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“We are always in transition. If you can just relax with that, you’ll have no problem.” ~ Chogyam Trungpa
Treat others as you would like others to treat you. ~ Golden Rule
“Don’t you see what’s happening? He’s an outsider! Outsiders get blamed for everything!” ~ Perry Mason
“We should be a thousand times angrier about Legacy’s forced closing than about a fair coming to town.” ~ Tammy Christel
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Another Fall Arts Festival is behind us. Endless opportunities await.
Jackson Hole’s 35th Fall Arts Festival finished under sunny Western skies, with our streets crowded with art lovers, artists, visitors and locals teeming around Town Square’s elk antler arches. Local artist Kathryn Mapes Turner’s festival 40 x 58″ oil painting, “Of Earth and Wind,” sold for $60,000 at last Saturday’s Quick Draw Auction and the crowd went wild! What a moment! Her success is a boon for us all. It says that Jackson Hole artists have what it takes to be considered world class artists.
There were myriad wonderful moments. Altamira Fine Art took cornered the P&P crowd, hands down. That very fine gallery’s brilliant combination of hosting a dual opening featuring local ( and internationally noted ) artist September Vhay with Western Contemporary superstar R. Tom Gilleon brought in the crowds. That evening Altamira also played host to other guest gallery artists, and their friends, supporters and colleagues joined the party.
The skies opened up and drenched “Taking It to the Streets,” an Art Association annual locals street fair fundraiser. The biblical amount of rain that fell that day caused many to wonder if the event would be canceled. It wasn’t. All the artists showed up. Smiling faces, umbrellas, tarps and grit saved the day. Artists smiled through the deluge, ordered lunch, made some sales. What’s a little monsoon during Fall Arts? Besides, fire season was heating up, and we needed the rain. A round of applause to all “Streets” artists!
Glenn Dean was present at his final and (at this writing, possibly sold-out) show at Legacy Gallery. Additionally, other Legacy artists sold work during the festival, and it brings the gallery’s swan song season to a bittersweet close. Congratulations to Glenn and to all the Legacy artists. We will miss you terribly. Legacy Gallery closes its Jackson Hole location on September 31st; make sure to stop by. Dean currently has no plans for new gallery representation in Jackson. Let’s hope that changes.
I’m as guilty as anyone for my initial reaction. But as time went by, my knee-jerk response lessened. My negative attitude was mirrored too often, and it started to feel like mob rule around here.
Horizon Fine Art, a gallery a block off the Town Square on King Street, had a great Fall Arts. And you know, it’s the first time in recent years that a super happy vibe post-festival has permeated my in box from Horizon. Congratulations, Horizon!
But what will 2019’s Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival be remembered for? I fear it will be remembered by many who came for the first time as the year some members of our community bullied newcomer Jackson Hole Fine Arts Fair.
From the moment news broke that Jackson would play host to a new “mega fair” here in Jackson during the Festival we freaked out. Some community members, who opted not to sign their names to their bulletins, posted what came across as hate ads in our local paper. Not signing their names was cowardly, but it’s understandable not to want to be outted as the source of those ads. Meanwhile, the fair takes our un-world-class-attitude with them.
How’s that for national buzz?
I’m as guilty as anyone for my initial reaction. But as time went by, my knee-jerk response lessened. My negative attitude was mirrored too often, and it started to feel like mob rule around here.
How we feel should not translate into open hostility. As a community beset by competitive challenges, it’s understandable that we were shocked and nervous by a new, very big, arts event added to the already jam-packed FAF roster. Artists and galleries work themselves to the bone each year to gain exposure and make sales during arts season. Every year it’s tougher. For artists not able to make a living solely through their art, it can be heartbreaking.
The Fine Art Fair (and the Western Design Conference and the JH Art Auction) had every right, just as all of us do, to come to town and attempt something new. All of us have tried our thing. We may succeed, we may fail. But we have the right to try. Shame on the “concerned citizens” for running what were essentially threatening hate ads attempting to control our citizen’s consciences on whether or not to visit the Fair.
That’s not only provincial, it’s backwards. Hate is fear-based. We were fearful. Is that the Fair’s fault?
I think not. We should be a thousand times angrier about Legacy’s forced closing than about a fair coming to town.
