Art

About 30 miles southeast of Sheridan, the Ucross Foundation sits on a 20,000-acre working cattle ranch. But that's not what it's known for.

The ranch is home to the Ucross Foundation Residency Program. Foundation president and executive director Sharon Dynak said it's a place for writers and artists to focus on their work. 

The Brinton Museum in Big Horn, Wyoming, is home to a collection of artifacts and objects from many Plains Indian tribes. As it open for the season, the Brinton along with the Center for American Indian Research and Native Studies put together an exhibit centered around the Lakota creation story. Wyoming Public Radio's Catherine Wheeler sat down with Craig Howe, the director of the Center for American Indian Research, to talk about how the story has an impact today.

The Plains Indian Museum recently acquired two pieces of artwork from Lakota artist Dyani White Hawk. The two paintings are small 13 inch cubes. Rebecca West, the curator of the museum, said the paintings really evoke White Hawk’s formal artistic training and generational skill of beadwork. West said the pieces are bands of color done in acrylic and beadwork.

At the University of Wyoming Student Union, a long line of students made their way down a row of tables, carefully examining artifacts, many of them taking photos with their phones. They are visiting the Black History 101 Mobile Museum. 

Frank Perely Fairbanks was a classmate of Phimister Proctor’s, the famous American sculptor, at the American Academy in Rome.

Fairbanks, who was himself was a portraitist, admired Proctor greatly. So much so that he painted a monumental portrait of Proctor. Karen McWhorter, the curator of the Whitney Western Art Museum, said the painting doesn’t only portray Proctor but his family as well. 

This month, the Laramie County Library in Cheyenne hosted a series of events by Indigenous artists and speakers to explore Native people's concepts of illness and health. One speaker was Laguna Pueblo Tribal Member Lee Francis who owns Red Planet Books and Comics in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Lee is also the CEO of the printing press Native Realities. His talk was about Native representation in pop culture.

Wyoming Public Radio's Taylar Stagner met with Francis at a local watering hole in downtown Cheyenne to talk about the importance of seeing yourself reflected in the media you consume.

During the Reservation Era, roughly from the 1870s to the 1920s, Native Americans were required to move onto allotments of land. Rebecca West, the curator of the Plains Indian Museum, said it was a time when the United States government followed a policy of extermination and assimilation. 

A new museum installation called "Arapaho Roots" is opening November 17 in Colorado at the Museum of Boulder. The pieces will be animated Arapaho stories put up on screens throughout the museum. 

Tim Lawson is a nationally recognized painter. He grew up in Sheridan and has recently moved back, after living all over the U.S. Now, his hometown is celebrating his work with a show at SAGE Community Arts. The exhibition runs through January 2. On Thursday, November 15, Lawson will give an artist talk at the WYO Theatre, followed by a reception at SAGE. Wyoming Public Radio's Erin Jones spoke with Lawson.

Don Stinson is a contemporary artist who uses traditional methods and materials. His painting “I-80 Energy Romance” portrays a western landscape, but also depicts a gas station sign, truck tracks, and windmills.

Two professors from the University of Wyoming have created an original opera about the story of an unusual subject; the Rocky Mountain locust.

Winston Churchill is known for being the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II and helping lead the allied powers to victory. But in addition to being a statesman, Churchill was also an accomplished amateur artist, submitting his work to shows under pseudonyms.

Now, eleven of his paintings are on display at Heather James Fine Art in Jackson through September 16, and on September 11 there will be a reception for the exhibit. Churchill’s great-grandson Duncan Sandys is attending the reception. He spoke with Wyoming Public Radio's Caroline Ballard about what led Churchill to paint.

If you know the songs “A Taste Of Honey,” “Spanish Flea” or “This Guy’s In Love With You,” then you know Herb Alpert. 50-some odd years later and the jazz musician is still going strong, with new albums and a tour. 

A new mural in downtown Laramie will be dedicated as one of the first events of Laramie PrideFest. The mural features notable people affiliated with social justice and civil rights in the state - including suffragists, the University of Wyoming Black 14, and the action angels that blocked Westboro Baptist Church protestors at the Matthew Shepard murder trial almost 20 years ago. Wyoming Public Radio’s Caroline Ballard visited the mural and spoke with the artist behind it, Adrienne Vetter.

In recent years, scientists have been astounded to learn how far large animals like elk, pronghorn and mule deer migrate in Wyoming. But a new show at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson looks at both the great and small creatures that travel to and fro to reach the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Wyoming Public Radio’s Melodie Edwards sat down with painter and writer James Prosek to talk about evolution, language and whether to name waterfalls.

When museums have special exhibitions, what visitors don't know is that it takes years for the exhibit to evolve from a concept to the moment you are standing in front of that famous work of art. The Whitney Western Art Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West just opened its new exhibit featuring the famous Western American artist, Albert Bierstadt. But the process behind securing loans is not so easy.

Albert Bierstadt—He’s a late 19th-century artist, most well-known for his majestic landscape paintings of the Wind River Range, Yellowstone and the American West. But there's more to him than paintings of grand open spaces. The Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody and the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma worked together to create an exhibit exploring Bierstadt’s influence on conservation and wildlife management in America. It’s called Albert Bierstadt: Witness to the Changing West. Kamila Kudelska speaks talks to three museum curators as they tell the little-known story of a beloved American artist.