Challenge the orange cone zone at NMWA to see wonderful "Yellowstone to Yukon" exhibit

Dwayne Harty, "Mountain Goats"

Wildlife artist Dwayne Harty was working on a new painting in the lobby of the National Museum of Wildflife Art this morning. It was hard to carry on a conversation as jackhammers made a racket. The NMWA is under renovation. The deteriorating rock facade has been removed and a new one is going up in its place. Upslope from the museum, a new sculpture garden is being installed and parking lots remade. Downslope toward the National Elk Refuse, a new bike path underpass (complete with public art project) is being built.

The museum is still open (as the sign says) and we viewed the exhibit "Yellowstone to Yukon: The Journey of Wildlife and Art." It features the work of Dwayne Harty completed over a four-year span. He traveled the length of the Yellowstone-Yukon wildlife corridor three times over the course of as many years, painting in areas so remote that few, if any, painters have captured it. During the fourth year, Dwayne was artist-in-residence at the Murie Center working out of a studio at the Arts Center in Jackson.

Brave the construction and see the exhibit. It won't be there much longer.

Call for artists: Medicine Hat public art project

CLOSING DATE: MARCH 31, 2011 2PM MST

Open to all regional, national or international artists.
Total Budget: 40,000

The City of Medicine Hat in Alberta invites artists to participate in a public art competition. The winning submission will receive a commission to create and install a public art work or related series of works to be situated on 2nd Street SE, between South Railway St. SE and 5th Avenue SE, in downtown Medicine Hat.

The winning submission will receive a commission to create and install a public art work or related series of works to be situated on 2nd Street SE, between South Railway Street SE and 5th Avenue SE, in downtown Medicine Hat.  Documents are available for download at the Alberta Purchasing Connection.

Website: www.purchasingconnection.ca

Reference #AB-2011-00324

This opportunity will only be available on this website.  If you have not already signed up, please do so – registration is free.

All inquiries regarding this RFP must be directed in writing to:

Rhonda Olson, Buyer
403.529.8237 | 403. 526.1239
rhools [at] medicinehat [dot] ca

"Yellowstone to Yukon: The Journey of Wildlife Art" opens May 14 at National Museum of Wildlife Art

 Dall Sheep, Gates of the Nahanni River, North West Territory, 2010, Dwayne Harty.

This info about an outstanding new summer exhibition coming to the National Museum of Wildlife Art comes from WordenGroup PR:

The Jackson Hole, Wyoming-based National Museum of Wildlife Art joins forces with the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) for a new exhibition that draws on the rich artistic history of the U.S.-to-Canada migratory corridor while conveying its importance for sustaining wildlife populations. Yellowstone to Yukon: The Journey of Wildlife Art will be on display in three galleries at the National Museum of Wildlife Art from May 14-August 14, 2011.  The exhibition then travels to the Whyte Museum.

Covering some 1.3 million square miles, the Y2Y region spans five American states, two Canadian provinces and two Canadian territories, and includes the Rocky, Columbia and Mackenzie mountain ranges.  Works chosen by the two museums for the exhibition link centuries as well as the migratory corridor’s wide-reaching territory, depicting wildlife in the region by such masters as Albert Bierstadt, John Clymer, Carl Rungius and Bob Kuhn. 

Dwayne Harty painting in Nahanni National Park, July 2010.

In addition to the historical pieces, contemporary painter Dwayne Harty was commissioned by Y2Y to travel the corridor, capturing landscapes along the route that had rarely if ever before been sketched firsthand.  Following in the geographic footsteps of renowned wildlife artist Carl Rungius, Harty painted the 17 “areas at risk” as designated by Y2Y along the Wyoming-to-Canada corridor, with his finished works serving as a “living thread” connecting main themes throughout the Yellowstone to Yukon exhibition.

The National Museum of Wildlife Art also will display its complete set of Rungius drypoints in a second exhibition to complement the Yellowstone to Yukon show.  Above Timberline: Engravings by Carl Rungius will be on display May 7-October 2, 2011. 

