One week and counting: Postmark deadline June 20 for creative writing fellowships

Postmark deadline for the 2012 creative writing fellowships in fiction is Monday, June 20.

Judge for this year's fellowships is fiction writer and essayist Pam Houston.

FMI: Mike Shay at the Wyoming Arts Council, 307-777-5234 or mike.shay@wyo.gov

Wyoming Arts Council announces recipients of 2011 performing arts fellowships

Anne Guzzo

Anne Marie Guzzo of Laramie and Jeff Troxel of Cody have been named the winners of the 2010 Wyoming Arts Council performing arts fellowships. They each will receive a $3,000 prize. An honorable mention was given to Warren Keldsen of Cheyenne.

This year’s awards honor the most exciting and creative work by Wyoming music composers.

Guzzo’s winning entry included Conigli for flute and piano, Haddayr Blogs for soprano, flute, clarinet and piano, and Scenes of Love and Hate for viola and symphony orchestra. Her compositions have been performed in 2011 at the Cortona Sessions for New Music in Cortona, Italy; at a 2010 performance of individual solo compositions in Bologna, Italy; at the China Conservatory in Beijing; and at the University of New Mexico. She is assistant professor of theory and composition in the UW Music Department.

Singer/songwriter Jeff Troxel submitted three originals songs for the competition: Joseph, November Sidewalk and The World Yet to Come. A longtime member of the Wyoming Arts Council artist roster, Troxel has performed and taught classes throughout Wyoming and the West. He has five CDs – with another on the way in June – and is a board member of the Yellowstone Jazz Festival.

Warren Keldsen has been composing and performing music for 22 years. His application included three original songs: Soul’s Highway, Bags She Carried and Watch the Angels.

Jeff Troxel

Judges for the fellowships were composer and musician Forest Greenough of Fort Collins, Colo., and Chris Guillot from Denver.

Category for the 2012 performing arts fellowships will be theatre and dance performance. Applications will be available in January 2012 with an April 2012 deadline.

For more information, contact Michael Shay, Individual artists program specialist, 307-777-5234 or mike.shay@wyo.gov

Wyoming Arts Council announces results of 2011 visual arts fellowship competition

"Lamps," Jenny Dowd, muslin, fabricated steel
armature, porcelain, 64x34x14 inches

Jenny Dowd of Alpine, David Klaren of Pinedale and Adrienne Vetter of Lander have been named the winners of the 2011 Wyoming Arts Council visual arts fellowships.

Each artist will receive a $3,000 prize. Their work will be on display Nov. 4-Dec. 30 at the Art Center in Jackson as part of the WAC’s 2010-2011 biennial exhibition.

Two artists received honorable mentions in the 2011 competition. They are Abbie Miller of Jackson and Suzanne Morlock of Wilson. There is no cash prize, but both artists’ work will be featured in the biennial show.

Judges for this year’s fellowships were Nancy Bowen, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Mark Klett, Tempe, Ariz.; and Joshua Wiener, Boulder, Colo.

Jenny Dowd is a mixed-media artist who works with paper, ink, porcelain, acrylic and muslin fabric, among other materials. She is education director and painting and drawing studio manager at the Arts Center in Jackson. Her work was featured in the 2010 Wyoming Governor’s Capitol Art Exhibition, the 2011 Feats of Clay XXIV exhibit in Lincoln, Calif., and the 2007 Texas National exhibit in Nacogdoches, Texas.

"Black Gulf," David Klaren, ink on vellum,
 18x24 inches

David Klaren draws with ink and graphite on paper and vellum. He’s exhibited his work throughout Wyoming and at galleries and museums in Florida, Colorado, Nebraska, Idaho and Montana. He’s a member of the Pipeline Art Project, a group of contemporary artists who “promote their work in the wider world while maintaining Wyoming residency.”

