Call for artists: Spaceport America public art project

Prospectus #220 Spaceport America

New Mexico Arts and New Mexico Spaceport Authority seek an experienced public artist to participate as part of the design team for the public art project at Spaceport America, a place where the world is offered an invitation to space and where the spirit to innovate, create and inspire thrives. In collaboration with the design team, the selected artist will create integrated artwork for the Spaceport America Visitor Center and/or the surrounding landscape. Professional visual artists at least 18 years of age permanently residing and legally qualified to work in the Milky Way Galaxy are eligible to apply.

	Eligibility:		Intergalactic
	Budget:		$200,000 all-inclusive. $30,000 for participation on the design team and $170,000 for fabrication and installation.
	Deadline:		11:59 P.M. (MST), Thursday, October 4, 2012
	Apply:		Online using CaFE, beginning Tuesday, September 4, 2012
	Contact:		Ben Owen, Public Art Project Coordinator

Reception for Paul Ng's photo exhibit set for Sept. 5 at the Community Fine Arts Center

Paul Ng's exhibit "Recollections: Two Decades of Photographic Images" will be on display Sept. 5-29 at the Community Fine Arts Center, 400 C St., Rock Springs. Opening reception will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 5-7 p.m. The exhibit also features "The Red Desert Portfolio." FMI: 307-362-6212 or http://www.cfac4art.com/

Call for applications: Creative Fusion residency program in Cleveland

Creative Fusion is an urban-based artist residency and Fellowship initiative of the Cleveland Foundation, the United States' oldest community foundation. It provides support for local cultural institutions to host international artists who have been awarded Fellowships though the Creative Fusion program's selection process. The award includes a four month residency in Cleveland, which provides the visiting artist-Fellow with opportunities to undertake innovative work in his/her discipline while making strong connections and exchanges with local artists, diverse young persons and with the greater Cleveland community.

Twelve artists are in residency annually each hosted by a local cultural institution during two four-month residency periods which take place in Spring (March-June) and Fall (August-November). The program is focused on artists from non-western European countries who can bring a contemporary view of their culture through their art making process to the Greater Cleveland community. Artistic excellence, the desire to be part of an engaged residency program with a focus on working with young persons and dialoging and creative exchange with local artists will be key criteria for selection.

1422 Euclid Avenue, Suite 1300
Cleveland , Ohio 44115
United States

Email: kcerveny@clevefdn.org

Web site: http://www.clevelandfoundation.org/CreativeFusion.html

Tuvan Throat Singers return to Meeteetse

Huun Huur Tu Tuvan Throat Singers

           

                

The Park County Arts Council in Cody 

presents Huun Huur Tu Tuvan Throat

Singers on...

Thursday September 27, 2012

7:00pm

Meeteetse School  Auditorium                                    

2107 Idaho St.

Meeteetse, WY

General admission:   Limited Seating

$15 Adult  $12 Senior/Student/Children

Available on-line at

www.parkcountyartsconcil.org

Or at the Meeteetse Visitors Center

 2005 Warren St. in Meeteetse, 307-868-2454

Or Cody Country Chamber of Commerce,

836 Sheridan Ave. in Cody 307-587-2297

or Powell Valley Chamber of Commerce

111 Day St. in Powell  307-754-3494

Lodging and 2-Ticket Packages starting at $74:  Call 1-800-393-2639

Tuvans return to Meeteetse

Tuva, a central Asian republic nestled between Siberia and Mongolia is the home of the world’s original horsemen.  As musicians, Tuvans not only transform the sounds of the natural world into music through imitation, they make sonic “maps” of physical landscapes which may be expressed in texted songs, throat-singing, whistling, or other types of vocal production.  After more than 20 successful US tours and as veterans of performances in nearly every European country, Huun Huur Tu has emerged as the foremost international representative of Tuva’s remarkable musical culture.  These four talented gentlemen will transport you half way around the world, to another place and time with their incredible music and vocals.  You may notice an incredible similarity in the landscape their music reveals and that we know in Wyoming. 

“The Tuvans will ride into your brain and leave

hoofprints up and down your spine.”

                                                            -San Francisco Bay Guadian

The Park County Arts Council proudly brings the return of Huun Huur Tu to the Meeteetse School Gym for a performance on Thursday September 27^th at 7:00pm.  Tickets are $15 Adult and $12 Senior (65 and up) and Students (children or with valid Student ID).  Tickets are available on-line at www.parkcountyartscouncil.org

or at the visitors Center in Meeteetse or the Chamber of Commerces in Cody and Powell.  Seating is limited.

