Student's work at ASUW Gallery

Art paintings by University of Wyoming senior Travis Ivey will be on display Oct. 11-16 at the ASUW Gallery in the Wyoming Union

The gallery is open weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. An opening reception is scheduled Friday, Oct. 12, from 5-7 p.m.

Ivey's project, titled "Booms and Busts," portrays several sites across Wyoming that have been significantly altered by industry and commerce and examines the impact on the landscape.

Flynn offers more bewilderment, less B.S.

On Thursday, October 18, 2-5 p.m., writer Nick Flynn will conduct a workshop on “Bewilderment” at the Casper College Literary Conference. Nick is the author of “Another Bullshit Night in Suck City” (Norton, 2004) which won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for the Art of the Memoir and has been translated into 10 languages. Nick grew up on Boston’s South Shore and spent six years working at a Boston homeless shelter. In “Another Bullshit Night in Suck City,” he recounts a tumultuous childhood and family life – with the uncanny trajectory that ultimately led his homeless father to seek shelter at the Pine Street Inn while Nick worked there. Poet Mark Doty states, “Nick Flynn has given us one of the most terrifying families in American letters, though he approaches each character in this ferocious, inventive memoir with an almost radical sense of compassion, as if all that any of us could do were to stumble ahead with the burdens we are given. The result is a book so singular, harrowing and loving as to be indelible.”

Nick, making his first foray to Wyoming, describes his Oct. 18 workshop this way:

Participants will be asked to consider bewilderment and how it gets acted out in our writing – either through syntax, access to the duende, leaps into the unconscious, or simply circling around what is unsaid, unknown, unrealized. Or, as Aristotle puts it, "The mind in the act of making a mistake. . . ." Participants will be asked to read classmates’ work with an eye toward bewilderment, marking and naming those places they see it enacted or embodied. During the workshop, the group will try to find ways to push a little further into this shadow world. In “Robert Frost, a Life,” Jay Parini writes, “as in so many of his dramatic poems, Frost dwells on points of miscommunication, the fathomless depths of isolation inherent in all acts of utterance, the gaps that cannot be bridged by words. As Frost said at his readings: 'Poems are about what you don’t mean as well as what you do mean.' "

If Nick's session doesn't strike your fancy, try a songwriting workshop with Jeff Finlin (of Casper favorite, the Jeff Finlin Band); or maybe a "Women's Story" workshop by Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen. All these -- and more -- will be offered as part of the "Spiritual Warriors" literary conference Oct. 17-19 at Casper College.

Click here to register for workshops.

FMI: Kathy Coe, 307-268-2533 or 1-800-442-2963

Richard Renaldi exhibit at the Nicolaysen

Western Lives by Richard Renaldi runs through December 30, 2007. Curator of the Nic, Lisa Hatchadoorian, writes, "The beautiful, insightful, and poignant photographic portraits by Richard Renaldi convey a universe in a single moment. They are deeply empathetic to our shared human condition, as well as documenting lives lived in certain places: the expansive and mythological West, the Great Plains region, Bus Travelers, and the Navajo Nation in Arizona. Renaldi's photographs stop us in our tracks as they force us to see beyond the outwardly mundane scrim of yet another anonymous persona to something more poignant, strong, fierce, unique and human underneath."

FMI, go to http://www.thenic.org/

Cheyenne Artists Guild hosts Tim Collins

October 20th at 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. is the watercolor workshop by Tim Collins in the Artists Guild Loft. Fee is $40.

Tim Collins paints in Laramie, Wyoming. He is well noted for his landscape and wildlife images, often combining the realism of local Wyoming wildlife with abstract foregrounds, or animals emerging from pictograph inspired backgroungs. Tim has an M.A. from UW. He has painted for over 45 years and has recently retired as the Laramie High School art teacher. Tim can't escape the joys of teaching, often instructing classes for the Laramie County Community College and local Art Guild lessons. Tim shows his work in Laramie and Nebraska.

Call Norm at 632-2263 or Nesl at 638-7080 for more information.

