UUCC WinterMart Dec. 14-15 offers local handmade wares for the holidays

Gifts made by artists, crafts people and other vendors of handmade wares can be found at the annual Unitarian Universalist Church of Cheyenne WinterMart, 3005 Thomes Avenue, December 14-15, Friday 4:30-6:30 pm, Saturday 9:00 am-4:00 pm. Lunch and baked goods will be available. Proceeds benefit programs supported by UUCC. For information, call Terry at (307) 214-3932, UUCC at (307) 638-4554 or go to www.uucheyenne.org.

Think "local arts" on Small Business Saturday

On Nov. 24 (or any day) in Wyoming, shop small, shop locally, shop creatively. Check out the links on our sidebar for artists, performers and writers in your community. Buy a homegrown painting, a CD, a book! Buy your loved one a ticket to a local play or concert. See more ideas on the Small Business Saturday Facebook page. You can get free downloadable signage at www.shopsmall.com. 

Nov. 16 Casper meeting to focus on forming a "Wyoming First" cooperative

A Touch of Home by Wyoming is looking for Wyoming First members interested in selling their products as part of a cooperative store in Casper. This cooperative would be the first of its kind in the state in which Wyoming-made product businesses, local business owners and the community would work together to build, run and support a store front to showcase the talents of the people here in our great state. It will be a membership-driven, locally sponsored and privately-marketed-and-advertised cooperative. With the assistance of the Wyoming Business Council, Wyoming Small Business Development Center, and others, the cooperative will provide an economically feasible way for all the Wyoming-made product businesses to have a store front, centrally located within the state.

It is anticipated a yearly membership fee and a 20% consignment fee on individual company sales, sponsorships from locally owned businesses will help with the overhead costs of the store, provide for individual trade shows, events, building the store front, marketing and advertising of the Cooperative.

Members receive:
• full access in the running of the Cooperative
• opportunity to sit on the board of directors
• design own displays
• set up individual shows
• create group shows and events
• work your own schedule

As a cooperative members would own a store front without having to spend 8+ hours a day away from creating art and products and the running of their own store.

The opportunity exists for this type of cooperative to be developed in communities across the state who could work together to bring more awareness to “Buy Wyoming” within the state. You are invited to an event on Friday, November 16, at the Eastridge Mall in Casper to see the location and network with other interested Wyoming First members. The meeting will be from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

If you would like more information on this opportunity or are interested in attending contact Perry White at ipwhite1008@gmail.com or 307-287-4534.

And buy work by local artists and artisans

From http://www.facebook.com/NationalMainStreetCenter

Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival offers live stream Feb. 29 of TED Conference

Join us on Wednesday, February 29, for a FREE live stream of day two of the TED Conference in Long Beach.

This is a FREE event made possible by the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and the Center for the Arts. Pick up tickets at the Center for the Arts box office. FMI: 307-733-4900.

The Lab: 9:30 – 11:15 am

Henrik Schärfe, Roboticist
Regina Dugan, Director of DARPA
Jack Choi, Technologist
Marco Tempest ,Techno Illusionist
Donald Sadoway, Materials Engineer

The Earth: 12:00 – 1:45 pm
Karen Bass, Natural History Filmmaker
Sharon Beals, Anthropologist
Wade Davis, Ethnobotanist
James Hansen, Climatologist
T. Boone Pickens, Entrepreneur & Energy Theorist
Civilians Investigative Theatre, Theater Company

The Crowd: 3:15-5 pm
Reid Hoffman, Social Entrepreneur
Lior Zoref, Crowdsourcing Advocate
Reggie Watts, Vocalist/Beatboxer/Comedian
Frank Warren, Secret Keeper
Cameron Carpenter, Organist

The City 2.0: 6 – 7:45pm
JR, Street Artist
Edward Glaeser, Economist
Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro
Suja Lowenthal, Vice Mayor of Long Beach
Mama Foundation for the Arts: Gospel for Teens Choir, Teen Choir

"New West Art Show" opens Feb. 22 in Cheyenne's Hynds Building

“New West Art Show” at the Hynds 1602 Capitol Avenue Cheyenne. 