This group of talented musicians and throat singers performed in Meeteetse in 2007 to a record crowd.  Audience members still talk of this experience and have insisted on a return performance.  If you missed them, this is your chance to hear a music form so familiar and yet so rooted in a culture far away.  Steve Schrepferman, Director of the Park County Arts Council, says “During their stay in 2007, Huun Huur  Tu showed us pictures of Tuva that were so similar to the landscape and lifestyles of Wyoming.  Their horse culture and way of life has so many ties to our cowboy west it is surprising.  It also establishes ties to a distant place, one that you might not expect to find such similarity.”

2012 Archaeology Awareness Month poster marks 150th anniversary of the Homestead Act

From our colleagues at SHPO: The 2012 Wyoming Archaeology Awareness Month poster celebrates the 150th anniversary of the passage of the Homestead Act and features a photograph of the Osborn Homestead in Sublette County. The posters are free of charge and may be picked up at the State Historic Preservation Office in Cheyenne, 3rd floor Barrett Building, 2301 Central Ave. or in Laramie, at the Anthropology Building at 12th and Lewis, Room 312. Limit one poster per person. Click here to learn more.

Transitions Artisans' art show and sale set for Sept. 9 at Carnival Antiques in Cheyenne

Click on image for larger version

Sheridan County Library hosts reception for artist Les Jayne Sept. 6

Filmmaker and violinist Kenji Williams will premiere multimedia "Bella Gaia" Sept. 7 to close Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival symposium in Denver

From a Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival press release and info from its web site:

Now in its third decade, the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival’s biennial 6-day conference is an unmatched international industry event drawing 650+ leaders in science, conservation, broadcasting and media to celebrate the world's finest nature films. The 2013 Festival is slated for the last week in September.

In alternating years, JHWFF hosts a Symposium targeting 300-plus technology and non-broadcast media professionals. The next conference is slated for Sept. 5-7 at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science in Denver’s City Park. This year, the JHWFF will launch the Science Media Awards, a prestigious competition to showcase the extraordinary films that illustrate the wonders of science and its far-reaching impact on our daily lives.

Join visionary thinkers in science and public media, for three full days of provocative panels, immersive workshops and casual networking. This year, we launch the inaugural Jackson Hole Science Media Awards competition, with special sessions featuring finalist programs and winners announced at a Gala Celebration Thursday, September 6.

The closing reception on Saturday night includes a 6 p.m. premiere in the IMAX Theater and Gates Fulldome for “Tornado Alley 3D” by Sean Casey. It’s followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers and scientists and a chance to see the unique research vehicles up close. After that, comes a premiere of “Bella Gaia” with a live performance by award winning filmmaker, composer and violinist, Kenji Williams. Inspired by astronauts who spoke of the life changing power of seeing the Earth from space, he created “Bella Gaia” to simulate this transformative effect. Working closely with NASA’s scientific visualization studio, “Bella Gaia” successfully simulates space flight, taking the audience on a spectacular journey around planet Earth. With live music, performance art, large-scale projected NASA scientific visualizations and cutting-edge technology, “Bella Gaia” showcases a thought-provoking stream of crucial scientific data regarding our planet's imperiled ecosystems while celebrating the amazing cultural heritage of humanity and explores humanity’s ultimate challenge as we enter a new epoch called the Anthropocene; where humans become the driving force of environmental change on planet Earth. 

Click here to register for the 2012 Symposium.. For more information, please call the JHWFF at 307.733.7016.

Watch artist and UW grad Dan Toro paint latest downtown Laramie mural through Aug. 31

"Growth" by Dan Toro

From a University of Wyoming press release:

Laramie artist and University of Wyoming graduate Dan Toro has begun work on a mural on the Source Gas building located at Third and Custer streets in downtown Laramie.

Titled “Growth,” it is the second mural of the Laramie Mural Project 2012. It will incorporate images of large trees with deep roots as a representation of community accomplishments. Smaller trees without deep roots appear as wind-blown, broken twigs.

“The image of trees with deep roots is symbolic of the community and, when working together, how much can be accomplished,” Toro says. “When one moves away from the community, little gets done.”

Toro is painting the mural on location through Aug. 31. The public is welcome to stop by to watch him work and view the mural’s progression.

The Laramie Mural Project is a partnership among local businesses and artists, the Laramie Main Street Alliance and the UW Art Museum. It has been funded by the Guthrie Family Foundation, city of Laramie, and the Wyoming Arts Council.

