Chalk & Poetry

Later this month the Teton County Library will host a writing workshop and community program with U.S. Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera.

In order to prepare for this event, the library asked me to create a chalk art dialogue around the library. I invited printmaker, Brittany Hill, to help me with this multi-week project.

This past Wednesday we tackled the first area with - who knew? - spray chalk! We used regular chalk also for details, but the spray chalk was really fun, offering fast coverage, intense colors and the opportunity to make stencils.

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For this first area we chose a line from "Borderbus"

We are everything hermana

Because we come from everything.

-Juan Felipe Herrera

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If you are in the area, stop by and see the chalk drawings evolve each week.

For more information on these free community programs visit the Teton County Library

Community Program: We Come from Everything: Poetry & Migration

Friday April 21, 7pm at the Center for the Arts (Tickets available at the library)

Writing Workshop: Find your Activist Voice Through Poetry

Saturday April 22, 10:30am - 12:30pm at the Teton County Library

Stay tuned for an update in a few weeks!

Save the Dates!

Summer is winding down into fall and that means great local sales and events! I've listed a few coming up that are already on my calendar. Check out the Dowd House Studios events calendar to stay up to date on classes, sales and events.

Thanks For Giving

Sunday Nov 6: 11 - 5 at Penny Lane Cooperative

Bring canned food & toiletries to PLC for the Jackson Cupboard, in return receive 15% off store wide. (This includes my pottery and art!) Plus bring the kids- they can make Thanksgiving themed crafts while you shop!

Teton MudPots Holiday Pottery Sale

Thursday & Friday, December 1 & 2: Time TBA, in the Art Association Gallery

This annual pottery sale features work by over 15 local potters. A great place to find utilitarian and decorative pottery made by students as well as teachers. 30% of all sales benefit the ceramics studio at the Art Association of Jackson Hole, where classes are taught to all ages.

Old Wilson Schoolhouse Holiday Gift Show

Saturday December 10: 10 - 3 at the Old Wilson Schoolhouse and Community Center

The perfect place to find gifts made by over 15 local artists; Sam and I will be there with lots of new pottery!

Pathways Timeline

Yesterday, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Garaman Park, I was invited to create a chalk timeline to depict the history of Pathways through Jackson Hole. This park is a nice stop along the 49 miles of pathways through Teton County. With access to Flat Creek, a picnic pavilion and open grassy space; Garaman park is a peaceful and open space tucked between neighborhoods. 

It's been rainy lately in Wyoming, so this was a risky project. Once the pathway dried off, I got to work marking out the timeline- from 1991 to 2017. I worked all afternoon to write the highlights from each year and added in some graphic elements to illustrate the story.

With large grey clouds looming, I focused on the process- legible handwriting, interesting and simple graphics. I learned a lot about the history of Pathways and all the elements and work that have made these areas possible.

And then the rain came... I didn't take any photos of my work before this point yet I was surprised at how the chalk held up! 

Projects don't always go as planned, but there is always something to be gained. 

The anniversary celebration was from 4 - 7 and was well attended. The chalk timeline was just one element during the evening and was a great way to invite people to walk the years of work behind Pathways projects. A lot of people experienced the timeline while I was working on it and also before the rain washed it away.

Passages

A few weekends ago, with the help of Jackson Hole Public Art, I installed Passages over the patio of Persephone Bakery. This installation will be up through Jackson's Fall Arts Festival, so if you are in Jackson be sure to stop by!

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Passages is part of a series I have been working on since 2009, each installation is unique with its own challenges (see them here.) This is the first opportunity I have had to install these pieces outdoors, I found the main challenge to be working in a public space. I strove to find a balance between visibility while not creating hazards in a busy, popular restaurant. 

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Each form is welded steel that has been dipped in Egyptian Paste and fired in a kiln. I strung them from a spiderweb of wires stretched between the canopy of trees that makes this patio so cozy and inviting. The boats (or leaves or fish or birds or bats...) form lines and groups, drips when they meet a tree and swirl around overhead. Sometimes they seem to hide in nooks between branches, offering moments of discovery.

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I am so happy to have been able to add something extra to one of my favorite spots in Jackson; every installation of Passages offers new ways to activate space. This has been beautifully written about by Katy Niner on the Persephone Blog. 

Next time you are looking for a coffee or beautiful baked treat, be sure to stop by Persephone... then see if you can find all the boats!

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Spiders!

Last weekend I participated in a unique project: Spiders! Interconnectedness, Innovation and Stewardship. Organized by Sarah Kariko, Research Director of Gossamer Labs, this project brought together a team of artists and scientists with the mission to explore the biodiversity of spiders found in Grand Teton National Park.

The setting for this exhibition was the Berol Lodge at the AMK Ranch in Grand Teton National Park. The pop-up exhibition was kicked off last weekend with a talk at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, WY as well as an opening reception on August 21st. While I helped with some of the installation, I ended up missing the reception, so unfortunately I did not take photographs of the exhibition. 

These tiny sculptures were my contribution to the exhibition. I took inspiration from the daily lives of spiders:

Crab Spiders hang out on bright yellow clumps of Arrowleaf Balsamroot while they watch for prey:

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This detail of a layered velum drawing is my representation of the afternoon activities of orb-weaving spiders as they repair and rebuild webs. Then in the evening, between hunting and repairing webs, I imagine that a spider would admire her collection of silk wrapped prey- reminiscing over large captures and particularly tasty meals.

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DG House created a painting of the Crab Spider sunning itself on the Arrowleaf Balsamroot and Chef Oscar Ortega fabricated a beautiful solid chocolate spider sculpture!

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I learned a lot from this project, from the daily spider activities that inspired my sculptures, to venom research and spider silk synthesis innovation. I even had the opportunity to see a recently discovered spider in person.