Mother-Daughter book discussion at library

October 13, at the Laramie County Library -- Mother-Daughter Book Club (for daughters in grades 8-12). Meeting time is at 4 p.m. The book discussion will be on Gabrielle Zevein's Elsewhere.

Jon Lodge featured in NWC exhibit

From Renee Claire Tafoya, Division of Visual and Performing Arts, Northwest College in Powell:

You're invited to an exhibition featuring the work of Jon Lodge from Oct. 23-Nov. 16, Northwest Gallery, Cabre Building on the NWC campus. A public reception for the artist will be held in the gallery from 7:30-9 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 23.

A multi-talented artist and musician, Lodge typically composes from a central concept by systematically following a careful plan of execution. An admirer of Miles Davis, Donald Judd, Andy Warhol, Richard Serra, John Cage, John Coltrane, Antoni Tapes, Cy Twombly and Robert Ryman, he appropriates freely from the past in pursuit of new materials and ideas. The idea of deliberately distancing the artist from the creative equation tends to bypass any form of literal representation, while also producing a higher probability for expressions of pure randomness.

FMI: (307) 754-6041 or renee.tafoya@northwestcollege.edu

Hubbard Street 2 at UW

Hubbard Street 2, a contemporary dance group based in Chicago, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 9, in the College of Arts & Sciences auditorium in Laramie as part of the University of Wyoming Cultural Program's fall concert series.

Tickets cost $20 for the general public and $16 for students and seniors. Tickets are available by calling the Fine Arts Center box office at (307) 766-6666 or at the Web site www.uwyoedu/finearts.

Humanities Council: "Between Fences"

Between Fences weaves the history of fences into the development of the United States and the West as we know it today. From colonial stockades to the range wars to today’s gated communities, the exhibition explores the many ways that fence building has transformed our nation. Visitors will walk through and around actual fences as they explore the nature of space and boundaries.

The Wyoming Humanities Council offers statewide programming on the fences theme, including "Border Lines: A Film Discussion Series;" "Reading Wyoming: Living Between Fences;" and special "Humanities Forum" speakers. The council sponsored an anthology, Wyoming Fence Lines, featuring the prose and poetry of 57 writers from Wyoming and beyond. It also is sponsoring the year-long tour of a new Smithsonian Museum on Main Street exhibition, "Between Fences." Visit "Between Fences" in one of these five Wyoming communities:

Pinedale, Sublette Co. Library, Sept. 22-Nov.10, 2007, schedule of events
Evanston, Uinta Co. Museum, Nov. 17, 2007-Jan. 12, 2008, schedule of events
Sheridan, Sheridan Co. Library, Jan. 19-March 15, 2008
Meeteetse, Meeteetse Museum District, March 22-May 10, 2008
Sundance, Crook Co. Museum and Library, May 17-July 7, 2008

Visit Museum on Main Street for more information on Between Fences.

Visit Between Fences on MySpace at www.myspace.com/BetweenFences.

Frolander featured at Mont. event

Pat Frolander, long-time member of Bear Lodge Writers in Crook County, will be the featured poet for the 19th annual Alzada Cowboy Poetry, Music, and Art Show at the Alzada, Mont., Community Club on Sunday, October 7, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Here's some bio info about Pat from an Oct. 4 article in the Black Hills Pioneer:

Pat Frolander from Sundance, Wyoming tries to balance family, ranching and writing and has a passion for each of them. She and her husband Robert own the family ranch in the Black Hills of Wyoming. Her ties to land and livestock have provided a variety of subjects for her to write about. She is blessed with a family of three children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild which also provide enrichment for her pen. She writes that "managing family or ranching is like trying to rope the wind. Wyoming wind is either bringing a storm or ushering in sunshine." She admits to loving change but as she grows older moderate
weather is appreciated.

