New co-op gallery in Laramie holds artists' reception Dec. 2

Sean Hart is holding an artists’ reception at his new co-op gallery in Laramie, 404 S. Second St. It’s on Sunday, Dec. 2, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mimosas and coffee cake will be served, along with artwork by Bruce Amimanni, Patrick Kelly, Allison Wagg, and Sean Gote, photography by Jennifer Faulkner and Ryan Parker and jewelry by Dolores De Harte. Sean invites everyone to slide on by and see what these artists have to offer. See you there.

Call for entries: Wyofile Cold Snap Challenge photo contest

From Wyofile:

Attention Wyoming photographers: It’s time again to don your winter clothing, go outside and capture the beauty of Wyoming for the glory of winning WyoFile’s annual Cold Snap Challenge!

This year, we’re looking for shots of Wyoming that include the state’s many incarnations of energy and energy development. You can shoot drilling derricks, pipe-yard workers, transmission wires, coal trains, geologists alone in the field or cattle grazing under a wind turbine — anything that says Wyoming and energy. WyoFile staff will pick one photo as our WyoFile Winter Snap champion, and the winner will receive a Flickr Pro account and $50!

WyoFile will accept submissions for the Winter Snap Challenge through midnight on Tuesday, December 18. All photos should be sent to erik@wyofile.com with “Focus on Energy” in the subject line. Contestants are free to submit as many photos as they like during the three-week contest. By submitting a photo, contestants agree to give WyoFile permission to publish their work in Photo Friday or possibly alongside future articles, where each artist will be gratefully credited for his or her work. Happy snapping!

Read our latest Five Question Friday Q&A with Powell photographer Wayne Thomas

We interviewed photographer and filmmaker Wayne Thomas of Powell for our latest Five Question Friday feature on Facebook. For the full Q&A go here. 

Wayne sent us links to samples of his work. He wrote the story and shot the photos for an excellent photo-essay in Doubletake Magazine Online marking the 50th anniversary of the Selma Civil Rights March. View it at http://www.waynethomasphotography.com/selma. 

One of his favorite photographers is William Albert Allard of the National Geographic. Wayne likes his work so much that, when they met, he asked the photographer if he could do a short film about him. The trailer for this recently completed film on Allard can be found here: http://www.waynethomasphotography.com/allard.

"What Can I Do?" Multimedia Environmental Concert Saturday in Laramie

"What Can I Do?" Multimedia Environmental Concert
8 pm Saturday, November 3
Coal Creek Coffee Company
110 E. Grand Ave, Laramie

This is a 60-75-minute educational keynote presentation featuring the photography of renowned John Fielder, Karl Snyder and Laurie Dameron, video, information and live music. Special guest speaker Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist, City Council member in Laramie and Executive Director for Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. 

FMI: www.facebook.com/WhatCanIDoSpaceshipEarth and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml4gzZthi5o

Sky-shooting photographer Mike Hollingshead visits Devils Tower

Sky-shooting and storm-chasing photographer Mike Hollingshead isn't from Wyoming, but he spends a lot of time in the High Plains photographing supercells in the Nebraska Sand Hills and night skies over Devils Tower. Here is a bucolic view of Devils Tower in late September among its fall foliage. See more at http://www.extremeinstability.com/2012-9-22.htm

Two Wyoming authors takes home High Plains Book Awards

This news comes from a press release from the High Plains Book Awards in Billings, Mont.:

Winners of the prestigious 2012 High Plains Book Awards, a project of the Parmly Billings Library, were announced Saturday, October 20, in Billings, Mont., at a banquet held at the Yellowstone Art Museums. Award winners included Shann Ray's American Masculine, which won in two categories: Best First Book and Best Short Stories. Each winner received a $500 cash prize.  Other winners included Hand Raised: The Barns of Montana by Chere Jiusto & Christine W. Brown for Best Nonfiction, The Ringer by Jenny Shank for Best Fiction, Songs of Unreason by Jim Harrison for Best Poetry, Married Into It by Patricia Frolander for Best Woman Writer, and Arapaho Journeys: Photographs and Stories from the Wind River Reservation by Sara Wiles for Best Art & Photography. Emeritus Award winner was Tom McGuane.

