Mike Corso recreates the past

Nice article in Sunday's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle about Mike Corso, our colleague in the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources. By day, Mike manages all of our web sites and is building the WAC's new Online Artists Image Registry. In his free time, he dons the guises of Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson or Wyoming Territorial Governor John A. Campbell. Mike will play the part of Gov. Campbell today from 1-4 p.m. at the Wyoming History celebration at the Historic Governor's Mansion in Cheyenne. Read the article: Becoming part of the past - Wyoming Tribune Eagle Online

"Buckaroo culture" icon Waddie Mitchell receives top award from Nevada Arts Council

From the Nevada Arts Council:

Cowboy poet and Great Basin buckaroo Bruce Douglas “Waddie” Mitchell is the 2012 Nevada Heritage Award recipient. With an extensive history of artistic achievement and teaching, Mitchell continues to advance the significance of our Western heritage and cowboy poetry wherever he appears. His work and life will be featured on our website this fall. Created in 2010, the Nevada Heritage Award honors and recognizes Nevada master folk and traditional artists who, at the highest level of excellence and authenticity, carry forward the folk traditions of their families and communities through practice and teaching.

Mitchell was nominated for the award by the Western Folklife Center in Elko, home of the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, which notes that he has become "an icon of Nevada, of buckaroo culture and of cowboy poetry itself."

"Murder Rides Again... in Jackson Hole!" shows again in... Jackson!

Jackson Community Theater presents the second go-around of "MURDER RIDES AGAIN...in Jackson Hole!"

Enjoy a wacky wild west murder mystery dessert theater production, fun for the whole family!

This show will be presented for 3 nights each month through September.....on July 6, 7, and 8, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday evening. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. at the Elk's Lodge. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for children under 10 ~ includes dessert! YEEHAW!!

Come help Marshall Duke & Fester solve this zany excuse for a murder mystery and enjoy Miss Liddy's peach cobbler a la mode! Get your tickets at Valley Books and at the door. Call 307-690-8573 for more info and reservations.

WY Territorial Prison hopes to make Butch Cassidy Days a national tourist destination

Interesting article from the Associated Press about our sister agency in the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources. Butch Cassidy Days at Wyoming Territorial Prison just wrapped up on Sunday. The site's superintendent, Deborah Amend, is thinking big for next year's event:

“My vision for this site is to make this a national destination site, a regional intrigue site and an integral part of the community. I want it to become a very important part of Wyoming history and a part of the heritage of Laramie and this county.”

Read more here.

The Wyoming Arts Council provided a grant to Wyoming Territorial Prison Park to defray expenses for a June 2007 Butch Cassidy Days performance by Prickly Pair.

Get your copy of Pat Frolander's Married Into It this weekend at Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference

Wyomingarts looks forward to getting a signed copy of Patricia Frolander's new book this week in Casper at the Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference. Married Into It is a collection of poetry by Pat. Published by Glendo's High Plains Press, it features a cover illustration by award-winning Wyoming artist Sarah Rodgers. The WWInc conference bookstore is sure to have plenty of copies. If for some strange reason you're not coming to Casper this weekend (for the first time ever, the conference hotel may be accessible by boat!), you can order a signed copy from the author at Patricia Frolander, 19652 US Highway 14, Sundance, WY 82729. It is $12.95 plus $2 S&H. You can also buy copies at www.highplainspress.com or your favorite local bookstore or www.amazon.com.

Here are some review comments:

South Dakota writer Kent Meyers, author of The Work of Wolves:

Patricia Frolander writes of a place and way of life where disaster can be measured in seconds and where the most harrowing loss can emerge from the simplest of mistakes. Frolander understands just how indifferent the world is to human presence, but she makes of that understanding a quiet grandeur. Against indifference, these poems insist on redemptive beauty and the power of relationship. They are unstinting and clear-eyed, poems about the world as-it-is and about how human beings live not in but with it, and with each other, in both endurance and mutual support. 

