WAC announces plans to go to online application process for artist roster

WAC roster artist Bob Berky, a theatrical clown, actor, director and educator from Jackson

Attention all new applicants to the 2013-2014 Wyoming Arts Council Artist Roster!

Attention all new applicants to the 2013-2014 Wyoming Arts Council Artist Roster!

We are excited to announce that the WAC has decided to move from a paper application to an online application process for the 2013-2014 Artist Roster. The online application will completed via CAFÉ (Call for Entry), a program provided by WESTAF (Western States Arts Federation) in Denver. CAFE also provides information about other opportunities for artists.

The online application process will be available soon!

Because of this change to CAFE, we are extending the deadline date for new applications from December 1 to December 14, 2012.

In the meantime, we would encourage all interested roster applicants to explore the CAFE site at http://www.callforentry.org. You can register for free, read CAFE's guidelines and start preparing your supporting material (audio/visual clips, art images, resumes, etc) NOW, so you will be ready to complete the new roster application as soon as it is available. The new online application will be similar to the  2012-2013 Artist Roster application at http://wyoarts.state.wy.us/Roster/HowToApply.aspx. Take a look at it to see what information you should be compiling.

Look for more information soon on the WAC web site and the blog!

Welcome to the fall line-up of literary events around the state

Temps are still in the 90s and it may still seem like summer but fall is just around the corner. As we get ready to swing into fall, it's time to give our readers a head's up about some new and continuing Wyoming events that feature writers and books.

Michael Lanza

Central Wyoming College will wrap up the summer with its first-ever Wind River Outdoor Writers Conference Aug. 24-25 at Sink's Canyon Center. Presenters include blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer, who has climbed the summit of the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. He will be the keynote speaker for the conference with a free public presentation at Lander Valley High School Auditorium on August 25 at 7 p.m. Other presenters are outdoor writers Michael Lanza and Shelli Johnson and editor Max Phelps.

Wyoming has two big fall literary events. The first has a long title: the Casper College/ARTCORE Equality State Book Festival and Literary Conference. The book festival takes place during even years, such as this one, offering readings, book signings, craft talks, panels, school visits by writers and a poetry slam. In odd years, Casper College and ARTCORE continue a decades-long partnership by putting on the literary conference, a series of workshops and craft talks by notable authors.

Pat Frolander

Among the Sept. 14-15 bookfest participants are state and regional favorites: Pat Frolander, current Poet Laureate for Wyoming; Zak Pullen, Cat Urbigkit, Kendra Spanjer and Karla Oceanak who will be making school visits; Alyson Hagy and David Romtvedt, faculty from University of Wyoming’s MFA program, who will give readings and lead craft talks; and essayist and poet Linda Hasselstrom. From further regions, we are also joined by Rebecca O’Connor and Renee d’Aoust. The Wyoming Arts Council presents the Creative Writing Fellowship awards, which were judged by soldier-poet Brian Turner, and celebrates poetry this year. The 2013 fellowship recipients, Matt Daly, Claudia Mauro and W. Dale Nelson, will read from their award-winning work with Turner on Friday, Sept. 14, 1-3 p.m., in the Goodstein Foundation Library. Our friends at the Natrona County Library are sponsoring a visit from Iraq War veteran and author Luis Carlos Montalvan. Turner will join Montalvan at a panel about soldier-writers on Saturday, Sept. 15, 10 a.m.

Speaking of soldier-writers.... One of America's best writers, Tim O'Brien, will be a featured presenter at the annual Literary Connection at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne Oct. 5-6. O'Brien is a Vietnam veteran best known for his novel, “The Things They Carried.” He will conduct a free writing workshop on Friday, Oct. 5, entitled “The Things We Carry.” John Calderazzo, a nature writer and essayist from Fort Collins, Colo., and fiction writer Cat Valente, will conduct other free workshops.

Every county library sponsors a series of events throughout the year. Connect with your local library through the Wyoming Library Asssociation. 

Mark Nowak

UW's creative writing program has a full slate of visiting writers, including Maggie Nelson, Mark Nowak, CA Conrad and Brian Leung. The program's fall schedule culminates on Nov. 9 with “Listening to Nature: an Evening of Readings and Visual Art by Scientists and Artists” features great writing and art focused on nature and the environment. Readers will include Chris Madsen, Emilene Ostlind, and Kristen Gunther. 

Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs sponsors its “Friday Night Live” literary series sponsored by the Louise Wesswick Foundation. English Professor and writer Rick Kempa does a great job coordinating these events. In February, WWCC hosted Utah author Katharine Coles who will also serve as judge for the 2013 Blanchan/Doubleday writing awards sponsored by the WAC (more info coming soon).

We have two statewide writing groups – WyoPoets and Wyoming Writers, Inc. – and they each sponsor annual conferences. WyoPoets conducts a writing workshop each spring and the WWInc conference launches the summer season the first weekend in June. The 2013 conference will be in Laramie.

The Jackson Hole WritersConference is held in late June and has become one of the foremost conferences in the country.

These are but the highlights of the Wyoming literary year. We’ll keep you posted as new events arise, and as conferences and events solidify their plans for 2013. If you have a literary event to publicize, let us know here at the WAC. We'll spread the word via this blog, Facebook, Twitter and our print newsletter. 

Cheyenne's 1st of the season Art Design and Dine tomorrow, April 12

Brave the rain, maybe even snow and hit the pavement tomorrow evening for Cheyenne's first of the season Art Design and Dine on April 12. Check out the website here for participating galleries, art venues, and businesses.

