Posts Tagged ‘Teton Art Lab’
Springtime at Heather James; New Review
Heather James Fine Art knows it’s Spring, even if Northern Rockies denizens feel the jury’s still out. Â If you want a breath of fresh art air, a trip to your favorite gallery is a particularly 
renewing. Heather James director Lyndsay McCandless notes that Heather James’ Jackson Hole gallery is fully open. The gallery has provided images of works by Chagall, Deborah Butterfield, Hiromitsu Kuroo, Yuko Ueda, Kees Van Dongen, Penelope Gottlieb and Bruce Dorfman.
Themes of renewal, fertility, earth, spiritual and religious iconography — and the potential destruction of Nature mark the collection. Gottlieb’s heavily colored botanical prints and images are reminiscent of  drapery and upholstery textile designs. Look again. Chains, jagged blade-like shapes, and invasive species threaten and choke Gottlieb’s natural landscapes and their avian populations.
McCandless can picture Butterfield’s horses “…out in a luscious field of green grass, providing some hope that I will see grass again soon.” And Kees
Van Dongen’s Bouquet de Fleurs inspires thoughts of  ”rich perfumes [inhaled while] walking through royal gardens.”
The gallery’s Palm Desert location is currently exhibiting Color Speaks: Five Artists from the Art Students League of New York. “All of these artists have unique ways of exploring color and form,” says McCandless, and they “ultimately transport” viewers to a place of contemplation.
•
Friday, April 29, check out the Jackson Hole Review’s (JH Review) new inaugeral issue. The party starts at 6:00 pm at the Factory Studios, 1255 Gregory Lane, in Jackson. Published locally, the magazine features contributions from writers, poets, photographers and visual artists “from all over the country.” Â The new issue’s theme is “connect/disconnect” Â ….Hold the phone! Â Idaho writer Kim Barnes is featured in the issue.
Bring $10 and the money will buy you entry, get you a copy of the magazine (don’t know its usual newsstand price), refreshments and entertainment. Prizes, too. Special ones. For attendees.
The publishers wish to thank:Â Teton Library Foundation, the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Grand Teton Music Festival, Falls Printing, Valley Bookstore, Jackson Hole Writers’ Conference and the Jackson Hole Public Art Initiative.
For more information, email info@tetonartlab.com.
This is cheating, but I’m sure Erin O’Connor will forgive the indescretion. Â I’m going to repeat other people’s comments about O’Connor’s latest successes. She’s on the short list for a certain summer plein air event, but I’m not allowed to tell you about that quite yet.
It’s cheating even more to boil down a description of Erin’s light to this: She paints like Dixon. O’Connor is not as well known (yet) as I think she should be, but that may soon change. Notices and awards are piling up, the latest being an article featuring the artist in Spring 2011′s issue of Plein Air Magazine. The article, “Living Lightly and Painting Boldly,” describes O’Connor’s artistic learning process, talks about her mentors and the life she lives as a plein air artist; a life that dictates small spaces, creative use of time, flexibility and an ability to swiftly capture landscapes that capture her. Â Fine examples of the artist’s work are depicted. Â Here’s a comment from O’Connor’s Facebook page:
“As a plein air painter who also lives out of his vehicle, when necessary … I can really relate to you, and your approach to the direct-study of landscapes. And SUCH beautiful images … you have a perfect eye for developing the sweep of your compositions [no cameras necessary]. Your article confirms what I suspected the moment I first saw you ‘working’ that morning at Winter Park … when you paint, you are in ‘direct conversation’ with the natural world. Never let anything keep you from your work and workplace … you set a high example for the rest of us! Thank you for sharing your experience.”- Williamson Tapia
O’Connor was selected as the 2009 Joshua Tree National Park Artist-in-Residence. Congrats on all past and presents successes, Erin.
•
Hot Glass, Cold Beer, Be Here.
Friday, March 25, blow yourself to a fun evening with the Teton Art Lab Glass Gang. Â The latter is hosting its first fundraiser at Jackson’s newest arts venue, the Factory Studios. Â $20 gets you in and goes to support the non-
profit Factory mission. Artists Danny White and John Hogan will be executing a “hot glass performance” and you can probably leave the party with your own piece of hand blown artisan glass.
Oh, says Travis: “Free Beer!”
The party starts at 6:00 pm, ends at 9:00 pm. Â ONLY fifty (50) tickets are available, and that ensures a good time to be had by all. Â No crushed glass. Â Call Rob Hollis at 307-248-1785 or respond on FB to reserve tickets.
•
This is just fun. Â I did not know the National Museum of Wildlife Art had this link to play with.