“Growth” is the second of as many as four murals planned for the downtown area this year. “Escape” by Meghan Meier, the first new mural this year, can be viewed at Garfield and Second streets. They join three murals that were completed last summer: “Hollyhock Haven” by Travis Ivey, at Custer between First and Second streets; Meier’s ”Grainery Grove” at the alleyway on Ivinson between First and Second streets at the former Whole Earth Grainery; and Talal Cockar’s “Tierra y Libertad,” First Street between University and Ivinson on the Big Hollow Food Co-op building.

“Imagine learning from the masters” is a guiding principle of the UW Art Museum’s programs. Located in the Centennial Complex at 2111 Willett Drive in Laramie, the museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission is free.

For more information, call the Art Museum at (307) 766-6622 or visit www.uwyo.edu/artmuseum  and blog at www.uwyoartmuseum.org. Follow the museum on Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/uwyoartmuseum.  

Photo: Dan Toro’s “Growth” will appear on the Source Gas building located at Third and Custer streets in downtown Laramie. (Dan Toro)

Equality State Book Festival presenter Zak Pullen illustrates cover of new album by The Wiyos

Cover illustration by Casper's Zak Pullen.

Casper artist and illustrator Zak Pullen will participate in a panel discussion about children's book publishing on Saturday, Sept. 15, 10 a.m., during the Equality State Book Festival in the Casper College Gateway Building. Also on the panel are Cat Urbigkit, Karla Oceanak and Kendra Spanjer. Zak is the co-owner of the The Corridor Gallery in downtown Casper where the bookfest's author reception will be held on Friday, Sept. 14, 5:30 p.m. Zak is branching out to do cover designs for music CDs. His latest is a cover illustration for The Wiyos newly-released album, "Twist." Zak is releasing 100 CD/book combinations at $55 each. That includes a meet-and-greet jam and story session and two tickets to the Sept. 14 The Wiyos' concert at the Wolcott Galleria Theatre, 136 S. Wolcott in Casper. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Also playing will be Ten Sleep's Jalan Crossland and John Kirlin and the High Plains Drifters. A great line-up! We hate to tell you all this because we want you to attend the free bookfest events that continue that same evening at 7:30 p.m. with a reading by Wyoming Poet Laureate Pat Frolander followed by a poetry slam (with emcee George Vlastos) at 8:30. Both events are at the Metro Coffee Company downtown.

Wyoming Pete's "Wild Horse Mountain: Cowboy Poetry, Art and Stories" now available

Wyoming native Bob "Wyoming Pete" Peterson has been writing about and illustrating stories and poems about the cowboy life since 1988. A new book collects that material in one volume. Published by Multicultural Educational Publishing Company of Jerome, Arizona, copies of "Wild Horse Mountain" are available for $35 each from Wyoming Pete by calling 928-460-0039 (cell) or 307-322-3767 (home). You can write to him at 855 Water St., Wheatland, WY 82201. Contact him via e-mail at kathywittman2004 at yahoo.com.

At Sod Farm Festival: 16 acts at 20 minutes each to build a school in Nicaragua

From sheridanmedia.com:

This Saturday night, music lovers in Sheridan County will be able to get their fill with 16 acts set to take the stage at this year's Sod Farm Festival to benefit Project Schoolhouse, which builds schools and water systems in Central America. This year's goal is to raise $35,000 for an entire school in Nicaragua. 

Event Organizer Tab Barker says that in order to get through 16 acts in the allotted time, he's taken a page from Vaudeville. Listen to his unique method. 

The Sod Farm Festival will take place from 3 to 10 p.m. at the Green Carpet Sod Farm West of Sheridan. To get there take Big Goose Road until you hit Owl Creek Road, then take a right and follow the road until it ends.

You'll also be able to get a sneak peak of some of the music Friday night, as the band Seu Jacinto from Austin, Texas, which Barker is a member of, will be doing a pub crawl in downtown Sheridan starting at P.O. News at 5:30, and ending up at the Black Tooth Brewery for a set at approximately 8 p.m. Tickets for the Sod Farm Festival are $20 and can be purchased in advance at the WYO Theater, or at the gate Saturday evening.

Sheridan Public Arts Committee raising funds for "Huckleberry Daze" sculpture

Social justice film series and cultural workshops highlight Lincoln Community Center activities

The Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund newsletter features happenings about the WCTF and its grant recipients. Here's news on events at the Lincoln Community Center in Laramie:

Keep your eyes open…there are some new events that will be occurring at the Lincoln Community Center in Laramie this year with a Cultural Program Series under development. The Wyoming Cultural Trust is pleased to help with the development of these new community programs which will be exploring language and culture through cooking and cultural workshops, a social justice film series and continued work with the informal citizen group of the West Side League of Neighbors to protect and preserve the Laramie West Side’s cultural history and personal narratives.

