Posts Tagged ‘Western Contemporary Art’
The Jackson Hole Art Association kicks off its Summer Exhibitions this week, when artists Mark Newport, Jean Laughton and Taylor Glenn present their work. A reception for all three shows takes place Friday, June 3, 5:30 pm at the Center for the Arts. The shows remain up through July 29, 2011.
Mark Newport’s Sweatermen are giant, knit superhero costumes. Hand made knit goods are especially memory-provoking and connective. My own mother still knits, and a few Christmases ago she created a series of knit snakes. She gave them little black yarn smiles and tiny hats, lined them with panty hose and filled them with birdseed. She’d make a fortune turning them out by the dozen, but she indulged her vision. The snakes are a limited series.
That kind of tactile sensory stimulation, along with every child’s adoration of superheroes, combine to make these intriguing life-size costumes. An empty, dangling superhero suit begs to be filled out; we imagine ourselves inside each one, or a faceless, perfect somebody beneath the hoods. As I write, I realize we adults—particularly baby boomers, the first generation to make anti-aging a daily pursuit—are still drawn to comic book idols. We flock to the movies to see Ironman, Superman, the Green Hornet, Spiderman, Batman.
Artist and educator Mark Newport is the Artist-in-Residence and Head of Fiber at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He will give an artist’s talk that day, June 11, at 12:00 p.m. in the Art Association’s Main Gallery.
Taylor Glenn’s touching and beautiful images of China’s Mandarin Green Plastics Company capture assembly workers in an artificial flower factory. That fact does not minimize the poetry in these photographs.
Far Chang humanizes a product Americans buy en masse; these flowers are somebody’s daily art. “We rarely give thought to how these products are made and the individuals who are responsible. These images are a personal and quiet observation of daily life at this factory,” says the Art Association.
Glenn will give a gallery talk on Thursday, June 7, at 7:00 pm.
Jean Laughton’s My Ranching Life caps off the summer shows with dynamic images of Western South Dakota ranching life; this American life. Laughton took these photographs in the Badlands of Interior, South Dakota. Laughton studied photography, simultaneously adapting to the hard tack of daily cowboy life. These are large-scale panoramic photographs, capturing the West’s superhero ranching lifestyle.
http://www.artassociation.org/exhibitions/index.html
•
An esteemed colleague, a friend with an interest in urban planning and who works in the real estate industry on a global level, has sent me a list of books written by his own “urban planning heroes,” with synopses:
Design with Nature by Ian McHarg – McHarg taught that buildings and landscapes must respect the natural environment and the ecosystem.
Death and Life of American Cities by Jane Jacobs – Jacobs wrote that “eyes and feet on the street” leading to direct human interaction is the key to successful neighborhoods. Auto-centric, civil-engineering-driven approaches kill neighborhoods.
City in History by Lewis Mumford – Mumford wrote that cities represent the best that civilization has to offer. Most of the advancements in the long history of humankind came from the exchange of ideas and commerce in cities. He valued the historic legacy of cities over the post-modernist destruction of the reminders of who we are and where we came from.
Triumph of the City by Ed Glaeser – Glaeser is a young Harvard economist who just appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He writes that cities are one of the best inventions in humankind and that they are the key to living efficiently on the planet. He is a bit of an anti-planner in that he says planners often get it wrong (sprawl zoning from the 50s was built on bad assumptions that everyone wants a half-acre lot and a two-car garage and no sidewalks). But his ideas about how people express their desires in the real estate marketplace are really intriguing. And he does think that the marketplace would demand higher density, which is also more efficient, if sprawl zoning could be changed.