Adrienne Vetter grew up in Wyoming and studied art at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, the University of Wyoming and the University of Michigan. She is program manager for Wyoming Kids First of the Wind River Reservation. She works in sculpture and multimedia installation and is interested in “social class, cross-cultural organizing, autobiography and rural culture.”

"White Trash Beautiful" (interior), Adrienne Vetter,
installation, life-size

Abbie Miller is a sculptor who works with a variety of materials, including cloth, vinyl, zippers, wood and metal. Suzanne Morlock is a sculptor who incorporates local materials into her work, using local newspapers in Lodz, Poland, and cast-off nets at a fishing village in Iceland.

The Wyoming Arts Council has offered fellowships to individual artists since 1987. Applications for the 2012 visual arts competitions will be available in March 2012 with a deadline in May.

For more information, contact Michael Shay at mike.shay@wyo.gov or 307-777-5234.

Call for applications: Vermont Studio Center

This announcement comes from the Vermont Studio Center in John son, Vermont:

The Vermont Studio Center is an international residency program open to all artists and writers.

Year-round, VSC hosts 50 artists and writers per month, each of whom receives an individual studio, private room, and all meals. Residencies last from 2-12 weeks and provide uninterrupted time to work, a community of creative peers, and a beautiful village setting in northern Vermont.

In addition, VSC's program includes a roster of Visiting Artists and Writers (2 painters, 2 sculptors and 2 writers per month) who offer slide talks/readings and individual studio visits/conferences.

Awards Available for the June 15 Deadline:

Vermont Studio Center Fellowships
Sixteen fellowships for a 4-week residency are open to all artists and writers based on merit, as represented in the portfolio or manuscript.

Anderson/Frankel Fellowship for Chicago area/SAIC alumni
One fellowship sponsored by the Marshall Frankel Foundation and Davis Anderson, this award is open to all Chicago-area artists, including faculty and alumni of the Art Institute of Chicago, for one 4-week VSC residency.

Civil Society Institute Fellowship
One award for a 4-week residency open to an east coast minority artist with demonstrable financial need; preference will be given to artists from New Haven, Jersey City, and Baltimore. The $25 application fee is waived for eligible CSI applicants. Award includes a $500 travel stipend.

Cave Canem Fellowship
This annual fellowship provides one 4-week residency to a poet who is a Cave Canem fellow.  Home for the many voices of African American poetry, Cave Canem is committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African American poets. The $25 application fee is waived for applicants.

Pollock Krasner
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation/VSC Fellowship Program for visual artists of outstanding talent will support two 4-week residencies for domestic artists.

Henry David Thoreau Fellowship
This fellowship supports a poet whose work is a living extension of the literary tradition embodied in the work of Henry David Thoreau, for a 4-week residency.

Zoland Translation Fellowship
Offered in conjunction with Zoland Poetry, this 4-week residency fellowship is open to translators. Applicants should submit 3 copies of the original poems/translations, along with a description of English-language rights, author bio, and translator CV.

Website: http://www.vermontstudiocenter.org

Pam Houston to serve as judge for 2012 WAC creative writing fellowships

The judge for this year’s creative writing fellowships in fiction is Pam Houston.

Pam Houston is the author of two collections of linked short stories, Cowboys Are My Weakness and Waltzing the Cat, the novel Sight Hound, and a collection of essays called A Little More About Me, all published by W.W. Norton. Her stories have been selected for volumes of Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize, and Best American Short Stories of the Century. She is the winner of the Western States Book Award, the WILLA award for contemporary fiction, and The Evil Companions Literary Award and multiple teaching awards.

She is the Director of Creative Writing at University of California at Davis and teaches in The Pacific University low residency MFA program, and at writer’s conferences around the country and the world. She lives on a ranch at 9,000 feet in Colorado near the headwaters of the Rio Grande. Her new book, Contents May Have Shifted, will be published by W.W. Norton in early 2012. Read more about Pam and her work at www.pamhouston.net.

At the Casper College Literary Conference Sept. 22-24, 2011, Pam will read from her work together with the fellowship winners. She also will conduct a writing workshop.

