Sky-shooting photographer Mike Hollingshead visits Devils Tower

Sky-shooting and storm-chasing photographer Mike Hollingshead isn't from Wyoming, but he spends a lot of time in the High Plains photographing supercells in the Nebraska Sand Hills and night skies over Devils Tower. Here is a bucolic view of Devils Tower in late September among its fall foliage. See more at http://www.extremeinstability.com/2012-9-22.htm

Two Wyoming authors takes home High Plains Book Awards

This news comes from a press release from the High Plains Book Awards in Billings, Mont.:

Winners of the prestigious 2012 High Plains Book Awards, a project of the Parmly Billings Library, were announced Saturday, October 20, in Billings, Mont., at a banquet held at the Yellowstone Art Museums. Award winners included Shann Ray's American Masculine, which won in two categories: Best First Book and Best Short Stories. Each winner received a $500 cash prize.  Other winners included Hand Raised: The Barns of Montana by Chere Jiusto & Christine W. Brown for Best Nonfiction, The Ringer by Jenny Shank for Best Fiction, Songs of Unreason by Jim Harrison for Best Poetry, Married Into It by Patricia Frolander for Best Woman Writer, and Arapaho Journeys: Photographs and Stories from the Wind River Reservation by Sara Wiles for Best Art & Photography. Emeritus Award winner was Tom McGuane.

Eighty-eight books were nominated for the 2012 High Plains Book Awards in seven categories from publishers in the United States and Canada. Finalists were selected after each nominated book war read and evaluated by community readers. Winners were selected by a panel of published writers with connections to the High Plains. Many finalists and winners participated in a day-long series of readings at the Yellowstone Art Museum as part of the High Plains BookFest. All nominated books were published for the first time in 2011.

Award sponsors include the Parmly Billings Library, Friends of the Parmly Billings Library, Montana State University-Billings, the Parmly Billings Library Foundation, the Ucross Foundation, the Writer's Voice of the Billings Family YMCA, the Yellowstone Art Museum, and the Zonta Club of Billings.

More information about the High Plains Book Awards is available at: http://highplainsbookawards.org.  Nominations for the 2013 High Plains Book Awards will be accepted January 14, 2013-March 15, 2013 for books first published in 2012.

About the High Plains Book Awards
The Parmly Billings Library Board has established the High Plains Book Awards to recognize regional authors and/or literary works which examine and reflect life on the High Plains including the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.

Here are details about the Wyoming winners:

MARRIED INTO IT by Patricia Frolander
Best Woman Writer
Married Into It
Patricia Frolander
High Plains Press

What happens when a young urban woman marries into a fourth generation rural ranching family and must learn the traditions, customs, and lifestyle of the land, all under the scrutinizing eye of its close knit community? Author Patricia Frolander's clear-eyed poems chronicle her years of challenges and triumphs, bruises and breakthroughs, as she moves from outsider to neighbor.

Patricia Frolander, Wyoming's poet laureate, tries to balance family, ranching, and writing and have a passion for each of them. She and her husband own his family ranch in the Black Hills of Wyoming where ties to land and livestock have provided a wonderful variety of subjects to journal and pen.

ARAPAHO JOURNEYS: PHOTOGRAPHS AND STORIES FROM THE WIND RIVER RESERVATION by Sara Wiles
Best Art & Photography
Arapaho Journeys: Photographs and Stories from the Wind River Reservation
Sara Wiles
University of Oklahoma Press

Award-winning photographer Sara Wiles captures that life on film and in words in Arapaho Journeys, an inside look at thirty years of Northern Arapaho life on the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming.  Through more than 100 images and 40 essays, Wiles creates a visual and verbal mosaic of contemporary Northern Arapaho culture. Depicted in the photographs are people Wiles met at Wind River while she was a social worker, anthropology student, and adopted member of an Arapaho family.

Wiles's essays weave together tribal history, personal narratives, and traditional knowledge to describe modern-day reservation life and little-known aspects of Arapaho history and culture, including naming ceremonies and cultural revitalization efforts. This work broaches controversial topics, as well, including the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians.