Frolander began writing poetry in 1969 and became published "by accident" through a friend's submission of her work to an anthology. Frolander also writes" I am proud of the people, who remain on the land, work and cherish it, as their ancestors have. It isn't an easy life but those who claim it understand how fragile the balance in nature is." That is why she writes about the people of the ranching community and was very popular with the Alzada audience last year.

Frolander's poetry and essays have been published in several anthologies including the Woven on the Wind and Crazy Woman Creek by Houghton Mifflin, Cowgirl Poetry by Gibbs-Smith, Hard Ground IV by Pronghorn Press, Farm Journal Magazine and several other publications.

Deadline Nov. 2 for folk arts apprenticeships

In support of the state’s diverse folk and traditional arts, the Wyoming Arts Council is awarding a number of apprenticeship grants to artists who strive to preserve their cultural and traditional talents.

These Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grants are awarded by the Arts Council to financially support the continued participation in traditional practices preserving the cultural heritage of Wyoming.

Previous recipients have shared the arts of overshot weaving, old-time fiddle tunes, Wyoming cowboy music, basketmaking and bead and buckskin work from the Wind River Reservation.

From the artists of Shoshone beadwork to Basque dancing to Scottish bagpipe music, the Folk and Traditional Arts program encourages all those who understand the importance of artistic traditions, as well as the continuation and sharing of these traditions to submit an application.

This year, six grants of $2,000 each will be provided for master artists to teach their skills to qualified apprentices. The apprenticing artist must study with a master that shares a common heritage, whether it is a family, ethnic, occupational, tribal, religious or geographic community.

The deadline to apply for a Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grant is Nov. 2, 2007.

FMI: Anne F. Hatch, 307-777-7721.

Readers Theatre Series in Cheyenne

From Harry Woods, director of the Cheyenne Little Theatre Players:

I want to invite you all to see "Doubt, A Parable" by John Patrick Shanley on Friday, Oct. 5, 7:30 p.m., at the Atlas Theatre in downtown Cheyenne. The play was the winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award. If you did not purchase that part of the season, all tickets are $10. If you did, your ticket will be at Will Call. Remember for the Readers Theatre Series, all seats are general admission, so you can sit wherever you want.

Here's are reviews, provided by Dramatists Play Service:

"All the elements come invigoratingly together like clockwork in John Patrick Shanley’s provocative new play, DOUBT, a gripping story of suspicion cast on a priest’s behavior that is less about scandal than about fascinatingly nuanced questions of moral certainty. A laudable new American play." — Variety

"#1 show of the year. How splendid it feels to be trusted with such passionate, exquisite ambiguity unlike anything we have seen from this prolific playwright so far. Blunt yet subtle, manipulative but full of empathy for all sides, the play is set in 1964 but could not be more timely. In just ninety fast-moving minutes, Shanley creates four blazingly individual people. DOUBT is a lean, potent drama…passionate, exquisite, important and engrossing." — New York Newsday

"A beautifully balanced drama. Shanley is a writer working at the top of his craft, making the most of a muted but evocative palette in the pursuit of truth’s shadows. Here, for the first time in a long time, is a play that is about something." — Chicago Tribune

"An eloquent and provocative investigation of truth and consequences. A gripping mystery, tightly written." — Time Out

"Bell, Book, and Candle" in Sheridan

The Civic Theater Guild, 419 Delphi Avenue in Sheridan, presents "Bell, Book, and Candle," written by John Van Druten and directed by Ann Quick.

In this romantic comedy, the author assumes that a few modern people can cast spells and perform feats of supernaturalism. Gillian Holroyd casts a spell over an unattached publisher – partly to keep him away from a rival and partly because she is attracted to him. He falls head over heels in love with her at once and wants to marry her. But witches, unfortunately, cannot fall in love and this minute imperfection leads to a number of entertaining difficulties. Witches, warlocks and cats - what better way to kick of the fall season!

Cast includes Colleen Eccles, Regis Michelena, Rick Overholt, Sharon Bedard, Eileen Lyons, and Speck McKinley.

Show Dates: October 5, 6, 12,13, 14, 18, 19, 20, and 21.

