Spend the Cheyenne weekend with Jalan Crossland and his band

Jalan Crossland on the songwriters' stage at the 2011 French Quarter Festival in New Orleans.

Ten Sleep's Jalan Crossland will receive a 2012 Governor's Arts Award Friday, Feb. 8, at the annual GAA Awards Gala at Little America in Cheyenne. He'll be performing a few of his trademark songs to wrap up the night's festivities. If you want more, and you probably will, catch Jalan and his band the next night in concert.

The Jalan Crossland Band will perform in concert on Saturday, Feb. 9, 7 p.m., at the Terry Bison Ranch just off of the Terry Ranch Rd. exit on I-25 South, just before you get to to the Colorado border. Doors open at 6 p.m.

PRESALE TICKETS AVAILABLE AT ERNIE NOVEMBER RECORD STORE in downtown Cheyenne. Tickets are $12 or $15 day of show.

If you've never experienced Jalan Crossland, you're in for a jaw-dropping experience. He has won many prestigious awards, including second in the National Fingerstyle Guitar Competion and first place in the state Flatpicking Contest. He has toured multiple times with Robert Earl Keen, and toured in Europe and Australia. He has been often showcased on NPR, made multiple TV appearances and been in the New York Times. Jalan is featured in a cover story in the winter issue of Wyoming Artscapes, the quarterly magazine of the Wyoming Arts Council. 

The complexities of his combination of edgy, alt-country and traditional guitar and banjo picking seem effortless as he weaves tales of heartbreak, the sometimes-dark crevices of small town America, and most of all the joy, humor and love that can be found in every rusty-lining.

Hell froze over and his band is back together. The massively talented duo of Shaun Kelley, who plays upright and electric bass and Andy Phreaner plays trapset, wackadoo, harmonica and percussion. You want a show? Well, folks, here's something you'll never forget.

Tickets are still available for the Governor's Arts Awards Gala Feb. 8, 6 p.m., at Little America. Call the Wyoming Arts Council at 307-777-7742. 

Linwood Tall Bull presents "Native Plants and Medicinal Uses" Nov. 10 at Washakie Museum

At the Washakie Museum and Cultural Center in Worland. 

Wyoming SPCR Commission meets Oct. 26 at the Washakie Museum & Cultural Center

Washakie Museum and Cultural Center, Worland. David Huber Photography.

From a State Parks and Cultural Resources press release:

Members of the Wyoming Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources Commission will meet at the Washakie Museum and Cultural Center in Worland, October 26.

During the meeting, scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Commission will elect a new president and vice president.

Additionally, the Commission will receive reports on agency activities and programs within the Division of State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails and the Division of Cultural Resources.

The Commission has advisory responsibility for the agency which involves the planning, acquisition, development and management of all state parks, the State Trails Program, state recreation areas, state historic sites and archaeology sites. The Commission also advises the Wyoming State Museum, Wyoming Arts Council, the official State Records Center and Archives, the Office of the State Archaeologist, historical research activities, the State Historic Preservation Office and the Cultural Trust Fund.

Members of the Commission are: President Dan Barks, Gillette; William Vines, Wheatland; Mary Hawkins, Devils Tower; Dudley Gardner, Ph.D, Rock Springs; Chuck Engebretsen, Lost Springs; Aaron Bannon, Lander; Karen Haderlie,Thayne; Don Schmalz, Cody; and Michelle Sullivan, Sheridan.

MT Shakespeare in the Parks brings "Twelfth Night" to Sanders Park in Worland July 19

Jalan Crossland plays Thermop and Basin before heading off to Key West Songwriters Festival



Ten Sleep's Jalan Crossland performs Friday in Thermopolis and Saturday at the Basin City Arts Center in Basin. Get the details here. Next week, he's off to perform a series of concerts at the Better Angels Songwriters Festival in Key West, Fla.

"Damn Yankees" on stage Feb. 9-11 in Worland

Washakie Museum's exhibit of Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post covers up through Jan. 5

Norman Rockwell's 323 Saturday Evening Post Covers will be on display through Jan. 5 at the Washakie Museum in Worland. 

This traveling exhibition was organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA.

In 1977, Rockwell received the nation's highest civilian honor, The Presidential Medal of Freedom, 

for his "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country" in the years 1916-1963. 

Free screening of Wyoming's post-apocalyptic "Undead Lovers" Saturday in Laramie

K. Harrison Sweeney

Must be something in the water or the air or the schools up in Washakie County.