Sara Wiles is an independent photographer, writer, and scholar who holds a master s degree in anthropology from Indiana University. Her photographs, including the images published here for the  first time, have been exhibited nationally. She is the recipient of a Wyoming Governor's Arts Award.

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.

Sara Wiles and Pat Frolander are High Plains Book Awards finalists

After the review of 86 nominated books, 19 finalists have been chosen for 7 categories in the 2012 High Plains Book Awards. The books were reviewed and ranked by volunteer readers throughout Billings, Mont. The books by finalists in each category have been send to professional authors in the US and Canada. The authors come from eleven different states – Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Texas, Maine, Washington, Iowa, Connecticut, Arizona and Montana as well as the Canadian providences of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Winner is each category will receive a $500 cash prize.

Two Wyoming writers made the final list of 19:

Best Art & Photography category: Arapaho Journeys: Photographs and Stories from the Wind River Reservation, Sara Wiles, Lander, Wyoming
Best Woman Writer category: Married Into It, Patricia Frolander, Sundance, Wyoming

Sara has been awarded the Wyoming Govenor's Arts Award and Pat is Wyoming's poet leaureate.

The High Plains Book Awards and BookFest will take place October 18-20, 2012. There will be a reception for the finalists on Friday, October 19, at the Babcock Theatre, followed by a public reading. All the finalists are invited to read at the Yellowstone Art Museum on Saturday, October 20 as a part of the 10th annual High Plains BookFest. The High Plains Book Award Banquet will also be held at the Yellowstone Art Museum later that night. Readings are free and open to the public. Tickets for the banquet will be available later this year.

The Parmly Billings Library Board established the High Plains Book Awards in 2006. The awards were established to recognize regional authors and/or literary works which examine and reflect life on the High Plains including the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.

Writer and workshop leader Page Lambert profiled in The Denver Post

One-time Wyoming resident and Wyoming Arts Council creative writing fellowship winner Page Lambert was profiled yesterday in The Denver Post. Read the interview here.

And the Wrangler statuette for best poetry book of 2012 goes to...

Pat Frolander of Sundance for her book, “Married Into It." Pat is the Wyoming Poet Laureate and will be in Cheyenne March 5-6 to serve as a judge for the annual Poetry Out Loud competition. She will be attending the Wrangler awards ceremony in Oklahoma City in April. Here are the details:

On April 20-21, attend this black-tie presentation of Wrangler Awards for the year's best Western movies, television, literature and music. Inductees to the Hall of Great Westerners and the Hall of Great Western Performers are honored along with the recipient of the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award. Celebrity emcee and award presenters add glamour to this banquet. Reservations required (405) 478-2250, Ext. 219. 

First presented in 1961, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Western Heritage Awards were established to honor and encourage the legacy of those whose works in literature, music, film, and television reflect the significant stories of the American West. The awards program also recognizes inductees into the prestigious Hall of Great Westerners and the Hall of Great Western Performers as well as the recipient of the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award, named in honor of the Museum’s founder. Each honoree receives a Wrangler, an impressive bronze sculpture of a cowboy on horseback. 

WY Poet Laureate Pat Frolander will read from her work and sign books in Casper Nov. 17-18

Nice article in today's Casper Star-Tribune about new Wyoming Poet Laureate Pat Frolander of Sundance. Pat will be signing copies of her book, Married Into It," on Thursday, Nov. 17, 8 p.m., at Wind City Books, 152 Center Street, Casper. On Friday, Nov. 18, she will host a poetry reading and book signing at the Wyoming Women in Ag Symposium at the Parkway Plaza.

Gov. Matt Mead names Pat Frolander of Sundance the new Wyoming Poet Laureate

High Plains Press published Pat Frolander's
new book of poetry earlier this year.

Press release from Gov. Matt Mead:

Governor Matt Mead signed an Executive Order today naming Patricia Frolander as Poet Laureate of Wyoming. Frolander is Wyoming’s fifth Poet Laureate and is a rancher from Wyoming’s Black Hills.

At the signing ceremony today, Governor Mead noted that Frolander has won several awards for her work and been published in anthologies, literary reviews, magazines and newspapers. Governor Mead complimented Frolander for her book of poetry titled, Married Into It. “It’s great work and it resonates with me and should resonate with all of Wyoming because it speaks about Wyoming and speaks about our people.”