FMI: 307-672-9886

The 2008 Governor's Arts Awards

Save the date - February 22, 2008 to attend the 26th Annual Governor’s Arts Awards dinner and celebration!

Watch this site for more information about the event and the recipients of the 2007 Governor’s Arts Awards.

For the past twenty-five years, the Governor’s Arts Awards have recognized those who dedicate their time, passion and financial support to Wyoming’s cultural life, and have emphasized the importance of the arts in daily life. Individuals, organizations or communities selected to receive awards for 2007 will be honored on Friday evening, February 22, 2008 in Cheyenne.

Christopher Cokinos coming to UW

The University of Wyoming Art Museum and the MFA Program are pleased to announce a talk by award-winning nature and science writer Christopher Cokinos. Cokinos will speak on The Fallen Sky: A Private History of Shooting Stars, an account of his experiences as a meteorite hunter in the polar regions. The talk will take place at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 22 in the Art Museum. Afterward, he will answer audience questions, and sign books at a short reception. The event is free and open to the public. The talk is held in concert with the Art Museum’s "Antarctica" exhibit, which celebrates the anniversary of the NSF’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program. For 50 years, the NSF has funded artists and writers to work side by side with scientists in Antarctica, helping them to translate the experience of that remote landscape into word and image. Antarctica also celebrates 2007-08 as the International Polar Year, the 100th anniversary of the discovery and exploration of the polar regions. The exhibit runs through Dec. 22.

Cokinos is Assistant Professor of English and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Environment and Society at Utah State University, where he also edits Isotope: A Journal of Literary Nature & Science Writing. His poems, essays and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in Science, Birder's World, Poetry, Iowa Review, Shenandoah, Orion, Turnrow and Ecotone. The recipient of both a Whiting Award and the Glasgow Prize for an Emerging Writer, Cokinos is the author of Hope Is the Thing with Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds (Warner, 2001). The result of 10 years of detective work, the book gives us, "poetically and movingly," (Scientific American), the histories of six extinct North American birds, along with stories of the people who killed them off and those who tried to save them. "Even readers with no special interest in birds will be caught up in this marvelous book, a deeply moving cautionary tale about how we have systematically diminished the planet," writes Publishers Weekly.
"Cokinos… transforms each extinction into a deeply disturbing tragedy—both for the species itself, and for human civilization."

Hope Is the Thing with Feathers received the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award, and will be reprinted in 2008. Cokinos has also published a book of poems, Killing Seasons (Woodley Press, 1993). In 2003, Cokinos was awarded a National Science Foundation fellowship to join the Antarctic Search for Meteorites Expedition. While collecting meteorites with scientists, he spent five weeks on the Antarctic polar plateau, living with a stranger, in an unheated tent, in 24-hour daylight—an experience he found "beautiful and grueling." He found himself battling insomnia and depression, passing the time with his tent-mate by doing impersonations of Mr. Burns and Smithers from The Simpsons. In the end, the expedition found more than 1,000 meteorites, including one from Mars. Still, the payoff for the journey was as much personal as scientific. "Sometimes," Cokinos says, "we go out hunting something in the world—meteorites, histories, orchids, you name it—and end up finding ourselves too." The full tale of his time in the Antarctic will appear in a non-fiction book, The Fallen Sky, which will be published by Tarcher/Penguin in 2008.

Cokinos’ talk is co-sponsored by the Art Museum and by the Haub School and Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources. His visit is supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Arts Council, through funding from the Wyoming State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art.

The MFA Program is Wyoming’s graduate creative writing program, mentoring a new generation of writers and bringing to the state a wealth of literary talent from the region, the nation and the world. Each semester, the MFA Visiting Writers Series brings a number of
distinguished authors to Wyoming. Past guests include Terry Tempest Williams, David Quammen, Francine Prose, Pico Iyer, Alexandra Fuller and U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser.