Laurie Wagner Buyer, Colorado, author of When I Came West:

Vivid, honest, full of the beautiful clarity of hard-won expression, these poems will change the way the world thinks about women in ranching. Beneath the tough conditions and unrelenting work of western ranch life lie unbreakable threads of tenderness and conviction, one that ties working hands to stalwart hearts, and observant minds to the absolute souls of the earth.

John D. Nesbitt, novelist and poet, Torrinton, Wyo., Gather My Horses:

The poems in Married Into It show true Western spirit as they express a love for the land, the animals, and the ranching way of life.  This collection is evocative-rich with details and toned with perfect elegy.

Get more info on the author at the Bear Lodge Writers web site. Congratulations, Pat. See you Friday in Casper. 

Old West Days Celebration means music, theatre, parades, good food and great skiing

Jackson launches into summer with the 30th Annual Old West Days (locals call it "Cold Wet Days") Celebration May 27-30. With Jackson Hole's rich history, its no wonder Old West Days is a favorite among visitors and locals alike. People from all over the country come to appreciate live music, theatrical entertainment, arts and crafts, delicious food, rodeo events and much, much more.

For more information, contact the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce, info@jacksonholechamber.com, or 307.733.3316.

Bring your skis. According to Jim Stanford at JH Underground: 

Skiers and snowboarders should enjoy good coverage and fresh powder when the Jackson Hole Aerial Tram opens for the season Saturday. Meteorologist Jim Woodmencey is calling for up to 8 inches of snow by Sunday, and the Bridger-Teton National Forest Avalanche Center has rated the danger as moderate.

Robert Greer addresses NAACP banquet -- and signs books -- June 4 in Cheyenne

The multi-talented Robert Greer will come to the Cheyenne Holiday Inn on Saturday, June 4, to speak at the annual banquet of the Wyoming NAACP. His theme will be the contributions that African-Americans made to the history of the West. He will sign copies of his books from 6-7 p.m.. Dinner will follow, with Dr. Greer's speech at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 per person, $50 per couple. You can purchase tickets for the event by calling Abe Stevenson at 307-634-8304 or Bennie McLaughlin, 307-634-5527.

When he's not writing, Dr. Greer is a professor of pathology, medicine, surgery and dentistry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. He also holds a master's degree in creative writing from Boston University and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Miami University of Ohio, his alma mater.


Greer has lived in Denver for thirty years. In 1986 he founded The High Plains Literary Review and continues to serve as its editor-in-chief. He is the author or co-author of three medical textbooks and over 125 scientific articles. His short stories have appeared in dozens of national literary magazines and his short story collection, Isolation and Other Stories, published in 2000 by the Davies Group Publishers, is also wonderfully illustrated. 

Greer has been involved in cancer research at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center for more than thirty years. In 1983 his research group was the first in the world to report a synergistic link between smokeless tobacco use and human papillomaviruses in certain cancers of the mouth. That research foundation is the basis for the plot of his novel, The Devil's Hatband, the author's first novel featuring Denver bail bondsman and detective CJ Floyd. Several of his novels are set in Wyoming.


Spoon, Greer’s 2009 novel of the contemporary American West, won the Colorado Book Award for literary fiction. It also was a finalist for the Western Writers of America Spur Award and received the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union 2010 Media of the Year Award. Wyoming’s Craig Johnson, author of Another Man's Moccasins and The Dark Horse , had this to say about the novel: "With Spoon, Robert Greer tells the story of a modern-day range war in wildfire prose both taut and lyrical."

Greer also reviews books for a Denver National Public Radio affiliate, KUVO, and raises cattle on a ranch in Platte County, Wyoming. 

Mother's Day grand-reopening of Night Heron Books in downtown Laramie

From the Downtown Laramie Facebook site: "It was a beautiful Mother's Day downtown. Perfect for celebrating the grand re-opening of Night Heron Books!"