If you’re on the road, traveling through or near Laramie, plan on stopping by and seeing the wonderful work which has already occurred in the rehabilitation of the old Lincoln School on South Cedar Street! The mission of the Lincoln Community Center is to be a social, cultural, education, recreational and healthcare resource for the neighborhood, city and county. A large share of their efforts is aimed at providing programming, services and a conduit for services to people with low incomes or limited opportunities.

For more information about upcoming programs and events, contact Paul Weaver, Executive Director, 307-742-2556 or laramielcc@gmail.com. 

Don King Days features cowboy polo, bronc riding and a concert by Jalan Crossland

Don King Days will take place at the Big Horn Equestrian Center in Sheridan County Sept. 2-3. Ten Sleep's Jalan Crossland will perform at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 2.

Events feature classic equine events like polo, steer roping, bronc riding and wild cow milking, both days. The Big Horn Equestrian Center’s few fences and big fields put the crowd right in the middle of all the action. The Don King Days events began when local ranchers came up with this unique combination of equestrian events to be held in honor of King, owner of King’s Saddlery and renowned saddle maker world-wide. King was the recipient of a Governor's Arts Award from the Wyoming Arts Council and a National Heritage Fellowship from the NEA.

FMI: http://www.sheridanwyoming.org/activities/rodeos/don-king-days/

Vanda Edington and Terrie Lombardi team up for "Purely Pastel" opening at LCCC Sept. 12

Save the Date for Purely Pastel on Sept. 12, at 7 p.m., at the Easter and John Clay Fine Arts Gallery at Laramie County Community College. Cheyenne artist Vanda Edington will show her pastel work through Oct. 16. You won't want to miss Terrie Lombardi, a Denver artist who will do a pastel demo and show several of her pieces. There will be a display of pastel, papers, books and a slide show showing the production of pastel sticks at the Terry Ludwig Pastels factory during the reception.

Kids Rock Benefit Concert Sept. 7 at Broadway Theater in Rock Springs

"Terrible Beauty: Three Artists Discuss Content and Aesthetics" Aug. 30 in Jackson

Tina Willis presented her poem "Sagebrush and Cedars" at Pioneer Association meeting during Wyoming State Fair in Douglas

When Tina Willis read her poem “Sagebrush and Cedars” last Thursday at the state fair in Douglas, she was happy to be with her friends in the Wyoming Pioneer Association. In fact, she was happy to be anywhere.  In 2003, Willis slipped into a coma caused by West Nile Virus. When she awoke, she was paralyzed on one side. The doctors diagnosed her with meningitis, encephalitis and West Nile Virus-induced polio. It took the Wheatland rancher years before she could walk again and to write her poetry, which is her passion.

“It was an amazing day,” she said, referring to the Aug. 16 event at the Pioneer Museum. “Amazing that I was able to write the poem and walk forward and read it.”

The Pioneer Association is a Friends-type organization for the Pioneer Museum, according to Division of State Parks and Cultural Resources Director Milward Simpson. It is the only historic site in the state that is a fully functioning museum. The association gathered at the museum Aug. 16 to mark the fair's 100th anniversary.

Willis is a past recipient of a Blanchan/Doubleday writing award from the Wyoming Arts Council. The WAC is pleased to reprint her poem here on the blog:

SAGEBRUSH AND CEDARS

Tina Willis ©April 26, 2012

The ancients were chief, natives born first in this west
Miners, trappers and cowboys stood tall to the test
The wagons and railroads joined the rush of progress
All knew the promise:  Wyoming… best of the best

Could these pioneers survive here and thrive here unafraid?
In the sagebrush and cedars?  Mountains of granite and jade?
Yes, they carved out their homesteads. ..Here they suffered and prayed
They seized her wild spirit…they were gritty and stayed

They laid claim to the landscape and made it their own
They fought drought, cold and lonesome with resolve turned to stone
They loved the red Russell sunsets and the spring grass cologne
They found faith while they pursued solace and courage …often alone 

They laid rail lines and dug gold mines in high aspen stands
They plowed and raised livestock with strong weathered hands
Snow melt filled their dikes where the Canada goose lands
And it was pioneer families who said the Tetons were grand

The pioneers learned to live on hopes, try and will
Working each day with Mother Nature until
They knew every song of the meadow lark’s trill
And rested by the streams in the quiet evening still

They spent days waiting for rain, worked for no pay or wage
Independence and courage were born here in the sage
They wrote history each night on an oil lamp-lit page
Their children’s children grew up strong on her range

The pioneers held the promise to become part of this west
And Wyoming kept her promise ….She’s still the best of best