•
Coming to a gallery near you:
Altamira Fine Art welcomes Montana artist Ted Waddell and contemporary landscape painter Louisa McElwain, at an opening reception Thursday, June 2, 6-8:00 pm. Their joint show, Good Country, remains up through June 19. www.altamiraart.com
The Diehl Gallery celebrates its 10th Anniversary on Thursday, June 30. The 10th Anniversay Fête happens 5-9:00 pm at the Gallery. This summer, Diehl features artists Hung Liu, Ashley Collins and Sheila Norgate. The gallery will also travel to Art in San Diego September 1-4th. Cool! www.diehlgallery.com
Trio Fine Art begins summer hours on June 1. The gallery–which features the work of Lee Carlman Riddell, September Vhay, Kathryn Mapes Turner and Jennifer Hoffman–will be open Wednesday through Saturday, noon-6:00 pm. Stop by for tea. Shows throughout the summer! www.triofineart.com
The Jackson Hole Art Auction closes its 2011 Auction consignment period June 1. If you want to consign and you are reading this post May 31, 2011, you’ve got 24 hours to contact Lucy P. Grogan by phoning 866.549.9278. www.jacksonholeartauction.com
February 7-9 and Feb. 11-13 2011, getting-famous glass blower Charlotte Potter will hold two glass blowing workshops at The Factory/Teton Art Lab in Jackson.
As far as Potter knows, these are Jackson’s first glass blowing workshops. Material properties of molten glass, basic techniques and some “non-traditional” practices will be examined. Students will work in teams, doing “couples skill-based drills with material exploration to conclude in a series of glass objects.” Hands-on practice is supported with lectures and demonstrations.
Potter, who last year received her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (considered by many to be the country’s most prestigious arts university), says she is thrilled to pioneer a new arts program. Her time at RISD 
has been transforming. If you are a Jackson chick, you probably have a pair of Potter’s earrings. I took my blue ones right out of her ears back in the day, when Potter was a SRB wait person. If you frequented Teton Art Lab’s earliest exhibitions, you remember Potter’s cutting edge, wickedly imaginitive glass wildlife wall trophies.
She is in awe of glass. “Glass has binary qualities cloaked with competing characteristics: liquid and solid, elastic and brittle, captivating and humbling,” says Potter. Before she embarked on her graduate studies she wasn’t really “clear” about why she was into glass, compelled as she was to work with her medium. Gradually, she became deeply focused on traditional glass-making; she now understands glass as an experience that culminates in a tangible object.
“Graduate studies at RISD required self-analysis and alert questioning of why I remain…inspired by hot glass as an artistic medium. Integral to the glass blowing process is [one's] body, and working with an assistant. Perhaps for this reason much of my work is concerned with the way people relate to one another, and being grounded in the body….I am curious about the ways in which humans relate to one another and…I court the allure and illusion of fusion.”
Potter believes that blowing glass immediately locates a person in their body, and quickly reveals dexterity’s importance. The process requires developing muscle memory crucial to creating an object.
“In my own studio practice, I am not wedded to glass or glassblowing, however I remain inspired by my native material, returning to glass studies when mystified [by] an idea. I believe I will always dip back into the well of glass for stimulation.”
Tuition for Potter’s class is $300. To register, call 307.699.0863 or email info@tetonartlab.com. To learn more about Potter’s impressive achievements, awards and exhibitions, and her art, log onto her website at www.charlottepotter.com.
•
Before he left office former Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal announced the recipients of the 2010′s Governor’s Arts Award. Jackson’s own arts education non-profit pARTners is a recipient, and the group will accept that prize on February 11, 2011, in a celebratory event at Cheyenne’s Little America. The Wyoming Arts Council (WAC) award recognizes arts groups and individuals providing outstanding arts services to Wyoming.
“I think pARTners is a great fit for the award because we have such a strong, sixteen-year track record of bringing the arts into local classrooms to improve learning,” says the organization’s Matt Daly. “Each year we help students at every grade level participate in the creative process. I think the fact that Governor Freudenthal recognized pARTners for the award indicates the important place the arts have in our local schools. The arts can be integrated into every academic discipline, offering new challenges to all students. PARTners could not do our work if there weren’t teachers and administrators, artists and arts organizations who are all willing and eager to collaborate to bring the arts into the classroom. For us, receiving the award confirms the value Teton County places on the arts in the education of our young people.”
Congratulations, pARTners! To learn more about this arts non-profit and its award, log onto www.edu-partners.org/
•
Jackson based photographer John Richter, who opened his shop on King Street last summer, has a new image, “Thanksgiving.” An edition of 250, the shot pictures Jackson Hole’s iconic Mormon Row barn. And though he’s seen lots of sunrises in his photographic career, Richter says this shot takes in one of the most beautiful sunrises he’s ever seen over the Teton Range.
