Updates to Sculpture Driving Guide

Updates have been made to the driving guide for Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational. The driving guide identifies the locations on the UW campus and throughout the city of Laramie where sculptures included in the exhibition are located. A map and thumbnail images help identify locations. Also featured in the driving guide are public artworks that are on permanent display on campus and in Laramie.

Information on the sculptures can be accessed through a free cell phone audio tour. Instructions on how to use the audio tour are included in the driving guide. Driving guides can be found at each of the sculptures in the exhibition, at the Art Museum front desk, or it is available online so that you can print it in advance!

For more information on this, or any other exhibition, please call 307.766.6622 or visit the Art Museum website.

New Summer Poster Now Available

The UW Art Museum's summer 2010 poster has arrived! Every summer, the Art Museum creates a 24 x 36 inch poster to highlight and commemorate one of the summer exhibitions. This year, the exhibition, Dufy on Design: The Fabric Design of Raoul Dufy is featured. The colorful image on the poster can be seen in the exhibition, which will remain on view until August 21.

If you've already seen the exhibition, or are making plans to come visit the Art Museum later this summer, be sure to stop by the Museum Store to purchase this commemorative poster! For more information on purchasing a poster, contact the Museum Store at 307.766.3982. For more information on exhibitions, please call 307.766.6622.

Patrick Dougherty's Short Cut Removed from Prexy's Pasture

Patrick Dougherty, Short Cut, 2008

Many folks are wondering what happened to Short Cut, one of the most talked about and enjoyed sculptures in the Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational exhibition.  Earlier this spring, UW's ground crews removed the work which was reaching the end of its life.  Artist Patrick Dougherty said that his outdoor creations made from locally harvested saplings usually have about a two-year lifespan. 

Dougherty, an artist from North Carolina, has created works around the world.  His inspiration for his sculptural forms comes from the specific location of the work.  For Short Cut, the Veedawoo boulders that now grace Prexy's Pasture and other locations on campus became a reference for the four, large boulder-like structures which were placed strategically on an unpaved pathway on the north east corner of the quad that is the heart of UW's campus.  Without impacting the ability to still traverse the "short cut," the sculpture offered the ability to get lost in the work through a myriad of doorways.  Once inside the structures, the open forms offered views to the sky.

Short Cut was one of eighteen sculptures installed on campus and in Laramie that comprised the original exhibition.  It was the third work to be removed.  It was preceded by Deborah Butterfield's Billings (which was on view in the Art Museum lobby) and Steven Siegel's It Goes Under (which was located along the Laramie Greenbelt in West Laramie).  

Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational opened in 2008 as a temporary exhibition.  All of the works are on loan and are on view on a temporary basis.  

Summer Arrives at the Art Museum

The sun shone on the Rotunda center at noon.

More than 100 people gathered in the Art Museum to watch a beam of sunlight make its annual trek to the light up the silver dollar in the center of the Rotunda today.  Many applauded the coming of summer.  On the terrace, many visitors looked at the sun through Ray Martin's massive telescope.  This was the 18th Summer Solstice Celebration at the Art Museum.

Summer Solstice Celebration Today at the Art Museum

Museum visitors look at the sun through Ray Martin's filtered telescope, set up on the Art Museum terrace during last year's Summer Solstice.

After Wyoming's long winter, it's worth celebrating the start of summer and the longest day of the year! Join us today at the Art Museum for the annual Summer Solstice Celebration, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm. On the first day of summer, a special solar tube in the museum illuminates a silver dollar that is set in the center of the Rotunda Gallery at exactly noon. Ray Martin will also be set up on the terrace with his filtered solar telescope, allowing visitors the unique opportunity to view the sun themselves!

The Summer Solstice Celebration is free and open to the public. For more information, please call the education office at 307.766.3496.

New Video on YouTube

The University of Wyoming Art Museum has added a new video to its uwartmuseum channel on YouTube.  Dufy on Design is a walk through the exhibition, Dufy on Design: The Fabric Designs of Raoul Dufy.

Raoul Dufy (French, 1877-1953) has been recognized for his work as a Fauvist painter, known for bold color and strong lines. Dufy was also one of the great innovators of twentieth century textile design, an aspect of his work that has been relatively unknown. Dufy by Design: The Fabric Designs of Raoul Dufy, at the University of Wyoming Art Museum through August 21, 2010, explores Dufy’s collaborations with Parisian couture fashion designer Paul Poiret and the leading French silk manufacturer Bianchini-Frier.  100 original silk fabrics and fabric designs and thirteen dresses designed by Mongi Guibane and Christian LaCroix using Dufy fabric designs are included in the exhibit.

Art Museum hosts Summer Teaching Institute

Sculptor Patrick Dougherty works with teachers, librarians, and community educators at the 2008 Summer Teaching Institute.