For more information, contact Michael Shay, 307-777-5234 or mike.shay@wyo.gov, or visit the WAC web site at www.wyomingartscouncil.org. Print applications will be mailed out next week. Printable applications will be available at the WAC web site. Guidelines available on the right sidebar of this blog.

Postmark deadline is June 20, 2011.

Postmark deadline draws near for WAC visual arts fellowships

The postmark deadline for the Wyoming Arts Council’s 2011 Visual Arts Fellowships is Friday, May 13. The applications will be judged by mixed-media artist Nancy Bowen, photographer Mark Klett and sculptor Joshua Wiener.

The WAC will award up to three fellowships of $3,000 each to honor the work of visual artists that reflects serious and exceptional aesthetic investigation. Painters, sculptors, printmakers, potters, media artists, craftspeople, video, film and others are invited to apply by submitting digital images of their work.

This competition is open to Wyoming residents only.

Printable applications are on the WAC web site at www.wyomingartscouncil.org. For more information, contact Mike Shay at the WAC at 307-777-5234 or mike.shay@wyo.gov.

Schedule announced for May 21 professional development workshops for visual artists at WOW in Laramie

"Six quarter moons" by Mark Klett, 3/12/05, from the series Time Studies

Since 2009, the Wyoming Arts Council has sponsored annual forums for the state’s visual artists.

In 2009, the WAC teamed up with the University of Wyoming Art Museum for the "Public Art and Community Symposium" at the Hilton Garden Inn in Laramie. One WAC fellowship juror, well-known public artists Lawrence Argent, spoke about protecting intellectual property rights. All three jurors participated in the 20:20 event and the closing reception which included the announcement of visual arts fellowship winners for that year.

In 2010, the WAC traveled to Casper April 23-25 for a 20:20 event co-sponsored by the UW Art Museum. The three fellowship jurors conducted multimedia presentations of their work and an awards reception closed out the festivities. The WAC also gathered “focus groups” of visual artists and roster artists to get their input for the WAC’s next five-year plan. These sessions were held in conjunction with the High School Arts Symposium and the annual conference of WyoPoets.

This year, the WAC has teamed up with Works of Wyoming in Laramie for a series of professional development workshops on May 21. There is no fee for the workshops (lunch included) but you do have to register in advance. E-mail me at mshay@state.wys.us.

Here is the schedule for the May 21 workshops at Works of Wyoming (WOW) in the Laramie Civic Center, Laramie:

"Symbiosis" by Joshua Wiener

9-10:30 a.m.: Joshua Wiener, sculptor, Louisville, Colo.: “Everything you wanted to know about successful public art proposals.”

10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.: Mark Klett, photographer, Tempe, Ariz.: "Rethinking landscape photography (and all photographic practice) in the digital age"

12:30-1:30 p.m.: Lunch and announcement of visual arts fellowship winners

1:45-3:15 p.m.: Nancy Bowen, mixed-media artist, Brooklyn, N.Y.: “How to prepare and organize your work for visual arts competitions.”

3:30-4:30 p.m.: Wyoming Arts Council debuts online Artist Image Registry, Annie Wood (not confirmed) speaks about Wyoming Made, and Panelist Q&A

From Nancy Bowen's mixed-media exhibit "Sculptures & Drawings"

View Nancy Bowen's most recent exhibition at https://www.purchase.edu/Departments/AcademicPrograms/Arts/artdesign/richardanddollymaassgallery.aspx

View Mark Klett's work at www.artnet.com/artist/9580/mark-klett.html

Joshua Wiener's web site is at http://www.joshuawiener.com 

Postmark deadline April 25 for performing arts fellowships

Monday, April 25, is the postmark deadline for the Wyoming Arts Council performing arts fellowships in music composition.

This competition is open to Wyoming performing artists only.

Find a printable application at http://wyoarts.state.wy.us/Artists/Performing.aspx

Call Michael Shay at the WAC at 307-777-5234 if you have any questions.

