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. 

Fall WAC newsletter in mail

The latest issue of the Wyoming Arts Council newsletter is at the post office and should be in your mailboxes in the next couple of days. Read about Daniel Pink coming to Cheyenne, the Equality State BookFest that Mike has been blogging about for at least the last month, the new statue at the State Fairgrounds in Douglas, as well as Bruce Richardson's lively recap of the Michael Kaiser visit in Cheyenne. There are write-ups about Wyoming Writers, Inc., Julianne Couch's article on Wyoming writer's groups, Gretel Ehrlich's writing retreat, our featured Wyoming artists -- Tom Rea, Pravina Gondalia, and Wendy de la Harpe -- remembering Eva McAdams, Dutch Hop, Poetry Out Loud, Christmas Tree project and a list of awarded grants. If you'd like to look at it online go to http://wyoarts.state.wy.us/pdf/WAC_newsletter_fall_2010.pdf

Postmark deadline May 1 for Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund grants

The May 1, postmark grant deadline for Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund (WCTF) grant applications is rapidly approaching.

The WCTF can provide grant funding for all forms of arts and culture, including but not limited to, visual arts, performing arts, crafts, design arts, media arts, literature, folklife and traditional arts, humanities, historic and architectural preservation, community cultural celebrations and cultural corridors.

Applicants must be a Wyoming nonprofit or governmental organization and are available on the WCTF website, part of http://www.artsparkshistory.com/

The mission of the WCTF Board is to serve the citizens of the state by supporting Wyoming’s culture and heritage through grant funding of innovative projects for the enjoyment, appreciation, promotion, preservation and protection of the state’s arts, cultural and historic resources. The program will also look to support and invest in Wyoming institutions that support the state’s culture and heritage.

For additional information or a paper copy of the application, contact Renee Bovee, WCTC Administrator, at 307-777-6312. The application postmark deadline is May 1 for projects beginning after July 1.

Wild West Quilt Fest Feb. 6-7 in Riverton

Wyoming Star Quilt Guild presents the 8th annual Wild West Quilt Fest at Aspen Park Elementrary School, 1620 E. Sunset in Riverton on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 6-7. Times: Saturday 1-7 p.m.; Sunday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Event includes vendor mall, scissor sharpening, an array of beautiful quilts, silent auction tables. Alzquilt art pieces to be donated to the Alzheimers Foundation for reseach.

Free Admission, donations accepted. Peggy Albright, contact 307-857-3142

Winter 2010 Artscapes newsletter at the printer

(click for larger image)

The newsletter will be in the mail by end of January, but thought I'd give a preview here, and the PDF version can be seen on our homepage at http://www.wyomingartscouncil.org/. This issue features the 2009 Governor's Arts Awards recipients, as well as the Blanchan/Doubleday winners and runners'-up, the Folk Arts Mentorships awardees, and lots of other WAC news.

Other posts have talked about the GAA recipients, but they are saddlemaker Don Butler of Sheridan, Mayor Duane Evenson of Gillette, Naoma J. Tate of Cody, Louise Wesswick of Rock Springs, and Wyoming Educator of Secondary Theatre (WEST).

Kaycee's Georgie Sicking in the news

In a Nov. 13 article on the Cowboy Legacy web site, Elladean Hays Bittner wrote a story on a series of interviews with Arizona ranch women. One of those interviewees was cowboy poet Georgie Sicking of Kaycee, Wyo. (pictured above), who spent most of her life in Arizona. To read the article and see accompanying photos, go to http://www.cowboylegacy.org/articles/ElladeanHaysBittner (this is a registration site).

Coincidentally, Katherine T. Feiten (former intern with the WAC's folk arts program), wrote an interview with Georgie Sicking that will be featured in the next issue of the WAC's Wyoming Artscapes newsletter, which is due out next week. If you don't receive the print copy of the newsletter, look for the digital version of it on the WAC's web site some time in December. Go to http://www.wyomingartscouncil.com

Send titles of new books by Wyoming authors

Editors of the WAC's Artscapes newsletter are looking for information on new books by Wyoming authors to include in the August issue. We're specifically interested in fall titles, due to be released September through December, 2009. Please e-mail the following info to either Linda Coatney or Mike Shay by July 31: Book title, author, ISBN number, category (romance, poetry, children's, etc.) and projected release date.

We are always interested in books, publications, exhibits, concerts, performances or any news about creative people in Wyoming. Just send it our way.

Artscapes on line

The Wyoming Arts Council's newsletter, Artscapes in now online. Just go to our website. On the left hand side there is a link to click on which takes you to the page where each issue is listed. Click on the issue you'd like to read.

Happy birthday to us

The WAC's wyomingarts blog turns two on Sunday, March 1.

