Dunstan are currently on display. For more information, visit www.linesgallery.wordpress.com.
A new collection of silk thread embroidery works from Japan’s Meiji Period (1868-1912) are on view at Heather James Fine Art. Jackson, a stand-alone-county-in-a-stand-alone-state, is being infiltrated by global movements and thought; many of those are expressed in art.
JapanGuide.com provides a summary of the Meiji Restoration: “Like other subjugated Asian nations, the Japanese were forced to sign unequal treaties with Western powers. These treaties granted the Westerners one-sided economical and legal advantages in Japan. In order to regain independence from the Europeans and Americans and establish herself as a respected nation in the world, Meiji Japan was determined to close the gap to the Western powers economically and militarily. Drastic reforms were carried out in practically all areas.”
Gold and silk threads illuminate these portraits of birds of prey. An interesting exercise would be to compare these Japanese works with avian arts from the same era at the National Museum of Wildlife Art.
“Japanese embroidery technique goes back more than one thousand years. It originated in China and was eventually introduced to Japan by Korean artisans, around the same time Buddism entered Japan,” says Heather James’ Lyndsay McCandless.
A six-panel Soga School painting of birds is part of this exhibit; the work dates from c. 1700. McCandless notes that falconry was introduced into Japan around 244AD.
“In the late sixteenth and seventeenth century, the samurai warriors had mastered falconry as part of their military training,” notes McCandless. “Both of these pieces really need to be seen and appreciated in person, so please stop by the gallery anytime and I would be happy to share them with you! Enjoy!” www.heatherjames.com
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“What’s really happening is happening down in the studio with a pencil and a drawing pad, experimenting and exploring ideas and materials or executing the pieces themselves. But then how do you talk about that? If there were words, it would destroy the essence of my personal experience of fooling around with materials and ideas. I’ll leave the words to the critics.” ~Kate Hunt
Over-explaining and criticizing can suck art’s intrigue dry. We like to describe, let you know where the art is, comment and ask a few questions.
Montana born, contemporary Western sculptor Kate Hunt still resides in Kalispell, Montana. A former Lyndsay McCandless Contemporary artist, Hunt’s artwork is now available at Amangani Resort, where she has a large installation. Her work is included in the Yellowstone Art Center in Billings.
Hunt was kind enough to send me a note about an upcoming show of hers, Kate Hunt. The exhibition is up at Seattle’s Davidson Galleries, opened February 3 and is on display through February 26, 2011.
Her work is distinctive, dense, and very satisfying to take in. She’s at one with her materials. She
works in large and small scales, using materials we know: newspaper, steel, twine, nails, palm fronds. But she packs, wraps, stacks and binds these materials together to form objects that feel that they are only now arranged as they were originally meant to be. She gets to the core of these materials–and mixes a Western sensibility with Asian minimalism. Quiet, meditative, Hunt’s works can be large but they tread gently, like spirits.
If you were on an archeological dig and came upon any one of Hunt’s works, you would immediately be curious about the culture that created the blocks of nail-pierced blackened steel, curving columns and baled stacks of cut newspaper.
The show’s cover image features a row of broom-like, bristled sconces–dark paper swags hang off them like a goat’s beard. A few goats are wandering around inside, in front of the sculptures. “The goats are my pets and they just hang out,” says the artist. “They sleep in the studio I work in, in front of the fire. This day they were just there. They are named Pinky and Frida. Frida is the little female in front of the work.”
Hunt says that though a bit of time has elapsed since her last show in Jackson, she’s continuing on course. “Nothing has really changed about the materials, I just keep tunneling in deeper. One piece leads to another.” www.katehunt.com
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The new exhibition opening at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, A Change of Seasons: Wildlife in Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, is on display at the museum February 11 – April 29, 2011.
Exploring ways wildlife adapts to changing seasons, the show reflects the pride artists take in recording animal behavior in the wild, says Curator of Art Adam Duncan Harris. The 
show’s title was inspired by T.D. Kelsey’s bronze sculpture, A Change of Seasons, (on the museum’s Rungius Road approach), depicting two bison shedding their coats as winter gives way to spring.
“This exhibition allows us to use the breadth and flexibility of the museum’s collection to illustrate through beautiful artwork how animals adapt to the various seasons of the year, from bears fattening up for their long winter hibernation to elk in velvet,” says Harris.
The show includes these notable works: Knight Errant by Carl Rungius, a winter scene; Mother Quail by Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait for spring; Curious Visitors by Michael Coleman, summer; and Virginia White-Tail by William Jacobs Hays, fall. Question and answer formats engage visitors, presenting queries about animal behavior.
“Why do moose stand around in the water?” and “Why do bison face into the wind on cold days?”
I don’t know the answers. Do you? A visit to NMWA is afoot! www.wildlifeart.org
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“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?
“I love the way my gallery looks right now; it looks like a New York gallery!” – Tayloe Piggot
J.H. Muse Gallery’s Tayloe Piggot made that comment a few years back; the gallery was then housed in its former West Broadway space. But, far from moving away from aligning herself with NYC’s mega-arts culture, she continues to reach out, looking to translate that city’s contemporary energy to Jackson Hole’s art scene.
To that end, she and arts specialist Camille Obering present “Influences of Nature on Abstraction,” opening at J.H. Muse on September 3. Spotlighting contemporary masters Milton Avery, Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler and Joan Mitchell, the show remains up through the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival (power play!) all the way to October 14, 2009. An opening reception takes place Friday, September 11, 5-8:00 pm.