Featuring the work of 15 artists. Rachael Eastman, Don Hendricksen, Terry Kreuzer, Phillippa K. Lack, Edward Marron, Mike McIntosh, Lynn Newman, Sally Newman, Connie Norman, Do Palma, Win Ratz, Jennifer Rife, Kevin Robinett, Georgia Rowswell, Laurel Shelley-Ruess. 

Public reception this Wednesday, February 22, from 5:30 till 7:30 p.m. 

FMI: 630-4077.

Register now for Americans for the Arts 2012 convention in San Antonio

From Americans for the Arts:

The New Normal—we hear about it every day, but what does it mean to your organization?

The 2012 Americans for the Arts Annual Convention this June 8–10 in San Antonio, TX will bring together more than 1,000 arts and community leaders to focus on how the arts field can function, change, and thrive in The New Normal—a landscape of economic uncertainty and shifting demographics.

Register before the early-bird deadline, April 27, to save up to $175! Plus, register now and receive $50 off a second registration for a colleague. Check out all the Ways to Save and book your hotel room today!

Add the culinary arts to Cheyenne's arts listings

Local arts meet local foods at http://artsalliancecheyenne.com/culinary-artists-in-greater-cheyenne-2/ 

Food, arts, crafts and music at Cheyenne Winter Farmers' Market Jan. 7

What: Cheyenne Winter Farmers’ Market 

Where: Inside the Cheyenne Downtown Depot

When: Saturday, Jan. 7, 10 a.m.–2 p.m

Details: The Winter Farmers’ Market offers products grown, raised or crafted within 150 miles of Cheyenne. It will provide an opportunity to purchase locally grown all-​​natural beef, lamb, turkey, bison, farm fresh eggs, honey, along with locally crafted artisan breads, jams, jellies, tamales, empanadas, tortillas, soup and chili, jewelry, natural skin care, handmade wreaths, baskets and much more. Come and stay for lunch, for more information call 307.649.2430.

Year in Review: Public art projects blossomed throughout the state in 2011

It was a big year for public art projects in Wyoming. Wyomingarts reported on a number of them across the state but still missed a few. The best-known one probably was the environmental-themed artwork at UW by British land artist Chris Drury. Carbon Sink: What Goes Around, Comes Around was installed by the artist in July. The event was filmed by a UWTV and is available on the Art Museum's webpage and YouTube page. "Carbon Sink" has become a big tourist draw, when it isn't covered by snow.

In Jackson, internationally renowned landscape architect Walter Hood (shown in photo) was brought in to design the new sculpture trail for the National Museum of Wildlife Art. Known for his innovative and people-friendly designs of such high-profile public spaces as the grounds for the De Young Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, Hood conducted a public presentation in July to share insights into his philosophy about creating multitasking public spaces that are both respectful of the land and rooted in their communities. The Wyoming Arts Council staff and board visited the sculpture trail in November as part of its quarterly board meeting in Jackson. Some of the artwork will be installed this summer, with others being added to the trail as they're completed. 

Murals were big in 2011. Big murals were even bigger. Cheyenne downtown developer Ed Murray commissioned a multi-story mural of a cherub. Influences for the mural range from Italian Renaissance artwork to the cherubs that were popular in Wild West saloons. The mural was painted by Tennessee muralist Michael Cooper. Video of the dedication ceremony was filmed by Alan O'Hashi.


The Pinedale Fine Arts Council launched its public art program with a downtown mural painted by some local youngsters. Upcoming projects include a giant machine gun constructed by metal artist JB Bond from a junkyard truck carcass.

A series of three murals cropped up in Laramie. One of them was actually about crops, the people who grow and harvest them, to be exact. Laramie artist Talal Cockar's "Tierra y Libertad" (pictured above) was the first of this mural series and was sponsored by the University of Wyoming Art Museum and the Laramie Main Street Alliance. Located on the north exterior wall of Big Hollow Food Co-op, 119 S. First St., Cockar's mural recognizes natural foods and agriculture and is a tribute to the land and the people who work it. The Laramie Mural Project is an extension of the Art Museum's "Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational" exhibition of public art that opened in 2008. Cockar has studied and created street art using different media for more than 10 years and has done work in various social and cultural settings all over the world.