The Poet Laureate of Wyoming position is an honorary title and Frolander will serve without compensation. She can submit writings for occasions of her choice. Today, Frolander came to the Capitol with a group of fellow writers. She said receiving this distinction was a great honor. “It’s a privilege and I am excited to serve the State of Wyoming. I not only want to further poetry, but literature in general. I think this is a wonderful opportunity and I would like to thank everyone who accompanied me and all of those poets in Wyoming whom I dearly love.”

Governor Mead also expressed thanks to the Wyoming Arts Council and its board for the help in selecting a Poet Laureate.

Roy Pilcher transforms bug-kill trees into works of art

Roy Pilcher - Chain Saw Artist: Devils Tower, Wyoming from Indie Media: The New Journalism on Vimeo.

Roy Pilcher is a chainsaw artist from Devils Tower. He's on the Wyoming Arts Council artist roster. Bring him and his amazing carving skills to your town with an Arts Across Wyoming grant. Go to www.wyomingartscouncil.org and click on "grants." Thanks to Alan O'Hashi for this fine video.

Dedication celebration for new I-90 welcome center sculptures set for Oct. 14

A celebration recognizing the installation of three new sculptures at the Northeast Wyoming Welcome Center, located just off I-90 Exit 199 near the South Dakota border, is scheduled for October 14 at 10 a.m.

A life-sized bronze mountain lion greets visitors as they drive up to the center, and two bronze fawns are nestled near the building’s front entrance. Residents from the area are invited to join in the celebration followed by refreshments in the center.

The three bronze pieces by part-time Lander artist, David R. Nelson, were made possible through the State’s Art in Public Buildings “1 percent for Arts” program that allows 1 percent of the construction costs of any new, state-funded construction projects, up to a maximum of $100,000, to be spent on art work for those facilities.

Nelson’s work was selected from a pool of Wyoming artist submissions by an Art in Public Buildings (APB) Selection Committee which included N.E. Wyoming residents, Ila Miller of Aladdin, Jaymi Gilmore of Gillette, Rocky Courchaine of Sundance and Robert Vore of Beulah in addition to the architect for the facility and representatives from the Wyoming Office of Tourism and State Construction Management Office. 

The Wyoming Arts Council oversees APB projects for the State of Wyoming, and all art work becomes part of the State’s art collection, which is administered by the Wyoming State Museum.

Nelson is a nationally and internationally recognized sculptor that specializes in wildlife and human form as well as contemporary life sized and monumental sculptures.  He has been a professional artist for over 26 years, and has been commissioned by corporations, public art programs and private homeowners for a number of site-specific sculptures.  His work can be found at www.davidnelsonsculptures.com . 

For more information on this celebration, please contact the Wyoming Arts Council office at 307-777-7742 or e-mail rita.basom@wyo.gov .

Bearlodge Writers stages open house Sept. 15 for Gaydell Collier's memoir

Press release from Andi Hummel in Crook County:

Ever wonder what it would be like to toss out the television; cook every meal on an old wood cook stove; tiptoe in the dark of night, flashlight in hand, down the path to the outhouse? Gaydell Collier, retired Crook County librarian, can tell you.

Bearlodge Writers invites you to join in at an open house celebration of Collier’s new memoir, "Just Beyond Harmony," at the Community Room of the Crook County Library in Sundance on September 15, 5-8 p.m. You’re sure to enjoy the stories of the move Gaydell, her husband Roy, and their four children made cross-country, transitioning from Vermont to Wyoming in the 1960s. Intent upon living a self-reliant, homestead-style existence they experienced their “great experiment” in a little cabin not far from Harmony, near Laramie.

Collier has previously proven her outstanding authoring and editing skills with such notable books as "Basic Horse Care," "Basic Training for Horses," and "Basic Horsemanship: English and Western" (co-authored with Eleanor F Prince), and "Leaning Into the Wind," "Woven on the Wind," and "Crazy Woman Creek" (co-edited with Linda Hasselstrom and Nancy Curtis). She now takes the opportunity to allow her wit, patience, and determination to show through in a memoir. Readers will laugh at her sharing of cabin life. They’ll dance along with her as she wrestles the disconnected chimney pipe from that old kitchen stove; look over her shoulder as she patiently waits for the black ooze that gurgles from the kitchen pump to shift from “gunk that slithered down the drain with reluctance” to drinkable water; and go with her to the river to seek solace, to renew patience, and to make ready for the next day.

