Wyoming Women to Watch Cheyenne: A Symphony of Wyoming's Women Artists
The Wyoming Women to Watch traveling exhibit is remarkable for many reasons. It’s remarkable for its most elemental intent: a celebration and showcase of Wyoming’s very first cohort of artists to participate in the national Women to Watch exhibition. It’s remarkable for its statewide reach: a show in Jackson Hole at Shari Brownfield Fine Art, in Clearmont at Ucross, in Cheyenne at Clay Paper Scissors Gallery & Studio and in Casper at Art321. It’s remarkable for its distinctiveness: Curator Dr. Tammi Hanawalt chose five artists to self-select an exhibition that departs from the boundaries of standard group show, allowing each artist’s work to be admired, celebrated, and enjoyed in its own right.
But this traveling exhibition is also remarkable in some other, more intangible ways, and the true power of this exhibit’s impact was made evident during the event I attended on October 4 which celebrated the Cheyenne showcase.
The Clay Paper Scissors Gallery & Studio in Cheyenne is a lovely, warm, intimate space, and the show was hung with exquisite care that interspersed the work of Sarah Ortegon HighWalking, Katy Ann Fox, Leah Hardy, Bronwyn Minton, and Jennifer Rife. From the moment you walked into the space, you could almost hear the whispered exchange between the pieces, softly conversing with one another in a way that was nearly melodic. Each artist’s individual work sung, showcasing the hard work, and skill behind the painting, sculpture, beadwork, or installation. Seeing them together as a whole, resulted in a harmony that was a wonder to be immersed in, the talent of Wyoming’s women artists ringing true in each note.
As the evening proceeded, attendees’ own wonder added to the growing melody; comments remarking on the beauty of the pieces, questions about the processes behind the work, conversations about the meaning and varied interpretations of the show. People stopped to ask about individual artists, about the show as a whole, about Sarah’s work shown in the national exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D. C., about how they could learn more about future cohorts. The space hummed with interest, appreciation, and enjoyment as people wandered through the show.
This event was made even more moving by Sarah Ortegon HighWalking’s Blacklight Jingle Dress Dance performance. When the soft gallery lights were replaced by blacklight and the purposeful and powerful sound of Sarah’s hand-crafted regalia were added into the melody of the night, it threw the exhibit into a sharp new relief. Each artist’s work shone in new ways under the light and Sarah’s silhouette danced along the façade of every piece. The result was a resounding symphony that sang the stories of five Wyoming’s women artists and left attendees breathless in its wake.
By all accounts, each venue has been as varied as the art it hosts. The traveling exhibit has transformed in each new space, bringing a different view, different aspect, different light to these extraordinary works. After witnessing the show in Cheyenne at Clay Paper Scissors Gallery & Studio, I believe this particular venue represented the remarkable and sometimes intangible value in bringing together women artists, in providing space and time for them to converse with one another and empower each other. In interviewing the attending artists, they all remarked on the admiration and respect they feel for one another, and the appreciation they have for belonging to a cohort of such wonderful women. Hearing them sing one another’s praises was a powerful testament to the strength in connecting and supporting women artists, and the show echoed that very sentiment.
The Wyoming Women to Watch exhibit at Clay Paper Scissors Gallery & Studio was a symphonic celebration of the power of community. It will be fascinating to see what this show achieves, what harmony it finds in its new space in Casper at Art321.