Wyomingarts just finished writing about a Kickstarter project by Dave Henderson, an artist who grew up in Worland and now lives in Maine, when another arts project with a Worland connection came across our virtual desk. This one's a film that’s the brainchild of K. Harrison Sweeney, a 1996 Worland H.S. and a 2001 UW Theatre & Dance graduate. He now lives in Santa Monica, CA, and acts and makes films:

"From the Trailer to the Grave" is a post-apocalyptic film set just eight months after the Undead Uprising caused by natural disasters... Think "Napolean Dynamite" meets "Shaun of the Dead" meets "Whip It."

Wyoming exists as a relative utopia with a giant wall… bordering the entirety of the state to protect its ranches, farmlands, natural gas, wind turbines, solar panels, and geothermal energy.

"From the Trailer to the Grave" is slated to shoot next fall of 2012 when Wyoming's landscapes are at their most colorful. With your financial contributions we'll be able to reunite K. Harrison Sweeney's favorite colleagues and show the world what happens when they don't tend to their resources like the Cowboy State does.

One intriguing aspect of the project is the soundtrack featuring Wyoming musicians Jalan Crossland (Ten Sleep), The Upbeat Project (Laramie), Micah X. Wyatt (Sheridan) and others.

K. Harrison informs wyomingarts that there will be a screening this weekend.

We are holding free screenings of our short film "Undead Lovers" (using Jalan Crossland's honky tonk song of the same name) around the state. The first screening is 2 p.m. this Saturday, August 27, at the UW Fine Arts Main Stage in Laramie. Live music and hors d'oeuvres will be available at the reception.

Do you have recommendations on how to better raise funds for the feature film we're shooting next fall on which this short film is based? Because of the marquee actors involved, we've already been asked to screen "Undead Lovers" at two festivals/comic cons without even having submitted for them yet.

Look up K. Harrison on Facebook and send him your idea about funding, screenings, etc. Head out to Laramie Saturday for the screening. And contribute, if you choose, to the feature film that’s in the works at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bighornsamuraisinema/reunite-the-red-dead-redemption-stars-for-our-zomr

WAC 2009 visual arts fellowship winner Dave Henderson using Kickstarter to kick-start a new project

WAC 2009 visual arts fellowship judges and recipients at the Visual Arts Symposium in Laramie. From left: Colorado sculptor Lawrence Argent (judge); New York mixed-media artist Gina Ruggeri (judge); Greg Esser (judge), director of the Roosevelt Row artists' district in Phoenix; Dave Henderson (fellowship winner), Worland; Florence McEwin (fellowship winner), Green River; Bart Fetz (honorable mention), Green River. Not pictured: Fellowship winners Leah Hardy, Laramie, and Jill Hartley, honorable mention, Rock Springs.

David Henderson just notified wyomingarts about a project that he is trying to kick-start on Kickstarter. David (fourth from left in photo) was one of the winners of a 2009 visual arts fellowship from the Wyoming Arts Council. His work was featured in the 2008-2009 biennial fellowship show at the Wyoming State Museum Gallery in Cheyenne. 

In the 2009 fellowship competition, he submitted a series of oil and enamel paintings on panels that are part of his “American Dream” series. Henderson says he’s “inspired by the nostalgic and iconic imagery of Norman Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post covers depicting American life. He spent last summer “painting interpretations of the American Dreams of my coworkers, friends, relatives and their children.” This was his first submission to the WAC fellowships. He grew up in Worland and received his B.F.A. in sculpture from the Maine College of Art in 2005.

Portrait of Audrey and Holden Truman ("Young Ambitions"), oil and enamel on panel, 20"x16", Dave Henderson 

David now lives in Portland, Maine. He is continuing (and revising) this project and aims to raise $10,000 for his “American Poor Traits” book. Here’s how he describes it:

"American Poor Traits" will be an art monograph -- a coffee table book -- that will detail fifty Americans struggling with poverty. Through classical portraiture and a true objective journalistic approach, I hope to capture the essence of each of my subjects and tell their unique story, share their own "American Dream" with the rest of the country. 

My plan is to spend one year beginning this January, 2012, traveling the country in my silver little '91 Subaru Loyale and spend one week with one person or family in one community in each state, interviewing and documenting each's experience - their ambitions & obstacles, and then spend the following year of 2013 creating 24"x24" portraits (oil on panel) to compliment each individual's story. 

I plan to work in whatever capacity I can as I travel from state to state, answering part-time or temporary help wanted ads to pay for food, and will sleep in my car as much as I can during the cold months and camp outside during the warm ones.  I need help with the cost of the travel itself, gas and oil changes and windshield washer fluid and tire rotations.  

When I start the painting part of the project, I will need to pay for supplies; paints, wood for panels, and studio space. 