The Art Museum is located in the Centennial Complex at 2111 Willett Drive. Hours for the museum and the Museum Store are 10am - 5pm Tues. - Sat. and 10am - 9pm Mon. For more information, please call 307-766-6620 or visit www.uwyo.edu/artmuseum
Further info: www.uwyo.edu/creativewriting

Joy Harjo and Larry Mitchell to visit Northwest College

Joy Harjo and Larry Mitchell will be performing at Northwest College's Annual Native American Heritage Month Celebration and Feast. The activities begin at 10 a.m. on Nov. 8, and includes a library display presentation by Harjo. Harjo and Mitchell will have lunch with the Writing and Literary Guild (a student club), and then visit selected classes on the NWC campus. At 5 p.m. the Buffalo Feast dinner takes place in the DeWitt Student Center Lounge. Harjo, the guest speaker will discuss the significance of Native American Heritage Month and the Buffalo Feast. 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. is the writer's series presentation in the NPA Auditorium, where Harjo will read poetry, followed by Harjo and Mitchell giving a musical performance. Following this performance, Harjo and Mitchell will be signing books and their cd and will have one-on-one discussions.

Joy Harjo was born in 1951 in Tulsa, Oklahoma as a member of the Muscogee Tribe. She studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the University of New Mexico, earning her B. A. She then attended the Iowa Writers Workshop, earning her M. F. A. Her books include How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems (2002); A Map to the Next World (2000); The Woman Who Fell from the Sky (1994); In Mad Love and War (1990); Secrets from the Center of the World (1989); She Had Some Horses (1983); and What Moon Drove Me to This (1979). Along with Patricia Blanco, Beth Cuthand, and Valerie Martinez, Harjo edited Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Women's Writings of North America (1997).

In addition to working with Native American issues, Harjo shares concerns with indigenous and Third World people globally. Her love of jazz led her to the alto sax and the forming of her band Poetic Justice. She has recorded three CDs of her work: Letter from the End of the Twentieth Century (1997); Native Joy for Real (2004); and She Had Some Horses (2006).

Harjo has won the American Indian Distinguished Achievement in the Arts Award, the Josephine Miles Poetry Award, the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, the William Carlos Williams Award, and fellowships from the Arizona Arts Commission, the Witter Bynner Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. As a teacher, Harjo has been a frequent leader of workshops and has taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts, the University of Colorado, and the University of Arizona. She divides her time between Honolulu and Albuquerque.

Larry Mitchell has performed with a wide range of artists; his latest collaboration before working with Joy Harjo was with Native American artist Shelley Morningsong. In 1986 and 1987 Mitchell won the New York City Limelight guitar solo contest. In 1988, he toured with Spanish/Italian artist Miguel Bose. He's toured and worked with Folk pop singer/songwriter Tracy Chapman, T. M. Stevens, and Sandra Bernard. Other notable performances include the Jon Stewart show with Coolio, Montel Jordan, Pete Rock, and C. L. Smooth. He's also won a vast range of awards, including his most recentm with the New Mexico Music Awards.

Music highlights Wyo. Arts Summit Gala

Registration continues for the state’s first Wyoming Arts Summit and Wyoming Arts Council 40th Anniversary Dinner Gala to be held at the Casper Events Center Oct. 19-20.

The Arts Summit brings together artists and governmental leaders from throughout the state to discuss how the arts and other cultural events can enhance economic prosperity in Wyoming communities. This is an initiative of First Lady Nancy Freudenthal.

In conjunction with the Arts Summit, the Arts Council will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a Dinner Gala hosted by Nancy Freudenthal and attended by honored guest and evening speaker Senator Mike Enzi. The Dinner Gala will begin at 6:30 p.m., October 19, at the Casper Events Center.

The evening will feature one hour of choral, symphonic and jazz music presented by performers from throughout Wyoming.

Dr. Michael Griffith and the 93-member University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra will perform "Wind River" from Joseph Curiale’s "The Music of Life." Curiale composed this piece specifically for the UW Orchestra’s millennium concert. Joining the symphony are 18 additional Wyoming musicians. Photographs of the landscapes, which inspired Curiale’s music, will be featured in a video/photographic presentation during the concert.