Buffalo Bill Historical Center competes in the EPA’s “Battle of the Buildings”

The Buffalo Bill Historical Center has been selected to participate in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Energy Star National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings to help improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings and protect the environment. In the spirit of popular weight-loss competitions, the Historical Center will battle it out against hundreds of other teams from buildings across the country to work off the waste through improvements in energy efficiency with help from EPA’s Energy Star program.

“The Buffalo Bill Historical Center is honored to be a part of this competition,” says Phil Anthony, operating engineer at the Center and a leader of its sustainability program. “We are committed to continuing to improve our energy efficiency and we look forward to seeing how we measure up against other buildings across the nation.”

--snip--

According to EPA, energy use in commercial buildings accounts for nearly 20 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and energy use at a cost of more than $100 billion per year. On average, 30 percent of the energy used in commercial buildings is wasted. Thousands of businesses and organizations work with EPA’s Energy Star program and are saving billions of dollars and preventing millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering our atmosphere each year.

To watch the competition unfold, visit www.energystar.gov/BattleOfTheBuildings. More information on the Buffalo Bill Historical Center can be found by exploring www.bbhc.org.

Noted actor Wilford Brimley will be the featured guest at the Cheyenne International Film Festival

Wilford Brimley in "The China Syndrome"

Actor Wilford Brimley and his wife Beverly will appear at the Cheyenne International Film Festival on Saturday, May 21. The evening will be co-presented by the Historic Plains Hotel, the CFD Old West Museum and Hands Across the Saddle. The ticket price is $30.

Doors open at 6 p.m. at the Historic Atlas Theatre and appetizers by the Plains Hotel and wine by the Table Mountain Vineyards.

Wilford Brimley most recently appeared in Did You Hear About the Morgans? The film was set in Wyoming and starred Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker. He is known for his roles in Seinfeld, The Firm, The China Syndrome, The Natural, Cocoon, The Hotel New Hampshire and Absence of Malice. He and his wife Beverly are founders of Hands Across the Saddle based in Greybull, Wyoming.

The audience will also be treated to a demonstration of traditional Northern Arapaho dancing and singing by members of the Wind River Dancers and the Wind River Tribal College language classes. The Plains Hotel has a long history with the Northern Arapaho, as a painting of Chief Little Shield hangs prominently in the lobby of the hotel.

The feature film on Saturday is a never-been-seen-before black and white silent film found in the archives of the Oregon State Historical Office. The silent film will have an original and spontaneous live piano score performed by Rattlesnake Jake Martin.

"Cajun Boil and Concert" May 20 at Old West Museum

The Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum presents “Cajun Boil and Concert” on Friday May 20.

Cocktails & Dinner @ 6:00 p.m.
Concert & Dancing @ 7:30 p.m. 

Join us for a Cajun boil with all the fixins’, as we dance the night away to Geno Delefose & the French Rockin’ Boogie Band!  There will be door prizes, party favors and we’re raffling off a “truck basket” full of goodies!

Tickets are just $40 and can be purchased at www.oldwestmuseum.org

"One of the most admired novelists in the world" addresses Mountain West Arts Conference

Not in Wyoming, but within striking distance:

As a teen, Chris Abani was imprisoned by the Nigerian government for his writings. Abani now teaches at University of California Riverside and will be the keynote speaker at the 2011 Mountain West Arts Conference May 5 at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, West Valley City, Utah. The event includes the Governor’s Leadership in the Arts Awards ceremony. FMI: 801-236-7550, kwoslager@utah.gov, http://artsandmuseums.utah.gov/resources/professional_development/conferences/index.html

More about the keynote speaker:

Chris Abani is one of the most admired novelists in the world today. He is also an evocative speaker whose talks -- near musical in their fluidity, heartbreak and joy -- mix the personal and the political. His luminous and very funny insights are a vital statement on the redemptive power of art to battle tyranny and to remind us of our common humanity. "Happiness," he has said, "is learning to live with difficulty and grace." Abani is the recipient of the PEN Freedom-to-Write Award and many other prizes. His bestselling novel, Graceland, about an Elvis impersonator in Lagos, won the Hemingway/PEN Prize. His other works of fiction include The Virgin of Flames, Becoming Abigail, and the award-winning Song For Night, about a child soldier who has lost his voice. All three were named a New York Times Editor's Choice.

Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference presenters earning their "Spurs"

News from John Nesbitt, Wyoming Writers, Inc., Board President:

The annual Western Writers of America Spur Award winners have been announced, and it is with pleasure that I pass on a couple of worthy names. Max McCoy, our headliner for last year's conference, once again won the Spur in the Best Mass-Market Paperback Original category, while Lucia St. Clair Robson (in photo at right), this year's headliner, won the Spur in the Best Long Novel category. These are very prestigious awards, and we are fortunate to have such distinguished presenters. Congratulations to Max and Lucia, and onward to another good conference.

FMI: http://www.wyowriters.org

P.S. Just received an e-mail from Shelagh Wisdom with WWInc 37th annual conference brochure attached. This line-up of presenters looks like the best yet, especially if you're interested in getting your book published. Early-bird registration until May 9 is $155 for members. Get more info at WWInc link above.

WY Musician spotlight: Jessica Camilla O'Neal

Believe it or not -- Wyomingarts does not know every single artist, performer and writer in the state.

At least once weekly, Wyomingarts is contacted by someone returning to Wyoming or moving here from some other exotic locale such as Colorado or Idaho.

So we share the wealth:

Jessica Camilla O'Neal a musician, singer, teacher and song writer born and raised on a dude ranch in Moran. She spent her youth helping out at the ranch and performing in plays at the Jackson Hole Playhouse. . 

She recently finished her first original solo album, and has had several recording contracts out of Nashville. Her original music is western “with a fresh mountain flare,” she says. “I like to think of it as Rocky Mountain music.”

She has opened for acts such as Reba McEntire, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Terrri Clark and Marie Osmond. Last summer, she was the featured artist of “Women Of Jackson Hole,” also the featured artist of The Western Design Conference.

She has traveled Asia as an ambassador for the United States teaching mountain communities in Kyrgystan about western heritage through music and horsemanship. I have taught the spring drama program at Jackson Hole High School for the last seven years. She also teaches voice and piano lessons.

She concludes: “My vision, passion, and dream for my life is to create, write and perform music in this amazing state we call home.”

She is available for performing gigs this summer.

What are you waiting for? Send her an e-mail or look her up at her web site at www.camillaoneal.com

Deadline March 25 for Western Arts Alliance Juried Showcase Program at Seattle conference

Western Arts Alliance (WAA) is now accepting applications from performing artists, companies, or their agents for its 2011 Juried Showcase Program.  The showcase, part of the 2011 WAA Annual Conference in Seattle, will take place on August 31 at the Broadway Performance Hall.  The Juried Showcase gives presenters and delegates the opportunity to see a diverse range of performance of outstanding quality in a short program.  Juried Showcasing artists are selected in a competitive process by a committee of WAA members, and their performances take place as part of the core conference program.

The application fee is $65; you need not be a member of WAA at the time of application, but all showcasing artists must be members (or represented by a member) exhibiting at the conference.

All materials must be received in the WAA Office by Friday, March 25, 2011.

Western Arts Alliance is a membership association of touring and performing arts professionals engaged in promoting and presenting performing arts throughout the western states and provinces. The WAA Annual Conference will convene presenters, artists, and agents August 29-September 2, 2011, around the shared goal of programming live performances.  Opportunities for meetings, exhibits, performances, networking, speakers, classes and workshops will be featured throughout the conference week.  Artists, Managers and Agents will be able to share their or their artists' work with more than 200 presenting organizations based in the West, making the WAA Conference one of the best resources for connecting with presenters and colleagues.

Learn more at www.westarts.org

Contact: Chelsea Maricle, Membership Services & Communications Manager, 503-274-4729, cmaricle@westarts.org

"Yellowstone to Yukon: The Journey of Wildlife Art" opens May 14 at National Museum of Wildlife Art

 Dall Sheep, Gates of the Nahanni River, North West Territory, 2010, Dwayne Harty.

