Donkey Creek Festival June 24-26 at Gillette College

The Donkey Creek Festival takes place June 24-June 26 with music, vendors, film and food.

The Donkey Creek Festival kicks off on the evening of June 24, with an Avenues of Art Reception at the Gillette College Tech Center from 5:30-7:30 p.m. The night concludes with a free outdoor film on the lawn of Gillette Campus featuring the animated hit Megamind.

On June 25, the day begins with a 5K walk/run at the Gillette College Tech Center hosted by the Campbell County Parks and Recreation Department. Then, the Boy Scouts of America hosts an all-you-can-eat pancake feed at the Gillette College Health Sciences Building beginning at 8 a.m. The Classic Car Show runs for five hours beginning at 10 a.m. at the Gillette College Tech Center parking lot.

Both Saturday and Sunday is filled with 12 hours of live music from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. A beer garden is available from noon-9 p.m. Saturday, and from noon-7 p.m. on Sunday.

Altogether, the Avenues of Art Reception, musical performances, outdoor film, and the classic car show are all free and open to the public.

"Painting with Nancy" starts June 9 at AVA Center

UW Happy Jacks on concert tour through 5/21/11

UW Happy Jacks, a cappella group

5.16.11, 7:00 p.m., Newcastle HS Auditorium, free

5.17.11, 7:00 p.m., Rapid City Central HS Theatre, Rapid City, S.D., free

5.18.11, 6:30 p.m., Tongue River HS Auditorium, free

5.19.11, 3:00 p.m., Campbell Co. Senior Ctr., Gillette, free
5.20.11, 7:00 p.m., Big Horn HS Auditorium, free

5.21.11, 7:30 p.m., Kelly Walsh HS Auditorium, Casper, ticked by ArtCore

Public invited to Wyoming Arts Council board meeting May 18-20 at Gillette Tech Center

The Wyoming Arts Council will hold its quarterly board meeting May 18-20 in Gillette.

The meeting will be held at the Gillette Tech Center Conference Room. Agenda items include the decisions on FY12 Grants to Organizations and Operating Support grants, review of WAC budgets, long-range planning, discussion of Art in Public Buildings projects, and event planning for 4Cs conference and the next Governor’s Arts Awards.

The board invites individuals and organizational representatives to attend any part of the meeting to observe the board process, and to address the board during the public comment session beginning at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 19. Comments about the agency's policies, funding priorities, on-line granting system, and other arts-related topics are welcomed. For a detailed agenda, please contact the Wyoming Arts Council office at 307-777-7742. 

At the conclusion of Thursday’s session, a public reception for members of the community will be held from 5-7 p.m. at the AVA Center, 509 W. Second St., Gillette.

The Wyoming Arts Council provides leadership and invests resources to sustain, promote and cultivate excellence in the arts.

FMI: Camellia El-Antably, WAC, 307-777-7742 or celant@state.wy.us.

AVA Center offers "Early Release Day" art classes

Still time to register for AVA's Life Drawing Series

Cam-Plex features Willie Nelson & Family April 20

http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?organ_val=21612&schedule=list

Call for student artists: AVA Center Art Attack Youth Show in Gillette

Circus Circus by Will Lopez
2010 Best of Show

A reminder that entries for AVA Center's annual ART ATTACK YOUTH Show are due February 28.

This is a chance for our locally talented youth to show off their work in a gallery setting.
Open to Students from pre-school age to College age.

April 4-29

Reception is April 15, 6-8:30 p.m.


FMI: 307-682-9133 

Deadline is March 7 for Campbell County writers to sign up for "Our Stories, Our Heritage @ Your Library"

The Campbell County Public Library will be hosting an evening of story and song on Thursday, April 14, in conjunction with its annual celebration of National Library Week.

This year, to commemorate the Campbell County centennial, the library has chosen "Our Stories, Our Heritage @ your Library" as its theme. Local writers are invited to participate in the Thursday evening activities by reading their original work. Writers and invited local musicians will perform in 15-minute intervals, from 5-8 p.m.

If you are interested in participating, contact Darcy Lipp-Acord at the Campbell County Public Library, 307-687-9227, before March 7.

Grant writing workshop Feb. 10-11 at AVA in Gillette

It's not too late!

If you are interested in taking the grant workshop there are still a few slots available.

Give us a call at 682-9133 or register online www.avacenter.org

Register Here!

