2Shot Art Show in Torrington offers close encounters with work by 21 regional artists

From Laramie's Joy Keown: This watercolor painting, "Close Encounter," was done from a photo that I took during our 2009 visit to the Serengeti in Tanzania.  I will be showing several Africa paintings as well as landscapes, western and wildlife paintings at the 2Shot Goose Hunt Art show this Friday and Saturday in Torrington.

View work by 21 artists from around the region at the annual 2Shot Goose Hunt Art Show at the Goshen County Fairgrounds Rendezvous Center in Torrington. Hours are noon-4 p.m. today with a quick draw from 6:30-7:30 p.m. with an auction to follow. Hours on Saturday, Dec. 8, are 9 a.m.-4 p.m., followed by a banquet and art auction from 7-10 p.m. FMI: Toby Lewis at 307-532-7364.

The Andy Hackbarth Band will play six tour dates in Wyoming

The Andy Hackbarth Band has announced its fall touring schedule, which includes a number of Wyoming dates. Andy's from La Veta, Colo., and is a one-time resident of Torrington, Wyo. View a video of the band playing a new song at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6nq9R3vWFY. Here are the upcoming dates on the tour:

10/12/12 - Bend, OR

10/13/12 - Boise, ID

10/18/12 - Montpelier, ID

10/20/12 - Kemmerer, WY

10/21/12 - Rock Springs, WY

10/23/12 - Thermopolis, WY

10/24/12 - Casper, WY

10/30/12 - Albuquerque, NM

10/31/12 - Phoenix, NM

11/1/12 - Green Valley, AZ

11/2/12 - San Diego, CA

11/9/12 - Hollywood, CA

11/10/12 - Ojai, CA

11/12/12 - Santa Clarita, CA

11/13/12 - TBA

11/14/12 - Lake Tahoe, CA

11/16/12 - Nampa, ID

11/17/12 - Torrington, WY

11/18/12 - Laramie, WY

1/11/13 - Aspen, CO

2/23/12 - Denver, CO

Agatha Christie comes to Torrington

Goshen Community Theatre in Torrington presents Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" Oct. 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19 and 20 at 7 p.m. and Oct. 14 at 4 p.m. in the Eastern Wyoming College Fine Arts Theatre. Tickets are $9 for adults, $7 for seniors and students over 12, and $5 for those under 12. All seats $5 on Oct. 17! Funded in part by a grant from the WAC. FMI: gctheatre2002@yahoo.com

Photo essay: "Play Ball" sculpture dedication at Torrington Correctional Facility

Artists Tom and Jean Latka of Pueble, Colo., created "Play Ball," the Art in Public Buildings sculpture dedicated June 21 at the Wyoming Medium Correction Institution in Torrington. Photo by Annie Hatch.



"Play Ball" sculpture in the entrance cupola of the Correctional Facility. Materials in the sphere are fused dichroic glass and stainless steel. According to artist Jean Latka, each of the glass disks is engraved with a positive message such as "tolerance," "compassion," and "forgiveness." "I though of it as a prayer," she said. Because the glass changes colors with the changing light, "you always encounter it in a different way," said SPCR Director Milward Simpson at the dedication ceremony. Photo by Annie Hatch.



Close-up of dichroic fused glass disks. Photo by Sue Castaneda.

Presentation of dedication plaque at June 21 ceremony. Pictured  (from left to right): Artists Tom and Jean Latka; Warden Steve Hargett; Department of Corrections Director Bob Lampert; State Parks and Cultural Resources Director Milward Simpson; Wyoming Arts Council Manager Rita Basom. Photo by Annie Hatch.

Pioneer Players Dinner Theatre offers "Death by Chocolate" in Fort Laramie

By day, Matthew Allred is a building inspector and town planner in Guernsey. By night, he acts in and directs theatre.

Thursday was opening night for the Pioneers' Playhouse production of "Death by Chocolate," Craig Sodaro's one-act comedic farce and murder mystery. This dinner theatre production continues tonight (June 8) at the Pioneers Community Hall in Fort Laramie (the old middle school). Cash bar/social hour at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 6, and show at 7. Tickets are $15.

The play continues on June 15-16 (same times).

Call for tickets and meal choice: 307-575-0979; 532-3431; 837-2119.

Public art project at Medium Security Prison in Torrington will be dedicated in June

Front entrance of Medium Security Prison in Torrington

Close-up exterior shot of prison cupola with "Play Ball" artwork

From David Newell, Wyoming State Museum Curator and Arts in Public Buildings Coordinator: This is a photo of "Play Ball", the glass sculpture recently installed at the Medium Security Prison in Torrington through the 1% for Art in Public Buildings program managed by the Wyoming Arts Council. The piece hangs in the cupola of the vistors center and can be seen from all directions. It is a splash of color and hope in a very stark institutional environment. A stunning bit of relief from steel and razor wire to be sure! The piece will be dedicated in June.