Yes, we are overwhelmed. Yes, the presence of a new event this size is likely too much for our lodging capabilities and too much for us to take in or support. But those realities are fixed aspects; our open hostility is something else. Fear and loathing do not solve problems.
A local venue hosted the Fair. That’s what Snow King does. The money it received from the Fair stays here. The publicity local artists received stays with them and they are a part of us. Goodness knows how many contacts Bland Hoke made as an artist whose giant goldfish entry installation greeted fair visitors. We should be so proud and happy for Bland. Artists participating in Western Visions attended the fair, and networked. Some are respresented by galleries that were part of the Fair. The Fair bowed to our gods; it worked with the Chamber and it supported Western Visions and the National Museum of Wildlife Art. The fair organizers attended Western Visions, did you know that?
And have you seen how gracious fair organizers have been since closing weekend? Nothing but good things to say about us. Even their disappointment is polite.
My business card is imprinted with a Wendell Field woodblock print. It’s gorgeous. I gave it out at the fair. Guess what happened? Several galleries noticed Wendell’s art. Wendell is represented locally, but if another regional gallery picked him up, and he did well there, guess what happens to Wendell’s work at his Jackson gallery? It becomes more valuable. And oh, yes—that stays here.
When I visited, I was part of a group to take a tour of the fair. With me were NMWA staff, a prominent arts consultant, a CFO, a local photographer. We were fascinated. We were treated with warmth and respect. We were treated with gratitude. We saw work we loved. We learned an awful lot about great Western artists and art movements we didn’t know before. Virtually everyone I’ve spoken with about the fair agrees it was sensational. Every single person working the Fair was well dressed, neat, polite, knowlegable in their field, proud of their offerings and they all brought their A-game.
Did we bring our A-game?
Make no mistake, how Jackson Hole acted towards visiting artists and galleries is going to make for rich conversation across the country. And we’re not going to sound like the world-class arts destination we claim to be. The fair’s quality isn’t in question; our insecurities are rooted elsewhere.
When you go out of town and buy anything, do you feel guilty because you didn’t buy it in Jackson? I don’t. Legacy Gallery can’t afford to stay in Jackson. Whose fault is that? That’s our real problem. The root of our fear is how increasingly hard it is to make a living in the arts here. We need galleries like Legacy to create a keystone arts community. We all need each other to flourish; rather than blame the outsider, shouldn’t we focus on how to increase our collective and individual profiles? So many of our artists work so hard that finding time to make art is almost impossible. The entire country’s collector profile is changing; boomers are going to retire and the next generation’s spending habits will vary from ours. How do we capture that group? How can we be more pro-active when it comes to promoting ourselves? How can we take these inevitable shifts and bottle up some energy to meet demands placed upon us as a relatively isolated destination? How can we preserve our traditional aesthetics and present them as essential chronicling of this beautiful land?
We can do it all. We can. No art will ever give me goosebumps the way our art does. It doesn’t matter how many times I approach NMWA’s hillside sculpture trail, I remain bowled over. Plein Air for the Park is sorely missed, and I receive constant comments and questions about its future. We are, remember, the most vibrant small arts community in the country! It’s documented! Done deal! Nothing can take the place of seeing Kathy Wipfler’s magnificent Tetons landscape polished off at FAF Quick Draw. Nothing can take the place of Ben Roth’s giant fireweed sculptures or of a local artist’s (or locally represented artist—many don’t live here) sensational Fall Arts Festival Featured work. Nothing can take the place of Rungius or Greg McHuron. Our art speaks to the world. It’s the wind beneath our wings. Have faith.
My very favorite Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival moment? The moment when, at the close of Western Visions’ Artist Party evening, patron Carol Lundeen showed me her baseball cap signed by dozens of her favorite artists. That night she met her hero, Kenneth Bunn. She said she wasn’t going to be able to sleep for days. How cool is that, to know you are in the same room with heroic, nationally acclaimed artists….as an every day thing? That’s us. We’re that lucky person. Thank God.
Next time I’d like to tell you a little more about the fair itself, its participants and how fairs like Jackson Hole Fine Art Fair work. It was a great fair. Thanks for coming, JHFAF!
Tammy Christel 
