Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Riding Wyoming's artistic skies

While you're flying Wyoming's turbulent skies, don't forget to pick up the winter issue of Great Lakes Airlines' Peaks & Plains magazine featuring a number of artists from Campbell County.

Christopher Amend, recently retired art teacher at Campbell Co. H.S. in Gillette, is profiled and his art featured in living color. Chris grew up in Worland and earned bachelor's and master's degrees at University of Wyoming. He describes his work this way:

"For me, metaphor is more powerful that literal truths. I think poetry is more powerful language than prose. It provides a deeper understanding of ideas than literal statements do, because it provides leaps across chasms of understanding. That's what I try to do with my paintings."


Also in the issue are Gillette's Herb Kalenberg, a 27-year-old "architectural artist" (see his work at the AVA Center web site) and sculptor Dr. Patrick Love. In an article "Studio Tours Highlight Art in Gillette, Wyoming," we read about Ronni Barbula, Janice Hamilton, Dara Corkery, Joan Sowada, Susan Hladky, and Chris Amend (that guy gets around).

Also in the mag is an excellent article about the threats poses by energy development in the Red Desert. Entitled "Adobe Town: Wilderness in the Red Desert," it was written by Laramie's Julianne Couch. Another piece by Jackson's Jack McNeel focuses on the Heyteyneytah Project on the Wind River Reservation, run by Arapaho horseman Stanford Addison. The program teaches life skills to at-risk youth through horsemanship. A remarkable thing: Addison is a paraplegic.

Pick up a copy of the mag on your next Great Lakes flight.