If you click here, you will find a neat art exercise. “Create a Composition with Carl Rungius” explores basic art principles; famed landscape painter Tucker Smith leads you through the game. Â The home page I found bobbled back and forth like a seesaw; balance is a component of strong paintings. Â You can review a series of principles or just jump ahead to creating your own “painting.” Â A nice interactive project, an enjoyable addition to NMWA’s interactive offierings.
This week’s NMWA Â ”Art Alive @ 12:05″ features demonsrations by sculptor Sandy Scott .
Has Jackson’s first business incubator arrived on the scene?
It may have, but do the artists and activists involved know it?
Not long ago, Travis Walker’s Teton Art Lab up and left their Center for the Arts space. The group loaded up its truck and moved to Greg-o-ry.
Lane, that is. Â 6,500 square feet in the facility formerly home to Huckleberry Mountain Candy Company. Teton Art Lab is the new landlord. The group is reportedly sub-renting space to MADE’s John Frechette, who will use the space as his studio (he’s not moving out of his retail shop in Gaslight Alley); to artist Ben Roth, who will also use his corner as studio space, and to blogger/filmmaker/photographer/activist David Gonzales—word has it that Gonzales plans to capture artists creating and composing, and post it to his site. Â Abbie Miller has been down there, sewing her heart out; Â and a musical group emulating the Greatful Dead has set up rehearsal space.
That’s a factory! Â A huge Warhol fan, Walker may have subconsciously (or consciously) established his own arts assembly line. “The Incubator.” Â ”The Assembly.” The new location is certainly not a great foot traffic/retail space, but that could change. And maybe Jackson’s town leaders will take notice. If ArtLab and its tenants succeed in their mission, they will nurture new artists, new business and talent. And product.
Business incubators often get established because communities donate empty, excessive space. Business incubators can be industrial, high-tech, medical, artistic, even food growers. The idea, says one expert, is to set up a commercial building capable of housing different operations and industries at low cost. Incubators supply in-house office help to all tenants—copy machines, answering phones, teaching technology skills. Assistance continues until fledgling businesses are developed enough to move out of the space on their own. Cost of doing business is lowered. The vacated incubator space is filled by a new, young enterprise.
ChubbyBrain, a tool resource for business entrepreneurs, posted a United States map that in 2009, highlighted states with incubators. Maps measure total number, distribution and “scalability.” ChubbyBrain’s totals map is
shown here. The site also graphs 2009′s top ten incubators. Healthcare offers the most, followed by technology and internet companies.
Incubators are measured several ways, but Wyoming, as of 2009, had zero incubator presence.
“We funded an incubator with a USDA grant which purchased the building,” says my expert. Â ”We then set up a non profit corporation with the board being half private and half government. The government board members were mayors and commissioners. It is important to get real business expertise on this board. Activists have the vision but not often the practical skills to make it happen.”
Well, we need business experts. We’re loaded with activists in Jackson, so what we need are business strategists acting in the interest of diversifying (lessening risk) Jackson’s economy. Â Leaders should look to establish tax breaks for properties that can’t, in the immediate future, realize full value for their space.
Risk happens not only when you carry potentially volatile investments; it exists when you invest in mainstream, blue-chip sectors—if that’s your only portfolio presence, you are carrying great risk.  Ask anyone loaded with BP stock or too much empty, expensive commercial and residential real estate in Teton County.
My expert councils that the best way to start is to visit established, successful incubators. Many aren’t viable because they are not grounded in solid business basics.To provide a job, a business (or any enterprise) must be successful enough to generate plenty of worthwhile income.
Item #2
CIAO Gallery has put out a call for entries for “Autumn Leaves – Works Inspired by the Fall.” Deadline is October 29, 2010. Â Artists are invited to submit their entries to the gallery by visiting CIAO’s website and clicking on the “Call to Artists” page. Â There, you will find instructions. Â www.ciaogallery.com. Â Â Good luck!
It’s a sometimes dark, sometimes cosmic, and sometimes beautiful view photographer Thomas Macker shares with us in his new collection of images Western Heritage – Expansion/Consumption/New Age, opening at Teton Art Lab Friday, August 27. An opening reception takes place on the late side, (yes, I can hear the young folks laughin’) 7-9:00 p.m.
A visiting artist resident, Macker is in from Los Angeles. Â He is a candidate for an MFA in Photography and Media at CalArts.