This info about an outstanding new summer exhibition coming to the National Museum of Wildlife Art comes from WordenGroup PR:

The Jackson Hole, Wyoming-based National Museum of Wildlife Art joins forces with the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) for a new exhibition that draws on the rich artistic history of the U.S.-to-Canada migratory corridor while conveying its importance for sustaining wildlife populations. Yellowstone to Yukon: The Journey of Wildlife Art will be on display in three galleries at the National Museum of Wildlife Art from May 14-August 14, 2011.  The exhibition then travels to the Whyte Museum.

Covering some 1.3 million square miles, the Y2Y region spans five American states, two Canadian provinces and two Canadian territories, and includes the Rocky, Columbia and Mackenzie mountain ranges.  Works chosen by the two museums for the exhibition link centuries as well as the migratory corridor’s wide-reaching territory, depicting wildlife in the region by such masters as Albert Bierstadt, John Clymer, Carl Rungius and Bob Kuhn. 

Dwayne Harty painting in Nahanni National Park, July 2010.

In addition to the historical pieces, contemporary painter Dwayne Harty was commissioned by Y2Y to travel the corridor, capturing landscapes along the route that had rarely if ever before been sketched firsthand.  Following in the geographic footsteps of renowned wildlife artist Carl Rungius, Harty painted the 17 “areas at risk” as designated by Y2Y along the Wyoming-to-Canada corridor, with his finished works serving as a “living thread” connecting main themes throughout the Yellowstone to Yukon exhibition.

The National Museum of Wildlife Art also will display its complete set of Rungius drypoints in a second exhibition to complement the Yellowstone to Yukon show.  Above Timberline: Engravings by Carl Rungius will be on display May 7-October 2, 2011. 

A member of the Museums West consortium and accredited by the American Association of Museums, the National Museum of Wildlife Art of the United States provides an exciting calendar of exhibitions from its permanent collection and changing exhibitions from around the globe.  A complete schedule of museum exhibitions and events is available online at www.wildlifeart.org.  The museum is also active on Facebook at wildlifeartjh and on Twitter at @wildlifeartjh.

Media Contacts: Darla Worden, WordenGroup Strategic Public Relations, 307.734.5335, darla@wordenpr.com; Ponteir Sackrey, National Museum of Wildlife Art, 307.732.5444, psackrey@wildlifeart.org.

Brush up on your historic broom-making skills at free Territorial Prison workshop March 18

From Wyoming State Parks:

The Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site in Laramie will hold a free workshop for the public and potential volunteers, 18 years and older, who are interested in the art of constructing 1890s brooms.

Featured Broom Historian, Mark Parsons, Berthoud, Colo., will conduct the “hands-on” workshop on March 18, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Participants will learn the basic methods of broom construction utilizing vintage and replica broom making equipment to create their own handmade broom for decorative or functional use. Discussion of the history of brooms and broom making will be included. All skill levels welcome.

“A broom is such an ordinary object and yet it can be very reminiscent of a simpler time.” Deborah Amend, superintendent of the Wyoming Territorial Prison said. “Brooms were a commonplace, functional item in every household. In 1892 the Prison, recognizing the potential revenue from the broom industry, began producing brooms commercially, using convict labor, and shipped them all over the United States, Hawaii and internationally as far away as Asia.”

This workshop is also offered to educate and train any new volunteers who would like to refine their broom making skills and do living history presentations during the site’s summer season by volunteering to work in the Prison Industry Building. Selected volunteers will receive appropriate uniforms, training and historical information related to convict industries at the prison.

For additional information or to register for the workshop call 307-745-6161. The Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site, located at 975 Snowy Range Road in Laramie, opens for the season on April 30 and will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. until October 31.

FMI: Deborah Amend or 307-777-7878

Grand Teton Music Festival asks "What does 50 years of music sound like?"