A member of the Museums West consortium and accredited by the American Association of Museums, the National Museum of Wildlife Art of the United States provides an exciting calendar of exhibitions from its permanent collection and changing exhibitions from around the globe.  A complete schedule of museum exhibitions and events is available online at www.wildlifeart.org.  The museum is also active on Facebook at wildlifeartjh and on Twitter at @wildlifeartjh.

Media Contacts: Darla Worden, WordenGroup Strategic Public Relations, 307.734.5335, darla@wordenpr.com; Ponteir Sackrey, National Museum of Wildlife Art, 307.732.5444, psackrey@wildlifeart.org.

State Museum hosts two Canadian authors today at brown bag event

Two Canadian authors, Jan Zwicky and Robert Bringhurst will be featured speakers during a Wyoming State Museum Brown Bag Lecture and book signing, Wednesday (TODAY!), from noon to 1 p.m., in Cheyenne. The event is free and open to the public.

Zwicky and Bringhurst are visiting the state through the University of Wyoming’s Creative Writing Program’s Visiting Writers series.

Zwicky, an Alberta native, is an author of poetry and philosophy. Her books include “Wittgenstein Elegies,” “The New Room,” “Songs for Relinquishing the Earth,” “Robinson’s Crossing” and “Thirty-Seven Small Songs & Thirteen Silences.”

Her poetry has been translated into French, Spanish, Czech, and Serbo-Croatian, and she publishes widely as an essayist on issues in music, poetry, philosophy, and the environment. Since 1986, she has edited poetry for Brick Books.

Bringhurst was raised largely in Montana and Alberta, and spent many childhood summers with his grandmother in Lovell, Wyo. He has published nearly 20 books of poetry including “The Shipwright’s Log” as well as a groundbreaking trilogy of Native American oral literature which included, “A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World” and was chosen as Literary Editor’s Book of the Year in 2004.

Bringhurst and Zwicky will hold a joint residency at the University of Wyoming for several weeks this fall. A selection of their books will be available for purchase and signing at the State Museum Store.

The State Museum is located in the Barrett Building, 2301 Central Avenue in Cheyenne. For information about this and other State Museum programs, please call 307-777-7022.

Banff Mtn. Film Festival at UW Feb. 24-25

The Banff Mountain Film Festival world tour brings the spirit of outdoor adventure to the University of Wyoming Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 24-25, at 7 p.m. in the Arts and Sciences auditorium.

The free showing, sponsored by the UW Outdoor Program, features award-winning films and audience favorites from approximately 300 films entered in the annual festival in Banff, Canada.

This year's tour features a collection of the most inspiring action, environmental and adventure mountain films. It provides an exhilarating and provocative exploration of the mountain world.

The schedule of films to be shown at UW can be viewed on at http://www.uwyo.edu/Oap/pdfs/Banff_Film_line-up_UW.pdf

The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, produced by Mountain Culture at The Banff Center, will visit in about 285 communities and 30 countries across the globe.

The UW presentation is made possible through the Student Activities Council, Cross Country Connection and the Wyoming Outdoor Council.

For more information, call the UW Outdoor Program at (307) 766-2402 or go to www.uwyo.edu/oap/events.asp.

Doris Knowles Pulis's new book

How It Looks Going Back

Growing up in the Montana Woods

By Doris Knowles Pulis

Published 2009 by Riverbend Publishing

Helena, MT

$12 softcover

When eigh-year-old Doris Knowles and her family embarked from their home in Californa on a summer vacation to Canada in 1949, little did they expect to wind up moving to a log cabin, perched on a fish-filled lake, in the sparsely populated Yaak Valley.

In her vivid and well-crafted memoir, Pulis tells about the six years her family spent their, minus electricity or running water. She, and eventually her little sister Bob (Barbara), attended a one-room schoolhous, and the author learned how to split wood, haul water, ride horses and survive through winters that sometimes swallowed most of the year.

The valley is brimming with eccentrics, like Gus, whose nose" was like the Yaak Road: bumpy and crooked," or the Seventh Day Adventist minister, the Rev. McCoy, who loves nothing more than his ongoing fueds (flint and steel and sparks flying") with Dee's dad, Darwin (named for the fathor of the theory of evolution).

