Artist Residency, Nat'l Museum of Wildlife Art 2008

My stint as the Winter 2008 Artist in Residence at the
National Museum of Wildlife Art

The museum
The National Museum of Wildlife Art, located in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is THE U.S. mecca for anyone interested in animal art. The museum has a superb collection of the masters (Carl Rungius, Bob Kuhn, etc.) and plenty of pieces from top contemporary painters and sculptors (Tim Shinabarger, John Nieto, Sandy Scott, Walt Matia, Tucker Smith, ...).

If you've never visited the museum - plan to do it the next time you're anywhere near Jackson. For those of us working in the animal art genre, this museum is one of our favorite places in the world...and of course, we all aspire to be part of its permanent collection.

The residency
The museum has two artist residencies per year - a week-long one in winter, and a month-long residency in summer. To be considered for a residency, artists must either be in the museum's permanent collection (I'm not - yet!) or be in the museum's annual Western Visions show held during the Fall Arts Festival.

The Residency requires that the artist be set up and working (painting / sculpting) in the main entrance hall from 10 AM - 3 PM every day. In practicality, this means being ready to set down the brush at any time and chat with visitors.

Getting there
My residency started Tuesday, January 22. So I left Missoula on Monday 1/21 in the morning to drive to Jackson; it's about a 5 or 6 hour drive, and I figured I had plenty of time.

I was SO wrong.

Usually, the fast route is I-90 east from Missoula, turn south on I-15 at Butte, then cut off the interstate around Roberts, Idaho, taking some small secondary roads to Jackson.

Imagine my shock and consternation at discovering, after I'd gotten to Dillon, MT (not exactly a garden spot), that Monida pass at the Montana-Idaho border was closed. The INTERSTATE was CLOSED! We'd had a dump of snow 36 hours earlier, and our usual January deep freeze had moved in, but that didn't seem like road-closing material. Turns out the winds on high, exposed Monida were unbelievable, blowing snow to such an extent that a driver couldn't even see the hood of her car, let alone the roadway.

Word was, no re-opening for at least a day. So...after some fretting, I drove an adventurous (and somewhat hairy) set of back routes to Jackson via Twin Bridges, Ennis,

West Yellowstone, Ashton ID, and sundry other tiny towns with lots of snow and ice on the roads, arriving Jackson at 6:30 PM on Monday.

Staying there
The museum has many local benefactors and supporters, and usually puts its AiRs up with volunteer locals. I stayed with Don & Ann A., in an incredibly gorgeous guest apartment with a killer view (right). Eat your heart out.

Being there
Every morning I was out at first light, driving around looking for wildlife and scenic photo ops. A photographer would have to be blind not to find good stuff - this is scenic paradise! Thank goodness for digital; I was shutter-happy on this trip.

Full moon over the mountains near Kelly, Wyoming (right)

First light on the Tetons, 25 below zero F (below)

(Above) the view from the museum, looking out over the National Elk Refuge...and yes, those are all elk!

(Above right) the historic Miller House on the refuge and dawn light on the Tetons

(Right) my setup in the main entry hall at the museum, watched over by Ken Bunn's cougar and TD Kelsey's bull moose.

Most of the mornings were frigid (well below zero) and clear, with steam fog rising off the Gros Ventre River and swathing the mountains. As a photographer, I was overwhelmed - it was beyond beautiful. Some of this material will certainly show up in my paintings.

Art as a spectator sport
After photographing in the early morning, I reported to the museum for AiR duty each day, which meant painting in the big main entry hall (Johnston Hall) at the museum and talking to visitors and museum staff.

One morning I gave a presentation to about 30 museum docents - told them about my art, then they asked me to go back in the galleries with them and talk about some of the masterpieces back there, particularly Bob Kuhn's work. I still can't believe I had the gall to critique a piece of his.

Another day, three women came and camped by my painting table for the entire day; turns out they get together to paint each Thursday, so this Thursday their art day

consisted of watching me work and asking questions.

There was much more to the week - and it was great fun being treated like a rock star the entire time! - but I'll wrap this up with some images from one of the last things I did that week, which was to take a sleigh ride out onto the National Elk Refuge. This is the only program of its kind on any refuge; our teamster knew many of the individual elk and had given names to some of the most distinctive bulls (eg, "Bambi" was the largest-antlered bull on the refuge).

We saw a bald eagle at 20 feet away, two coyotes sniffing

around a week-old elk carcass, bulls of wonderful antler stature, bulls tussling with each other...all in beautiful late afternoon light.

A memorable image to close this trip journal: the view from the refuge up to the National Museum of Wildlife Art (the long, low building at lower right) at sunset on a cold January day. My sincere thanks go to all the museum staff, who treated me like a queen the entire week - what a wonderful, unforgettable experience.