What Remains was selected for THE OVERSTORY: Photographic Works About Forests, Trees, their Wood, and the Memory they Contain which was presented at Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH. The exhibition was on view from September 30 – October 28, 2022.

From the call for work: “Trees are the breath of the world. The memory of our soul. They encapsulate carbon, breathe out oxygen. They give us wood, fruit, nuts, soil, and shade. In their long lineage, they embed time, a patient record of the world we step in and out of barely noticed.

Likely the original home of our primordial ancestors, trees bore our kin like gentle matriarchs, ultimately enabling humans to achieve everything our species has done, including the destruction of the forests themselves.

In a sense, it is in the forest where the battle for the fate of all of life takes place. Therefore it is in wood where one will find the record of the world awaiting.”

What Remains is from an as-yet untitled series of images that explores the changes in the southeast Wyoming landscape at a time of drought and fire, increasingly limited access to public lands, and expanding industrialization and settlement of the landscape.

The exhibition was presented as a FotoFocus Biennial Particitpating Venue Exhibit.

Hey! What’s that sound . . . (August 12, 2022) was selected for the online magazine F-Stop‘s exhibition Black and White 2023.

Hey! What’s that sound . . . (August 12, 2022) is from a new series Since Then. It continues the exhibition of combing found text with images from the same time period to explore the resonance between the emotive power of clouds and the current state of affairs in America.

Black and White 2023 appears in Issue #117 February – March 2023.

Landscapes, an exhibition juried by Douglas Beasley, opened on January 20 at the Praxis Gallery in Minneapolis, MN with the announcement that Susan Moldenhauer was one of the Honorable Mention award winners. Her work, Lifting the cloud of inquiry (June 7, 2017), is from her series  Every thing is not all right, an investigation in pairing found text with images from the same time period which places her home view in a global perspective in contemporary America.

Beasley said of the exhibition: “. . . Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on man-made features or disturbances of landscapes. Many landscape photographs show little or no human activity and are created in the pursuit of a pure, unsullied depiction of nature, devoid of human influence—instead featuring subjects such as strongly defined landforms, weather, ambient light and other sublime elements. Beyond purely aesthetic considerations, landscapes often contain intensely personal and emotional subjectivities; evidence of secret histories of fondness, love, and nurturing – or of past emotional turbulence, loss, longing, and regret.”

The exhibition continues through March 4, 2023.

NEW WORK: Wendy Lemen Bredehoft and Susan Moldenhauer, SΘK Gallery

In their first two-person exhibition since Touchstone Laramie 2004, artist Wendy Lemen Bredehoft and photographer Susan Moldenhauer presented their most recent work in a new gallery space in Laramie, WY called SΘK (soak). The two-day pop-up style exhibition, NEW WORK: Wendy Lemen Bredehoft and Susan Moldenhauer, followed the tradition of the biennial Touchstone Laramie presented by the Laramie Artist Project with an invitation-only opening and two days of public viewing.

Wendy Lemen Bredehoft, Touchstone Laramie 2004, Wyoming Territorial Park

Susan Moldenhauer, Touchstone Laramie 2004, Wyoming Territorial Park

The artists’ 2004 exhibition was presented in the Horse Barn of the Wyoming Territorial Park, the site of the historic Wyoming Territorial Prison. The impulse for Bredehoft and Moldenhauer to present their work in an alternative gallery space was that both were arts administrators; Bredehoft was the Director of Wyoming State Parks & Cultural Resources and Moldenhauer was the Director of the University of Wyoming Art Museum. As such neither were able to present their work in the organizations they ran. But both were practicing artists and it became important to become known in that way also.

The exhibition garnered a great deal of attention which led Bredehoft and Moldenhauer to explore ways that might create new opportunities for other practicing artists in the Laramie / Albany County area. In 2006 the first Touchstone Laramie was presented at the then Ramada Inn motel, where 20+ artists transformed as many hotel rooms into individual gallery spaces. The Laramie Artist Project, an all-artist all-volunteer collaborative, was formed.

The Laramie Artist Project has continued to present Touchstone Laramie as a biennial exhibition ever since and until COVID-19 arrived. The 2020 version of the exhibition became an online-only adventure as the artists tried to learn and adapt to a virtual exhibition format. With the lingering pandemic,  the artists decided not to present an in-person event in 2022 and will be convening in the weeks ahead to explore the future of Touchstone Laramie.

It is noteworthy that the Laramie community truly embraced the Laramie Artist Project with their financial support which made it all possible. The Wyoming Arts Council and Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund have also been continual funders.

SΘK Gallery, ready for opening night, with Right Angle Rehab table

For Bredehoft and Moldenhauer, 2022 seemed like an important time to find a new space and a new way to present their current work. And how fortunate that Bob Moore of Right Angle Rehab has been working on a line of contemporary tables made by reimagining old doors for new purposes and has been transforming his storefront on S 2nd St into a showroom called SΘK Gallery. What an honor for NEW WORK to be its inaugural exhibition.

2023 Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship Award recipients

The Wyoming Arts Council has announced its 2023 Fellowship Award recipients. I am very honored to join Wyoming’s remarkable artists in the visual, creative writing, performing and Native American arts who are recieving awards this year.

Fellowship awards are merit-based and selected from submitted portfolios of work that reflect serious and exceptional artistic investigation. Visual arts recipients will be part of a biennial Fellowship Exhibition organized by the Wyoming Arts Council in the future.