The first post of 1,863 was on March 1, 2007, about the National Endowment for the Arts' $10,000 grant to Young Musicians, Inc., in Evanston. That's 900-some a year, with posts made every working day and some weekends. Over time, we've grown better at this job, especially when it comes to posting photos. Now we just have to figure our videos and podcasts. We're now on Twitter (see bottom of right sidebar), which gives us yet another e-venue to promote the state's artists and arts organizations.

The blog has its roots in the weekly Wyolitmail e-mail newsletter I wrote and edited from 1999-2006. Later, my former colleague Liliane Francuz started Artmail for visual artists. We discontinued both of those in late 2006, and replaced them with wyomingarts and a new full-color quarterly print newsletter, Artscapes.

Please e-mail us your news and events listings and photos. We'll put them on the blog. Often we pick up news from blog posts for Artscapes.

Thanks for joining us on the blogosphere.

---Michael Shay

Fall issue of Wyoming Artscapes out

Back cover, Artscapes. Graphic Designer, Laura Patridge

Fall issue of the newsletter is out. Read managing editor Mike Shay's absorbing recap of Salman Rushdie's talk during his visit to Laramie on September 25.

Fused glass class article by editor Linda Coatney.

Director Rita Basom talked about the upcoming 2009 Arts Summit.

Arts Council Board Chair Bruce Richardson finishes up his advocacy series with the third installment, "Jerry the Auto Mechanic Sing Opera: Artist/Workers and Worker/Artists in Wyoming."

Other articles include the Wyoming Governors' portrait unveiling, Piatigorsky mini-tour, the Poetry Out Loud state competition in Cheyenne, Aboriginal Elder Yidumduma Bill Harney's visit to UW, and the State Museum permanent works exhibit.

The artist spotlights were on Kevin Holdsworth, a writer living in Green River who is professor of English at WWCC and director of Western American Studies; the classic cowboy music group, Bar J Wranglers from Wilson, Wyoming; and Florence McEwin, also a Green River resident and professor of art and gallery director at WWCC.

Folk Arts intern Pamela Sari, wrote about Diwali Nite at UW. Reba Jo Teran of Ft. Washakie received a coveted Folk Arts grant.

Don't forget about the Governor's Arts Awards celebration in Cheyenne, February 13, 2009. Our next issue, out in late January, will profile all of the awardees.

If you'd like to get on the newsletter mailing list, call Evangeline at (307) 777-7742.

WAC board chair receives teaching accolade

Bruce Richardson, the WAC board chair and the UW/CC English instructor at Casper College has won an Arts & Sciences Award for Extraordinary Merit in Teaching. Bruce teaches a huge array of courses to undergraduates in Casper. Bruce is an extraordinary teacher. He's articulate and generous, both extremely important qualities for teachers to have.

Bruce has also written a series of articles for the WAC newsletter on the topic of advocacy for the arts, of which he is very passionate and knowledgeable. These have become widely distributed to advocacy organizations and agencies. Bruce also is on the board of the National Association of State Arts Agencies.

New WAC artists' roster available online

The online version of the new Wyoming Arts Council artists' roster is available for your perusal at http://wyoarts.state.wy.us/artistroster0809/artistrosterlist08.htm.

WAC added eight new artists to the 2008-2009 roster, adding up to 57 talented Wyoming musicians, poets, storytellers, visual artists, dancers, and performing groups. You can choose an artist, and then bring him/her/them to your community through the WAC's Arts Across Wyoming grant category. Go here to apply.

The print version of the roster will be mailed with the August issue of Wyoming Artscapes, the WAC's quarterly newsletter.

FMI: 307-777-7742.

First edition of WAC's newsletter has arrived

The Wyoming Arts Council is proud to announce the arrival of the first edition of our full color newsletter, Wyoming Artscapes. Read about the 25th anniversary celebration of the Governor's Arts Awards; the upcoming Arts Summit taking place in Casper; the community of Gillette and their commitment to arts development; three very talented artists in our artists' spotlight. We included an article about the Governor's Capitol Art Exhibition; the very successful American Masterpieces project, Dance Across Wyoming; and a couple of articles about the upcoming American Masterpieces project, The New Deal. Check out Wyoming's Poetry Out Loud program and the winning student, WAC's Art Gallery exhibit of the Wyoming High School Art Symposium, and the Piatigorsky Tour in Wyoming. We also included information about the Wyoming Association of Municipalities convention in Rock Springs. There is also a WAC news page with grant recipient information. We have also enclosed a pullout section of our artist roster, highlighting the 52 very talented artists that won their place there through a detailed and vigorous application and panel review process.

Copies will be in the mail this week. If you are not on our mailing list and would like a copy, please contact our office at (307) 777-7742. We'd be happy to send one to you. There will also soon be a link on our webpage -- newsletter -- that you can click on to read the entire edition on line.