John D. Nesbitt and his horse Pal introduce John's latest western novel

Torrington, Wyoming, writer John D. Nesbitt and his horse Pal introduce John's latest western novel, Gather My Horses. John is a long-time member of Wyoming Writers, Inc.

UW's production of "Continuous Momentum: The Works of Bill T. Jones" hits the road

From the University of Wyoming:

The residency of the University of Wyoming's 2011-2012 Eminent Artists-in-Residence, the celebrated Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, culminates with an evening-length dance concert, "Continuous Momentum: The Works of Bill T. Jones" Dec. 10-13 in Riverton, Gillette, Torrington and Lusk.

Performances all begin at 7 p.m. and are free and open to the public. The schedule:

Riverton -- Saturday, Dec. 10, Central Wyoming College, Robert A Peck Arts Center Stage;

Gillette -- Sunday, Dec. 11, Campbell County High School Auditorium;

Torrington -- Monday, Dec. 12, Eastern Wyoming College;

Lusk -- Tuesday, Dec. 13, Niobrara County High School Auditorium.

Performed by UW students, the concert features four pieces from the BTJ/AZ repertory, including "D-man in the Waters," "Continuous Replay," "Duet," and "Power/Full."

"The student performance of Jones' choreography is the highlight of the semester-long project with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane dance company Eminent Artist-in-Residence project," says Margaret Wilson, UW dance faculty member who has facilitated the residency. "For the students to have the opportunity to learn about the choreography and perform it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity they will never forget."

The pieces, which were reconstructed this fall at UW by BTJ/AZ teaching artists Catherine Cabeen and Nicole Smith, represent several different phases of the company's work.

"The dancers become a part of living history -- recreating works that were set in the 1970s to early 1990s," Wilson says. "The dance world now is a different place than it was at that time, but the dancers validate those works, and the reasons why they were created, by performing them for 2011 audiences."

The concert opens with "Power/Full" (1995/revised 2002), a piece originally devised as a rigorous formal movement study created by Jones in 1995. The score is in two contrasting parts composed by Canadians John Oswald and Laurel MacDonald.

Following is "Continuous Replay," (1977/revised 1991) a piece originally choreographed by Zane as the solo "Hand Dance" and as a duet by Zane and Jones, and later restaged by Jones as an ensemble work.

"Duet," (1995/revised 2002) explores the ideas of pure movement and abstraction. This unusually stark work takes Jones' most sophisticated movement to task and draws on the tension between, and the elegance inherit in, two people moving together in perfect unison.

The concert closes with one of the company's signature pieces, "D-Man in the Waters" (1989), an exhaustive pursuit of water as a metaphor, choreographed to the first movement of Felix Mendelssohn's spirited "Octet in E-flat Major." It is described as "an uplifting and accessible celebration of the resiliency of the human spirit."

"Watching the dancers learn, rehearse and prepare these works for performance has been very satisfying for the UW dance faculty," Wilson says. "Our students are well prepared to do this work with the training that they receive here, and the opportunity to perform the work of a master choreographer like Jones is a validation of all our efforts."

Photo: University of Wyoming dancers will perform "Continuous Momentum: The Works of Bill T. Jones."

More library used book sales

This is the time of year that makes readers gleeful.

Just about every public library has a used book sale in the fall.

The used book sale at the Goshen County Library in Torrington begins 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 2, at 228 East 20th Ave. Items are individually priced during the first week of the sale. All bids for Silent Auction items will be accepted until 3 p.m. on Oct. 9. Successful bidders will be contacted by telephone on Tuesday of the last week of the sale. During the last week, items will be sold by the box.

FMI: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Torrington-WY/Goshen-County-Library/207587390928#!

Reminder: Deadline for public art proposals for new Torrington prison is Sept. 10

The date for submitting proposals for the Torrington Prison Art in Public Buildings project is September 10, 2010. For details, go to the Wyoming Arts Council web site at http://wyoarts.state.wy.us/pdf/AIPBCallforEntriesBrochure2010Torrington.pdf or call Rita Basom at 307-777-7473.

Fabian and Talbot sign books at State Museum

SPCR press release:

Two Wyoming authors, Linda Graves Fabian and Starley Talbot, will be at the Wyoming State Museum, Wednesday, June 9, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 6:30 p.m., to sign their new books, “Douglas,” and “Fort Laramie,” respectively.