“It was 20° below zero Thanksgiving morning, and I was struggling to record the beauty being presented to me as the biting cold literally sunk its teeth into my hands,” says Richter. “I could only imagine the hardships endured by the settlers who built this homestead a century ago!”
Stop into John Richter’s gallery, say hello to our new neighbors, and check out this and other images on display. It’s a riot of color in there, and the space transformed, now a den-like venue, dramatically lit. www.johnrichterphoto.com
•
An artsy party benefitting theater in Jackson takes place February 5, 2011. The Madame X “Le Cabaret Artistique” cuts loose 6-9:00 pm at the Center for the Arts in Jackson. $100
buys you a festive evening enjoying the great music and talents of headliners Nicole Madison and Pam Drew Phillips, dinner, wine & dessert. Over 40 talented Jackson artists will take the stage. Proceeds benefit Off Square Theatre Company.
For information and to purchase tickets phone 307.733.3021. www.offsquare.org
Mark your calendars for two upcoming Jackson Hole Art Association events.
Warming your soul and belly, 2010′s Art for the Soul, Soup for the Bowl takes place Friday, November 19, in the Center for the Arts Theater Lobby. Soup sipping begins at 5:30 pm, and $25 buys you a hand thrown ceramic bowl–chosen by you, so first come is first served–a buffet of delicious soups by local restaurants and…BEER. And open mic!
Participating artists include: Shannon & Rudy Borrego, Ginger Burley, Sue Colligan, Jenny Dowd, Sam Dowd, Peggy Mathiesen, Linda MacGregor, Dawn McKibbon, Janet Monahan, Sue Morriss, Dean Stayner, Cynthia Guild Stoetzer and Matt Tosi.
On Saturday, December 4th, check out the Art Association’s 46th Annual Christmas Bazaar at Snow King Ice Arena. Just $2 gets you in the door–and once in it’s easy to spend hours, spending money on gifts created by artists and crafts people from around the region. Hours are 9:30 am – 5:00 pm. (Unless you are an artist, and then God only knows what time you have to be there! More power to you, artists!)
Check out all available details at www.artassociation.org.
Item #2
September Vhay’s recent participation in arts shows around the country, previously mentioned in the Jackson Hole Art Blog, may not have included a mention of the artist’s Southwest Art’s “21 over 31″ winning entry, “Mercury Dance.” The
competition features juried works from around the country—this year at least 3,000 artists submitted work. Subjects included figures, landscapes and still lifes.
Horses are figures. And the way Vhay paints them, horses-as-subject become sculptural still lifes.
Southwest Magazine’s Bonnie Gangelhoff interviewed Vhay. In the interview, Vhay talks about her love of horses as subject matter, and as powerful and intuitive creatures. Vhay’s great grandfather, Gutzon Borglum, created Mt. Rushmore! That is a legacy to live up to, and Vhay tells Gangelhoff that she aspires to be an artist whose work is included in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Locally, Vhay is represented by Trio Fine Art.
Horses. Wildlife. Robert Redford. Michael Jackson.
Jackson’s Diehl Gallery (155 West Broadway, in Jackson) 5th Annual Fête happens
July 3, 5:00-9:00 pm. The gallery plans a stylish event, one featuring over 30 artists, including several new to the gallery’s roster.
Ashley Collins is one of those artists; she’s a 25-year painting veteran. Noted for her abstract figurative images of horses, as well as her Colorfield works, she’s collected everywhere.
And where’s everywhere? Diehl says private and public collections in Sydney, Dubai, Munich and New York display her work. Super famous collectors include: Robert Redford, 20th Century Fox, Deborah Winger, Danny Sullivan III (race car driver) , Ringo Starr, the Sultan of Brunei,…maybe even the Sultan of Swing. It’s a pretty impressive list, and I note several outdoor enthsuiasts are included. Collins has exhibited worldwide for years, including exhibitions with Rauschenberg, Dill, Motherwell, and (Jim) Dine.