Eighty-eight books were nominated for the 2012 High Plains Book Awards in seven categories from publishers in the United States and Canada. Finalists were selected after each nominated book war read and evaluated by community readers. Winners were selected by a panel of published writers with connections to the High Plains. Many finalists and winners participated in a day-long series of readings at the Yellowstone Art Museum as part of the High Plains BookFest. All nominated books were published for the first time in 2011.

Award sponsors include the Parmly Billings Library, Friends of the Parmly Billings Library, Montana State University-Billings, the Parmly Billings Library Foundation, the Ucross Foundation, the Writer's Voice of the Billings Family YMCA, the Yellowstone Art Museum, and the Zonta Club of Billings.

More information about the High Plains Book Awards is available at: http://highplainsbookawards.org.  Nominations for the 2013 High Plains Book Awards will be accepted January 14, 2013-March 15, 2013 for books first published in 2012.

About the High Plains Book Awards
The Parmly Billings Library Board has established the High Plains Book Awards to recognize regional authors and/or literary works which examine and reflect life on the High Plains including the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.

Here are details about the Wyoming winners:

MARRIED INTO IT by Patricia Frolander
Best Woman Writer
Married Into It
Patricia Frolander
High Plains Press

What happens when a young urban woman marries into a fourth generation rural ranching family and must learn the traditions, customs, and lifestyle of the land, all under the scrutinizing eye of its close knit community? Author Patricia Frolander's clear-eyed poems chronicle her years of challenges and triumphs, bruises and breakthroughs, as she moves from outsider to neighbor.

Patricia Frolander, Wyoming's poet laureate, tries to balance family, ranching, and writing and have a passion for each of them. She and her husband own his family ranch in the Black Hills of Wyoming where ties to land and livestock have provided a wonderful variety of subjects to journal and pen.

ARAPAHO JOURNEYS: PHOTOGRAPHS AND STORIES FROM THE WIND RIVER RESERVATION by Sara Wiles
Best Art & Photography
Arapaho Journeys: Photographs and Stories from the Wind River Reservation
Sara Wiles
University of Oklahoma Press

Award-winning photographer Sara Wiles captures that life on film and in words in Arapaho Journeys, an inside look at thirty years of Northern Arapaho life on the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming.  Through more than 100 images and 40 essays, Wiles creates a visual and verbal mosaic of contemporary Northern Arapaho culture. Depicted in the photographs are people Wiles met at Wind River while she was a social worker, anthropology student, and adopted member of an Arapaho family.

Wiles's essays weave together tribal history, personal narratives, and traditional knowledge to describe modern-day reservation life and little-known aspects of Arapaho history and culture, including naming ceremonies and cultural revitalization efforts. This work broaches controversial topics, as well, including the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians.

Sara Wiles is an independent photographer, writer, and scholar who holds a master s degree in anthropology from Indiana University. Her photographs, including the images published here for the  first time, have been exhibited nationally. She is the recipient of a Wyoming Governor's Arts Award.

Reception for "Found, but not Captured" exhibit Nov. 2 at UW's Gallery 234

From a UW press release:

The exhibition “Found, but not Captured” by artist Jessica Neuwerth can be seen through Nov. 3 in the University of Wyoming Union Gallery 234 in Laramie.

A reception for the exhibition is scheduled from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2.

A UW senior in biology and environment and natural resources, Neuwerth is a Wyoming native with a passion for photography. She says she uses her photography as a “semi-therapeutic form of expression.”

Neuwerth’s work is largely driven by Wyoming landscape and nature.

“Our state has gorgeous things, both large and small, and I hope to artistically express their versatility,” she says.

For more information about Gallery 234, visit www.uwyo.edu/cac.

Photo: “15 Fairytales” is one of Jessica Nueworth’s many works featured in the “Found, but Not Captured,” exhibition.

Call for entries: Carbon County Museum

From the Carbon County Museum in Rawlins:

Carbon County Museum seeks photograph submissions of a local landscape, preferably in Carbon County. Photos taken in the neighboring region and resembling the local landscape of Carbon County will be considered as well.

