Friday, August 31, 2012

Wyoming River Fugues: On Location at the UW Art Museum!

Artist Margaret Cogswell (second from right) and preparator Conor Mullen (right) install video components for Wyoming River Fugues. Photo courtesy of the UW Art Museum

After three years of research and developing ideas for her solo exhibition, Wyoming River Fugues, at the University of Wyoming Art Museum, Margaret Cogswell is now on location for the installation. The exhibition synthesizes hours of interviews and filming in Wyoming into an installation of sculptural components with video and audio components, all orchestrated to the musical form of a fugue.

See more of her work on her website: www.margaretcogswell.net

The exhibition opens on Friday, September 7 from 6 – 8 pm. Cogswell will give an informal Gallery Walk Through on Friday, September 7 at 4:30 pm and an Art Talk on Monday, September 10 at 7 pm in the new Visual Arts Building auditorium. All events are free and open to the public.

Wyoming River Fugues was made possible by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts with additional support from the UW Art Museum Gala Funds and Wyoming Public Radio.


Thursday, August 30, 2012

"Growth" takes shape!






Dan Toro continues his work on the mural "Growth" in downtown Laramie. It's fascinating to watch this amazing artwork take shape!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The Laramie Mural Project 2012 continues!


Artist Dan Toro is beginning his work on "Growth" located on the Source Gas building in downtown Laramie at 3rd and Custer. Keep your bookmarks pointed right here for exciting updates as this latest mural progresses!

Friday, August 17, 2012

Two New Exhibitions open at UW Art Museum!

Emilio Sanchez (Cuban/American, 1921-1999), Sol de Mediodía, 1996/1997/1998, lithograph, 15 x 32 inches, Gift of the Emilio Sanchez Foundation, University of Wyoming Art Museum Collection, 2011.7.65

Two new exhibitions open tomorrow, August 18, at the UW Art Museum! We can hardly contain our excitement! Read about the exhibitions here: Emilio Sanchez  and here: John Ezell



We hope to see you soon at the Art Museum!

Monday, August 13, 2012

"Escape" in Laramie . . .


Laramie artist, Meghan Meier, has completed the mural titled "Escape" on the north and east walls of Undercover Beds and Spas at Garfield and Second Streets in downtown Laramie, WY.  The work was designed specifically for the location.  Meier says that her new work was inspired by walking or biking by that corner several times a day.  "Not only did I want to paint something that I was proud of, I wanted to paint something that would make me smile every time I saw it. . . . (and) I wanted the mural to make other people smile as well."  Meier also did the mural “Grainery Grove” last summer on the alley wall of Whole Earth Grainery.

The new mural incorporates the three things the artist loves most--bikes, rocks, and trees--whimsically portrayed in a Vedauwoo-inspired landscape.  "I drew an aspen tree escaping his grove (a reference to the “Grainery Grove” mural) for a pleasure ride.  The rocky landscape he rides through is certainly unrealistic, but familiar.  He’s free for the day and stoked about it!  Hopefully reminding everyone to get out and play, enjoy what’s around us, and smile at least a few times a day," says Meier.

The Laramie Mural Project is a partnership between local businesses and artists, Laramie Main Street, and the UW Art Museum.  “Escape” is the first of as many as four murals planned for the downtown area this summer.  It has been funded by the Guthrie Family Foundation, City of Laramie, and the Wyoming Arts Council. Special thank you to Undercover Beds and Spas of Laramie.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Summer Teaching Institute at the UW Art Museum

How do K-12 educators stay energized and dedicated to teaching and learning, even in the face of monumental mandates for more testing and less creative thinking? They attend the annual Summer Teaching Institute at the UW Art Museum! Transforming Learning: Visual Art as Allegory, Symbol and Discovery was a week packed full of investigative processes that linked original art, writing, cultural history, math, science and more in creative ways to inspire learning and teaching that can be used in any classroom.
 
Consider this assignment: Begin by walking around the University of Wyoming Visual Arts Facility looking for places where you could envision a large-scale sculpture. Document the most interesting spaces you find using a digital camera or sketching them in your journal. Then, document some of the organic matter that you find outside (i.e. flowers, grasses, trees, etc.). Consider the very small and very large shapes they create. This will serve as inspiration for a symbol/motif. Experiment with how you can translate your motif into three dimensions while remaining mindful of the negative spaces that your symbol/motif may create. Use your symbol/motif multiple times while varying scale, orientation, and form to create visual interest. Then complete a model for a site-specific monument executed primarily in planar materials, using the symbols/motifs inspired by your walk.

This assignment to students on Day 3 of the Institute extended ideas they had been exploring about line and form in two dimensions into the three-dimensional plane, inspired by their considerations of the drawings of Goya and the small sculptures of Linda Fleming. Sounds challenging doesn't it? 
 
Here's what Hank Washut, an elementary teacher from Casper said about the week: "WOW! This was a wonderful week of learning, creating and growth. I enjoyed the access to the museum, and the many different media and techniques presented. I found the strategies and processes were instructional tools that I can easily utilize. This institute and your instructional team are great. You are an asset to Wyoming educators. I will encourage others to participate in the future and will I will certainly return when it is offered. Thank you all for your thorough preparation and the long hours you gave to each of us. Thank you for sharing your state of the art facilities, they are truly a match the tremendous artists and teachers that you all are!"

Now completing its eighth year, the Summer Teaching Institute provides professional development for school and community educators that is conceptually-based, integrative and focused on original artwork, artists and other original resources. It is supported through the Sigrid See Endowment and the Wyoming Arts Council, through a partnership with the UW Art Museum, UW Visual Arts Department and UW Fine Arts Outreach.

Follow the creative journey of this summer's institute on their blog: http://sti2012.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Shhhhh . . . . Save the Date

Bootlegger Ball
University of Wyoming Art Museum Gala
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Details to Follow . . .