Remarkably, Knowles descrives these experiences as though they happened yesterday instead of six decades ago, with sharp detail and a sense of humor and affection that's palpable.

Clem Work, a journalism professor at the University of Montana, notes that the author's "sweet and sassy memoir... shows that the spirit, guts, and grit are priceless qualites in any era."

The author, who now resides in Bend, OR, also spent 25 years in the Bitterrott Valley, where she and her husband raised Christmas trees.

-Kristi Niemeyer

"The Hobbit" journeys to Pinedale

On Friday, January 15, 7 p.m., Canadian puppet theater group Theatre San Fil return to Pinedale, this time bringing their award-winning production of the "The Hobbit," the classic tale of Bilbo Baggins! At the Pinedale Auditorium. For ticket info, go to http://www.pinedalefinearts.com. For more about Theatre San Fil, go to its web site or youtube

Celebrating the West of Wallace Stegner

This press release comes from Kevin Holdsworth in Rock Springs:

In an event marking the centennial of his birth, Wallace Stegner’s literary work and legacy will be celebrated at the Wallace Stegner Centennial Summit, September 24-25 in Rock Springs.

Speakers will include writers Page Stegner, Will Bagley and Lynn Stegner. Events will be held at the Rock Springs Museum and Western Wyoming Community College.

“Stegner’s preeminence among American writers who deal with the West cannot be seriously questioned,” said Kevin Holdsworth, co-organizer of the summit. “For many readers and writers, Stegner is an essential guide to understanding our region.”

Wallace Stegner (1909-1993) won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. He wrote numerous books including Angle of Repose, Crossing to Safety, The Spectator Bird, Beyond the Hundredth Meridian, The Sound of Mountain Water, The Gathering of Zion, The Big Rock Candy Mountain and Mormon Country.

“We are fortunate to be close to South Pass and the Green River, places he wrote about in important books,” added Holdsworth.

“We are trying to highlight several areas where his influence remains strong,” said Jennifer Sorensen, summit co-organizer. “These include writing—both fiction and nonfiction, history, conservation and teaching. We have invited speakers uniquely qualified to discuss each of these areas.”

The event will begin on September 24 at 6 p.m. at the Rock Springs Museum with an informal reception followed by a showing of the 2009 KUED documentary, "Wallace Stegner." On September 25, sessions will be held from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. in room 1302 of Western Wyoming Community College. All events are free and open to the public.

Speakers include writer/teacher and WAC fellowship recipient Holdsworth, who will open the sessions with remarks about Stegner as a mentor and note different types of political change in the West. Historian Will Bagley is set to address the historic and cultural importance of South Pass and propose ways to maintain it as “a good place to sit on a rock and feel history.” Linda Baker of the Upper Green River Valley Coalition will discuss issues related to resource development in Sublette and Sweetwater Counties. Mary Lynn Worl, chair of Citizens United for Responsible Energy Development, will talk about returning to her hometown of Pinedale and organizing citizen involvement to achieve healthier air quality.

In the afternoon sessions, writer and teacher Jennifer Sorensen will discuss her own relationship to the places Stegner writes about and reflect on her experiences in teaching his work. Writer and teacher Lynn Stegner will provide an appreciation of Wallace Stegner’s fiction. Writer Page Stegner will relate anecdotes and challenges involved in the process of collecting and editing his father’s correspondence for The Selected Letters of Wallace Stegner.

The Wallace Stegner Centennial Summit is made possible by grants from Chevron and the Sweetwater Board of Cooperative Educational Services. Other sponsors include the Rock Springs Museum, the Sweetwater County Historical Museum, and WWCC’s Western American Studies program.

FMI: Kevin Holdsworth at (307) 382-1724 or Sorensen at (307) 382-1716 or email kholdswo@wwcc.wy.edu

Atwood takes new approach to book tour

Dystopian novelist Margaret Atwood is putting on a show as part of her book tour for "The Year of the Flood," which is set in a post-pandemic future.