“Douglas,” by Graves Fabian and Carol Price Tripp, features a series of historical photographs chronicling the growth of the east-central Wyoming town. The photographs were provided through the generosity of Wyoming Pioneer Memorial Museum Executive Director Arlene Ekland-Earnst.

“Fort Laramie,” by Talbot, features historical photographs of one of the most important frontier outposts of the American West. These photographs are from the Fort Laramie National Historic Sites, state and national archives and the author, Talbot.

Both books are part of the Images of America series, which celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, each title presents the distinctive stores from the past that shape the character of the community today.

FMI: 307-777-7022.

Arcadia Publishing release two new history books by authors from Wyoming

From John Michael Tabakian at Arcadia Publishing:

I’m pleased to announce the release of Fort Laramie and Douglas, the newest additions to Arcadia Publishing’s popular "Images of America" series.

Both books are by local authors. Fort Laramie is by Starley Talbott, a Wyoming native, freelance writer, and former newspaper reporter. This is her second book in the "Images of America" series. Photographs in this book are from the Fort Laramie National Historic Site, state and national archives, and the author.

The authors of Douglas, Linda Graves Fabian and Carol Price Tripp, both native Douglasites, carefully and lovingly selected photographs from the extensive photographic collections of the Wyoming Pioneer Memorial Museum in Douglas, thanks to the generosity of executive director Arlene Ekland-Earnst.

With more than 200 historic photographs, the books are full of great content.

For more information about the books, contact John Michael Tabakian, publicist, Arcadia Publishing, ph: 843.853.2070 x601and fax: 843.853.0044. Explore more than 6,500 titles at http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/

EWC fetes Spur Award winner John D. Nesbitt

Wayne Deahl from Eastern Wyoming College in Torrington sends this invitation:

Please join us this Friday, April 30, from 12:30-2 p.m. in the EWC Auditorium Lobby to recognize author and English professor John Nesbitt. His books recently received two Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America.

The reception is free and open to the public.

John has won a creative writing fellowship from the Wyoming Arts Council and is on the WAC artists' roster.

Here's more info on the awards from John's March 22 blog post:

My novel Stranger in Thunder Basin won the Spur Award for Best Mass-Market Paperback Original. This is a great development for me, as I won in the same category last year with Trouble at the Redstone and was a finalist the year before with Raven Springs. All three of these novels have been published by Leisure Books / Dorchester Publishing.

In addition to winning in Mass-Market Paperback, I had the stunning surprise of also winning in the Best Short Fiction category. My short story "At the End of the Orchard," originally published by Hardboiled Magazine, won here. This story, about 9,000 words, is a mystery/noir piece set in a peach orchard and labor camp in the 1960s.

Marcia Hensley on the road to promote her book about women homesteaders

Nancy Curtis of High Plains Press in Glendo sends this announcement about one of her authors:

Marcia Hensley, author of STAKING HER CLAIM: WOMEN HOMESTEADING THE WEST, will be giving presentations and signing books at the Torrington Library on Monday, March 29 at 7 p.m.; at the Lusk Library Brown Bag Lunch on Tuesday, March 30, at noon; and at the Platte County Historical Society meeting at the Wheatland Library on Wednesday March 31, at 7 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.

She has a good PowerPoint presentation and her talks always draw lots of input from the audience. Those women homesteaders were something!

John D. Nesbitt of Torrington wins two Spur Awards from WWA

This news from Western Writers of America came out last week but it's worth repeating because writers from Wyoming fared so well.

Here's the WWA press release:

Western Writers of America announced the winners and finalists of its annual literary contest Saturday, March 20, during the National Festival of the West in Scottsdale, Ariz.

John D. Nesbitt of Torrington (shown in photo dueing book signing at Cheyenne's City News) won two Spurs, claiming his second consecutive Spur for Best Original Mass Market Paperback Novel with “Stranger in Thunder Basin” (Leisure Books) and for Best Western Short Fiction Story, “At the End of the Orchard” ( Hardboiled Magazine).

Winners and finalists will be honored at the WWA Convention, June 22-26 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The complete list of winners and finalists:

Long Novel -- Winner: Robert Flynn, “Echoes of Glory” (TCU Press). Finalists: Bob Cherry, “One-Eyed Jacks” (Cicada Wing); Mary E. Trimble, “Tenderfoot” (Treble Heart).

Short Novel -- Winner: Robert Olmstead, “Far Bright Star” (Algonquin). Finalists: Sandi Ault, “Wild Sorrow” (Berkley Prime Crime); Robert Greer, “Spoon” (Fulcrum).

