Jackson Hole Art Blog

The first part of this series (planned as two parts, it is now a three-part) touched upon landscape designer Walter Hood’s cursory views on Jackson’s approach to its own landscape. This second installment addresses Hood’s vision for a new NMWA sculpture garden and connective earth design.

“It is not the stuff you have. It is the stuff you no longer have. A lot of planning is too much about “what we need” v.s. “what we have.” In a reciprocal way, planning should be about the things that connect us-how to connect us. That makes us special.” - Walter Hood

Walter Hood has travelled to Jackson Hole to consult with the National Museum of Wildlife Art (NMWA). In a recent edition of NMWA’s member publication Call of the Wild, Hood described the beginnings of his collaboration with NMWA that will, ideally, result in a new museum sculpture garden.

It’s not as if Hood’s work to date has included an ongoing interest in wildlife museums, but the environment and how people use it drive his work on the project. Process and progress, inspiration ignited by how people choose to make “place.” On a certain level, he says, it’s all the same, whether one is talking about a sculpture garden or an entire community.

“The museum is interesting in that there are these cultural artifices, pieces of art, that are trying to represent nature,” says Hood. It’s a bit ironic that bronze elk are stationed at the base of the Museum’s driveway right across from the Elk Refuge; the installation seems an attempt to convince the public that there is a connection between NMWA and the Refuge.

“If the landscape itself was powerful enough it could move people in fantastic ways. That is what I am interested in. Standing out on NMWA’s hill, is there a way to allow a visitor to be in the Refuge? It is possible. NMWA’s architecture builds on the idea that it is “with the landscape,” and ironically that is one of the issues they are dealing with.”

Hood believes he could scale and shift existing landscape, so that art as well as the landscape is legible. “Attempt to eliminate design dichotomy, the experience of being either here, or there - either at the museum or in the landscape; either in Jackson or in the landscape.”

Check out parking lot ratios to the buildings they serve, suggests Hood. Looking at the Museum’s site, the parking lot stretches incredibly far, perhaps taking more space than the building itself. Part of the lot might be converted to trail, and a pervious surface is healthier for surrounding growth than asphalt, an oil-based material.

Rarely filled, and within a couple of miles of town, a reduced parking lot would be no problem if more mass transit options existed. “You don’t even want to know what asphalt is doing the environment; pervious surfaces would change our world drastically.”

Will NMWA pursue traditional design for its sculpture garden? Hood thinks both representational and contemporary design will be utilized.

“As a designer I have my own preferences, but when I do work I accept that scope,” he affirms. “What they are interested is figurative art with a long tradition, pre-Renaissance. But they had a show last year with Picasso and other contemporary artists rendering wildlife. Fantastic! Jane (Jane Lavino, NMWA’s Sugden Family Curator of Education) talked about the possibility of having contemporary installation in the landscape that would talk about wildlife in very different ways. I think then the project becomes broader in scope.

It is not about placing things; it is about creating more of a visitor experience where you can have permanent and temporary pieces co-interacting in the setting. Helping people make discoveries without bringing in the artificial. We have some strong ideas on how that might be achieved. It is my job to provoke. NMWA has the ability to create amazing indoor and outdoor experiences, and those are what museums are about today. It could be fabulous!”

It’s all already there. It’s only a question of how to make it visible.

The Art Association has named a new Executive Director: Jennifer Crawford. Karen Stewart, outgoing director, says Crawford has strong arts credentials, “infectious energy and ideas.”  Crawford takes over in January, 2010.  She replaces Stewart, who led the Art Association through 16 years of growth.  She guided the Association’s transition to its current home at the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts. Stewart will retire at the end of January.

Congratulations to Jennifer Crawford, and KUDOS, KUDOS, KUDOS to Karen as she begins the next phase of her life with family, friends and great projects.

NOW….

Jackson artist Jenny Dowd is being honored at her alma mater, the University of Missouri. The university’s first Alumni Exhibition features Dowd’s sculptural aged forms…forms that look like teeth and books.  We wrote about that, and we are proud to have collaborated with Dowd on her Blurb Book, “Collection.” Dowd and her husband Sam work for Jackson’s Art Association, and are noted for their sculptural works;  Jenny is inspired by history, data and nature, while Sam creates fanciful, orbital and aerial inspired-forms, forms that would transfer very well to claymation.   Jenny’s work was also featured in the Premio Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro International Competition for Young Sculptors in Milan, Italy.

Item #2: Charlotte’s Arts - Why Not Here? Connect the Dots!

Charlotte, South Carolina’s arts, that is.  Charlotte’s Mayor Joseph Riley is solidly behind public arts initiatives in his city—and he’s been re-elected for NINE terms!  I’m excerpting some highlights from an article on the subject, compiled by various Gazette-Virginian staff, here:

“The arts, public grounds/parks and historic preservation are “the three basic reasons, the initiators” of Charleston, S.C.’s phenomenal change, keynote speaker Mayor Joseph Riley told Art & Creative Economy Conference guests, town and county officials Wednesday.”

Oh heck.  I’m crunched for time.  Here’s the rest of the article, and it’s a good one. I’ve italicized major points.

“Riley described downtown Charleston as almost dead in 1977, the year the Spoleto Festival USA debuted there. “But the arts, all those people coming, and all the flowerings started” igniting the rebirth of the downtown district.

However,  the seminal course change almost floundered.