David R. Nelson's mountain lion

The Wyoming Arts Council's State’s Art in Public Buildings "1 percent for Art" program really took off in 2011. Three bronze pieces by part-time Lander artist David R. Nelson were dedicated at the new welcome center along I-90 near Hulett. The new Military Readiness Command Center and Wyoming Game & Fish buildings all have new artwork, both outside and inside. The new welcome center on I-25 south of Cheyenne will have some outdoor sculpture along with its unique architecture -- the artist has been selected from a field of eight and the selection will be announced early in 2012. More projects are expected in the new year. The program 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.

John Frechette's glass wall

Speaking of welcome centers.... Jackson's new tourist info center -- Home Ranch -- will feature a new artwork by John Frechette. The installation includes two exterior walls of glass tiles made by Frechette, who works out of Factory Studios run by the Teton ArtLab. The pair of installations represent grizzly bear and bison DNA. This is just one of the innovative projects undertaken by the Jackson Hole Public Art Initiative. Others include The Poetry Box (also built by Frechette), located in the Valley Bookstore, and fanciful bike racks located throughout town and out at the National Museum of Wildlife Art. Here's how the JH Public Art Initiative describes itself: "As a result of our efforts the value of public art as a cultural tourism driver and creative placemaking tool has been recognized by our elected officials. Public art is part of the Managed Growth section of the Teton County Comprehensive Plan. Public art will be integrated into public spaces adding character and highlighting our shared values. Thank you to all our elected officials and planning departments for their diligent work on the new plan. Grant received this year:  Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund for supporting our efforts to develop guidelines for public art in the Town of Jackson and Teton County. Award: $10,060. 1% for the Tetons and members are supporting our initiative to install art about the environment on the Community Pathways system. Award: $9,635. The Wyoming Arts Council is providing support for the Cultural Diversity Mural and Town as Heart Projects. Award: $6,200."

Buffalo has a unique public art program. The “Walkabout Gallery” is co-sponsored by the Buffalo Downtown Association and the Johnson County Arts & Humanities Council. Vikki Chenette, vice president of the JCAHC, says that the "Walkabout Gallery" is a bit different than most traditional public art projects. "We think that people will be surprised and delighted to find these little things" around town, she said. One of those is David Romtvedt's poem "Falling Asleep," affixed to the brick wall outside of his wife Margo Brown's pottery shop. David, who recently stepped down from his position as Wyoming Poet Laureate, told the Buffalo Bulletin that "it is neat to see it where people wouldn't necessarily go hunting for poems." 

Photo by Dan Cepeda, Casper Star-Tribune

Casper is incorporating a public art space into the construction of a new low-income housing development across from the Nicolaysen Art Museum near downtown. Casper developer Steve Grimshaw says that he just wants to be a "responsible builder." To that end, he hired contractor Pete Peterson to recycle whatever he could from the old KC Apartments that were being demolished to make way for the new Sunshine Apartments near downtown. Peterson was able to recycle 83 percent of the building. That included concrete that was crushed to go into the foundations of the new building. Also claw-foot bathtubs, cabinets, door locks and faucet handles. Also salvaged were old cement slabs (shown above) stamped with the date "1917" that will pave the new public arts space that is part of the project. A coalition of Casper organizations recently received a National Endowment for the Arts grant for the arts space. Read entire article at http://trib.com/news/local/casper/developer-recycles-notorious-casper-apartment/article_e504182e-4cd8-55b8-bf54-6d72b0b292a1.html#ixzz1h5EsEb00

Shop locally in downtown Laramie during Mistletoe Mosey

Night Heron Books is one of the Downtown Laramie businesses
 participating in the Mistletoe Mosey through  Dec. 23

From the Wyoming Lifestyle blog:

Have you purchased your Mistletoe Mosey button in Downtown Laramie yet? You can learn more about the program in our upcoming winter issue of Wyoming Lifestyle Magazine, but in the meantime, here’s some information about one of Downtown Laramie’s energetic and successful programs that links the business owners together, as well as with the community!

Primed for an enthusiastic repeat of 2010’s success, the Mistletoe Mosey was launched on Black Friday (Nov. 25) and will run until 6 p.m. on Dec. 23.  The program is simple, and a lot of fun:  purchase a button with your favorite number on it, and search through 50 participating businesses (buttons can be purchased for $5 at any participating business).  Match the number on your button to the number displayed at one of the stores for a chance to win a $50 prize!  You’ll also be entered into a drawing for $1,000 in downtown gift certificates. The Grand Prize Drawing will take place at the First Street Plaza in Downtown Laramie on December 24 at 11 a.m.  Businesses will also be offering extended hours on Tuesdays during December – shop until 7 p.m. on these days for extra time to search for that number! Participating is easy and fun – plus you can take care of your holiday shopping and support the local economy at the same time.