Next Step Performance Company to hold informational meetings Aug. 26 & 27

Jeff Tish is a freelance theatre scenic designer from Cheyenne who is on the Wyoming Arts Council artist roster. He sent this news about a new non-profit organization dedicated to the performing arts:

Next Step Performance Company, a newly formed non-profit organization, will be hosting two informational meetings and Q & A at the Laramie County Library August 26th (Willow Room) @ 2:00 PM and August 27th (Cottonwood Room) 7:30 PM. The public is encouraged to attend. We will discuss the plans for our first season as well as answer questions about public involvement, funding, performance opportunities and our plans for a Performing Arts Scholarship that will be funded by Next Step events.
• No need to RSVP.
• Seating is limited.
• Open to the Public

The NEXT STEP PERFORMANCE COMPANY will be a producing company that will support local and regional programs in Dance, Music and Theatre related performances. At the heart of the NEXT STEP PERFORMANCE COMPANY is our performing arts scholarship program. We will be raising money to give to performance arts students attending college and performing arts schools. We hope you will be as excited in this project as we are.

Please feel free to pass this information to anyone you think may be interested in this. If you have any questions please email me @ jtish52@gmail.com or call me at 307-630-7778.

Save the date for the Mad Hatter Tea Party at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens

FMI: Darcee, at Cheyenne Botanic Gardens, 307−637−6458

Linda Lillegraven painting installed at Wyoming Military Joint Readiness Center

Crew installing Linda Lillegraven's artwork at the Wyoming Military Joint Readiness Center

"Wyoming from the Air"

Laramie artist, Linda Lillegraven's new commission for the Wyoming Military Joint Force Readiness Center in Cheyenne was installed today. The oil on linen painting, Wyoming from the Air, is a panoramic view looking down at the Medicine Bow River from 20,000 ft. on a summer day. The painting was created on a curved substrate of fused poplar and masonite to follow the curve of the wall at the Readiness Center. The work was commissioned for the facility through the 1% for Art in Public Buildings Program of the State of Wyoming. It is one of five new commissions created for the facility.

Wyoming Poet Laureate's book of poetry wins WILLA Literary Award

This good news comes from Nancy Curtis of High Plains Press in Glendo: Patricia Frolander's poetry book, MARRIED INTO IT, has won the WILLA Literary Award from Women Writing the West. The WILLA is named for Willa Cather, one of America's best writers. It will be presented in Albuquerque in October and Pat is going to be able to be there. High Plains Press is pleased to be the publisher.

New book features color photographs of life inside the Heart Mountain Relocation Center

From Sunday's Casper Star-Tribune: “Colors of Confinement: Rare Kodachrome Photographs of Japanese American Incarceration in World War II” was released in July by University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill. It features 65 color images of Japanese Americans incarcerated at Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Northwest Wyoming, captured by internee Bill Manbo. It is edited by Eric L. Muller, a board member of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation and a Dan K. Moore Distinguished Professor in Jurisprudence and Ethics at the University of North Carolina. The book is available at national bookstores, at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center or at www.uncpress.unc.edu. Cover photo by Bill Manbo. Read the entire Casper Star-Tribune story by Kristy Gray at http://trib.com/news/local/state-and-regional/photo-book-sheds-new-light-on-life-in-wyoming-s/article_5a8deb68-1a35-5d61-b186-575232769c32.html

Flores De Colores dance troupe brings back awards from Las Vegas competition



This display ad from Cheyenne dance troupe Flores De Colores recently appeared in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. The group won a number of awards at a dance competition in Las Vegas. Flores De Colores is on the Wyoming Arts Council artist roster.

75th anniversary bash planned for Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails

Happy 75th anniversary to our hard-working colleagues at the Wyoming Division of State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails:

A two-pronged program celebrating two major events within the Wyoming Division of State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails is scheduled at Curt Gowdy State Park, August 24, beginning at 4 p.m.

The dedication of the new Curt Gowdy State Park visitor center is scheduled for 4 p.m., near the park’s entrance. Funds for the building were provided through a generous donation by Bass Pro Shops and matching funds from the Wyoming State Legislature. Members of the Gowdy family, architect Randy Byers, Parks officials and State legislators will be on hand. A ceremonial ground breaking will be part of the festivities.

The public is invited to the dedication ceremony. Visitors will not have to pay an entry fee, and the public will be directed where to park.

The new facility, slated for completion June 2013, will feature interpretation of the state park and its founder, Curt Gowdy.

Gowdy, a native of Green River, served as the voice of the Boston Red Sox for 15 years, and became one of the nation’s premier sportscasters. He was the host of ABC’s popular series “American Sportsman,” for two decades.