One image will be chosen, printed, and used as a high-quality, large-scale wall mural; it will be installed in the Discovery Zone, a new children’s room and exhibit space at the museum.

Deadline:  October 29, 2012 (Artists will be notified by November 6, 2012).

Requirements:

The selected image will be a high desert/prairie scene with no signs of modern life, man-made development, or people.

The image must be available as a high resolution digital file (minimum 6000 x 8400 pixels or 6 megapixels) or as a high quality digital print at least 5 x 7 inches large.

Eligibility:

This is a free opportunity open to all artists. Artists currently attending high school or college are also encouraged to submit. Wyoming artists with ties to Carbon County are preferred.

How to apply:

Email up to 3 images (total size of all attachments no more than 10 MB, please—submissions need not be high-res) to Stacy Fevinger at curator@carboncountymuseum.org. Include a brief description of where each photo was taken, and your city and state of residence. If you do not live in Wyoming, you may include a brief description of any relationship you have to the state and/or Carbon County.

Award:

The artist chosen will receive a $150 honorarium and acknowledgement on relevant exhibit labels. They will be recognized at an opening reception held for the new exhibit space, and promoted via the museum’s usual channels, including radio, newspaper, web, and social media. The image chosen will be a long-term (minimum 1-year) installation in the museum.  

Rights:

The chosen image will be considered a donation to the museum’s permanent collection and retained subject to the museum’s Collections Policy (available on request). If the image is submitted as a print, that copy will remain property of Carbon County Museum. Carbon County Museum will have multiple use, non-exclusive rights to the image and may alter the image as it sees fit to meet the needs of exhibit installation and for promotional purposes.

National Geographic photo exhibit opens Oct. 27 at National Museum of Wildlife Art

Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah. Photo by Jim Richardson, 2008. From National Geographic Magazine stock. 

National Geographic Greatest Photographs of the American West, a collection of iconic Western images gathered by National Geographic over a span of some 125 years, will open in 10 museums across the U.S. on October 27, 2012. You can see the exhibit in Wyoming at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson. 

National Geographic Greatest Photographs of the American West represents the first time a photography exhibition of this magnitude has opened at so many U.S. venues simultaneously. The exhibition presents a powerful and nuanced portrait of the West over more than a century, and it’s exciting that the medium of photography allows multiple openings across the country for greater impact in sharing the combined vision of such an important group of photographers.

Opening reception Oct. 5 for Adam Jahiel exhibit at Ucross Foundation Art Gallery

"KYRGYZSTAN: Along the Great Silk Road"
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ADAM JAHIEL

OPENING RECEPTION with the artist
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 6:00 P.M. TO 8:00 P.M.
Exhibition dates: October 5 - December 31, 2012

Gallery Hours: Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
UCROSS FOUNDATION ART GALLERY
30 Big Red Lane Clearmont, WY 82835

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT US AT
307-737-2291 or email us at info@ucross.org; www.ucrossfoundation.org

Reception Sept. 21 for "IPhoneography" exhibit at Lander Art Center

News from the Lander Art Center (via Pitch Engine)

The photography of Dave Schuster, Brad Christensen, and Lonnie Slack will be on exhibit at the Lander Art Center September 21 - October 27.  The opening reception for "IPhoneography: Mobile Creativity" will be held on Friday, Sept. 21, 6-8 p.m. David, Brad and Lonnie use their iPhones to photograph items and events they encounter throughout thier lives.  After all, the best camera is the camera you have with you.

These images reflect the work of three of the ever-increasing number of visionary pioneers in the exploration and development of this vibrant new medium. They are documentarists, street photographers, portrait photographers, story tellers, teachers, learners, writers, and artists. But first and foremost, they are iPhoneographers. They are exposing the world to the beauty of this emergent medium and nascent art form.

With a unified vision and a dedicated passion, these photographers capture their views of the world and share their stories -- as seen through their iPhone -- documenting the people, the events, the landscapes, the issues and the opportunities they encounter.

These three photographers come together to join forces to promote their work and present iPhonegraphy as an evolving form of fine art photography.