As a thank you for shopping local, bring your gifts to the Laramie Main Street Alliance office at 207 Grand Ave. for free gift wrapping Dec. 10-23, Monday through Saturday, 2-6 p.m. and Dec. 24, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Be sure to visit Downtown Laramie on Facebook and if you’re in Laramie, get your button today! Whether you’re in Laramie or not, remember to SHOP LOCALLY and give your friends & neighbors your business whenever you can this holiday season!

"Children of Haiti" exhibition features "portrait days," puppet show and reception

From Clay Paper Scissors Gallery & Studios in Cheyenne:

Clay Paper Scissors has a lot going on this December, and we hope to see you come by at some point this month. We'll be open during Art Design & Dine from 5-8 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 8, and also on Dec. 10 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and Dec. 17 from 3-5 p.m. We are also open by appointment -- just call 307-631-6039 to set up a time.

We are featuring a show of portraits by Cheyenne artist Paula Egan-Wright called Children of Haiti. These wistful and winsome portraits are being sold as a fundraiser for the new Kay Lesli school for orphans in Haiti. Clay Paper Scissors is donating part of the commission on every piece sold from this show to the project. Additionally, we will be offering some items by local artists that will make great gifts for yourself or someone on your list! We have bright and useful tote bags, beautiful functional pottery, lovely seasonal cards and jewelry for yourself or that special someone. All these items are by Wyoming artists -- most local here in Cheyenne! Support your local artists for Christmas!

Paula Egan-Wright is offering a couple of opportunities to have your portrait -- or that of someone you love--done! Portraits are by donation with proceeds supporting the Kay Lesli school in Haiti. Paula will be available on a first come, first serve basis on Dec. 10 from 11:15-1 p.m. and on Dec. 17 from 3-5 p.m. These portraits make unique gifts for grandparents or a special someone. Bring your children or grandchildren down to sit!

On Dec. 10, Paula Egan-Wright and students will present a puppet show called "The Magic Orange Tree." This short show is a Haitain folktale that paints a portrait of life in Haiti, all the while  touching on several contemporary issues—superstition, the oppression of children, and the public responsibility for meeting the needs of children. The play features several Caribbean melodies and will be performed with puppets by seven dedicated students. It will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 10 and is open to the public. Donations benefiting the Kay Lesli school for orphans in Haiti will be gratefully accepted. 

On Dec. 17, 3-5 p.m., there will be an artist reception for Children of Haiti. Paula Egan-Wright will be there doing portraits for donations. These quick portraits make wonderful gifts -- anyone can sit, and all donations benefit the Kay Lesli school. In addition, the vocal trio Just Friends will sing a few syncopated melodies from the islands and some Christmas tunes to add to the ambiance. 

Arts Incubator of the Rockies may help young Wyoming creatives find ways to stay in the state

Dance Theatre at University Center for the Arts at CSU

Editor's Note: This is the second post in a two-part series about the Arts Incubator of the Rockies (AIR) project.


Three Fort Collins, Colo., entities have banded together to create the Arts Incubator of the Rockies. State arts agency staffers (including the WAC’s Michael Shay and Rita Basom) joined them last week because we’re all trying to look ahead rather than behind. Our futures depend on it.

Traditional art forms are on the decline, and have been for at least a decade. Symphonies, opera, ballet, art museums, and all the rest see declining attendance. The audiences that remain are older. Expenses continue to climb. 

On the other hand, art schools continue to crank out record numbers of artists and writers and musicians. The supply side is thriving. The traditional demand side is shrinking. But a survey by Julliard shows that only 10 percent of music grads stay in the industry.

Beet Street in Fort Collins is trying to breathe some new life into both the creation and the presentation of the arts. They are joined in this regional endeavor by the CSU School of the Arts and the City of Fort Collins. They were partners in a successful National Endowment for the Arts' Our Town grant that brings $100,000 to the AIR effort. The Western States Arts Federation in Denver and nine state arts agencies gathered in F.C. last week to discuss our involvement.