Deadline approaching for WAC performing arts fellowships in music composition

The postmark deadline for the 2011 performing arts fellowships in music composition is April 25, 2011. Just 11 days away and counting!

The Wyoming Arts Council welcomes Wyoming composers in all musical genres to submit work for the competition. Application and guidelines are available at http://wyoarts.state.wy.us/Artists/Performing.aspx

This year's judges:

·                     Forest Greenough, a Fort Collins, Colo., performer and composer in classical music and jazz

·                     Christopher Guillot, a composer, musician and recording engineer from Denver

For more info, contact Michael Shay at the Wyoming Arts Council at 307-777-5234 or mshay@state.wy.us.

Ray Troll, friend of the Casper College Tate Museum, wins Guggenheim for science writing

Alaska artist and writer Ray Troll, author of Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway, has been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for his science writing. Ray was one of the presenters at the 2010 Equality State Book Festival in Casper. He is an old friend of the Casper College Tate Geological Museum and was a co-presenter of two bookfest sessions at the Tate: a book illustrators' panel along with Casper's Zak Pullen, illustrator of the children's book about “Dee” the mammoth; and the Tate's Russell Hawley. Ray also joined Casper author Tom Rea, Ilja Nieuwland and the Tate staff in a session called “Dig-it: A Conversation About Dinosaurs and Fossils.”

Ray lives in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Here's some background info on the 2011 Guggenheim awards:

On April 7, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation awarded 180 Fellowships to a diverse group of scholars, artists, and scientists in its eighty-seventh annual competition for the United States and Canada.  Appointed on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise, the successful candidates were chosen from a group of almost 3,000 applicants.

Image: Ray Troll's illustration for "Crusin' the Fossil Highway."

SAVE THE DATE: May 21 workshops for visual artists at WOW in Laramie

SAVE THE DATE: On Saturday, May 21, the Wyoming Arts Council visual arts fellowship judges will each conduct a 90-minute professional development workshop at Works of Wyoming in the Laramie Civic Center. Two workshop sessions will be held in the morning and one in the afternoon. To wrap up the presentations, WAC staffers will preview the agency’s new online Artist Image Registry (AIR) that you've been hearing so much about. Fellowship winners also will be announced at lunch (details TBA). Saturday's sessions are free but registration is required. Call 307-777-5234 or e-mail mshay@state.wy.us.

Judges announced for 2011 Wyoming Arts Council visual arts fellowship competition

The Wyoming Arts Council invites you to apply for its 2011 Visual Arts Fellowships, juried by Nancy Bowen, Mark Klett and Joshua Wiener.

This year, the WAC will award up to three fellowships of $3,000 each to honor the work of visual artists that reflects serious and exceptional aesthetic investigation. Painters, sculptors, printmakers, potters, media artists, craftspeople, video, film and others are invited to apply by submitting digital images of their work.

Applications will be up on the web site next week, and paper apps will be mailed to everyone on the agency's visual arts list. Postmark deadline is May 13, 2011.

SAVE THE DATE: On Saturday, May 21, the WAC fellowship judges will each conduct a 90-minute professional development workshop at Works of Wyoming in the Laramie Civic Center. Two workshop sessions will be held in the morning and one in the afternoon. To wrap up the presentations, WAC staffers will preview the agency’s new Online Artist Image Registry. Fellowship winners also will be announced. These sessions are free but registration is required. Call Mike Shay at 307-777-5234.

