Art: Almost Home

Today I am teaching a class in conjunction with my show currently on display at Art 321. If you want to see the entire body of work please click here.

Here is a bit about the work

Almost Home

Wyoming has always been Almost Home for me.  I moved to Casper in 2009 with my husband and our first child who was then a work in progress (I was pregnant). When I moved to Casper I felt like an outsider, looking in on a community of people who were so thoroughly enmeshed in each other’s lives and histories that I was afraid that there wasn’t a place for me here.  I had Colorado license plates for a few months after moving here and on a couple of occasions people shouted at us, “Go back to Colorado.” I really didn’t know how to take that kind of a welcome.  Initially my response was negative, but in spite of a few Rude Randys I did have a claim to this state. My family homesteaded up near Gillette. I have lived in or visited this state for nearly every year of my life. This has always been almost my home. I decided to take that Wyoming attitude that is in my blood and dig my roots here in my adopted home state. The past six years have been the best years of my life. The people here in Wyoming are so amazing and supportive. The land here is wild and beautiful and not for the weak.

The work for this show is my love letter to Wyoming, a state that has welcomed my family with such open arms that I feel deeply at home in our adopted community.  Over the course of the past six years I have come to know and love my state in a new way. My husband and I have welcomed two daughters into the world right here in Casper. We have built lives here and feel very connected with the art community and the work that I have made stems from my love for this place that has always been a part of my life.

The paintings created for this series are all based on my memories of Wyoming. Working through a specific memory I have created an ephemeral representation of the Wyoming that exists in my memories.  Through vibrant colors and emotive brushwork you can see my visual exploration of Wyoming within my own artistic framework.