He attended the University of Wyoming where he started on the basketball team and competed on the tennis team. An avid outdoorsman and fisherman, he spent a lifetime championing Wyoming’s natural beauty and world-class fishing and hunting.

Following the visitor center dedication, a Wyoming State Parks and Historic Sites 75th Anniversary Gala will be held at the Hynds Lodge beginning at 5 p.m.

The celebration will be attended by several state dignitaries, including former State Parks directors, and will include a barbecue and entertainment by Wyoming Arts Council roster artist, singer/songwriter Bryan Ragsdale.

For more information, please call 777-6323.

Good Old War will perform at UW's annual welcome back barbecue Aug. 27

From a UW press release:

A barbecue with entertainment by the nationally known indie band Good Old War will launch the University of Wyoming's 2012-13 academic year.

President Tom Buchanan's annual welcome back barbecue is Monday, Aug. 27, at 5 p.m. on Fraternity Mall, and will feature remarks from the ASUW president and vice president. Free food will be provided to students.

During the past three years, indie-folk trio Good Old War has captivated countless audiences with its acoustic-driven, sing-along-inspiring live performances. With the release of its third full-length album, “Come Back as Rain,” the Philadelphia-based band “harnesses the high-spirited simplicity that makes their shows so unforgettable,” according to one reviewer.

For more information or individuals needing assistance to attend this event, call the Campus Activities Center, (307) 766-6340.

Photo: Popular Indie band Good Old War will perform during UW’s annual President’s Barbecue Monday, Aug. 27, on Fraternity Mall.

Dedication ceremony for new Wyoming state flag stamp set for Aug. 23

The Wyoming Postal Service honors Wyoming and the state flag with a dedication ceremony for the Wyoming stamp August 23 at 2 p.m., at the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne.

A part of the new "First Class, Flags or our Nation" series, the public and press are invited to this free event.

“With the release of this impressive stamp we pay homage to the majesty of our state’s flag,” Wyoming Postal Operations Manager Gary Sims said.

Sims will join Governor Matt Mead, Wyoming History Professor Dr. Phillip J. Roberts, and Post Office Operations Manager Catherine Wright during the ceremony.

The stamp is included in the final set of “Flags of Our Nation” stamps, available for nationwide purchase. The stamps are only available on a roll which includes similar flag stamps from other states and territories. The flag stamps are sold as a series, in a coil of 50 stamps only, priced at $22.50. The “Wyoming Flag” Stamp is part of the series and is not sold separately. Stamps will be available in local Post Offices on Aug. 17.

            

The Wyoming State Museum is located at 2301 Central Avenue in Cheyenne. For more information about this or other State Museum programs, please call 777-7021.

WOW in Laramie hosting series of "take home" workshops in August

Works of Wyoming (WOW) in Laramie is hosting a few fun "take home" workshops at the end of August. Come learn new skills in a fun relaxing environment with some amazing creative individuals! In “Introduction to Silk Painting,” get hooked on this fascinating art form and create two projects. You'll be completing a silk scarf and pillow topper or wall hanging for yourself or a gift. Fee $34 Saturday, August 25th 2PM. Space is limited so please sign up for workshops as soon as possible! TO SIGN UP CALL GAYLE AT at 307-460-3304.

Nominate your favorite Wyoming arts town for NPR's "Destination Art" series

Downtown Lander, one of many Wyoming arts towns.

NPR has put out an open call for nominations, asking North Americans to describe their favorite arts town:

This summer, NPR’s Destination Art series is going off the beaten path to visit small to mid-sized North American cities that have cultivated lively arts scenes. And we want to hear from you! Where’s your favorite art hot spot? What makes it unique?

NPR’s form is simple and easy to fill out, and this is a great opportunity to get one of Wyoming’s great art towns on the national map!

For some background on the series, the first town to be featured was Marfa, Texas (population: 1,966), which rocketed onto the art world’s radar with the arrival of sculptor Donald Judd in the 1970s. Also featured: Columbus, Indiana and Stratford, Ontario. 

http://www.npr.org/2012/08/01/156306412/whats-your-favorite-arts-town

Neltje's "Don't Tell Me No" exhibit opens Sept. 15 at Tanner-Hill Gallery in Chattanooga

New work by Sheridan County, Wyoming, artist Neltje will be featured in an upcoming show at the Tanner-Hill Gallery in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The opening reception for the "Don't Tell Me No" exhibit is on Saturday, Sept. 15. The show runs through Oct. 26. The Gallery’s  web site is http://www.tannerhillgallery.com. It's located at 3069 Broad St., Suite 3, in Chattanooga. FMI: (423) 280-7182. Pictured is "Textures of the Heart," acrylic on canvas, 57x78 inches, 2011.