Published by High Plains Press, the paperback edition of "Just Beyond Harmony" will be available at the signing for $17.95 plus tax. Remaining copies of the limited hardcover edition will also be offered for sale at the time of the signing for $35.00 plus tax. The book is also available through local bookstores, from High Plains Press (1-800-552-7819 or www.highplainspress.com), and from Backpocket Books (ph. 1-307-283-2665).

New book by Gaydell Collier: "Just Beyond Harmony"

Limited edition signed hardcover copies available by pre-order from High Plains Press at 1-800-552-7819

Get your copy of Pat Frolander's Married Into It this weekend at Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference

Wyomingarts looks forward to getting a signed copy of Patricia Frolander's new book this week in Casper at the Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference. Married Into It is a collection of poetry by Pat. Published by Glendo's High Plains Press, it features a cover illustration by award-winning Wyoming artist Sarah Rodgers. The WWInc conference bookstore is sure to have plenty of copies. If for some strange reason you're not coming to Casper this weekend (for the first time ever, the conference hotel may be accessible by boat!), you can order a signed copy from the author at Patricia Frolander, 19652 US Highway 14, Sundance, WY 82729. It is $12.95 plus $2 S&H. You can also buy copies at www.highplainspress.com or your favorite local bookstore or www.amazon.com.

Here are some review comments:

South Dakota writer Kent Meyers, author of The Work of Wolves:

Patricia Frolander writes of a place and way of life where disaster can be measured in seconds and where the most harrowing loss can emerge from the simplest of mistakes. Frolander understands just how indifferent the world is to human presence, but she makes of that understanding a quiet grandeur. Against indifference, these poems insist on redemptive beauty and the power of relationship. They are unstinting and clear-eyed, poems about the world as-it-is and about how human beings live not in but with it, and with each other, in both endurance and mutual support. 

Laurie Wagner Buyer, Colorado, author of When I Came West:

Vivid, honest, full of the beautiful clarity of hard-won expression, these poems will change the way the world thinks about women in ranching. Beneath the tough conditions and unrelenting work of western ranch life lie unbreakable threads of tenderness and conviction, one that ties working hands to stalwart hearts, and observant minds to the absolute souls of the earth.

John D. Nesbitt, novelist and poet, Torrinton, Wyo., Gather My Horses:

The poems in Married Into It show true Western spirit as they express a love for the land, the animals, and the ranching way of life.  This collection is evocative-rich with details and toned with perfect elegy.

Get more info on the author at the Bear Lodge Writers web site. Congratulations, Pat. See you Friday in Casper. 

Call for entries: Northeast Wyoming Visitor Welcome Center's 1 Percent for Art Project

A call for entries for a sculpture for the Northeast Wyoming Visitor Welcome Center in Beulah has been issued by the Wyoming Arts Council. The deadline for submissions is May 13.

The Art in Public Building’s Committee for the project is requesting an existing sculpture by a Wyoming artist. An exterior island between the parking lot and main facility is the preferred site for the sculpture.

The Visitor Welcome Center, which opened in July 2010, is a state-of-the-art green facility blending both traditional western and contemporary eco-friendly design elements. The facility is integrated into a promontory site offering sweeping vistas of the surrounding landscape.

During the groundbreaking ceremony for the Visitor Welcome Center, a number of fresh mountain lion prints were observed around the site, and an adult mountain lion was observed in the vicinity. A full-size sculpture of a mountain lion, as well as indigenous wildlife such as elk, deer antelope, bear; or bucking horse and rider, the Sundance Kid or western outlaw, are subjects the committee finds appealing.

Information about the project is available through the WAC website at http://wyoarts.state.wy.us.

The WAC is responsible for the implementation of the 1% Art in Public Buildings legislation.

For more information, contact David L. Newell, curator of Art, Wyoming State Museum, 307-777-7677.