Here's a story about Atwood by Bruce DeMara in the Toronto Star:

Margaret Atwood is radically redesigning the concept of a standard book tour. The acclaimed Canadian author is using a live performance with original music, local actors and the author herself as narrator to promote her latest novel, The Year of the Flood, her publisher announced yesterday.

Her tour for the book will feature six Canadian stops, including St. James' Cathedral at 65 Church St. in Toronto on Sept. 24.

"It's a chance to break free from the traditional structure of a book tour," Atwood said in a statement. "I felt this particular novel deserved a more complex presentation. It's also a great chance to work with other creative minds and see their interpretation of the story come to light." Ellen Seligman, publisher of fiction at McClelland & Stewart and editor of Atwood's 13th novel, which will be released Sept. 22, called the project "unprecedented" in the annals of publishing.

The Year of the Flood, a follow-up to Atwood's novel Oryx & Crake, is set in a future where the world has undergone dramatic change as a result of decades of evironmental degradation. The final blow comes in the form of a pandemic that decimates virtually all of humanity, leaving a scattering of survivors.

But Seligman said, despite the book's dark nature and theme, "there is definitely a sense of hope (by the end) because it's people gathering in groups together." That's where the idea of live performance and bringing together people from local community meshes with the book, she said. "The idea of this performance and gathering the public – these are public performances and very inexpensive tickets – is a way of kind of joining everybody together in this global concern, which is our world and life as we know it."

The hour-long performance will feature 14 hymns – one for each chapter – which Atwood wrote, to the music of L.A.-based composer Orville Stoeber.

A three-person cast will perform along with a choir, all of whom will be local talent. Atwood has helped to design an interactive website for the book tour, including a blog and a Twitter feed. In her first entry, Atwood said she and husband Graeme Gibson are travelling to the U.K. by ship and said two Coronation Street cast members will perform with her in Manchester. Events will also be held in Ottawa, Kingston, Sudbury, Calgary and Vancouver, with proceeds going to Nature Canada.

Details of the Toronto cast have yet to be finalized. Ticket information is available at http://www.readings.org/.

Apply now for artist residencies in Klondike

The Klondike Institute of Art and Culture (KIAC) is now accepting applications from visual artists, media artists, and interdisciplinary artists for its 2010 Artist in Residence Program.

The residence accommodates up to 2 artists concurrently - for research, development and production of ongoing or new bodies of work.Artists may also have the opportunity to facilitate outreach programs such as talks, workshops and exhibitions, intended to promote interaction and professional development, and provide exposure and access to a diverse range of contemporary arts practices and theories within the community.

Residencies are from 4-12 weeks duration starting from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010. Participants are responsible for all travel and personal expenses including food and materials related to their work.

The Artist in Residence Program is located in the Macaulay Residence (shown above). Built in 1901, the home is now owned by Parks Canada as part of the Dawson Historical Complex National Historic Site of Canada.

FMI: http://www.kiac.org/programs/residence.html

Call for entries: Open Minds Quarterly

Diane Laprairie, editor of Open Minds Quarterly, sends this announcement:

It's that time again, when poets pick up their pencils and enter the BrainStorm Poetry Contest for individuals living with mental illness. You can join in, too, by entering your best poetry by March 20, 2009. The top three poems, judged by a panel of mental health consumers and family members with literary interests, will be awarded prizes and be published in Open Minds Quarterly, a literary journal dedicated to publishing the writing of individuals living with mental illness.

Rules and entry form are available at http://www.nisa.on.ca/ or by calling 1-705-675-9193, ext. 8286.

The BrainStorm Poetry Contest is organized by Northern Initiative for Social Action, a consumer-run mental health organization in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. We offer a number
of occupational opportunities for people living with mental illness to focus on their own individual talents and gifts.

The BrainStorm Contest is intended as a fundraiser for NISA's psychosocial literary magazine
Open Minds Quarterly, as well as a way to support other consumer/survivors by awarding prizes to the top three winners. Prizes are $250 for first place, $150 for second place, and $75 for third place.

Teachers: Try Canada's WIER program

Wyoming was the first state in the U.S. to participate in the Writers in Electronic Residence (WIER) program, based in Toronto, Canada. While the Wyoming Arts Council no longer coordinates this program in the state, school are free to sign up for the semester-long series of writing workshops. WYO teachers have found WIER to be a boost to their students' creativity and writing skills used during standardized tests.