Mass Market Paperback -- Winner: John D. Nesbitt, “Stranger in Thunder Basin” (Leisure). Finalists: Lyle Brandt, “Hanging Judge” (Penguin/Berkley); William Blinn, “A Cold Place in Hell” (Pinnacle/Kensington).

Nonfiction-Biography -- Winner: David C. Humphrey, “Peg Leg” (Texas State Historical Society). Finalists: Clyde Milner and Carol O’Connor, “As Big as the West: The Pioneer Life of Granville Stuart” (Oxford University Press); Polly Aird, “Mormon Convert/Mormon Defector: A Scottish Immigrant in the American West (Arthur H. Clark).

Nonfiction-Historical -- Winner: Douglas C. McChristian, “Fort Laramie” (Arthur H. Clark). Finalists: William B. Schillingberg, “Dodge City: The Early Years, 1872-1886” (Arthur H. Clark); Paul Horsted, Ernest Grafe and Jon Nelson, “Crossing the Plains with Custer (Golden Valley Press).

Nonfiction-Contemporary -- Winner: Charles H. Harris III and Louis R. Sadler, “The Secret War in El Paso: Mexican Revolutionary Intrigue, 1906-1920” (University of New Mexico Press). Finalists: Katherine Benton-Cohen, “Borderline Americans: Racial Division and Labor War in the Arizona Borderlands” (Harvard University Press); Timothy Egan, “The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

Short Nonfiction -- Winner: Roger Di Silvestro, “Teddy’s Ride to Recovery” (Wild West). Finalists: Kerry Oman, “Rejoicing in the Beauties of Nature: The Image of the Western Landscape During the Fur Trade” (Great Plains Quarterly); Michael A. Amundson, “These Men Play Real Polo: An Elite Sport in the Cowboy State, 1890-1930” (Montana: The Magazine of Western History).

Short Fiction -- Winner: John D. Nesbitt, “At the End of the Orchard” (Hardboiled Magazine). Finalists: Matthew Mayo, “Half a Pig” (Express Westerns); J.J. Clark, “As Is” (High Desert Journal).

Juvenile Fiction -- Winner: Johnny D. Boggs, “Hard Winter” (Five Star). Finalists: Victoria McKernan, “The Devil’s Paintbox” (Knopf); Melodie Cuate, “Journey to Goliad” (Texas Tech University Press).

Juvenile Nonfiction -- Winner: Nancy Plain, “With One Sky Above Us” (Mondo Publishing). Finalists: Annica Benning, “Arizona: Nations and Arts” (Walnut Canyon Press); Charles C. Mann, “Before Columbus: The Americas of 1491” (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster).

Storyteller -- Winner: Sandra Day O'Connor (author) and Tom Pohrt (illustrator), “Finding Susie” (Random House); Finalists: Joe Gribnau (author) and Adrian Tans (illustrator), “Kick the Cowboy” (Pelican); Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (author) and R. Gregory Christie (illustrator), “Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal” (Lerner Publishing).

Documentary -- Winner: Candy Moulton, “In Pursuit of a Dream” (Boston Productions Inc.). Finalists: Ric Burns, “We Shall Remain: Tecumseh’s Vision” (WGBH); Lyman Hafen, “Born to Ride” (Southern Utah University).

Poem -- Winner: Paul Zarzyski, “Bob Dylan Bronc Song” (Two Medicine). Finalists: David Memmott, “Where the Yellow Brick Road Turns West” (Wordcraft of Oregon); Larry D. Thomas, “Glass Mountains” (Southwestern American Literature).

Audiobook -- Winner: Gary McCarthy, “River Thunder” (Books in Motion). Finalists: Monty McCord, Mundy’s Law (Books in Motion); Phil Mills Jr., “Where a Good Wind Blows” (Books in Motion).

Song -- Winner: Wylie Gustafson and Paul Zarzyski, “Hang-n-Rattle: (Two Medicine Music/Bucking Horse Moon Music). Finalists: Steve Moulton, “Steamboat” (Butch Hause/The Ranger Station); Daron Little, “Pete French” (self-published).

WAC holds town meeting 3/25 in Cheyenne

The Wyoming Arts Council is holding its Southeast Region Town Meeting on Thursday, March 25, 6:30-8:30 p.m., in the Sunflower Room on the third floor of the Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer, Cheyenne.

More info later...

S.E. Wyo. artists invited to sign up for "20:20"

Staffers at the University of Wyoming Art Museum in Laramie have sent out invitations to the museum's "20:20" event set for Monday, June 1, 6-8 p.m.