Diehl’s release just said “Dine.” As well as just “Rauschenberg,” “Dill,” and “Motherwell.” But, they also said “Ringo Starr,” not “Starr,” and “Robert Redford,” not “Redford.”
Collins will have a solo exhibition later in the month, on July 23, at the gallery. Time: 5:00-8:00 p.m. This will also be a fundraiser, and for information, you can phone 307-733-0905.
Signed, “Christel”
Item #2:
Oh, baby, I was blind to let you go,
Won’t you please let me back in your heart?”
Bring your heart, soul and pretty faces to what may—or may not be—a final First 
Friday at Lyndsay McCandless Contemporary, good to go on Friday evening, July 3, 2009.
I’ll be there…
McCandless is trying to make it all work, but let’s really help, eh? We come, we drink wine, we have a good time and do the moonwalk, but let’s buy some art, too.
What do you say? Here’s the deal:
Lyndsay McCandless Contemporary is holding a First Friday “Rent Party.” Admission is free, but don’t expect free wine & beer; bring it. Don’t expect to not buy a little bit of art; bring it. Let’s put our money where our thirsty mouths are. This art will be affordable. We all easily drop $100 on outdoor gear, or a night at the Bistro, or a new phone, or on groceries we eat in a couple of days, a massage, liquor.
Let’s drop a little bit of dough on some art, art that will last a long time. Art that, every time we take pleasure in it, will remind us that we supported a purpose we love. Before it’s gone…potentially gone. Full circle mode.
If you’re not yet clear on the rent party concept, it’s a party to help with rent.
Rent parties have historical context relating to music. According to Wikipedia, a “…rent party (sometimes called a house party) is a social occasion where tenants hire a musician or band to play and pass the hat to raise money to pay their rent, originating in Harlem during the 1920s.” The rent party concept embraces jazz, and specifically “cutting contests,” wherein jazz pianists took turns trying to out play each other at rent parties. LMC’s July 3 First Friday may include a little bit of contemporary cuttin’.
Works up for sale include individual vessels from Jenny Dowd’s latest installation and her small “object drawers.” Matt Flint’s paintings are gorgeous and affordable. “I was kind of miffed about an article I saw that talked about the attendees of (Lyndsay’s) First Friday events not being able to afford the “high priced work” on the walls. My prices have gone up recently due to demand, but I certainly do not want to edit out a group of people who support my work, but can not afford it,” says Flint.
Be ready to transport your art home—no plastic bags will be on hand. BYOB, be of legal drinking age, and enjoy a truly collaborative arts party. Support First Fridays for real.
All I need (buh buh buh buh ba! )All I want (buh buh buh buh ba!) All I NEED.. is one more chance to show ya that I love ya!
Item #3:
Galleries West! “All Things Wild” is their July 4th weekend opener. And as you might guess, the exhibition features new works focusing on wildlife from six Galleries West artists: Michael Calles, Kate Ferguson, D. Lee, Lori McNee, John Potter, and Debbie Edgers Sturges. The show opens July 3rd with a reception from 5-8 PM and will remain on display through July 15.
The gallery notes that wildlife as subject is an intrinsic, important part of Jackson Hole’s art history. How could it not? It’s one of the reasons we are all here, and we’re passionate about all wildlife, from giant grizzlies down to tiny pikas. “All Things Wild” artists express their own passions in this special show.
The gallery provided these artist profiles:
“Michael Calles looks to historical masters of the wildlife genre to inform and 
inspire his beautifully expressive canvases. Lori McNee (love her!) creates still life vignettes populated with tiny birds and natural elements that comment on our delicate relationship with nature. John Potter, a Chippewa artist, paints nature and wildlife to express his love of creation and his connection with a powerful Creator. Kate Ferguson renders her paintings with intimate detail and careful observation. D. Lee is an alla prima painter, meaning she finishes the majority of her paintings in one sitting, so her pieces exhibit a direct approach with loose and expressive brushwork. And Debbie Edgers Sturges’ paintings are bold, brightly colored, and large, with huge brushstrokes and animals that directly engage the viewer.”
For more information, contact Galleries West Fine Art at 307-733-4412 or visit www.gallerieswestjacksonhole.com.