Here's the announcement:

Your school participated in the Writers In Electronic Residence (WIER) program within the last six years, and we are contacting everyone to let you know that WIER is going strong. In fact, 2008 marks our 20th year! Now is a great time to register for our fall 2008 term, which will run from September 15 to December 5, 2008. All programs -- elementary, middle and secondary school levels -- are available. If you think this information would be useful to others, please feel free to pass this message along, or let me know, and I will be pleased to contact them.

Please visit our website at www.wier.ca for program information and fees, student writing samples, author biographies, and more -- including WIER's application process, and term dates for winter and spring. We will be working on our list of authors for 2008-2009 in the coming weeks, so please check the website regularly for updates.

FMI: Please feel free to contact me at cuy@wier.ca, or at (416) 591-6300, ext. 235.

Meet the bookfest authors: Mallory Burton

Mallory Burton (pictured at right with the one that didn't get away) lives in British Columbia, Canada, where she works as the Provincial Coordinator for the Universal Design for Learning Project. She has written for magazines such as Fly Fishing, Fly Rod & Reel, and Gray's Sporting Journal and published two books, Reading the Water and Green River Virgins and Other Passionate Anglers. Her other interests include fossil-hunting, teaching ballroom dancing, and spoiling her baby granddaughter.

At the Equality State Book Festival Sept. 18-20 in Casper, Burton will appear on the panel: "Catching the Big One: Writers on Trout" sheduled for 10:45 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20, at the Nicolaysen Art Museum. She will be available to sign books after the panel.

Banff Mountain Film Festival at UW

From a UW press release:

For the ninth year, the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour will stop at the University of Wyoming for two nights of mountain adventure films, Feb. 23-24 at 7 p.m. in the College of Arts and Sciences auditorium.

The event is sponsored by the UW Outdoor Adventure program.

One of the world's largest mountain festivals, the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour includes stops in more than 275 communities across 30 countries. This year's tour features a collection of action, environmental and adventure mountain films. Produced by Mountain Culture at The Banff Centre, the tour features award-winning films and audience favorites from approximately 300 films entered in the annual festival in Banff.

FMI: 307-766-2402 or visit http://www.uwyo.edu/oap.

Ian Tyson celebrates five decades on stage

Internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Ian Tyson is celebrating five decades of performance in 2008 with a full schedule of concerts, a television special, and final preparations for release of a children's book based on his song "La Primera."

He will perform at the WYO Theater in Sheridan on Friday and Saturday, feb. 8-9, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $37 apiece. Call the WYO box office at 307-672-9084.

With shows planned from coast to coast in both Canada and the United States, Tyson continues to keep his loyal fans in awe with songs that range from his classics such as "Four Strong Winds," "Someday Soon," and "Navajo Rug" to his newest works which he continues to write with inspired vigor. At age 75, Tyson maintains a performance and work schedule on his Alberta ranch, nestled in the foothills of the Rockies, that would rival men and women who are generations his junior.

FMI: http://www.iantyson.com/pages/home.asp

Prize-winning "Wrecked" at WYO Theater

On Tuesday, Jan. 29, 7 p.m., the WYO Theater in Sheridan presents the Roseneath Theatre's Wrecked. The play "tackles the issues of alcohol abuse in the lives of teenagers and their families with intelligent humor, subversive wit and candid reality. Through innovative staging and contrasting performance styles, the play presents two perspectives: teenagers as victims of parental alcohol abuse and teenagers themselves as abusers. Hip to teen culture, playwright Chris Craddock has done a rare thing - he's created an engaging and provocative theatre experience about significant social issues that is funny, entertaining and accessible to teens without compromising the power of its educational agenda."

Wrecked was named the winner of the Dora Awards for Outstanding Production and Performance. It also won the 2006 Canada Council of the Arts' T.Y.A. Prize.

Tickets are on sale now: $22 for adults, $20 senior and military, $15 stduents, and $10 children.

Call the box office at 307-672-9084.