Two new innovative sculptural works coming to UW campus

Chris Drury, Carbon Sink: What Goes Around, Comes Around, 2011

Courtesy of the artist

A year ago, the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund awarded a second grant of $25,000 to the University of Wyoming Art Museum, in support of the ongoing exhibition “Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational”. Art has been on display throughout the U.W. Campus and City of Laramie, and this grant supports the expansion and reinvigoration with new works.

In July, land artist Cris Drury will create a new work near Old Main called “Carbon Sink: What Goes Around, Comes Around” (artist's rendering shown above, courtesy UW Art Museum blog). Made from Wyoming coal and beetle kill pine, the 36 foot diameter work appears as a vortex, rotating inward. Drury, a British artist who has been at the forefront of the land art movement since the 1970s, will be on location for three weeks to start the work.

In August, Idaho artist Gerri Sayler will install a site specific work in the new computer lab at Coe Library. Created from hot glue, the suspended work will fill the two-story space with a cloud like form that will change with the light. The work is titled “Nebulous”, and furthers Sayler’s work inspired by water in its various forms. It also introduces the idea of art for interior public spaces on campus.

King Coal Days in Hanna July 30-31

King Coal Days takes place during the last weekend of July in the historic Carbon County mining town of Hanna. For more information, please contact Jerry Leturgey at the Hanna Recreation Center at 307-325-9402.

While in town, visit the Hanna Basin Museum. Located in the old Community Hall building, it is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Originally constructed as a saloon in 1890, the hall has served many purposes in the Union Pacific Coal Company Town. Sharing the Front Street site is The Miner’s Cottage, a
restored exemplary Two Town House. The Hanna Basin Museum is an active participant in the Carbon Cemetery Restoration and Preservation Project. The Museum houses the Carbon archive, resources revealing life and death in the first coal camp (1868-1902) along the original line of the Union Pacific Railroad.

The museum is located at 502 Front Street and provides a wonderful historical background for the town of Hanna. You can also pick up information about lesser known area points of interest including the ghost town of Old Carbon at the Hanna museum.