Initially composer Gian Carlos Menotti started an arts festival in Spoleto, Italy in 1958, and a North American “sister city” was sought.

Charleston went courting, but some on the committee were not delighted with all aspects of the Italian festival – finances were described as a mess - and worried a similar event in Charleston might have a negative impact on the community and the existing arts.

Riley - backed by the committee’s 6-5 vote tabling the disbandment motion - fought for Spoletto Festival USA, “to make ourselves a stage for the arts.”

The city began raising money and cleaning up for the event.

Today, the 17-day Spoletto’s phenomenal impact on the arts and economy continues. “Spoletto began the artistic renaissance of Charleston. It’s never been so robust, but it goes so far beyond that,” he added, naming development of magnet schools for the arts at the high and middle school level.

The arts also are being used as a unifying theme to reach kids in an inner-city school.

“We are teaching everybody,” added Riley, describing the wonderful spectrum of the city.

The quality of life in Charleston also makes recruiting easier for businesses, Riley noted, with one businessman naming that asset as making it easier for him to recruit the employees he needs.

Historic Preservation
In the early 20th century, some wanted to tear down Rainbow Row, recalled Riley. “The ladies rose up, taking a stand for preservation,” he recalled.

Today, Charleston boasts the first Preservation Ordinance in America.

When the historic buildings are preserved for adaptive reuse, the structure takes on a forever aspect, according to the mayor. “You can’t create this from scratch,” he added, emphasizing the city’s historic preservation as one of the three basic reasons for its great revival and success.

Public Parks
“It is very important that there be public places,” emphasized Riley. “The more the better. The public realm is so important,” he repeated.

Vision, a hefty $750,000 private donation and creative negotiations with a property owner ultimately resulted in the city’s Waterfront Park.

“No one can imagine Charleston without Waterfront Park,” added Riley. “The community adores it. The moral imperative is that we make sure the city is an inspirational place for everyone,” he said.

The park also elevated the notion of the public realm, going to the extra effort to create beautiful places for the public, according to the mayor.

Charleston also fought for a bridge with bike and pedestrian paths, opening yet another avenue to the public, recalled the mayor.

“Great towns or cities, the size doesn’t matter, these principles are universal,” said the mayor, who speaks with almost 34 years experience as a master of transition in Charleston.

Prior to Mayor Riley’s introduction, one county businessman and civic leader observed: “I hope people can connect the dots linking the arts and the economy and ask, ‘Why not here?’”

FIRST THING:

I thought about apologizing for being OTL this holiday, but I’m not.  I will say: the Art Blog is back, we’re takin’ it back with Barack, and we don’t take no pennies from those wackety-PACs!

Here’s a little swing ditty, “Takin’ It Back With Barack, Jack!” Makes me happy; hope it makes you happy!

SECOND THING:

Following in the footsteps of Terry Tempest Williams’ December reading over at Lyndsay McCandless Contemporary, comes an appearance by Wilson writer Alexandra Fuller at the Muse Gallery.  Artist Mike Piggott’s new collection of paintings, “Objects and Things,” inspired Fuller’s essay “The Emperor of the Red Wheel Barrow,” which Fuller will read at the artist’s reception this Friday, January 16.   Festivities run 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.; Fuller’s reading is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Fuller has authored several non-fiction books, including “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood,” and, most recently, “The Legend of Colton H. Bryant.”

THIRD (quite giant) THING:

Last week’s J.H. News and Guide included missives praising Bland Hoke Jr.’s public art project: portraits of indigenous animals cut from recycled wood and painted by kids.  Mr. Hoke’s role as the Center of Wonder’s Public Art Ambassador was imagined and supported by Wonder’s Executive Director Carrie Geraci, and by that non-profit’s founders, Gary and Veronica Silberberg.  The Public Art Ambassador Program aspires to work with members of the business community in fostering art projects that connect to nature; installations that will serve as new and interactive art media in Jackson.

Public art encourages environmental stewardship through curiosity and creating a sense of ownership, and by enhancing public space. It is a significant community tool that promotes tourism and regional appreciation.

Public art is great marketing. We imagine myriad public art installations in and around the Town of Jackson. I take this opportunity to call upon our Town and County officials to spearhead a public arts installation program. In most urban areas, the quest to design for relevant public art is old hat.  Public art installations define cities, and we are a small city.  Posers, at any rate.  Our planning process needs to include space for public plazas, parks and sculpture.

There are lots of experts out there to consult.  Find them, Town of Jackson,  because claiming to know about the arts, their history and impact when one does not is a bit like claiming to be qualified for the Vice Presidency because you can see Russia from your house.

Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park combines places to eat, shop and walk with nine acres overlooking Puget Sound.  The project “…brings together the best of (the) city: art and recreation….21 sculptures take center stage, representing such artists as Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Richard Serra, and Ellsworth Kelly.”

Contemporary Seattle mixes traditional Inuit art with contemporary masters. Walkways and ‘paths’ of connected galleries connect sites.   We can conjure a similar urban art potion.

My primary reason for voting against the late “Town as Heart” DRD proposal was not that I didn’t envision growth; it was that its creators had incorporated virtually no landscaping, parks, arts or ‘grace of space.’  Our town’s square chunks smashed up against one another offer no secret spaces, no enticing fountains or gardens.  Without these provocative elements, we forfeit a higher level of urban vibrancy.

Define the Town of Jackson as a business, educational, and cultural center; not as a Teton Village clone.  That’s our opportunity.

End