Photo courtesy of the UW Art Museum.

The UW Art Museum will be hosting its annual Summer Teaching Institute in Laramie, July 26-30. The Summer Teaching Institute is open to K-12 teachers, including arts education specialists, discipline specific teachers, general elementary classroom teachers, and special education teachers. It is also open to community educators, such as Boys and Girls Clubs, Parks and Recreation programs, senior centers, museums, libraries, and more.

The title of this year's Summer Teaching Institute is "Transforming Learning," and the focus will be on using original sources as inspiration for teaching and learning (including traveling exhibitions and trunks, local museums and libraries). Another focus will be on how to build school and community partnerships for art education.

Among the many topics to be covered at the Summer Teaching Institute, some include examining the Wyoming resources that are available to inspire creative and meaningful learning opportunities, how partnerships can be built to support art education programs, and how community educators can develop programming that incorporates meaningful creative learning strategies that engage students and audiences.

Featured speaker Dawn Ellis will host a workshop that explores developing partnerships for programs that use original art and other materials that are at the core of teaching and learning. She will be joined by educators, archivists, and librarians. For more information on Ms. Ellis, please visit her website. Studio time is included every afternoon for participants to explore new materials and ideas inspired by the original artwork, objects, and books encountered throughout the Summer Teaching Institute.

3 credits of PTSB certification or UW Continuing Education credit is available. Cost is $150 per person, which includes a non-refundable $50 pre-registration fee. Partners are also encouraged to sign up, which is $150 for the first partner, $125 for the second, and $100 for any additional partners. Partners must register together. Lunch and snacks are provided daily. Participants are responsible for their own breakfast, dinner, room and travel costs. There are a limited number of travel scholarships available, courtesy of the Wyoming Arts Council's Arts Access Program.

For more information, or to sign up, please contact Curator of Education Wendy Bredehoft at 307.766.3496 or wbredeho@uwyo.edu.

Summer Art Camps Begin Next Week

Students work on art projects in the Shelton Studio during last year's Summer Art Camp.

Summer Art Camps at the UW Art Museum will begin next week. The theme for this year's camp is Look Around: What Do You See? Different age groups will meet during different weeks. See below for the complete schedule and registration information.

Artists have the most interesting way of looking at the world. Sometimes the most commonplace items become their subject. Other times they use materials that no one else would consider as art supplies. We’ll explore the work of an exciting array of artists who paint, print, collage, and more. We’ll write about our impressions of their viewpoint and make art inspired and informed by what we see. Soon others will be considering your unique perspective as you become the artist.

Ages 6-10: Monday-Friday, June 14-18, 1 - 4:45 pm

Ages 11-15: Monday-Friday, June 21-25, 1 - 4:45 pm

Weekly rate: $60/student

Drop in rate: $15/student

For more information, or to register, please contact Master Teacher Heather Bender at hbender1@uwyo.edu or 307.766.3515.

This Week at the Art Museum

Raoul Dufy (French, 1877-1953), Fleurs et feuillages (Flowers and Foliage), c. 1915-1925, gouache, 37.5 x 37.2 inches, image courtesy of The Humanities Exchange

There are many new and exciting things going on this week at the UW Art Museum. Two new summer exhibitions, Neltje and Dufy by Design: The Fabric Designs of Raoul Dufy will open this Friday evening, June 4th, with an opening reception from 6-8 pm.

The Art Museum will also be hosting several public programs to coincide with these exhibitions. On Thursday, June 3, there will be "An Evening with Dufy." The curator of Dufy by Design, Shirley Howarth, will present an Art Talk at 6:30 pm. The title of her talk is "Raoul Dufy and the Transformation of Fabric Design." She will discuss the impact that Raoul Dufy had on the fashion world and on fabric design of the 20th century. This will be followed by an Art Conversation at 7:15 pm with UW faculty Donna Brown, Sonya Meyer, Lee Hodgson, and Ellen Jaegersen. The title of their talk is "Fashion Evolutions in the Period of Dufy." They will present dresses and images that provide historical context for the time period in which Dufy was working.

On Friday, June 4th at 10:30 am, Shirley Howarth will give a Gallery Walk Through of the exhibition, Dufy by Design. Wyoming artist Neltje will present a Gallery Walk Through of her solo exhibition at 4:30 pm, with the opening reception immediately following.

Programs will wrap up on Saturday, June 5th when Neltje presents an Art Talk at 1:30 pm. She will show images of earlier work, to provide a comparison to the more recent work that is in her solo exhibition at the Art Museum.

All events are being held at the Art Museum and are free and open to the public. For more information on any exhibitions or programs, please call 307.766.6622 or visit the Art Museum website.