New artists join the 2012-2013 WAC Artist Roster

Summit Chamber Players

Twenty-one Wyoming artists were approved by the Wyoming Arts Council (WAC) Board to be included in the Council’s Artist Roster, which serves as a resource for communities seeking artists for festivals, performances and other types of art programs. Seventy-nine artists complete the 2012-2013 roster.

Robert Berky

New Roster Artists include performing artists: Summit Chamber Players and Verismo Trio, both classical chamber music groups from Laramie; Amy Gorbey, Cheyenne, a director and producer of youth theater camps and after school programs; Robert Berky, Jackson, an actor, theatrical clown and playwright; Fat City Mardi Gras Band, Riverton, New Orleans style and early jazz music; Flores De Colores, Cheyenne, a Mexican folkloric dance group; Scott Bragonier, Cody, Jared Rogerson, Pinedale, and Dave Munsick, Dayton, cowboy singer/songwriters.

Dan Hayward

Visual artists include, from Laramie: Larry W. Hazlett, a theater and technical design consultant; Daniel Hayward, photographer; and Mary Maynard, tatter and needle artist. Dave Buckles, Cody, wildlife woodcarver; Curt Theobald, Pine Bluffs, segmented woodturner; Joshua Ray Smith, Rawlins, sculptural and public art installations; Aaron Wallis, Jackson, works in printmaking, silkscreening and letterpress; Terry Kreuzer, Cheyenne, ceramist and sculptor; and David Osmundsen, Buffalo, an artist blacksmith.

Dave Buckles

Literary artists include Pat Frolander, Wyoming’s Poet Laureate; Eugene Gagliano, Buffalo, poet and children’s author; and Barbara Smith, Rock Springs, poet and creative non-fiction writer.

WAC Roster Artists are selected through a rigorous panel process that rates artists on art professionalism, presentation, expression and subject matter. Artists represent a wide range of art forms, cultural and ethnic programs and presentation styles. Organizations can apply to the WAC’s Artists Across Wyoming grant category to bring a Wyoming roster artist into their communities and schools for performances, readings, workshops, presentations and more.

For more information on the Artist Roster, go to the WAC’s web site at www.wyomingartscouncil.org or call the Council office at 307-777-7742.

Latest issue of Jackson Hole Review now online

AddThe fall 2011 issue of the Jackson Hole Review is now online. It features two poems by Wyoming Poet Laureate Emeritus David Romtvedt, along with an interview by Editor Matthew Irwin. Also is this issue are art, stories and poems, including one by Rick Kempa of Rock Springs. Go here to read the issue online. 

Jan. 13 University of Wyoming MFA Program reading features Adam Boucher and Irina Zhorov

The University of Wyoming MFA program presents Graduate Student Reading Series #28.

At Riflemaker’s Showroom, 201 S. 2nd St., Laramie, on Friday, Jan. 13, 7-9 p.m.

This event is free and open to the public.

Readers will include Adam Boucher and Irina Zhorov, music by Trash Canyon and the Honey Bees.

FMI: Gwynn Lemler, cw@uwyo.edu, 307-766-6453

Open Window Literary magazine debuts Dec. 20 at Night Heron Books in downtown Laramie

Lori Howe sends this news:

We are excited to announce that the first issue of Open Window literary magazine will debut on Tuesday, Dec. 20. We invite everyone to help us celebrate with a gala opening and reading at Night Heron Books in downtown Laramie. Please join us for appetizers and drinks in the Night Heron Café from 6-7 p.m., and enjoy hearing our authors read their work in the salon upstairs from 7-8:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Here is the list of readers:

Bret Norwood
Hanz Olson
Thomas Glasco (Poet Laureate)
Aaron Holst
Bridget Hardy
Lindsay Sweley
Michael Basinger
Melissa Lamey
Caleb Bristol
Dylan Robinson
Oscar Lilley
Sunnie Gaylord
Samantha Pratt
Jason Deiss
Kade Hornbuckle


Visit Open Window on Facebook. 

Haiku makes it to NYC traffic signs

New York City Department of Transportation announced a new traffic safety campaign called “Curbside Haiku.
The department is installing 216 signs featuring colorful artwork and haiku poems at high-crash locations near cultural institutions and schools citywide.
“We’re putting poetry into motion with public art to make New York City’s streets even safer,” said department commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. “These signs complement our engineering and education efforts to create a steady rhythm for safer streets in all five boroughs.”

These poetic signs will deliver safety messages for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists.

For example, a sign featuring the silhouette of walking man is paired with the following haiku to remind pedestrians to follow and respect traffic safety rules when crossing the street: “Too averse to risk / To chance the lottery, yet / Steps into traffic.”
Another poem asks bicyclists to beware of open car doors: “A sudden car door/ Cyclist’s story rewritten/ Fractured narrative.”

“Curbside Haiku seeks to merge public art with public awareness to infuse a bit of beauty and joy into the public sphere with the images while underscoring the realities of the message with poetry,” said John Morse, the artist who designed these safety signs.
The signs are being installed in all five city boroughs, including near Brooklyn’s Transit Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Bronx Museum/Grand Concourse, New York Botanical Garden and Manhattan’s Studio Museum of Harlem.

People are lining up to apply for the Wyoming Arts Council's Artist Roster. Are you?

Application deadline is December 1, 2011
for the 2012-2013 Artist Roster.

Link to the application

Take a gander at the print roster