Hot art for cold days -- Artists' reception Feb. 10 at CAM-PLEX for "Colors of the Tropics"

From CAM-PLEX in Gillette:

CAM-PLEX is pleased to invite you to meet artists Ronni Barbula & Ramona Roll on Thursday, February 10, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. This artist reception is free and open to the public. To see the exhibit stop by anytime from Monday, February 7, through Friday, March 11.

For more information contact the CAM-PLEX ticket office at 307-682-8802. Ticket office hours are Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CAM-PLEX’s website: http://www.cam-plex.com. GALLERY HOURS are Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Gallery doors are open during Heritage Center events and by special appointment. CAM-PLEX office number: 307-682-0552.

Ronni Barbula Artist’s Statement:

Ronni Barbula’s formal educational background is in the Graphic Arts. After free-lancing for eight years, Barbula began to work with a series of mediums in the fine crafts. She’s been fusing (kiln firing), glass since 1998 and has truly found her passion in glass.

She shows and sells her work locally at the AVA Community Art Center’s gift shop, at the Local Color’s Annual Art Gala in May, and regionally in fine gift shows and galleries.

Ronni also gives frequent studio tours in her home. She has expanded her studio space to include large displays of her glasswork and jewelry for sale to the public by appointment. Call her anytime at 307.680.6691 for a private tour of her studio and home.

Her primary focus is in hand-crafted jewelry, a fusion of her own uniquely designed dichroic glass stones, and her individually created fine silver settings.

In addition she produces a line of “Window Jewelry”, large statement piece wall hangings, organically shaped food safe vessels and a variety of other items, all of which are her own original designs and creations.

“Color is my passion and combining color and function with glass truly makes my heart sing.”

Ramona Roll Artist’s Statement

On her travels to the Hawaiian Islands, the beautiful scenes above and underwater inspired the “Tropical Color” series. Scenes that captured great emotion when she encountered them…”my personal swim with the giant green sea turtle, for example, or the dramatic thunderclouds-which miraculously split and gave way to a magnificent sunset.”

“Another such example is a painting, where as a little girl, I remember standing in the middle of my dear grandma’s garden, smelling sweet flowers, listening to buzzing bees and singing birds. The Gazebo, I discovered many years later in the luscious green yard of a Hawaiian estate.” She decided to unite the both in her painting “Gazebo Garden”.

Two of her works, included in this show, reflect some experiences of her time living in the beautiful West. The painting of Spearfish Canyon is especially dear to her because her family and she visit there every year to hike and enjoy a picnic at this very spot. Her children run free and squeal as they dare splashing and playing in the freezing water.

“Painting with acrylic gives me the freedom to overlay many times, until I feel the colors are brilliant and vibrant.”

“I strive to produce happy and pleasant art that creates warm and joyful emotions in the viewer, maybe even a desire to be at the scene.“

“I hope you will enjoy the show…”

First novel by Wyoming sheriff debuts March 1

A reviewer's proof of a new book landed on wyomingarts' desk a few weeks ago. "Death Along the Spirit Road" is a mystery by deputy sheriff C.M. Wendelboe of Gillette. The book will be released March 1 by Berkley Prime Time Trade Paperback (978-0-425-24002-1, $14). Several mystery writers well-known to Wyomingites wrote blurbs for Wendelboe's first novel:

From Craig Johnson of Ucross, author of "The Cold Dish and Junkyard Dogs:" "With Lakota FBI agent Manny Tanno, Wendeloboe has intrduced a powerful new character to Western crime fiction."

Margaret Coel, Colorado author of a mystery series set on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation: "A mystery novel that grabs you by the lapels and refues to let go... This is storytelling at its best and C.M. Wendelboe is the new author to watch!"

Some comments from Publishers Weekly:

Wendelboe's debut, the absorbing first in a new Native American series, introduces FBI special agent Manny Tanno, a former Oglala Sioux tribal cop. When someone buries a war club in the head of Jason Red Cloud, an ambitious developer who put together a coalition of interests to build a resort overlooking the Wounded Knee site on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation, Tanno reluctantly leaves his FBI academy teaching job to investigate. Tanno must face the enmity of acting chief Leon "Lumpy" Looks Twice as well as the tribe's distrust of FBI agents rooted in the American Indian Movement fiascos of the 1970s. To complicate matters further, Tanno's brother, Reuben, is a prime suspect. The residual animosities that divided the tribe during AIM's heyday, the awful heritage of the Wounded Knee Massacre, and the plight of the residents of the "poorest county in the nation" form a somber backdrop.

Art classes for homeschoolers Fridays at AVA Center in Gillette

HOMESCHOOL ART CLASS

Fridays at AVA Center, Gillette

January 21, 28 February 4, 18, 25 • 3-4pm

Friday afternoon sessions that teach homeschool children drawing and painting techniques. 