In our previous post, we outlined some of the core and potential programs that will be addressed by AIR. The major physical effort will be the renovation of the old Carnegie Library into a regional arts center.

WAC staffers toured the building on Thursday. It's one of a cluster of historic buildings in City Park. Next door is the sprawling county library, which once was housed in the Carnegie Building, as was the case in hundreds of American towns and cities.

Exhibits, archives and storage for the Fort Collins Museum are now crammed into the Carnegie. All of it, along with the staff, will move to the new 47,000-square-foot Fort Collins Museum and Discovery Science Center by the summer. This new public-private partnership will feature interactive exhibits that blend history and science. It also has a new Digital Dome Theatre that is part planetarium and part IMAX

Meanwhile, back at the Carnegie, Beet Street's Beth Flowers tells us about the plans for the space. It will feature physical classrooms, a virtual learning center, an AIR resource center, Beet Street offices, black box theatre, gallery and other public spaces. The city owns the building so will maintain and manage it. CSU will conduct community-based continuing ed courses as well as classes that will feed into its new minor in Arts Business and Leadership and Master of Music in Arts Leadership and Administration.

Yet to be decided is how neighboring states fit into the equation. We spent two days last week discussing options in the newly renovated Lincoln Center. Wyoming trains scads of artists at its lone four-year public university and its many community colleges. How will AIR serve them? 

Architect's drawing of exterior of new
UW visual arts building

The University of Wyoming could have its own CSU-like "A" for "Agricultural" on a mountain if one were close enough to campus. And that "A" could stand for "Arts." UW is in the midst of a complete revamping of its arts infrastructure. The massive new visual arts building, located strategically next to the award-winning UW Art Museum, will open in January. The old fine arts building will get a complete renovation over the course of the new two years. The English Department's creative writing program (ranked No. 30 in the nation by Poets & Writers mag) continues to be housed in the oldest building on campus (go figure).

Beefed-up endowments bring amazing performers, artists and writers to campus. Internationally-renowned dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones wraps up his UW residency this month. Rebecca Solnit, Camille Dungy, Colson Whitehead and Salman Rushdie have taught young writers the past few years. Visual artists such as Jesus Moroles, Deborah Butterfield and Ursula von Rydingsvard have taught at UW and their sculptures have been featured on campus.

But the problem remains. UW does not have an arts administration degree program. And students still get a limited exposure to the business side of the arts. Some will get teacher certification and teach. Some will go on to master's and Ph.D. programs and teach. Many others will want to make a living as artists and will have to figure it out for themselves.

We in Wyoming have an option that other regional players don't have -- we're right down the road from the AIR project in Fort Collins. Those arts business courses will be nearby. Some will be offered online, too. But since you're already traveling down snow-clogged roads to go to the hookah bar, why not take a workshop while you're there?

At last week's meeting, we talked extensively about ways that state arts agencies such as the Wyoming Arts Council could help sponsor AIR courses. Wyoming students could attend physical classes in F.C. Or maybe some of those courses could be offered at UW in some sort of cooperative agreement with border rival CSU. We talked about a partnership among regional land-grant universities -- all of our states have one.

We have hundreds of talented artists in Wyoming. We also have a problem with our college grads moving out of state to start careers in Denver, Salt Lake City, L.A., and Portland. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could find ways for our homegrown creatives to stay in Casper and Pinedale and Evanston? They will need business acumen to do so. Luck helps, too. But what's that famous saying about luck? "The harder I work the luckier I get." Maybe that should be: "The smarter I work the luckier I get."

We all need to work smarter in tough times. AIR could be one of the ways to work smarter. Wouldn't it be great if Cheyenne could claim a new motto that said: "Cheyenne: Where Fort Collins buys art and attends arts events." Maybe even this: "Cheyenne: Where Cheyenne shops and buys art and attends arts events." 

Wyomingarts will keep you posted on AIR developments. 

Potential partners for the Arts Incubator of the Rockies (AIR) project meet in Fort Collins

The historic Carnegie Building, once home to the Fort Collins Public Library, will house the new Arts Incubator of the Rockies. 