Piatigorsky Foundation tours begin today in Wyoming

Raquela Sheeran

Soprano Raquela Sheeran and pianist Efi Hackmey launch their Piatigorsky Foundation tour of the east side of Wyoming with a concert at the Sundance High School Auditorium at 7 p.m. this evening. Free and open to the public. For full tour schedule, go to http://www.piatigorskyfoundation.org/onetour.cfm?tour=10404

Evan Drachman

Meanwhile, of the west side of the state, the Piatigorsky Foundation presents cellist Evan Drachman and pianist Jeffrey Grossman at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Trinity Lutheran Church in Evanston. For full tour schedule, go to http://www.piatigorskyfoundation.org/onetour.cfm?tour=10403

Both tours are sponsored by the Wyoming Arts Council, the Piatigorsky Foundation and Muriel and Seymour Thickman of Sheridan.

FMI: Call the WAC at 307-777-7742.

The Bearlodge Writers: Serious Storytelling in Sundance

Writer Helen Coronato of Hulett (a.k.a. The Accidental Cowgirl) writes about the supportive atmosphere she's found with the Bearlodge Writers in Crook County. She calls it "a thin slice of creative heaven."

Read the Wyoming Roundup magazine story at The Bearlodge Writers: Serious Storytelling in Sundance, Wyoming

Chainsaw sculptor Roy Pilcher featured on Channel 5

Roy Pilcher, chainsaw sculptor and proprietor of Bears & Company of Devils Tower, was featured today on the CBS-Channel 5 morning news show. Roy is a Wyoming Arts Council roster artist. Bring him to your community with a WAC Arts Across Wyoming grant. Go here for more info.

Some info about Roy from his web site:

We are a family-owned business located at Devils Tower in the northeast corner of Wyoming, near the Black Hills. Bears and Company was formed in 2004 and has continued to grow since then. The company was started after the owners of Equine Productions: a horse logging company also owned by the Pilcher family, received requests for chainsaw artwork on properties that had been thinned. Bears and Company has been a natural fit and has evolved each week. We do commercial and/or decorative art for the yards and decks of our customers. We travel to locations and have carvings in well over half of the United States. We ship UPS and take all major credit cards. 90 percent of the carvings we sell are commissioned pieces, but we do keep inventory at our shop. Thank you for your interest and please feel free to contact us about your carving. Ask about carving tutorial. 

See the Channel 5 clip here.

Chainsaw artist Roy Pilcher to create sculpture at Cheyenne Botanic Gardens on Sept. 25

Wyoming Arts Council roster artist Roy Pilcher will create a chainsaw sculpture on Saturday, September 25, for the Paul Smith Children's Village at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. The action begins at 1 p.m. Free and open to the public.

Pick up today's issue of the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle to read a profile of Roy and his work.

New York Times education blog features Pat Frolander's "Denial" in "Poetry Pairing" series

The Learning Network, a New York Times blog, has a weekly “Poetry Pairing” series. In collaboration with the Poetry Foundation, TLN features a work from Ted Kooser's American Life in Poetry project alongside content from The Times that somehow "echoes, extends or challenges the poem’s themes."

This week's poem is "Denial" by Pat Frolander of Sundance, Wyoming, long-time member of Wyoming Writers, Inc., WyoPoets and Bear Lodge Writers (see June 24 wyomingarts post).

To read Pat's poem, Ted Kooser's intro and the accompanying NYT story, "Getting on with life after a partner dies," go to http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/

Frolander's poem chosen for American Life in Poetry

Sundance poet Patricia Frolander has had her poem chosen for the American Life in Poetry series, sent out by http://www.americanlifeinpoetry.org/, sponsored by former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser of Nebraska.

The series is carried by newspapers, while a large number of readers receive the column via e-mail subscription. Current readership is approaching 4,000,000 per week. The audience includes readers from Indonesia, Uganda, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Germany, Italy, France, Canada and the U.K., as well as U.S. readers from Maine to Hawaii.

The New York Times education blog -- The Learning Network -- will feature the ALIP weekly poem along with a piece from the Times that elaborates upon the poem's themes.

Pat was a featured artist in WAC's Artscapes Fall 2009 issue. Pat is also a member of Bear Lodge Writers, Wyoming Writers, Inc., and WyoPoets.