Reception for Paul Ng's photo exhibit set for Sept. 5 at the Community Fine Arts Center

Paul Ng's exhibit "Recollections: Two Decades of Photographic Images" will be on display Sept. 5-29 at the Community Fine Arts Center, 400 C St., Rock Springs. Opening reception will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 5-7 p.m. The exhibit also features "The Red Desert Portfolio." FMI: 307-362-6212 or http://www.cfac4art.com/

New book features color photographs of life inside the Heart Mountain Relocation Center

From Sunday's Casper Star-Tribune: “Colors of Confinement: Rare Kodachrome Photographs of Japanese American Incarceration in World War II” was released in July by University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill. It features 65 color images of Japanese Americans incarcerated at Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Northwest Wyoming, captured by internee Bill Manbo. It is edited by Eric L. Muller, a board member of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation and a Dan K. Moore Distinguished Professor in Jurisprudence and Ethics at the University of North Carolina. The book is available at national bookstores, at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center or at www.uncpress.unc.edu. Cover photo by Bill Manbo. Read the entire Casper Star-Tribune story by Kristy Gray at http://trib.com/news/local/state-and-regional/photo-book-sheds-new-light-on-life-in-wyoming-s/article_5a8deb68-1a35-5d61-b186-575232769c32.html

"Esse Quam Videri: Muslim Self-Portraits" exhibit at Heart Mountain Interpretive Center through Sept. 18

From the Heart Mountain Foundation web site:

The Heart Mountain Interpretive Center at the site of a World War II Japanese-American internment camp outside of Cody, Wyo. will present a new exhibit featuring self-portraits that reveal Muslim Americans in everyday life. The exhibit is intended to counteract stereotypes and preconceived notions about Muslims in America at this time in history. Esse Quam Videri: Muslim Self-Portraits will be exhibited in the Ford Foundation Special Exhibition Area through Sept. 18, 2012.

"This exhibit is the first in a series of exhibits at the Interpretive Center that will encourage visitors to think about prejudice, stereotyping and religious, racial and ethnic profiling," said Stevan Leger executive director.

"Esse Quam Videri" means "to be rather than to seem." The exhibit includes photographs, collaged images and self-drawn portraits of and by Muslim Americans are presented with short essays to add context.

For more information, please contact Steve Leger at 307-754-8000 or by email at sleger@heartmountain.org. The Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center hours are 10 to 5 Wednesday through Saturday.

"Wyoming Landscapes" by Niclaus Wegner at The Corridor Gallery August 10-12

"Killer Rainbow," Niclaus Wegner

Event: “Wyoming Landscapes,” Original Photography by Casper Artist Niclaus Wegner

Location: The Corridor Gallery, 120 E. 2^nd St. Casper, WY 82601

Opening & Showing: Opening reception on Friday August 10^th at 7pm and showing Saturday, August 11^th from 10am to 5pm and Sunday, August 12^th 12 to 4pm.

Catering: Cash Bar

General Admission: Free

Contact info: 307-333-7035 or email appointment@thecorridorgallery.com with any questions.

Western & Jahiel team up for Wyofile profile of custom bridle and bit craftsman Tom Balding

Tom Balding in his shop. Photo by Adam Jahiel.

Two Wyoming Arts Council fellowship winners teamed up to profile custom bridle and bit craftsman Tom Balding in the latest issue of WyoFile.

The story was written by Sheridan’s Sam Western, a 2012 creative writing fellowship recipient in fiction and author of Pushed off the Mountain and Sold Down the River: Wyoming’s Search for its Soul. The excellent photos were shot by Adam Jahiel of Story. Adam has received two WAC visual arts fellowships and his “Cowboys on the Range” exhibit was seen in 2008 at the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne.

Sam explores Tom Balding’s intriguing life and delves into the details of his craft:

His passion for the last 28 years… has been horses and what riders use to influence their behavior: bits and spurs. Some of the world’s top riders use his custom-crafted products.

Balding’s snaffle bits, many made with gleaming bits of stainless steel, have a stark, sleek look. They feature mouthpieces of copper inlaid sweet iron, a cold-rolled carbon steel preferred by horses because the rusting tastes sweet.

