Netsuke Carver to Give Demonstration at the Art Museum

Nick Lamb, Netuske carver
Image courtesy of the artist

Nick Lamb will be at the Art Museum on Monday, Oct. 5, to give a demonstration on carving netsuke from 6 - 8 pm. Netsuke are small carvings used in traditional Japanese clothing to counterbalance pouches hung over the belt of kimonos.

The demonstration is scheduled to coincide with the exhibition, Ichiro: A Life's Work of Netsuke, The Huey G. and Phyllis T. Shelton Collection. Ichiro was a 20th century carver and the Shelton collection is the largest known collection by a single netsuke artist. It was gifted to the University of Wyoming Art Museum this year. The exhibition runs from Sept. 12 through Dec. 22, 2009.

Lamb was trained as a graphic designer at the Berkshire College of Art in his native England. He started woodcarving in 1973; by the early 1980s, he was winning woodcarving prizes. He carved his first nestuke in 1983. Since then, he has become one of the most celebrated non-Japanese carvers of netsuke and other traditional Japanese miniature forms.

Lamb's work has been exhibited internationally, including the British Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, the Museum of East Asian Art in Berlin, the Chiba City Museum of Art in Japan, and the Museum of Art & Design in New York. He is a member of the Society of Animal Artists.

Art Museum is on Facebook

The Art Museum now has a Facebook page! Become a Fan so you don't miss what is happening at the museum! We will post information on events, exhibitions, collections, classess, visting artists, and more!

Click here to go to Facebook.

First Sculpture to Leave Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational

Deborah Butterfield's Billings on view
in the Art Museum rotunda
Photo courtesy of the UW Art Museum

Last year, the University of Wyoming Art Museum mounted a major exhibition of sculpture for campus and the Laramie community. Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational was scheduled to run for one year. Given the positive response to the exhibition, the museum is now working to extend the loans of many of the sculptures located both on campus and in Laramie.

The first sculpture scheduled to be removed from the exhibition is that of Deborah Butterfield. The sculpture is scheduled to be picked up by the artist's studio sometime after August 15. Thus, now is the time to see this remarkable scultpure before it is returned to the artist!

For more information on the UW Art Museum and Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational, visit the museum's webpage by clicking here.

Summer Teacher Institute at the Art Museum

The University of Wyoming Art Museum and the UW Fine Arts Outreach department are hosting Transforming Learning: The 2009 Summer Teacher Institute, July 26 – 31. This Institute is a concentrated week-long workshop for teachers that uses original art work as the inspiration to find answers to questions like: how can art help us explore new places? And, can art help us learn new things about those places most familiar to us?

Artists Ashley Hope Carlisle, Ginnie Madsen and Mark Ritchie will discuss their "placed-based" work and provide intensive studio workshops for teachers that will allow them to explore applications for their classrooms. Observe, question, explore, create and reflect becomes the model for discovery as teachers become students. The new Ann Simpson Artmobile exhibition, Where We Are Is Just the Beginning, will serve as resource and inspiration, as will the summer exhibits in the UW Art Museum, including the mixed media sculpture of Montana artist Tracy Linder, watercolor sketches, drawings and prints by Thomas Moran and selections from Adornment: Native American Regalia.

Registration is $50 per person. Dorm rooms, breakfast and lunch are included. Participants are responsible for their own evening meals and all travel costs. PTSB and UW credit are pending. To register contact the UW Fine Arts Outreach, (307) 766-5139.

The 2009 Summer Teacher Institute is funded in part by the Sigrid See Excellence Fund for the Art Museum Teacher Institute, the UW Fine Arts Outreach Program, the UW Art Museum, the Wyoming Arts Council through the Wyoming State Legislature, and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art.

For additional information on the exhibitions, call the UW Art Museum at (307) 766-6622 or visit www.uwyo.edu/artmuseum.

Save the Date for the Next 20:20

The date has been set for the next 20:20 event - Wednesday, September 23. The event will be held from 7-9 pm at the Little America in Cheyenne. It will be held in conjunction with the Wyoming Arts Council's Arts Summit. This 20:20 is the second in a series of three events hosted by the UW Art Museum. In the past, 20:20 was held specifically for artists from the SE region of the state, but the event in September is open to all statewide artists, arts organizations and art educators. Because it is being held in conjunction with the Arts Summit, writers, musicians and performing artists are also encouraged to sign up.

20:20 is a fast-paced presentation format where presenters are allowed 20 images, in PowerPoint format, and each image is only shown for 20 seconds. The result is a 6 minute and 40 second presentation. This allows for as many people as possible to show their latest work, their accomplishments, new projects and new ideas. 20:20 is meant to encourage dialogue and networking among colleagues throughout the state. It's a great opportunity to update and inform the Wyoming arts community.

Sign up is on a first come, first served basis. Images must be submitted in PowerPoint format no later than Wednesday, September 9. For more information or to sign up, please contact Art Museum Assistant Curator Rachel Miller at 307-766-6621 or rmiller@uwyo.edu.

Family Day at the Art Museum this Saturday

Kids and parents work on art projects

during the 2007 Family Day.

Photo courtesy of the Art Museum.

Family Day at the UW Art Museum is this Saturday, July 18, from 10 am - 4 pm. The day begins with an Art Talk by Montana artist Tracy Linder at 10:30 am. Tracy has been an Artist in Residence this week in the Shelton Studio, and has been working with students to create and shape handmade paper during the annual Paint Pony Express classes. The Art Talk is free and open to the public.

Family Day includes free art making activities for artists of all ages. The theme of this year’s Family Day is "Ranch Stories." Families will be able to ask Tracy Linder questions about her work and what it's like living on a ranch and how she came to be an artist. She will be on hand to talk about the unique materials she uses and the subjects that interest her. Papermaking materials are supplied by the Shelton Studio. Participants can learn how to make and cast paper, and create truly unique items from this fun (and wet!) medium. Come prepared to work outside in the sun. Family Day is free and open to the public.

For more information, please call 307-766-3496.

Netsuke Scholar Norman Sandfield Scheduled at the UW Art Museum

Netsuke scholar Norman L. Sandfield
at the closing banquet for the International

Netuke Society, after recieving the prestigious

Silver Kirin Award last week.

Photo courtesy of C.L. & P. Birnbaum

Norman Sandfield is scheduled to present a Gallery Walk Through and Book Signing in conjunction with the opening of Inada Ichiro: The Huey and Phyllis Shelton Collection at the University of Wyoming Art Museum. The exhibition opens September 11 and continues through December 22, 2009.

The recently received collection of Ichiro netsuke is the largest known collection of the 20th century netsuke artist. It becomes a very special small collection at the University of Wyoming and the exhibition coincides with the publication of the monograph, Ichiro Inada