Judges' bios:

NANCY BOWEN is a mixed media artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.  Her work combines an eclectic mix of imagery and materials to create an uneasy fusion of information and experience. Her sculptural pieces generally incorporate cast and blown glass elements into clay, steel and mixed media constructions. She has  had solo exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe including the Lesley Heller Gallery, Annina Nosei Gallery in NYC, Galerie Farideh Cadot in Paris, the Betsy Rosenfield gallery in Chicago, and the James Gallery in Houston among others. Her work has been reviewed  widely in such journals as Art in America, Artforum, Glass Magazine, Sculpture Magazine and a host of newspapers. She has won awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts and the European Ceramic Work Center. She received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from Hunter College (CUNY). She is currently an Associate Professor of Sculpture at Purchase College, State University of New York. See and read about her current exhibition at https://www.purchase.edu/Departments/AcademicPrograms/Arts/artdesign/richardanddollymaassgallery.aspx

MARK KLETT photographs the intersection of cultures, landscapes and time. His background includes working as a geologist before turning to photography. Klett has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Buhl Foundation, and the Japan/U.S. Friendship Commission. His work has been exhibited and published both nationally and internationally for over 30 years, including a 2000 show at the University of Wyoming Art Museum entitled “Witness to an Occupied Land.” His work is held in over 80 museum collections worldwide. He is the author of thirteen books including Saguaros (Radius Press and DAP, 2007), After the Ruins (University of California Press, 2006), Yosemite in Time (Trinity University Press, 2005), and Third Views, Second Sights (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2004). Mark Klett is Regents’ Professor of Art at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. FMI: www.artnet.com/artist/9580/mark-klett.html

Nature's Gateway by Joshua Wiener

JOSHUA WIENER is a stone sculptor who has created large-scale public art for Castle Rock, Broomfield, Wheat Ridge, Denver, and Longmont in Colorado. He is an instructor at the Art Students League in Denver and has taught workshops at the Denver Art Museum and The Colorado Academy. He also received a residency at PlatteForum in Denver as part of his 2006 Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. In 2004, Joshua was invited to Bangalore, India to be a part of a stone sculpting symposium. For two weeks, he and over forty other carvers from around the world carved stone. The sculptures were exhibited in Bangalore and are now in the permanent collection at the Valley School in India. The Marble Institute of Colorado was the springboard to his sculpting career. He also apprenticed twice with Uchida in Japan and has worked with Uchida on monumental pieces for museums and also public and private collections. Through an intense exploration of stone and landscape, Joshua current body of work is about creating places. “I typically use stone as my medium because it requires clarity of vision and accuracy of hand, and the fact that it will be here in 500 years is also exciting.” FMI: http://www.joshuawiener.com.

Calling all Wyoming composers!

The 2011 performing arts fellowships' application and guidelines are available at http://wyoarts.state.wy.us/Artists/Performing.aspx

This year's category is music composition. The postmark deadline is April 25, 2011.

For more info, contact Michael Shay at the Wyoming Arts Council at 307-777-5234.

Jurors announced for WAC 2011 performing arts fellowships

Applications are open for the Wyoming Arts Council 2011 performing arts fellowships in music compositions.

Print applications will be mailed tomorrow to those on the WAC's performing arts lists. A printable application will be posted on the WAC web site by March 11. Go to http://www.wyomingartscouncil.org.

Postmark deadline is April 25, 2011.

This year's jurors are:

Forest Greenough

Forest Greenough has been a staple in the Colorado music scene since his arrival from Seattle in 1999. Known as a very diverse performer, Dr. Greenough is a regular member of the Fort Collins Symphony, Principal Bass of the Steamboat Springs Orchestra, and Principal Bass of the Strings in the Mountains Summer Festival. He has also performed in various roles with the Greeley Philharmonic, Cheyenne Symphony, and Boulder Philharmonic, and has toured nationally with artists such as Andrea Bocelli. As a chamber musician, he has received commissions and premiered many new works in many genres. Also an award-winning jazz bassist, Dr. Greenough currently plays regular engagements throughout Colorado.

An accomplished studio musician, Dr. Greenough has performed on numerous recordings across the musical spectrum, from contemporary jazz and classical to pop/rock and metal. He has published compositions in both the jazz and classical realms, and has developed new theories on tension-release systems in American Post-Minimal composition.