Jackson Hole artist and Teton Art Lab gallery owner Travis Walker will host what will be the shop’s last opening, this Friday evening, December 5, 6-8:00 p.m. The gallery, converted to non-profit status with a mission to exhibit and nurture emerging contemporary artists, recently completed all the paperwork necessary to convert to non-profit, only to learn that crucial funding will likely no longer be available after year’s end.
“Wallpaper,” a show featuring the works of over 30 artists–many recruited by sculptor Abby Miller–will showcase unframed, affordable art imported from New York City and other east coast locations, as well as work by local artists. The works will literally paper the walls, and the evening presents a rare opportunity to see and purchase works by artists exposed to the most innovative trends and techniques.
Walker’s exhibitions are beautiful and edgy…he explores every opportunity to support and grow new Jackson Hole art traditions; he’s an arts pioneer for today.
“We need to regroup and downsize,” says Walker, who has financed the gallery with his own savings, and that of his wife. When she lost her job and benefits, the couple worried. Now, their web design jobs are evaporating; with additional funding losses looming, the couple may be looking to move to a larger urban venue where graphics work is still relatively plentiful.
“Everything we’ve worked for over the past five years disappeared,” says Walker. “But I couldn’t ask more of Jackson Hole than I’ve been given. It’s been amazing on so many levels.”
A fractured economy and a dearth of alternate venues threaten Teton Art Lab’s future. But, as Walker says, “Take time to look around and you will see some very special work.”
The following is a forward I wrote for Walker’s summer exhibition “Views of Jackson.” This essay is not just about Walker’s work; it’s also about the Western spirit we value, the spirit that brings us here. I hope you read this, and I hope you pay a visit to the gallery. Located at 135 N. Cache, it’s next to Teton Thai. 307-699-0836. – Tammy Christel
Travis Walker’s Long Look
“Everywhere I’ve ever been, my art has been about that place. I remember most powerfully the places I’ve painted and drawn. The act of recording them makes me remember.” – Travis Walker
Stories of the frontier spirit’s death are premature. Alive in our contemporary art movement, it brings Jackson’s transient arts subculture to new creative levels. If and when artists leave, they take away inspiration drawn from western space and consciousness.
“Views of Jackson” is painter Travis Walker’s plain and simple title for a collection mining deep emotional turf. A child of the military, Walker is well acquainted with transience. As a result, he recognizes that just as the first settlers ventured into unfamiliar territory, Jackson’s new artists drop all trepidation. The east coast’s cultural cacophony is silenced, and a singular natural process takes over.
Walker is a satellite, zooming in and out of our landscapes, freezing vast spaces and solitary formations. We’re light years away from a moment just captured. Flaxen parachutes float forever. Still, purple evening shadows never give way to night. These landscapes are our ideal; they’re uninhabited, but histories are embedded. Deserted cabins hold the energy and sadness of generations. Blank windows and headlights, eyes of the universe. Beneath Walker’s surfaces is an extraterrestrial glow he never quite paints down, a light peeking out from behind closed doors.
“I want my paintings to be like windows, points of light that brighten a room,” he says.
Trailers are Walker’s most current symbol of the transient west. Manifestations of contradictory words, “mobile” and “home,” trailers epitomized the American dream. Paraphrasing writer Bruce Caron, Walker notes it is difficult to travel more than five miles in the west without seeing trailers. They’re everywhere. Where did they come from, seemingly plopped down from nowhere? Built for transit but stuck to the earth, these bodies are hunkered down like hermit crabs.
“Now trailers are extra sleeping space and repositories for junk,” says Walker. “They represent paradise lost, the decayed American ideal value. We’ve come back to earth as a society; we put our faults on display on reality television.”
Walker believes small town dialog is stronger than that of a large city.
“The benefits outweigh childish tendencies to avoid someone because you’ve had an argument. I’ll take the exchange of ideas—we’re all tapping from the same well, this western idea of space and color. Our art is unique; you won’t find work like it anywhere else unless it’s in a European context or another mountain town. Take time to look around, and you will see some very special work.”
In the end, inspiration is everywhere, even in trailers. “I paint them for the same reason I paint other things,” says Walker. “I think they are beautiful.”
Tammy Christel
July, 2008