His shanks, western-style bits connected together by a metal bar, range from bare-bones pieces of modern art to the more ornate, decorated with silver plate or initialed in bronze. They go by the name of Switchback, Steamboat, and Diamond Cross.

That's just a sample. Read the entire story at http://wyofile.com/2012/06/tom-balding-custom-bridle-bit-craftsman-was-inspired-when-bucked-off-a-horse/

New film documents changing colors in Grand Teton National Park

Yellowstone Gate: Grand Teton film looks at changing colors in park

Dan Hayward presents "Carbon County & More" June 8 at Platte Valley Community Center

Chuck Kimmerle's photos featured in Lenswork magazine and at Minneapolis exhibit

Chuck Kimmerle

Casper photographer Chuck Kimmerle is to be featured in the March-April, 2012 issue of Lenswork magazine, a bi-monthly, international journal of fine-art photography. The 13 images selected by the editors for publication are from among those Kimmerle created during his recent artist residency in Zion National Park. In addition to the hard-copy of the magazine, Kimmerle is included in the online and DVD electronic versions, which include an additional 14 images as well as a half-hour audio interview. Go to http://www.lenswork.com/index2.html

Kimmerle has also been accepted into a juried exhibit at the Mpls Photo Center in Minneapolis, Minn. The exhibit, titled “Black & White: The absence of Color,” features 70 photographs culled from more than 2000 submissions from photographers around the world. The show runs from March 9 through April 22, 2012. Go to http://www.mplsphotocenter.com

Mark Jenkins: "The Healing Fields: The Legacy of War and the Search for Miss Landmine Cambodia"

From a UW press release:

Acclaimed author and National Geographic field staff writer Mark Jenkins will give his photo-illustrated presentation of the devastation and suffering caused by Cambodian landmines Feb. 27-March 22 in Laramie, Cheyenne, Torrington, Riverton, Rock Springs and Powell. The forums are free and open to the public.

A native of Laramie, Jenkins is a part-time writer in residence with UW's MFA Program in Creative Writing. He also contributes lectures and presentations to classes in UW's International Studies Program.

"The Healing Fields: The Legacy of War and the Search for Miss Landmine Cambodia," will be presented at the University of Wyoming Monday, Feb. 27, at 5 p.m. in Room 310 of the UW Classroom Building.

After spending a month in Cambodia, crossing minefields, interviewing victims and searching for Miss Landmine Cambodia, Jenkins was inspired to create his presentation. He points out that, after a war ends, landmines are still alive, waiting to blow the legs off innocent farmers and shepherds.

The program also will be presented at:

Laramie County Community College -- Tuesday, March 6, 6 p.m. in the ARP Building, Room 128;

Eastern Wyoming College -- Thursday, March 8, 7 p.m. in the Fine Arts auditorium;

Western Wyoming Community College -- Monday, March 19, 7 p.m. in Room 1005;

Central Wyoming College -- Wednesday, March 21, 3:30 p.m. in the  Intertribal Center‘s Wind River Room;

Northwest College -- Thursday, March 22, at 4 p.m. in Room 70, the Fagerberg Building, Room 70.

Jenkins' talks are part of the statewide International Studies Scholar Lecture Series. Now in its third year, the series is funded by a U.S. Department of Education Grant, in partnership with Wyoming community colleges,  to the University of Wyoming International Studies Program.

"This continues to be a successful program to promote significant discussion of a variety of international issues," says Jean Garrison, director of International Studies at UW. "With Jenkins' talk on demining efforts in Cambodia, we see a complex problem that required ingenuity and local-to-global cooperation to find a solution. Through this and other presentations, we remain committed to bring the world to Wyoming."

This lecture is sponsored by the UW International Studies Program, the UW Outreach School, the UW Office of Academic Affairs and the partner community colleges. For more information, email Garrison at garrison@uwyo.edu or call (307) 766-3423.

Photo: This is among phots in Mark Jenkins' presentation "The Healing Fields: The Legacy of War and the Search for Miss Landmine Cambodia." (Mark Jenkins Photo)