He joined the Colorado State University faculty in fall 2005. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Composition from Eastern Washington University, Master of Music in Double Bass Performance, Master of Music in Theory and Composition, and Doctor of Arts in Theory and Composition with a secondary emphasis in Jazz Pedagogy from the University of Northern Colorado.

FMI: http://central.colostate.edu/author/fgreenough/

Christopher Guillot

Christopher Guillot is a skilled composer, producer and engineer. He plays a variety of musical instruments and possesses a truly eclectic musical sensibility. Chris has owned Cherry Sound Studio in Denver for six years where he has helped more than 1,000 artists create their music.

He released an album with two-time Grammy winner Derrick Perkiness in 2007, and is currently working on his next album. He has had a diverse musical past. He grew up in a musical family, and his godfather was the late great Norman Petty, producer for Buddy Holly and Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs.

Chris holds a BSM in Audio Engineering and Music Business from the University of Colorado. Chris developed a highly successful music and music technology education program at The Spot Youth Center in Denver where he helped hundreds of young people learn how to create music and set goals. He now serves as the Art to Action Program Coordinator for flobots.org.

Winners announced for Blanchan/Doubleday awards

The Wyoming Arts Council is pleased to announce the winners of the 2011 Blanchan/Doubleday writing awards.

Recipient of the Neltje Blanchan Memorial Writing Award for nature writing is Patricia Frolander of Sundance. She will receive a $1,000 prize for a series of poems entitled “Married Into It.” Honorable mentions in this category go to Jane Dominick of Laramie for “Cottonwoods” and other poems and Darcy Lipp-Acord of Weston for her creative nonfiction entry, “Homework: Lessons from Allison.”

 
Recipient of the Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Writing Award for women writers is Edith Cook of Cheyenne. She will receive a $1,000 prize for her prose manuscript, “A Cold Day in Hell.” Honorable mentions go to Lynn G. Carlson of Cheyenne for her creative nonfiction entry, “With All Due Respect” and Darcy Lipp-Acord of Weston for “Homework: Lessons from Allison.”  

Judge for this year's competition was Ohio poet and fiction writer Jeanne Bryner.

The competition is sponsored by the Wyoming Arts Council and funded by artist and arts patron Neltje.

For more information about the Wyoming Arts Council’s programs for individual artists, contact Michael Shay at 307-777-5234 or mshay@state.wy.us.

Deadline draws nigh for WAC Blanchan & Doubleday writing awards

The postmark deadline for the 2011 Blanchan & Doubleday writing awards is Oct. 29, 2010.

The competition is open to Wyoming residents only, 18 or older.

The Neltje Blanchan Award, $1,000, is given for the best poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or script which is informed by a relationship with the natural world.

The Frank Nelson Doubleday Award, $1,000, is given for the best poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or script written by a woman author.

Ohio fiction writer and poet Jeanne Bryner has agreed to serve as the juror for this year’s competition.

Printable applications are available at the Wyoming Arts Council web site.

FMI: Mike Shay at 307-777-5234

Ron Franscell's new book tracks "Outlaw Texas"

"The Crime Buff's Guide to Outlaw Texas" is a new book by Wyoming expat author Ron Franscell, who nows lives and works in San Antonio, Texas. Ron's a Wyoming Arts Council creative writing fellowship recipient (1996) and former editor of the Gillette newspaper. Many Wyomingites read his true crime book "Fall" about the infamous 1973 killing and rape of two Casper girls.

Ron sends word that the book is set to hit the shelves in two months (just in time for Christmas shopping), but you can pre-order at a discount from Amazon and B&N. Here is the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Crime-Buffs-Guide-Outlaw-Texas/dp/0762759658/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271290160&sr=8-8

Here's a blurb about Ron's new book:

A fascinating journey through the Lone Star State’s unruly past -- with maps, photos, and more

Texas rightfully claims a celebrated place in the “wildest” West of both myth and reality—which makes it truly stranger than fiction that The Crime Buff’s Guide to Outlaw Texas is the first-ever travel guide to the many sites related to the Lone Star State’s renowned rambunctious past, complete with GPS coordinates that put you at the scene of the action.