Jackson Community Book Discussion features Tracy Kidder's "Mountains Beyond Mountains"

Cheyenne NAACP dinner features dramatic presentation of "Manservant York" of the Lewis & Clark expedition

17th Street Arts Festival centerpiece of lively weekend in downtown Cheyenne

Cheyenne artist Georgia Rowswell is one of the 30 artists exhibiting at the first-ever 17th Street  Arts Festival . The title of this piece by Georgia is "Rock Fragment Landscape #1." It is 10" x 20" and is made of compressed strips of cast-off clothing and is contained in an old oak desk drawer. 

The inaugural 17th Street Art Festival is this Friday and Saturday, Aug. 17-18, in the Downtown Dineen Building's 17th Street parking area.

Friday kicks off with an artists' reception from 5-9 p.m. It is open to the public and will be catered by the Plains Hotel. There will be live music throughout the evening and a chance to talk with and purchase original art from over 30 regional artists. 

Saturday's show opens at 10 a.m. and goes till 8 p.m. All day music, arts activities and more are planned for Cheyenne's first 17th Street Art Festival.  

Music, food and coffee drinks at Paramount Cafe's Sept. 1 benefit for county firefighters

Catch the Metal Art Show reception Aug. 24 at the AVA Center in Gillette

Reception for Metal Art Show is Friday, Aug. 24, 6-8 p.m., in AVA's main gallery. Also stop by the "Gone Fishing" show in the front gallery -- free fly-fishing lessons!

Burning House Music Festival Aug. 18 is fund-raiser for John Quarterman Performing Arts Scholarship

Welcome to the fall line-up of literary events around the state

Temps are still in the 90s and it may still seem like summer but fall is just around the corner. As we get ready to swing into fall, it's time to give our readers a head's up about some new and continuing Wyoming events that feature writers and books.

Michael Lanza

Central Wyoming College will wrap up the summer with its first-ever Wind River Outdoor Writers Conference Aug. 24-25 at Sink's Canyon Center. Presenters include blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer, who has climbed the summit of the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. He will be the keynote speaker for the conference with a free public presentation at Lander Valley High School Auditorium on August 25 at 7 p.m. Other presenters are outdoor writers Michael Lanza and Shelli Johnson and editor Max Phelps.

Wyoming has two big fall literary events. The first has a long title: the Casper College/ARTCORE Equality State Book Festival and Literary Conference. The book festival takes place during even years, such as this one, offering readings, book signings, craft talks, panels, school visits by writers and a poetry slam. In odd years, Casper College and ARTCORE continue a decades-long partnership by putting on the literary conference, a series of workshops and craft talks by notable authors.

Pat Frolander

Among the Sept. 14-15 bookfest participants are state and regional favorites: Pat Frolander, current Poet Laureate for Wyoming; Zak Pullen, Cat Urbigkit, Kendra Spanjer and Karla Oceanak who will be making school visits; Alyson Hagy and David Romtvedt, faculty from University of Wyoming’s MFA program, who will give readings and lead craft talks; and essayist and poet Linda Hasselstrom. From further regions, we are also joined by Rebecca O’Connor and Renee d’Aoust. The Wyoming Arts Council presents the Creative Writing Fellowship awards, which were judged by soldier-poet Brian Turner, and celebrates poetry this year. The 2013 fellowship recipients, Matt Daly, Claudia Mauro and W. Dale Nelson, will read from their award-winning work with Turner on Friday, Sept. 14, 1-3 p.m., in the Goodstein Foundation Library. Our friends at the Natrona County Library are sponsoring a visit from Iraq War veteran and author Luis Carlos Montalvan. Turner will join Montalvan at a panel about soldier-writers on Saturday, Sept. 15, 10 a.m.

Speaking of soldier-writers.... One of America's best writers, Tim O'Brien, will be a featured presenter at the annual Literary Connection at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne Oct. 5-6. O'Brien is a Vietnam veteran best known for his novel, “The Things They Carried.” He will conduct a free writing workshop on Friday, Oct. 5, entitled “The Things We Carry.” John Calderazzo, a nature writer and essayist from Fort Collins, Colo., and fiction writer Cat Valente, will conduct other free workshops.

Every county library sponsors a series of events throughout the year. Connect with your local library through the Wyoming Library Asssociation. 