Wyoming Arts Council staffers Michael Shay and Rita Basom attended a two-day meeting last week in Fort Collins, Colo., about the Arts Incubator of the Rockies. Arts types from nine states came to town to brainstorm ideas for the AIR. This multi state effort aims to turbo-charge the region's artists and arts organizations and is being spearheaded by a triumvirate of Ft Collins entities: Beet Street, the City of Fort Collins and Colorado State University School of the Arts.

It's a great thing when an arts organization, a city government and a major land-grant university get together to forge a plan for the future. A rare thing, too. Together they applied to the National Endowment for the Arts and received a $100,000 Our Town grant. They then invited their neighbors from WY, CO, NM, UT, ID, MT, NE, NV, SD and ND to town to talk about next steps. The only state not interested (for now anyway) was Nebraska.

Fort Collins can brag about its arts and culture scene. This city of 140,000 sprawls along the Poudre River Valley and butts up against the Front Range of the Rockies. There's a big "A" up on the mountain that gets a fresh coat of whitewash every year from CSU students. The "A" stands for the "Agricultural" in Colorado A&M, the school’s previous name.

These days the "A" up on the hill could stand for "Arts."

This mid-size city features an amazing array of arts facilities and arts orgs. During the course of our meetings, we discovered that it boasts some two-dozen performing arts groups, some you may have heard of (Open Stage Theatre, Bas Bleu Theatre, Fort Collins Symphony) and some that you haven’t (Fort Collins Youth Jazz Project, Tower Quartet, Andrew Vogt Gypsy Street Trio).

During our first day in Fort Collins, we toured a few of the arts facilities. One belongs to the U, the renovated Fort Collins High School that now houses the University Center for the Arts, or UCA. Our tour guide on Thursday was Jennifer Clary, a graduate of both the old FCHS and the new CSU arts school. She now works at the UCA.

We watched a faculty chamber group as they warmed up in the Organ Recital Theatre for an upcoming concert. We saw the student Symphonia rehearse for its performance of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. Great acoustics in the 550-seat Edna Rizley Griffin Concert Hall. Great facilities overall for music and dance and theatre. Also a fine visual arts museum.

During our meeting, CSU School of the Arts Co-Director Dr. Todd Queen quoted from a Julliard study that found that only 10 percent of music school students stay in the industry after graduation. It's tough out there for a musician -- we all know that. It's tough out there for a poet and a dancer and a painter.

But what if there were other ways to an artist to make a living as an artist? What if we could shift away from the paradigm of "starving artist?"

That is a major goal of AIR.

Arts students need help with the big "B" of "business." They need to find new ways to promote themselves as artists which then will free up time for them to do their art. This is nothing new. Vincent Van Gogh painted up a storm but couldn't make a living -- his brother Theo had to keep him in bread and cheese.

In the arts, it is all about you pursuing your passion. It also can be about forging a career in the arts world. Not just as a fall-back strategy but as something that a student does on purpose. It may include teaching but it very well may not.

This is what is appealing about AIR: It addresses both of these tracks through workshops, classes, networking, coaching, mentoring, outreach and internships. It seeks to enlist professionals to mentor those in their field. It will look at ways to provide shared professional services, investment capital and revolving loan funds. It may enlist celebrity actors and musicians and writers to promote AIR goals. It may sponsor local and regional conferences.

The discussion is only beginning. In our next post, wyomingarts will address some of the ways that AIR plans to incubate regional artists and arts orgs in the West. We’ll also look at the role that Fort Collins itself is playing in the Rocky Mountain West's arts and cultural renaissance. It's not all about "beers, bikes and (snow)boards" -- but all of those "B" words feed "A" energy (as in "Arts").

For another perspective on the AIR project, read Leanne Goebel's Nov. 10 post on Adobe Airstream.

Made in Wyoming: Laurie Thal's glass art

Laurie Thal shows how glass-blowing is done at her Teton Couty studio.

Laurie Thal (right) takes on a new glass-blowing apprentice in Rita Basom, manager of the Wyoming Arts Council. Laurie was holding studio tours this past weekend in which groups are invited to her studio and people can blow their own Christmas tree ornaments. This continues through the holiday season. FMI: www.thalglass.com

Wyoming Arts Council Manager Rita Basom (left) talks about glass blowing with Laurie Thal at her studio and gallery near Wilson. Some of her award-winning glass art lines the table in foreground.