From outlaws like Sam Bass and John Wesley Hardin to Bonnie & Clyde and Houston’s notorious Candy Man killer, Texas has dozens of places where true-crime buffs can actually stand close to history. For many readers, the attraction to these sites—some well-known, some obscured by time—is irresistible.

Written with the same fast-paced, gripping style that marked the author’s widely praised earlier work, The Crime Buff’s Guide to Outlaw Texas is an indispensable resource for both criminal-history enthusiasts and travelers. Each site description includes a concise summary of the location’s significance, historical context, maps, directions, and photos.

Fiction writer and poet Jeanne Bryner to serve as juror for Blanchan/Doubleday writing awards

Fiction writer and poet Jeanne Bryner has agreed to serve as the juror for the 2011 Blanchan/Doubleday writing awards.

The Neltje Blanchan Award, $1,000, is given for the best poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or script which is informed by a relationship with the natural world.

The Frank Nelson Doubleday Award, $1,000, is given for the best poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or script written by a woman author.

POSTMARK DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 29, 2010

Printable applications will be available at the Wyoming Arts Council web site by Sept. 6, 2010. Applications also will be mailed to Wyoming writers on the WAC mailing list.  

About our juror:

Jeanne Bryner was born in Appalachia and grew up in Newton Falls, Ohio. Her family was part of the outmigration from Greene County, Pennsylvania and Monongalia County, West Virginia.

A board-certified emergency room nurse, she is a graduate of Trumbull Memorial’s School of Nursing and Kent State University’s Honors College. She has received writing fellowships from Bucknell University (1992), the Ohio Arts Council (1997, 2007), and Vermont Studio Center (2009). Her new play, “Foxglove Canyon,” was performed this April in Akron, Ohio and her books in print are Breathless, Blind Horse: Poems, Eclipse: Stories, Tenderly Lift Me: Nurses Honored, Celebrated and Remembered and No Matter How Many Windows. One of her short stories, “Turn the Radio to a Gospel Station,” is included in the new anthology from Coffee House Press, Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking out the Jams.

With the support of Hiram College’s Center for Literature and Medicine and Biomedical Humanities, her nursing poetry has been adapted for the stage and is being performed by Verb Ballets, Cleveland, Ohio. A community affiliate of Youngstown State’s Center for Working Class Studies, she frequently writes about working class issues. She teaches writing workshops in schools, cancer support groups and assisted living facilities. She lives with her husband near a dairy farm in Newton Falls, Ohio.

Here’s what poet Jim Daniels had to say about one of Bryner’s books:

“In Jeanne Bryner’s Eclipse, there’s a master storyteller at work. The rich textured world of these stories, and the strong refreshingly frank narrative voices, bring to life the everyday kindnesses and betrayals that mark the calendars of our lives. While the characters in these stories struggle, it is a struggle blessed with hope. A hope we can all carry with us into the future.”

New work and new gallery for Matt Flint

Wyoming Arts Council visual arts fellowship winner Matt Flint of Lander features some new work on his blog. This is one of them: "Two Waters," Oil & Mixed Media on Canvas, 36"x48," available at Gallery MAR.

Matt announces that he is now represented through Karin Newby Gallery in Tubac, Ariz. Go to http://www.karinnewbygallery.com/

Planet JH Weekly profiles WAC fellowship winner

Benjamin R. Bombard wrote a nice profile of Jayme Feary in Planet JH Weekly at http://www.planetjh.com/news/A_106458.aspx. Jayme is a recipient of a WAC creative writing fellowship in creative nonfiction. He will join his the other fellowship winners in a reading on Friday, Sept. 24, 1-3 p.m. in the lobby of the Goodstein Library at Casper College. The event is part of the Equality State Book Festival and is free and open to the public.