The Mason Spider is currently being studied, yesterday I met up with Sarah Kariko to see Maggie Raboin's research site. After the Mason Spider attaches her egg sac of spiderlings to a rock, she builds a mound of objects around it: pebbles, grass stalks, seeds, flower petals... These tiny mounds (1 - 2 inches) blend right in with their surroundings and are beautifully built. As an artist who takes inspiration from collected objects, I found this fascinating! (Look closely in the center image for a tiny snail shell)

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This project has only just begun, in 2017 the exhibition will travel to the University of Wyoming in Laramie. I hope to have the opportunity to see these artists and scientists again, who knows where this inspiration will lead!

Tiny Art Show

This week a mobile pop-up gallery opened its doors at the Jackson Hole People's Market. The gallery features a Tiny Art Show composed of tiny art created by 10 local artists and curated by Alissa Davies and Meg Daly.

For this show I played off the theme of a Farmer's Market and made a 16 x 16 inch flower stand out of corrugated cardboard. The stand includes tiny porcelain vases and flowers and customers are invited to make their own bouquet or select from a variety of handmade vases with arrangements.

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The Tiny Art Show will also be at the People's Market August 10 & 17, from 4 - 7pm. Be sure to come by and check it out! I'm not sure what flowers will be available next week, perhaps some different colors will pop up in my studio.

A few details from the Tiny Art Show, plus work by a few of the artists:

Wall hangings by Lisa Walker

Encaustic by Pamela Gibson

Coasters by Walt Gerald

Update: Wonder Spot

Part II: The Clouds Have Gathered

It took nearly a month after the first install (for details check out Part I) but the clouds have finally gathered on the Wonder Spot. The final addition is a cloud over 8 feet wide that hovers at the top of the sign.

The clouds take shape upon approach. Once up close, all the parts and pieces used to make each form are visible. At this point it is as if the cloud particles have been magnified, similar to being inside a cloud where the edges are no longer visible. 

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This has been a tough sculpture to photograph!

Better photos will be added to my website over the summer, for now I've been snapping quick pics on my way in and out of Jackson. 

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The sculpture contains a few surprises: 

When driving north past the clouds there is a spot where Sam's giant steel boat on top of Jackson Hole Whitewater appears to float through the clouds. (Check out this video of the boat when it was in the sign a few years ago.) At night clusters of light within the clouds are reminiscent of a far-off thunderstorm.

The clouds will be up until late fall, so if you are in Jackson check them out as you are driving by!

FoundSpace 2016

This week I had an incredible experience while working with the FoundSpace project at Rendezvous Park. Partnering with the JH Land Trust, FoundSpace connects people with land through art and conservation, ultimately educating the public about open spaces in the Jackson Hole area. 

This year my role as an Assistant Gardener meant that I helped artists install multiple sculptures that interact with the R Park space. 

Installations include a Pond Flute by Bland Hoke, a Ring of Fire installed by Ben Roth designed to encourage a refreshing jump off a bridge into a pond. A mobile art studio became a place to create nests as well as Leaf and Secret Message Poems with Matt Daly as well as an Uncommon Garden that encourages the use of all senses by Bronwyn Minton.

In the mobile art studio participants were also encouraged to make pirate ships that contained treasure maps. The ships were let loose into the stream or pond. In order to help find out where treasure might be found in the park, I made a few wacky, awkward nets that could be used to fish out a ship so the map could be read.

There is much more happening within this space. While best experienced in person, you can find some great videos here.

The best part is that the artworks will remain in the park until September, so you can visit and interact with R Park through the eyes of artists all summer!

Now I have a year to think about this experience and prepare for next year. I'm thinking a lot about how I interact with open spaces and also how I can encourage participants to discover these special places.

Standing in a grove with a poem that can be read in any order:

Me (wearing part of the poem) Bronwyn Minton, Matt Daly

Wonder Spot

Part I: The Gathering

For the past several months I have been working on a large-scale project: creating a sculpture capable of living outdoors for 6 months. The Wonder Spot is 10 feet tall X 6 feet wide and stands about 10 feet off the ground along highway 191 as it winds north into Jackson, WY.

This tiny maquette is a simplified view of my vision. You've just arrived in Jackson (or you are heading to work) there might be summer traffic slowing down your progression... what's that? A group of clouds have gathered on a sign?

Here is the first installment of the process behind what will be a month long installation... The Clouds are Gathering.

I started out by making hundreds of ceramic balls, using plastic bowls as moulds. This has been a great way to use up the mounds of recycled porcelain piling up in my studio. 

My husband, Sam was the muscle behind bending the steel rods (our landscaping came in handy) and has helped brainstorm and problem solve at every step.

The porcelain orbs are beaded onto the steel armature. Then more are strung within the cloud structure to help fill the space. After a long day of troubleshooting and heavy lifting, we were tired and when the weather turned nasty we had to call it quits. (I didn't even have the energy to take a decent photo!)

I'm finishing the huge cloud that will go on top, plus making tons more ceramic orbs to help fill in some gaps in the 2 small clouds. In a few weeks we will meet for the final install and the clouds will finish gathering. In the meantime, they subtly hover on the Wonder Spot.

I had a team of awesome helpers- thank you! Now I'm looking forward to finishing the next step!

Maker Faire

Today Sam and I are participating in the Jackson Hole Mini Maker Faire. If you are in Jackson, come by the Journeys School from 12 - 4 and check out this celebration with over 40 makers!

Sam will be teaching small groups how to weld, stop by his booth to make your very own garden tool.

I will be using clay to create a community still life. Come by my booth to learn basic hand-building clay techniques. Make an object to pose and photograph amongst items created by other participants. At the end of the day all the clay will be recycled, so have fun with the process and the moment.

Check our facebook page to see photos from the day!