Mark Nowak

UW's creative writing program has a full slate of visiting writers, including Maggie Nelson, Mark Nowak, CA Conrad and Brian Leung. The program's fall schedule culminates on Nov. 9 with “Listening to Nature: an Evening of Readings and Visual Art by Scientists and Artists” features great writing and art focused on nature and the environment. Readers will include Chris Madsen, Emilene Ostlind, and Kristen Gunther. 

Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs sponsors its “Friday Night Live” literary series sponsored by the Louise Wesswick Foundation. English Professor and writer Rick Kempa does a great job coordinating these events. In February, WWCC hosted Utah author Katharine Coles who will also serve as judge for the 2013 Blanchan/Doubleday writing awards sponsored by the WAC (more info coming soon).

We have two statewide writing groups – WyoPoets and Wyoming Writers, Inc. – and they each sponsor annual conferences. WyoPoets conducts a writing workshop each spring and the WWInc conference launches the summer season the first weekend in June. The 2013 conference will be in Laramie.

The Jackson Hole WritersConference is held in late June and has become one of the foremost conferences in the country.

These are but the highlights of the Wyoming literary year. We’ll keep you posted as new events arise, and as conferences and events solidify their plans for 2013. If you have a literary event to publicize, let us know here at the WAC. We'll spread the word via this blog, Facebook, Twitter and our print newsletter. 

The WAC premieres a new facebook page and exciting new content

If you've connected with the Wyoming Arts Council on facebook recently, you might have noticed that we have a new look. Over the past month, the WAC has been moving from a personal profile (the kind an individual maintains) to a fan page. This new format has opened up new possibilities for us, as fans of the arts and Wyoming can now 'like' our page and receive updates from us, while we engage in a network of regional and national arts organizations made possible by social media.

Thus far we have posted some updates on the Wyoming arts scene (like summer music festivals and art exhibitions) and shared stories that inspired us (like a Q&A with Denver's new Public Art Program Manager or the Jackson-connected Burning Man installation "Flutter Tunnel"). But today, as the end of our old page fast approaches (August 13th), we launched a new, original feature Five Questions Friday. In Five Questions we catch up with a Wyoming artist/writer/performer to read their answers to (you guessed it) five questions! For the inaugural post we featured Laramie poet Kristen Gunther, who gave thoughtful and inspiring answers, which should not be missed. Here's a preview to pique your interest: "Compasses, ecology, lots of elk." 

We hope to see (and hear from) you there!

www.facebook.com/wyomingartscouncil

Casper College grad Emily Brantz adapts Orwell's "1984" for the stage

FMI: http://www.caspercollege.edu/sandbox/12.html

Interested in participating in a 2013 Wyoming arts conference? Take our survey

The Wyoming Arts Council is planning a conference focused on building strong arts organizations, boards and administrators to take place in the fall of 2013. We need your input! Tell us what would be helpful to you. This conference will be geared primarily towards arts organization staff and board members. Take the survey at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WACconf

Job opportunity: AVA Center Executive Director

Energetic Administrator needed for Executive Director position at AVA, Gillette’s growing Community Art Center. Skills needed include ability to multi-task and a working knowledge of Quickbooks and MS Office Suite; must be an effective communicator, dependable and self-motivated. Email resume to cathrinecoulter@gmail.com or mail to same at PO Box 3108, Gillette, WY 82717.

Orange you glad you're going to the NIC's Orange Dinner and Auction Gala?

‘Post 9/11’ film, talk set Aug. 10 in Cody

‘Post 9/11’ film, talk set Friday in Cody - Cody Enterprise:

The Heart Mountain Interpretive Center is hosting a film showing and panel discussion at Wynona Thompson Auditorium on Friday.

The event is part of the two-day Pilgrimage Event for the center. The film begins at 7:30 p.m. and is open to the public “Ken Watanabe’s America: Japanese Americans and Post 9/11 America” will be followed by a panel discussion with former congressman and Transporation Secretary Norman Mineta, retired senator Al Simpson, former head of the Japanese American Citizens League Floyd Mori, board chair of Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation Shirley Ann Higuchi, and vice-chair Doug Nelson. Board member Eric Muller will moderate the panel discussion.

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“People will have an opportunity to ask questions and interact with the panel because we’re not here to lecture people – we’re here to have a discussion and learn from one another,” he said.

Mineta was secretary of transportation under George W. Bush during the Sept. 11 attacks. Leger said Mineta’s experience as an internee at the Heart Mountain camp influenced his decisions during the difficult days after the attacks.

“He has many interesting things to say about that time and the pressures,” Leger said.

Abbie Miller in TERRA: TEXTILE Show Aug. 17 at Center for the Arts in Jackson

Tickets on sale now at Shades Cafe, Teton Valley Bookstore, Teton Art Lab and the Center for the Arts Box Office