You can tell that summer is on its way -- or at least on the distant horizon -- when the festival announcements arrive at the WAC.

The preview flyer for the 50th annual Grand Teton Music Festival in Teton Village arrived today. It asks "What does 50 years of music sounds like?" Inside are the answers.

Yes, tickets are required -- even for the free "Inside the Music" sessions July 5, 12, 19 and 26 and August 9 and 16. These "lighthearted, themed performances explore one topic per evening with host Roger Oyster and other festival musicians. Enjoy an exhilarating journey into the music and get a sneak peek into the weekend concerts."

The ever-expanding GTMF repertoire includes its excellent festival orchestra concerts, as well as spotlight concerts such as the "Magical Mystery Tour Beatles Tribute" July 6, Doc Severinsen & The San Miguel Five July 20, and acoustic Celtic music with Colcannon Aug. 17.

Read all about it at http://www.gtmf.org

BBHC hosts "Spring Fling" field expedition

From the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody:

Early spring in the Yellowstone area brings the stirring of wildlife -- as well as of wildlife watchers. In two upcoming field expeditions organized by the Buffalo Bill Historical Center’s Draper Museum of Natural History, participants have the chance to glimpse the fascinating courtship dance of sage grouse or tour a stretch of prime predator habitat.

The “Spring Fling” field expedition on April 16 visits a lek, the communal dancing grounds for the greater sage-grouse. In a courting ritual described by Jennifer McDonald, who spearheads the field expeditions, “The males puff up their chests, fan their tails, and inflate special air sacs in their necks. As air passes in and out of the air sacs, the birds make bizarre popping sounds.” She adds, “To see and hear the dance is quite a treat for our participants.”

McDonald is the natural history program manager and a biologist with seventeen years of experience in the Yellowstone region. Her areas of specialty include songbirds, elk, wolves, and grizzly bears. She co-leads the “Spring Fling” with Destin Harrell, a wildlife biologist with the Cody Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management who has studied and written about the Big Horn Basin’s greater sage-grouse.

Participants on the day trip depart the Buffalo Bill Historical Center at 5 a.m. April 16 and return by 11 a.m. Cost of the trip is $50, with a rate of $45 for Historical Center patrons. Coffee and breakfast are provided.

In late May, McDonald teams up with Interpretive Specialist Emily Buckles, an outdoor environmental educator with several years of experience leading field trips about the ecology and natural history of the region. “Predator Parade” heads to the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park for a wildlife viewing tour, with likely sightings of grizzly and black bears, wolves and coyotes, golden eagles and peregrine falcons. Participants may also see elk, pronghorn, bison, and bighorn sheep, including newborns at this time of year.

“Predator Parade” is an overnight trip, May 27 and 28, with accommodations at Silver Gate Lodging in Silver Gate, Montana. Reservations can be made for parties of one to four, with rates as follows: $275 for single occupancy, $425 total for double, $530 total for triple, and $600 for quadruple. Two lunches and a breakfast are included. Half the registration fee is due to hold the reservation, with the balance due two weeks prior to departure.

Both field expeditions require advanced registration, as space on the popular trips is limited. Contact McDonald at jenniferm@bbhc.org or 307.578.4121 to register. For both trips, participants are encouraged to bring binoculars and camera, and warm layered clothing including rain gear. For more information on natural history programming at the Historical Center, visit www.bbhc.org and explore “Greater Yellowstone Natural History.”

Committed to connecting people with the Spirit of the American West, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center weaves the varied threads of the western experience—history and myth, art and Native culture, firearms technology and Yellowstone natural history—into the rich panorama that is the American West. The Center, an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is now operating its spring schedule, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily. For general information, visit www.bbhc.org, or call 307.587.4771.

Photo: Greater sage grouse, 2006. Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

"The Western Novel: History, Lore and Practice" March 11 in Buffalo

Presentation by two Wyoming Arts Council roster writers. Bring them to your community through an Arts Across Wyoming grant. Go to http://wyoarts.state.wy.us.