Jentel in the News: June 19, 2003
Jentel Comes to Buffalo
What does a Western landscape have in common with Saudi Arabia? These are just two of the topics that inspire current residents at the Jentel Artist Residency Program in Banner, who will be featured in an event open to the public at DeerField Boutique and Espresso Café in Buffalo on Tuesday evening, July 1st from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. “Jentel Presents” is a community outreach program that features slide presentations and readings by the visual artists and writers at the residency. Presenters include Dennis Bertram, Buffalo, NY, a painter who takes his tripod out into the hills at daybreak at the residency for painting studies; Anne Sanow, St. Louis, MO, a writer who is working on a collection of stories set in Saudi Arabia; Sarah Manguso, Brooklyn, NY, a poet who uses her western adventures to inspire her poems about natural elements; Mary Henderson, Philadelphia, PA, a painter who currently has a solo exhibition in Chicago utilizing family photographs in an extraordinary style; and David Harmon, Osceola, IN, who quite often paints on location using watercolors and pastels and exhibits his work nationwide. For anyone looking for an exciting evening, come join the crowd at DeerField. There is no admission charge for “Jentel Presents” and refreshments are available.
Jentel in the News: April 1, 2003
Build and They Will Come
No sooner had the guests departed from the last in a series of parties celebrating the opening of new facilities for the Jentel Artist Residency Program, staff were greeting the first group of residents for the 2003 season. While quietly operating a one month residency in March for three artists for the past two years, at the new location Jentel has expanded its program to award residencies to a group of four visual artists and two writers each month throughout the year.
Construction crews moved on to the site of the old Collins ranch in earnest in September 2001 to break ground for five new buildings and to renovate two of the original ranch buildings that now house the program’s offices and conference room. Now antique furnishings, cupboards, doors, frames and even porch posts salvaged from regional buildings give each eclectically appointed room a warm and inviting feel. The six bedroom residence has an open vaulted ceiling over the spacious living and dining room adjacent to a country kitchen. In a loft area over the kitchen, a library stocked with art books and a respectable fiction collection, beckons residents to wander in and choose a volume, try out the sliding antique ladder attached to one of the bookcases or to log on to the Internet. A multimedia room next door offers a place to relax with music or any one of a number of videos in every film genre.
The studios for visual artists in this low technology, low equipment based program are large, well lit spaces with high ceilings and a window looking out onto the creek. A Takach Garfield lithography press is available for artists interested in printing monotypes. Writers have comfortable studios with Internet access and views of the willow banked creek.
A distinctive feature of Jentel is the incredibly beautiful setting amidst irrigated fields and scoria topped hills with views west to the Big Horn Mountains and Cloud Peak Wilderness Area. Set on eighty acres carved out of the middle of a working cattle ranch in the Lower Piney Creek Valley, the Jentel Foundation is twenty miles southeast of Sheridan, Wyoming in the northeastern part of the state.
Jentel in the News: December 1, 2002
Jentel Moving In.
While carpenters and painters are wrapping up cabinetry and trim in the new facilities for the Jentel Art Artist Residency Program, the staff are moving furnishings and installing art work, stocking shelves and making beds, and using gallons of lemon oil on the antique tables and cupboards. A road grader and gravel trucks are finishing the scoria gravel roads and parking lots. The landscapers have planted thousands of bulbs, seeded native grasses and placed trees all around the new structures. After only fifteen months on the job, the construction crew is about to hand over the keys to the Residency, artist’s studios, writers’ cabin, and reception center and offices, while the staff makes final preparations to welcome the first group of four visual artists and two writers on January 15th. In the midst of all the activity, friends and supporters from the neighboring communities have shared the excitement about the expanded year round season and the new site for Jentel with afternoon tours and Sunday morning brunches looking out on the foothills and snow covered Big Horn Mountains of Northeastern Wyoming.
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Jentel in the News: October 1, 2002
Groundbreaking News!
Jentel Expands Season
Last October as the air grew crisp, excavators on trailers with Wyoming plates and hard hat construction crews moved onto the new site for the Jentel Artist Residency Program. With the new facility comes an expanded season and room for more artists and writers each month long session.
In operation since 2001, Jentel has welcomed two artists and one writer to share a month long residency for the month of March. A year ago June the Board approved the plan to move to another site in the Lower Piney Creek Valley and begin construction on a residence, artists’ studio, writers’ studio, a reception, office and conference center and a residence for staff. Whether new construction or renovation of existing ranch buildings, the architect and designer have worked closely to insure that residents and staff have an experience of the western landscape and culture through out the facilities. Ceiling to floor windows open walls in rooms throughout the complex to the beauty and richness of the Lower Piney Creek Valley with the majestic backdrop formed by the Big Horn Mountains to the west. Antique architectural details from area residential and commercial spaces play off contemporary and natural building materials.
Renovation of one of the original ranch houses began almost immediately after breaking ground for new construction and now features a reception area, spacious offices for staff with views of the surrounding landscape and a large conference room. A weather worn wooden barn was dismantled and will be reconstructed to house two studios for writers. Typical metal ranch outbuildings are outfitted with ventilation and lighting to accommodate four artists with large high ceiling studio spaces.
Cathedral ceilings open the views west and further expand the spaciousness of the common areas in the residence. An open fireplace merges the activities in the living and dining rooms, while a cooking island and lower ceiling allows meal preparation in the kitchen area to be a more intimate experience. An open staircase defines a sunken conversation area beneath and leads to a library and a recreation room that both include balconies overlooking the creek and rolling hills to the East.
Each residence has a private room with generous space for sleeping, relaxing and journaling. All rooms have immediate access to the outdoors and to spaces leading to the common areas. Clusters of common washroom facilities are well spaced for easy access and privacy.
Barns and outbuildings on another section of the ranch are filled to bursting with antique and contemporary furniture, assorted lighting fixtures, unusual baskets, hand woven rugs, forged metal work and a variety of brightly glazed and bulbous ceramics in anticipation of moving day in early December. Landscaping includes native plants and grasses to create sitting and recreation areas, while offering a transition to the wilder, natural setting of a working cattle ranch.
Miles of county roads around the ranch lead to unusual spots distinguished by their geological, historical, archeological or ecological value. To date residents have also enjoyed trips into the Big Horn Mountains to explore and experience another environment rich with history, wildlife and natural beauty.
With construction nearly completed, Jentel will expand its season to year round programming. Four visual artists and two writers, will be accepted for one month residencies scheduled January 15 through December 13, 2003.
Jentel will continue to offer dedicated individuals a supportive environment in which to further their creative development. More artists and writers may now have the opportunity to experience unfettered time to allow for thoughtful reflection and meditation on the creative process in a setting that preserves the agricultural and historical integrity of the land.
The Jentel Artist Residency Program accepts applications postmarked until January 15, 2003 for the Summer/Fall Residency May 15-December 13, 2003 and September 15, 2003 for the Winter/Spring Residency January 15-May 13, 2004 from visual artists in all media and writers in all genre for a one month residency. Residency includes private accommodation, common living, dining and recreation areas, a private workspace and a $400 stipend to defray expenses during the program. For more information, send a request and a self addressed label and $.60 to:
Jentel Artist Residency Program
130 Lower Piney Creek Road
Banner, WY 82832
www.jentelarts.org
Jentel@jentelarts.org
Return mailing includes application form, application guidelines and brochure about the residency program. The same material is available on the website. The closest airport is 20 miles to the northwest in Sheridan, Wyoming (population 15,800) with connections to Denver International Airport and the Billings, MT airport.
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