I will also be creating a website for the project and will be documenting the entire process from start to finish -- from the minute I hit the road to the minute I finish the last portrait in the series.

A $25 supporter will receive a T-shirt from Lead Belly Press with a design by Jamakin Dave. For a $50 contribution, you will receive a signed copy of the “American Poor Traits” book.

Donate at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/20360490/american-poor-traits

BBHC offers field trip for Fern-filled Fauna of the Bighorn Basin

Fossilized vegetation of the Bighorn Basin

From the Buffalo Bill Historical Center:

Dr. Scott Wing describes his job like this, “As a research scientist and curator at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History the three major parts of my job are research, collections, and outreach.”

All three come together on July 9, 2011, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. with a plant fossil field trip to the Big Cedar Ridge in the southeastern Bighorn Basin. The Buffalo Bill Historical Center co-sponsors the outing—dubbed Fern-filled Fauna of the Bighorn Basin—with the Wyoming Native Plant Society, Washakie Museum, and the University of Wyoming Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center. There is no charge for the trip; however, pre-registration is required by contacting Emily Buckles at emilyb@bbhc.org or 307.578.4110.

Washakie Museum in Worland receives $10,000 grant from National Endowment for the Arts

Washakie Museum and Cultural Center. Photo by David Huber

The Washakie Museum and Cultural Center in Worland is the recipient of a $10,000 Access to Artistic Excellence grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

According to a May 17 NEA press release, the grant will “support a series of visual and performing arts presentations. Project activities will include traveling exhibitions of Norman Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post covers; American Legacy: Our National Parks, On Location with the Plein-Air Painters of America; Montana Repertory Theatre's performance of Doubt; and a music performance by mezzo-soprano Lindsay Craft with the Museum Singers Choir.”

FMI: www.washakiemuseum.org

Claire Lynch Band headlines BBQ Championship & Bluegrass Festival in Worland Aug. 19-20

The Grammy Award-winning Claire Lynch Band (pictured above) headlines the seventh annual Pepsi Wyoming State BBQ Championship and Bluegrass Festival August 19-20, 2011, in Worland.

Other performers include Spring Creek, Left Over Biscuits, and the Mountain Holler Bluegrass Band. Also a jam session.

The festival gets under way on Friday, Aug. 19th at 5:30 p.m. For Friday, the festivities end at 10:30 p.m. On Saturday, August 20th, the event is from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Admission is free.

The event includes the Wyoming State BBQ Championship sanctioned by KCBS. Each year 30-plus BBQ cookers come to compete for this year's prizes totaling over $7,275 (plus trophies and ribbons).

FMI: http://wyo-bbq-bluegrass.com/

Chris Navarro's Columbian Mammoth, big version

This photo was featured in a smaller size in the January issue of the Wyoming Arts Council's Artscapes newsletter. To get the full effect, click on the photo for a larger size

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The Wyoming Arts Council (WAC) board met for their quarterly board meeting on November 11-12 in Worland. Board and staff are pictured in front of Columbian Mammoth, a new bronze sculpture by Chris Navarro installed at the Washakie Museum and Cultural Center and dedicated on September 16, 2010. It is 20 feet high by 25 feet long.

Pictured (l to r): WAC Board member Susan Stubson; WAC Arts in Education Specialist Camellia El-Antably; WAC Board members Leslie Shinaver, Ila Miller, Jo Crandall; WAC Manager Rita Basom; Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources Director Milward Simpson; WAC board members Duane Evenson, Janelle Fletcher-Kilmer, Neil Hansen, Bruce Richardson; WAC Board President David Neary; WAC Folk and Traditional Arts Specialist Anne Hatch; Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources Administrator Sara Needles.

Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund boards meets June 11-12 at new Washakie Museum

From a SPCR press release:

The Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund board will meet in Worland at the new Washakie Museum, 2200 Big Horn Avenue, on Friday, June 11 and 12 to review the newest grant applications.

This year the WCTF received 53 applications requesting more than $1.3 million in grant support. The WCTF will be able to award approximately $525,000.

A board agenda is located at http://wyospcr.state.wy.us/CTF/index.aspx

Requests have come in from 21 communities in 16 counties. The applications cover the spectrum of culture in Wyoming, including requests to support the preservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings and sites, museum equipment and exhibition development, filmmaker and writer series, ethnic celebrations and festivals, and documentation of Wyoming's citizens with oral history projects.

WCTF Board members are David Reetz, Powell; Sara Needles, Laramie; Barbara Smith, Rock Springs; Mike Shonsey, Cheyenne; and Nancy Schiffer, Kaycee.

The Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund supports innovative projects for the enjoyment, appreciation, promotion, preservation and protection of the state's arts, cultural and historic resources.

For more information, you may contact Renee Bovee, administrator, at 307-777-6312 or via e-mail at rbovee@state.wy.us.

Grand opening set for Washakie Museum

WASHAKIE MUSEUM AND CULTURAL CENTER GRAND OPENING

2200 Big Horn Avenue, Worland, Wyoming

Opening Gala will be held on Friday, May 14, 7 p.m.-midnight. Tickets are now on sale.

Grand Opening Event will be held on Saturday, May 15, 1-5 p.m. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. No Admission Cost.

The Friday evening Opening Gala will be a celebration of the newest addition to the Big Horn Basin. Plan to attend this elegant event and celebrate the culmination of Newell B. Sargent’s dream. Events will include the dedication of bronze plaques for Legacy and Pioneer Society members, a performance of American Masterpieces by the Museum Singers, David Shaul--harpist, and dancing to the String Jumpers. Champagne and hors d' oeuvres and no-host bar. Semi-formal attire. $50 per person.

The Grand Opening Event on Saturday will be an open house for all to view the Permanent Exhibit Galleries and Tempory Exhibit. There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony, performance of American Masterpieces by the Museum Singers, and harpist David Shaul will perform.

"Dont Taze Me Bro" sings the Jalan Crossland Band in Casper Feb. 12

Jalan Crossland Band
February 12, 2010 • 7:30 p.m.
John F. Welsh Auditorium, Natrona County High School, Casper

Co-Sponsors: GAPWEST Broadcasting and the Parkway Plaza.

Partial funding is from the Wyoming Arts Council through the Wyoming State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Schneider Fund in the Wyoming Community Foundation, the McMurry Foundation, Natrona County School District No. 1, and the City of Casper.

"There ain't much to see in a small town, but what you hear sure makes up for it" is the old adage. In Ten Sleep WY, population 307, what you'll hear - more often than not - is a clanky old banjo ricocheting off the storefronts and buttes, like a renegade .22 rifle shell. This clamor is Jalan Crossland, local trailer park troubadour, spinning yarns and painting portraits of the lives and people of the rural Rocky Mountain West. "Gossip is even better when you sing it" says Jalan.

Crossland's primary tool of musical expression has always been the guitar. In 1997, Jalan placed 2nd at the Winfield, KS. National Fingerstyle Guitar Competition, and 1st in the state flatpicking contest of his Wyoming home. These added to dozens of regional championship awards, attest that his playing is"...so dexterous that when he stops at the end of a song, you realize you forgot to breathe"--The Weekly News, Rapid City SD.

Crossland's songs are vivid, first-hand accounts of life in the small towns and backcountry of 21st century America. Like the people they portray, the songs are tough and honest. They also reflect the tremendous heart and soul of their colorful characters. The sound glides along on the wheels of a country music clearly not to be mistaken for mainstream. Old-time and bluegrass are present, but treated to the creative freedom of rock-n-roll.

"More than just a great picker, Crossland's performances feature graceful delivery and genuine character"--Planet Jackson Hole, Jackson WY.

Crossland and his band have recorded 3 CDs; 'Poorboy Shanty', 'Moonshiner', and 'Trailer Park Fire & Other Tragedies'. They perform full-time, throughout the U.S., Europe and Australia. Jalan has opened on several tours with alt-country legend, Robert Earl Keen, and shared stages with many of the biggest musical acts in the nation.

Noted author/researcher Dr. Randall Eaton to speak at outdoor education symposium

Dr. Randall Eaton, author of "From Boys to Men of Heart: Hunting as Rite of Passage," will be the keynote speaker at the Big Horn Basin Outdoor Education Symposium on Saturday, Jan. 16. He will speak at the morning session at the Days Inn in Thermopolis at 10:05 a.m. His topic will be "Finding New Pathways in the Old." At 7:05 p.m. at the Worland Community Center, he will talk about "Hunting as a Rite of Passage."

Dr. Eaton has written and edited 14 books. They include "Cheetah: Biology, Behavior and Conservation of an Endangered Species (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1974), which was recognized by the American Library Association as “one of the outstanding scientific-technical books of 1974.” "The Cheetah: Fastest Race on Earth, (Dutton, 1981)" was recognized as “An outstanding science book for young readers,” by the National Science Teachers Association-Childrens Book Council Joint Committee.

Two other recent books are:
"The Orca Project: A Meeting of Nations," an anthology of story, essay and poetry, published in fall 1998.
"The Sacred Hunt: Hunting as a Sacred Path," a 1998 anthology of story, essay and poetry.