A relatively new program at the Art Museum, 20:20 is an event that allows artists, arts organizations and educators to share information about what they've been doing in a fast-paced presentation. Presenters are given 20 images, shown for 20 seconds each, equaling a 6 minute and 40 second presentation. It's a great way to keep the Wyoming arts community informed and updated.

The June 1 20:20 is first in a series of three and is open to all artists in Southeast Wyoming. It will be the final "Monday Night at the Museum" of the season. Afterward, come downtown to Altitude Chophouse and Brewery for drinks and a chance to catch up with colleagues.

Anyone is welcome to attend, but presenting is reserved for those in Torrington, Cheyenne, Laramie, Wheatland, Saratoga, Hanna and Rawlins (and all of those places in between). Sign up is on a first-come, first-served basis. Images must be submitted by Monday, May 25, and must be in a PowerPoint format.

To sign up, ask questions or to receive more information, contact interim assistant curator Rachel Miller at 766-6621 or rmiller@uwyo.edu. Look for an e-vite in your inbox.

Patrick Kikut exhibit at EWC in Torrington

University of Wyoming arts lecturer Patrick Kikut will display his work in the Eastern Wyoming College Fine Arts Building, 3200 West C St., Torrington, through April 13. Reception and talk with the artist will be held on Friday, April 3, 4 p.m. Artwork will be on display weekdays through April 13, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Reception is free and open to the public. Contact (307) 532-8213.

Johnson, Nesbitt, win Spur Awards

The Western Writers of America have announced the winners of its 2009 Spur Awards. Two Wyoming novelists were named winners. Craig Johnson of Ucross won the Best Western Short Novel category with Another Man’s Moccasins (Viking/Penguin). John D. Nesbitt of Torrington won in the Best Original Mass Market Paperback category for Trouble at the Redstone (Dorchester Publishing). Wyomingarts is not shy about pointing out that both writers are recipients of Wyoming Arts Council creative writing fellowships.

It also bears mentioning that several finalists are former Wyoming residents. Win Blevins' book Dreams Beneath Your Feet (Forge Books/Tom Doherty) was a finalist in the short-novel category. A few years ago, Win moved from the Jackson area to Utah. Finalist in the Best Western Long Novel category was Joseph M. Marshall III, formerly of Casper and Sheridan, for The Long Knives are Crying (Fulcrum Publishing).

Craig Johnson, always the storyteller, related in his latest e-mail newsletter how he heard about the award. Let him tell it:

I had to hand dig my way through six-foot drifts down to the shop to get out my tractor so I could clear the ranch road yesterday-then I had to do it again today. I've got one of those old 8N tractors from 1948 when they thought that a front dump able to hold twice as much as a handheld snow shovel was quite the achievement.

I'd like to talk to those guys.

I struggled up to the house and collapsed on the porch, my furry Russian hat pushing down over my eyes in a dramatic interpretation of 'portrait of the artist as dead rancher'. My wife came out and asked if I wanted a cup of coffee, and I replied that I preferred to die de-caffeinated.

It's been a long winter, and to use the terms of the local paper The Buffalo Bulletin, the current storm "all but shut down the town and made life miserable for everyone". My romance with the American West, and life in general was creeping toward ebb. I stumbled in the house, tacking against the wind, peeled off my Carhartt, my wool muffler, my Sorels, and slumped down in front of the computer to answer emails.

I hit the send/receive button and the first thing that popped up was a missive from The Western Writers of America, one of the only two writer's organizations that will accept me. I figured it was something about membership elections, dues or something, but the header was from C.K. Crigger congratulating me on winning The Western Writer's of America's Spur Award for novel of the year, Another Man's Moccasins.

I figured it was a joke.

As far as I could tell, C.K. wasn't formally informing me of the award but just saying congrats. The Spur has had such prestigious winners as Larry McMurtry, Louis L'Amour, Elmer Kelton and my recently departed buddy Tony Hillerman. Not very many books from a series win the award, but it would be some pretty wonderful moccasins to walk in.

This evening, I got a phone call inviting me to Oklahoma City for the convention and ceremony.

So, I guess I did win. Doesn't it figure that the cowboys and Indians would be the ones that came through?

Thank you all.

"Variations on a Theme" at EWC Gallery

"Variations on a Theme," a mixed media exhibition by Laramie's Diana Baumbach, will be featured at the Eastern Wyoming College Fine Arts Lobby in Torrington Oct. 20 through Nov. 8. A reception and artist talk will be held on Saturday, Nov. 8, 5 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. refreshments will be served.

Exhibition sponsored by the EWC Department of Art and The Fine Arts Council.

FMI: Daniel Fielder, EWC, 307-532-8291, daniel.fielder@ewc.wy.edu