Obviously, public access to works by internationally known contemporary artists is rare in Jackson. We’ll all feel as if we’re partaking in a MoMa field trip, and that will be thrilling. Folks living full time in the inter-mountain west, as a rule, don’t visit significant contemporary museums as often as urban dwellers This show, says its organizers, depicts work “unconstrained” by “representational” rules—a comment seeming to allude to a belief that here, constraint and representation are the norm.
Emerging art movements often claim to be throwing off restraints of earlier schools, and they are. But no school of art emerges from a vacuum.
Artistic “constraint” is a misconception; artists decide for themselves what feels like constraint. If Clyde Aspevig were asked to paint like Frankenthaler, he may feel some constraint. Aspevig doesn’t interpret and experience nature the same way as Frankenthaler. Poetry is highly structured and disciplined, but often seems less formally conceived than prose.
These artists–Frankenthaler, Avery, Mitchell and Diebenkorn–created something 
new for themselves and for art history. In creating something new, another set of rules for achieving the effect the artist wants is established. Another guide is written, another opinion. Artists’ efforts to tell the world as they see it are opinions set to canvas, photographic paper, in clay.
Artistic vision is highly personal, but principles invariably apply.
From the age of seven, Picasso received formal, academic artistic training. From those building blocks, his brilliance exploded. Over and over again Picasso studied the human form. Without this deep knowledge, Picasso’s abstractions would lose their magic.
Obering puts the Muse show artists in context:
“Milton Avery (1885 – 1965), often thought of as America’s Matisse, is best known for his conflation of abstraction and representation using a rich and unusual palette.
Richard Diebenkorn’s (1922 – 1993) aerial landscapes of California illuminated the light and line of this area by marrying color field painting and geometric abstraction in a bold personal style.
Helen Frankenthaler (born 1928), known as a color field 
painter and an abstract expressionist, utilized a technique known as “soak stain,” in which oil paints were diluted and painted onto unprimed canvas or
paper, resulting in stunning and luminescent paintings.
Joan Mitchell’s (1925 – 1992) powerful and energetic brush stroke played out nature’s patterns, light, and depth, making her work some of the most spectacular of the
Abstract Expressionists.”
I’d kill for a Frankenthaler; when I look at her work I feel as if I’m beneath the ocean’s surface—a favorite place to be—floating over brilliant corals, translucent kelps. My sister would like an Avery, please.
For information, visit www.jhmusegallery.com, phone 307.733.0555—or, contact Camille Obering through her website.
Item #2 - Not Too Late For a Little Cayuse!
Cayuse favorite Jack Walker is back, bringing new designs and best sellers, on Friday, August 28th from 5 – 8pm. Meet Jack and view his pure silver and leather hand crafted work. He’s joined for the second year by Jackson jeweler and silversmith Dawn Bryfogle, whose work combines contemporary gemstone styling with vintage sterling treasures. She’ll also be showing her new handmade sterling pieces.
Margaritas may make an appearance at tonight’s opening. For info, email info@cayusewa.com.
A number of Jackson Hole area artists are experienced in working for our two parks, Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Ed Riddell, Greg McHuron, and Dan Burgette are three examples. Riddell and McHuron conduct workshops, often taking their students into the wilderness or abroad.
This month and next, sculptor Dan Burgette is the National Museum of Wildlife Art’s Lanford Monroe Memorial Artist-in-Residence. Burgette will be on hand in Johnson Hall on Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm through August 1. Demonstrations are free and open to the public.
Burgette’s artistry springs from his three decades as a Grand Teton National Park backcountry ranger. He is a sculptor inspired by wildlife, particularly by birds and the aerodynamics of flight. Burgette creates dynamic works depicting indigenous birds in flight; he visualizes spiraling air currents of beating wings, dissolving any separation of a bird and the air around it. In some instances, Burgette’s birds become the air. Burgette works primarily with wood, metal and stone–materials seemingly too weighty to produce a sense of flight. Seemingly. Burgette smashes barriers, suggesting speed, grace and space with every work. For information, visit www.wildlifeart.org.
Item #2: A New WSJ Culture Section?
Columnist Laura Collins-Hughes reports that the Wall Street Journal is working on
a new NYC-only culture section. The new section would compete with the New York Times’ predominant arts coverage. Collins-Hughes reports that a budget is being worked up and the new section could debut as early as 2011. She quotes one WSJ staffer as saying that the new section will be “…arts-and-culture-oriented…The ad side thought they could sell ads on a local New York basis, given the Broadway scene and the arts scene overall.”
Arts sell ads, baby. By the way, did I tell you about the J.H. Art Blog’s incredible visitation stats?
Item #3 Altamira Fine Art Bends It
Altamira Fine Art has moved into its new, 172 Center Street (Suite 100) space. And it’s pretty cool. Altamira opened its doors with a Nieto ( check out the fancy dancer canvases, they are spectacular ) exhibit and now Amy Ringholz’s Storytellers is the gallery’s focus, through July 28. Ringholz’s opening reception night was pretty rockin; music on 172′s street front plaza brought the crowds in. Ringholz’s artwork kept them there, and Altamira’s relatively dark-hued interior creates a clubby atmosphere. Check it out.
Next up at Altamira: Mary Roberson’s “Nature is Life in the Dream” opens August 5. Info: 307.739.4700 & connect@altamiraart.com.
Item #4:
Artist Ashley Collins is the focus at the Diehl Gallery this week. See previous posts 
about her work, exhibit and resume. Wednesday evening a special opening benefitting the Community School takes place, 6-9:00 pm. 20% of all purchases go to the school, supporting educational initiatives for children. Call Karen Hodges at 307.733.5427 for more information on this special preview event.