For more information of the symposium, contact Eric Decker, Worland, 307-347-3946 or eric.decker@wy.usda.gov

Washakie Museum grand opening events set for May 14-15, 2010

The staff at the Washakie Museum in Worland alerts the Wyoming Arts Council about its grand opening gala set for May 14, 2010, at the museum, 2200 Big Horn Avenue.

Tickets will be on sale in April.

Events will include the dedication of bronze plaques for Legacy and Pioneer Society members and the debut performance of the Washakie Museum Women’s Choir Group.

There also will be a grand opening public event on May 15.

FMI: http://www.washakiemuseum.org/

Worland artist influenced by Norman Rockwell magazine covers and life in the Big Horn Basin

"Young American Girl & Her Old Habits," oil and enamel on panel, 24"x48"

The Wyoming Arts Council's biennial fellowship exhibit will be on display Nov. 5-Jan. 9 at the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne. Opening reception will be on Thursday, Nov. 5, 4:30-6:30 p.m. at the museum. The event is free and open to the public.

The opening is just a week away. Wyomingarts will feature artist statements and a sample of each artist's work. Today we look at Worland artist David Henderson.

Artist Statement: David Henderson

My work is the exploration of humankind’s inherent self-destructive tendencies and the manner in which we sublimate our violent nature. I am also interested in the laws of attraction and the symbiotic relationships between people and their possessions and their environments, from the absurd and mundane to the absolute and imperfect. It is with these interests that I’ve approached the historic theme of pursuing the American Dream in a continuing series of paintings.

Inspired by the nostalgic and iconic imagery of Norman Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post cover illustrations depicting American life, I spent the summer of 2008 painting interpretations of the American Dreams of my Worland coworkers, friends, relatives and their children. Two of those paintings are “Self Portrait in Pursuit of the American Dream” and “Young American Girl & Her Old Habits.”

The process led me to this conclusion: For many Americans contending with the callous reality of such issues as economic recession, globalization, terrorism, foreign war, and wild technological advancements, the American Dream is an ethereal tool for survival.

I would like to continue this examination.

Washakie Museum & Cultural Center Events

Enter Laughing: A Comedy in Two Acts
Classic Comedy Dinner Theater
November 13 and 14, 2009, 7 p.m.
At the Washakie Museum, 1115 Obie Sue Avenue, Worland

Enter Laughing is a play by Joseph Stein and will be directed by Lew MarkleySet in the early days of the Depression, the story recounts the zany adventures of David Kolowitz, a delivery boy in a sewing machine factory, who decides his future is on the stage, despite his family's insistence that he become a druggist. David pursues his dream to an acting school run by a seedy old actor and his femme fatale daughter. The company makes him pay to act.
Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Carl Reiner, it centers on the journey of young aspiring actor David Kolowitz as he tries to extricate himself from overly protective parents (who want him to be a married pharmacist) and too many girlfriends, while struggling to meet the challenge of a lack of talent in 1930s New York City.
After two previews, the Broadway production, directed by Gene Saks, opened on March 13, 1963 at Henry Miller's Theatre, where it ran for 419 performances. The cast included Alan Arkin, Vivian Blaine, Sylvia Sidney, Michael J. Pollard, and Alan Mowbray.
Arkin won both the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play and the Theatre World Award for his performance. Reiner wrote the screenplay for and directed a 1967 film version starring Reni Santoni, José Ferrer, Shelley Winters, Elaine May, Jack Gilford, Janet Margolin, Don Rickles, David Opatoshu, and Michael J. Pollard. Santoni appeared in Kolowitz role, but it did not prove to be as much of a career springboard.
Enter Laughing was revived as a musical in 2008 as an off-Broadway production for a limited run. The New York Times praised the revival as "hilarious."

Théâtre Sans Fil - The Hobbit
Saturday, November 21, 2009
3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
At Worland's Middle School Auditorium

Who hasn’t heard of the superb trilogy of “The Lord of the Rings”? And now, THÉÂTRE SANS FIL has brought to life the story where it all began – “The Hobbit” – the wonderful journey of Bilbo Baggins to a new level of wisdom. This award-winning Tolkien fantasy will have a new, larger-than-life look with THÉÂTRE SANS FIL’s highly successful adaptation that has received standing ovations throughout the world.

Tickets: All Children & Students(K-12) $8.00 Adults &12.00
Tickets are available at the Washakie Museum, Hedge Music, Rocky Mountain Framing, Blue Wire Alltel, Kennedy Ace Hardware, and Worland True Value. Or by phone 347-4102

www.washakiemuseum.org