Pre-registration is required. 

Class Fee: $12.50 per class or register for a whole month for $40

Learn More

Deadline is Jan. 26 to enter "Gillette's Got Talent"

Gillette's Got Talent 2011 Guidelines and Rules:

1) Participants can compete as an individual or group.

2) All participants are limited to one entry in each category and two entry fees must be paid.

3) Participants must register by January 26, 2011 at 5 p.m. to Rachel at the contact
information listed below:
E-mail: rachel@cam-plex.com
Mail: Attn: Rachel Kalenberg
1635 Reata Drive
Gillette, WY 82718

4) Entry Fee: $10 per act. All entry fees are non-refundable regardless of whether or not participants are selected to perform in the evening show.

Get more info here.

Wyoming Arts Council CAP grant helps fund new outdoor kiln at Gillette's AVA Center

From a story about the AVA Center's new kiln in today's Casper Star-Tribune:

The city of Gillette provided two grants so residents can, for the first time, have access to a large community kiln. The Wyoming Arts Council kicked in a $10,000 grant, and donations to the AVA Center also helped pay for the $28,000 kiln and its enclosure, which will protect it from Wyoming's harsh elements.

"In northeast Wyoming there isn't any place they have an outdoor kiln," said Sandi Aberle, executive director of AVA. "It's a whole new opportunity for potters and students and their imaginations can just explode."

After the kiln is in place alongside the building at the corner of 4J Road and Wyoming Highway 14-16, the AVA Center plans to offer pottery classes that will feature new techniques, clays and glazes. Aberle said the current plan is to fire the kiln about once a month starting in mid-December. The frequency will depend on the size and number of items to fire.

"With that big kiln we open so many opportunities for potters," Aberle said."If you were just putting cups in there, you'd literally be able to fire hundreds of them."

Read the entire CST story at http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_6c99f869-1ac9-5b79-8841-ff4bba26e8c7.html

The $10,000 Wyoming Arts Council grant for this project came from the Community Arts Partnership (CAP) category. Get more information about these grants at the WAC web site or by contacting Randy Oestman at 307-777-7109.

AVA keeps the kids busy with art classes on early release days

She's been working -- and creating art -- on the railroad

CAM-PLEX in Gillette is pleased to invite you to meet artist Edie Reno on Thursday, October 21, from 5-7 p.m. This artist reception is free and open to the public. To see Edie's "Living Creatures" exhibit, stop by anytime from Monday, October 18, through Friday, November 19. For more information contact the CAM-PLEX ticket office at 307-682-8802. Ticket office hours are Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CAM-PLEX’s website: http://www.cam-plex.com/. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Gallery doors are open during Heritage Center events and by special appointment.information

Artist’s Statement: “This collection, 'Living Creatures,' is of animals I see as I work on the railroad or while I am out walking. I compose drawings of them and mix diligently with dreams. Paint, weave in textures, colors of hope, joy, and mystery.”

Artist's bio: Edie Reno graduated from Campbell County High School, and attended California State University in Stanislaus and Turlock, California. Her studies focused on art with emphasis on sculpture. After college she taught art in schools and community as an itinerant artist in California, Montana, and Wyoming. As an Artist in Residence at Custer Co. Art Center, Miles City, MT Reno began to study the name Bezelel.... "under the shadow of God" and what that meant as an artist and continue to pursue that quest. In 2007 she received the high honor of a Purchase award at the Wyoming Governor’s Invitational in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Reno also currently works for BNSF Railways as a conductor.

AVA Center artists' reception Oct. 7 in Gillette

Artist reception this Thursday, Oct. 7, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at the Ava Center in Gillette. Featuring work by Sarah Rogers and Steve Roselles. FMI: http://www.avacenter.org/.

Bargains on used books Sept. 21-26 at the Campbell County Public Library in Gillette

The Campbell County Public Library Foundation's annual Used Book Sale runs Tuesday through Sunday, Sept. 21-26, in Gillette! The Early Bird Special is tomorrow (Tuesday) from 4-8:45 p.m. For a $5 cover you get first pick from the hundreds of on-sale books -- $2 hardbacks, $1 paperbacks. The sale continues during regular library hours the rest of the week. Saturday and Sunday are bag days -- all books $5 per bag.

"Metal Show" reception at AVA Sept. 9

Free public artists' reception for the "Metal Show" will be held at the AVA Center in Gillette on Thursday, Sept. 9, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Join us for appetizers and meet the artists!