A Wyoming dude ranch adventure...: National Museum of Wildlife Art... wow!

The other night, I attended the monthly social at the local Wildlife Museum. I wasn't expecting much in the way of art but this place was amazing, with over 5,000 items and 550 artists represented. Many of the artists are also represented in the Smithsonian and other collections around the world. The museum, modeled after a Scottish castle and built in 1994, is a rustic stone structure tucked into a hillside overlooking the Elk Refuge with a panoramic view that extends for miles.

There is a sculpture trail surrounding the museum, featuring 20+ huge life-like bronzes like the ones below. It was designed by landscape architect Walter Hood. A lot of these photos are back-lit due to the time of day, but you can still get a sense of their size, etc.

I used my camera phone's panorama feature for the first time to capture this shot of the valley below the museum.

The event offered catered food and beverages for sale, museum tours, and a featured artist Lindsey Ross, photographer and owner of La Chambre Photographique, who was demonstrating wet plate collodion photographs, reminiscent of Ansel Adams' work. The museum currently has an temporary exhibit of original Ansel Adams photos from a Yosemite trip he took with artist Georgia O'Keefe and Godfrey Rockefeller in 1938. Here are some portraits he took on the trip. Ansel Adam's son is speaking at an event next week in the park, and I've already got my ticket! ;)

"Wildlife art" has existed since prehistoric cave paintings, but I never really thought of it as a type of art until I visited this museum. Artists from around the world specifically focused on this subject matter. One of the museum's oldest paintings, Garden of Eden (left), dates to 1650 and was painted in Holland.
Artists from France, Germany and beyond came to the US in the late 1700 and 1800s specifically to visit the wilderness and later, national parks to paint these images. Prior to this, places like the Berlin Zoo provided their subject matter. Some of the paintings and sculptures are huge and most are very life-like.

French artist Rosa Bonheur was one of the first female wildlife artists, and she painted "King of the Forest" (left) in 1897.

One of my favorites!

This painting shows the bloody aftermath of a battle between two male elk.

Thomas Moran painted Tetons, below, in 1903. He spent over 20 years painting images from Yellowstone and the Tetons, and this one struck me because it looks almost exactly like the scenery I saw during my Phelps lake hike the other day!

I also loved this one of a pair of moose in the mist.... beautiful! If you ever get to Jackson, WY, make sure to visit this special museum. It was made possible by a long list of wealthy, conservation minded local donors. Joffa and Bill Kerr donated much of the original collection. I just read that Christy Walton, daughter in law of Walmart founder Sam Walton makes her home here. Apparently, she is the richest woman in the world, with a net worth of 34 billion (12.5 x Oprah's net worth... fyi. The event ended at 9PM, and I stayed to the end, wandering the collections with an audio device that allowed me to press a button while standing in front of a piece of artwork to get commentary on what I was viewing. Time well spent! :)

Christy Walton who is also the richest woman in the world with a net worth of 34 billion dollars! Christy inherited her fortune from her late husband who was the son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. She currently resides in Jackson, Wyoming. To get a gauge of just how wealthy she is, she’s worth more than 12 1/2 Oprah Winfreys!!!

Read More: Who Are The Wealthiest People In Wyoming & How Much Are They Worth? | http://kisscasper.com/who-are-the-wealthiest-people-in-wyoming-how-much-are-they-worth/?trackback=tsmclip

A Wyoming dude ranch adventure...

Saturday, June 11, 2016

National Museum of Wildlife Art... wow!

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