The Community Fine Arts Center in Rock Springs is an art lover's jewel in southwest Wyoming's high desert country -- a cultural oasis offering a permanent collection and changing displays of fine art as well as a year round schedule of performing arts programs. The Halseth Gallery in the Center houses a permanent collection of over 400 original American paintings, prints, works on paper, and photography owned by the Rock Springs High School. Much of the collection, known as "one of the best collections in America owned by an American school district" (Life Magazine), is permanently on display at the newly remodeled center and art gallery. Paintings by Norman Rockwell, Grandma Moses, Loren McGiver, Elliott Orr, Edward Chavez, Paul Horiuchi, Illya Bolotowsky, Raphael Soyer, and Rufino Tamayo compose some of the permanent collection along with paintings by well known Wyoming, Western, and local artists. The collection continues to grow through purchases and donations.Third of sixteen stops on the self-quided walking tour of historic downtown Rock Springs, the Center is a non-profit multi-arts complex, begun in 1939. By the 1960s, Elmer Halseth, a local science teacher with a great love for art and a vision for his school and community began building the art collection. In the summer months, Halseth would travel America to buy paintings, drawings and prints for the children of Rock Springs. To finance this endeavor, he used nickels and dimes gathered from school carnivals, bake sales and donation jars during the school year.