Macker describes this show as being concerned with “Wyoming and the western landscape….spiritual, cultural, and environmental tourism.”  In much of his other work, he takes special interest in the ironies and complexities of California. Western Heritage delves into activities and issues as mountaineering, car camping, gmo seeds, migrant workers, alternative energy, “intergalactic colonialism,” Black Elk and the psychedelic.
I’ve spent an hour checking out Macker’s website. Â I find his photography deeply affecting. Â Intimate. Â Political. Â These are the kinds of photographs that, in this election season, those running for office should see. The photographs–portraits of place–illustrate ubiquitous ironies and plights. They more than hint at American tragedies. Private lives are exposed, fates admitted. Throughout his work Macker treats all his subjects, no matter how jarring, with unblinking honesty .
Without being noticed we watch from behind as a lone, aging man fills water bottles from a forest stream. Â The night sky’s astrological patterns surrounding Perseus (The Hero)Â are reinterpreted by what I first thought were scattered bullets holes in glass. Â A friend thought he saw the eyes of the universe. The connected spheres are in fact spores. Â Domestic workers pose for Macker’s camera inside the properties they tend; Â their employers are nowhere in sight. Â These spotless, manicured California homes are proof of attentive care and work provided by these workers, not of the property owners. Nannies, likely immigrants, assume motherhood to babies they push in strollers.
One Macker series, With God, All Things Are Possible, depicts a region of the Ohio River Valley and is a not-so-subtle rip on the concept of a generous Deity. Â A thick and heavy summer yard is vacant, save the black hole of an ignored trampoline. Â A dead coyote lies at the side of a road, a woman nuzzles her shepherd; but the most heart-stopping image concerns a young cougar tethered to a pole in a back yard. Â The cat stalks our photographer and its jailer—some guy I presume is trafficking in wildlife, or he works for a circus—plays ringmaster.
It took me a moment to notice the pistol lying on the bed next to a man in a motel room. Â The man talks animatedly; he’s wearing a Carnegie Mellon t-shirt.
These are only descriptions of Macker’s photographs, and I fear I may put you off checking out the contents of Western Heritage. This show’s cover image  — girls in blue
plastic innertubes lolling about in tall Wyoming grasses while a buff dude repairs a chain link fence protecting solar panels — reveals sharp, wry humor. Â Go see it. Â Put your thinking cap on. Â In America, concerned as we are with issues of constitutionality and culturalism, this a potentially thought provoking show.
To view Macker’s work check out http://www.fotocoyote.com/
Item #2
Jackson Hole’s 2010 Fall Arts Festival is fast approaching. Portions of the  National Museum of Wildlife Art’s Western Visions/Sixth Annual Photography Show & Sale/ Fourth Annual Sketch Show & Sale are now available to view.  Events continue through Sunday, September 26, 2010.
Highlights include:
- The Sketch Show & Sale (King Gallery) displays work by participating Western Visions artists and includes simple pencil sketches to studies in oil or acrylic.
- Tuesday, September 7, 2010 — Â 5:30 to 8:30 pm enjoy Tapas and a presentation by 2010Â Â Featured Scupltor Simon Gudgeon for a special Art After Hours. Program is free. Reservations for tapas required and can be made by calling 307-732-5434.
- Thursday, September 9, Â 12:05 pm. — Â Art Alive @ 12:05 features a talk by Simon Gudgeon. Â Museum galleries; Â free.
- Wednesday, September 15 Â — Â 12th Annual Jewelry & Artisan Luncheon, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Â Register by Wednesday, September 8. Â Â 307.732.5412.
- Thursday, September 16, 2010 —- Â Plein Air Sketching Workshop led by Featured Painter Mary Roberson. Â 8-11:30 a.m. Â Hands-on outdoor instruction overlooking National Elk Refuge. Â Cost: Â $45. Â Â Reservations required via Jane Lavino. Â Â 307.732.5417. Â ALSO: Museum Gallery Walk, Â 1-2:00 pm. Â Led by Simon Gudgeon, he will talk about some of his favorite NMWA works. Â Free for members or with Museum admission. Â AND, Jewelry & Artisan Show & Sale begins today, continuing through Friday, September 17. Â View and select offerings of exquisite handmade jewelry, silver items and accessories.
- Thursday, September 16 Â —- 23rd Annual Wild West Artist Party, Â 6:30 – 10:30 p.m. Â Location is National Museum of Wildlife Art. Â Live music, dancing, plenty of good fare. Â Register by Wednesday, September 8. Â 307.732.5412.
- Friday, September 17 Â —- Featured Painter Presentation and Poster Signing, 1:00 pm. Â Â Mary Roberson will speak about her art and influences. Â Free for members or with Museum admission.