Saxophonist Dr. Scott Turpen will conduct and perform with the University of Wyoming Jazz Ensemble I. The group will be joined by trumpeter, Dr. Thomas Pfotenhauer, guest professor of saxophone at UW. They will open the program with a modern version of the jazz classic, Joe Garland’s, "In the Mood," as well as other jazz selections.

Under the direction of Pat Patton of Casper College, four choruses will sing various selections, concluding a combined program with a 150-voice and symphonic rendition of "America the Beautiful." The choruses scheduled to perform are the Casper College Chorale; the Cheyenne Chamber Choir, Jane Iverson, director; Lyman High School Choir, T.J. Dick, director; and the Casper Children’s Chorus, Marcia Patton, director.

The Wyoming Arts Council has collaborated with Casey Kearns, assistant professor of Theater, UW, for the effects and technical aspects of the multi-faceted evening.

Register for the Summit by contacting the Wyoming Arts Council at 307-777-7742 or ebratt@state.wy.us. The cost is $125.

To attend the Friday evening banquet only, reserve your $25 dinner tickets by contacting the Arts Council.

Vote for your favorite Yellowstone song

The Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada, sent out this announcement:

Vote For Your Favorite Song in the Yellowstone Teton Song Contest

Sixteen songs have been selected as finalists from 139 songs submitted for the Yellowstone Teton Song Contest. Please vote for your favorite song here. You may only vote once. The poll will detect whether you have voted more than once and will prevent you from voting again. The winner of the Audience Award will receive a Gibson Songwriter Deluxe Guitar valued at $2833. Grand Prize ($1,000) and Gold Prize ($500) winners will also be selected from these finalists by our judges. Voting will end at midnight, Oct. 7. Winners of all three awards will be announced Oct. 15. If you would like to be notified when the Songs from Yellowstone and the Tetons CD is released and when the Yellowstone-area concerts are scheduled, please sign up for our E-News here.

Notice that several of the songwriters are from Wyoming. One, Michael Hurwitz, is on the Wyoming Arts Council's artists' roster. You don't have to vote for Michael's song, but check out the roster if you want to bring him to your community via an Arts Across Wyoming grant.

Quilt art topic of Palma talk

From a Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources press release:

Do Palma of Cheyenne will discuss the growing genre of quilt art during a presentation at the Wyoming State Museum, October 6, from 9-10:30 a.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Palma’s presentation is held in conjunction with the State Museum’s current temporary exhibit, “Elements from the Front Range: Contemporary Quilters.”

Palma, who is featured in the exhibit, will discuss the various artists with pieces in the show, their techniques and provide a brief history of art quilting. She will also provide advice to the public on how to get involved in the world of fiber arts and show some of her own quilt art collection.

FMI: Call 307-777-7022 or go to http://wyospcr.state.wy.us/Press/index.asp.

Amazon.com announces novel contest

Amazon.com is accepting unpublished English language works of fiction for entry in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award through November 5, 2007.

Once the submission period ends, Amazon editors and top Amazon customer reviewers will read submissions and select authors for the semi-final round, beginning January 15, 2008. Each semi-finalist will receive a full review of their manuscript by Publishers Weekly and a book page on Amazon.com featuring a short excerpt from their novel that customers can download, read, and review. Penguin will select manuscripts to read from the semi-final round based on customer feedback and Publishers Weekly reviews and announce the Top Ten finalists on March 3, 2008. Amazon.com customers will then select the winner of the Amazon Breakthrough Award, to be announced on April 7, 2008.

Register now at https://abna.createspace.com/Register.do;jsessionid=68F95F73A44075728F171CC89D9BA03F.abnaworker00

Only the first 5,000 submissions will be accepted.

The Bard -- Abridged version

A performance of "William Shakespeare (Abridged)" will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 7 p.m., at the Cam-plex Heritage Center in Gillette. Tickets are $25-$30.

FMI: http://www.cam-plex.com.