- Friday, September 17 Â —- Â 23rd Annual Miniatures and More Show & Sale. Doors open 3:30 pm; Â Bidding closes 5:30 pm; Presentation begins 6:30 pm. Â Event features over 150 top American artists. Reservations required by September 8. Â 307.732.5434.
And, a new addition for 2010:
Wednesday, September 29 — Art A’Brewin’ 10:00 am – 4:00 pm. Â Enjoy coffee and fruit at the Museum, and pick up your purchased artwork. Â Browse works still available. Â Fun, free, open to the public.
An online Western Visions Catalog can be found here; you can read succinct artist biographies and, for some artists, interview content.
“In the years since meeting David, I’ve come to respect his ability to combine his artistic eye with a strong understanding of the craft of photography, the technique of putting light on paper. A stunning example of this is David’s unique interpretation of platinum/palladium printing, which incorporates many layers of visual information, giving it a painterly quality. The effect is to draw the observer back to the image repeatedly, unlike a typical photograph that can be absorbed in a single viewing. This is why David’s work is fine art that transcends specific time and place.” – Angela Pearson Bramson
Photographer – entrepreneur David Brookover, now the owner of two galleries showcasing his large format photography, has published his new book, The Road. Brookover is publishing two versions, each with its own price point. Â The book becomes available in June 2010.
The Road – The Photographs of David Brookover will be published in a “trade edition” and a “collector’s edition.”  The former is available for $125, and the book’s first run is 1350 editions;  the latter sells for $975 and will have only 150 editions printed. Portfolio cases will be Kanji stamped with the Japanese symbol “Michi,” Japanese for “Road.” Brookover is using heavy Italian cotton rag paper, with “absolutely no optical brighteners so the images will be around for a very long time.”
That’s a heck of a price differential but Brookover is a savvy, Â hands-on marketer. Â The Road collector’s edition will be bound in rich red cloth and housed in a clothed portfolio encasing a Brookover platinum palladium print. Â Two years ago, feeling the need to move away from the large, sexy color photographs (noted for seemingly endless depth of field and detail) that built his reputation, Brookover began creating platinum prints from existing plates, as well as taking new photographs.
The Road catalogs Brookover’s platinum prints, the focus of the photographer’s endeavors in recent years.  A few images depict physical roads, but the book’s title signifies Brookover’s continual travels around the United States and Japan in pursuit of his muse.  His camera captures deserts, coastlines, forests, the Southwest, pueblos, canyons, solitary trees of garden, woods and valleys, and Japanese gardens.  The book includes one nude portrait.
The Road, self-published, is only available for purchase at Brookover’s two galleries, located in Jackson Hole and Santa Fe. Â www.davidbrookover.com.
Item #2
Collage artist Ricki Arno divides her time between Jackson Hole and New York. Â A native New Yorker, Arno has been steeped in that city’s arts culture all of her life. Â Her one-woman show, “Ricki Arno,” goes on display at Teton Art Lab on June 4, and a reception will be held that evening.
Her art is heavily influenced by New York’s fast moving, self-updating art movements.  Arno, a grandmother, is a graffiti artist at heart. Do not look for an artist dudette, even though Arno is, by her own account, an “urbanista.”  When you find yourself attending this show’s opening reception, look for the lady resembling Edith Head.
“Street Art that has become a part of my vision living in NYC, and the constant barrage of natural crisis and world events heavily pepper my work by influencing my eye, my heart and my hand. I love passionately seductive colors and have used them full force in my new works,” says Arno.
A woman, presumably the artist, is at the core of most of Arno’s compositions, which she calls “sketches.” Â These are personal works reflecting the effects of global change and life experiences on Arno; Â dream content floods each space. Â Arno’s attention to, and ability to manipulate, detail is almost excruciating in its exactness. Â Years ago, NYC life had her working in fashion and textile design, advertising and….cake decorating. Â Arno’s decorated sweets and confections were legend for New Yorkers demanding her work, and brought Arno to the attention of many industry publications.
In my mind Arno’s dramatic, multi-dimensional and hotly colored compositions are operatic. Â In her next life, she’ll make a grand set designer.
Though I know quite a bit about Arno’s creative process, I am going to keep that knowledge to myself; Â mystery is part of this magic. See her results first, get everything you thought you knew about collage blown away. Â Then, ask Arno about her process.
If the deadline has not passed, you might sign up for her summer 2010 Art Association Class. Â Arno will lead her workshop “Mixed Media Collage: Combining Bare Bones Photoshop with Traditional Palettes” June 21-25. Â Â Check their website for more info or call Mallory at 307.733.6379.
