Ucross is thrilled to announce that it has awarded 57 fellowships for the Fall 2024 session. Ten at a time, from August through December, these visual artists, writers, composers, choreographers, and interdisciplinary artists will experience uninterrupted time to focus on their creative projects on Ucross’s historic 20,000-acre ranch.

Ranging from two to six weeks, residencies include a private studio, living accommodations, staff support, meals by a professional chef, and the experience of living on Wyoming’s High Plains. The fellowship is fully funded and includes a stipend.

The Fall 2024 fellows will travel to Ucross from 18 states, as well as Brazil, Italy and Canada. From an application pool of 635 artists, this session’s general fellows were selected by an independent jury of artists and leaders in the field. In addition, several artists will join the program through partnerships with esteemed national organizations, including the Alley Theatre, University of Wyoming’s Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, UCLA Center for the Art of Performance, Ford Family Foundation, Yale School of Music, and the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, as well as Ucross’s own Fellowship for Native American Visual Artists and Writers.

“As our reputation for being an artist sanctuary keeps growing, we continue to see a record number of applications. During the next several months, we will welcome nearly 60 extraordinary artists to Ucross, Wyoming,” said William Belcher, President and Executive Director of Ucross. “The experience we provide continues to attract artists from all around the world, and we are honored to provide time, space, and support for these talented individuals to create new work and pursue their artistic vision.”

Fall 2024 Ucross Fellows include internationally recognized fiber artist and sculptor Beili Lu of Austin, Texas, recent winner of an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship; performance artist Kailee McGee of Glendale, California, whose latest motion picture, Can, will premiere at SXSW Film Fest this year; dancer and choreographer Teddy Tedholm of New York, New York; and Ucross Native American Fellowship recipient Danielle Emerson of Providence, Rhode Island, the 2022 winner of the Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promising Young Poet Award.

​The Fall 2024 Ucross Fellows are:

LITERATURE
Afua Ansong; Poetry; North Providence, RI 
Liz Brown; Nonfiction; Los Angeles, CA
Carrie Cogan; Fiction; British Columbia, Canada 
Diana Delgado; Poetry; Seattle, WA 
Jessie van Eerden; Fiction; Roanoke, VA
Danielle Emerson; Fiction; Providence, RI 
Emily Feldman; Playwriting; New York, NY 
Zack Fine; Playwriting; Los Angeles, CA 
Megan Culhane Galbraith; Nonfiction; Troy, NY 
Monet Hurst-Mendoza; Playwriting; Los Angeles, CA 
Ali Keller; Playwriting; Astoria, NY 
Elaine Kim; Fiction; Brooklyn, NY 
Corrine Noel Knapp; Poetry/Nonfiction; Laramie, WY 
Andrea Lawlor; Poetry; Northampton, MA
Rob Melrose; Playwriting; Houston, TX 
Felipe Franco Munhoz; Fiction; São Paulo, Brazil
Achim Nowak; Nonfiction; Hollywood, FL 
Misha Rai; Fiction; Sewanee, TN 
Jaymes Sanchez; Playwriting; Brooklyn, NY 
Eleni Sikelianos; Poetry; Providence, RI 
Kate Sullivan; Fiction; Hudson, NY 
Hongbo Tan; Nonfiction; Jersey City, NJ 
Brian Truong; Nonfiction; Brooklyn, NY
Paul Walsh; Translation; New Haven, CT

MUSIC/DANCE/PERFORMANCE
Vienna Carroll; Performance; New York, NY
Levi Gonzalez; Dance; North Bennington, VT 
Sarah Lass; Dance; Laramie, WY 
Kailee McGee; Performance; Glendale, CA
Qi Ming; Music Composition; New York, NY 
Kayvon Pourazer; Dance; Brooklyn, NY 
Mafalda Santos; Music Composition; New Haven, CT
Nicky Sohn; Music Composition; Houston, TX 
Justice Steward; Music Composition​; Nashville, TN 
Teddy Tedholm; Dance; New York, NY 
Benjamin Webster; Music Composition; New Haven, CT
Therese Workman; Music Composition; Brooklyn, NY

VISUAL ARTS
Hartmut Austen; Painting; Arlington, MA 
Anahita Bagheri; Sculpture; New York, NY 
Marwin Begaye; Printmaking; Norman, OK
Josh Dorman; Mixed Media; New York, NY 
Jeremiah Jossim; Painting; Gainesville, FL 
Nancy Young Kim; Mixed Media; Bologna, Italy 
Sandy de Lissovoy; Sculpture; Lexington VA
Beili Liu; Fiber/Sculpture; Austin, TX 
Linn Meyers; Painting; Washington, D.C. 
Susan Murrell; Painting; La Grande, OR
Julie Pereira; Installation; New Hampton, NH 
Gil Rocha; Mixed Media; Laredo, TX 
Estefania Velez Rodriguez; Painting; Ridgewood, NY 
Tyler Stoll; Mixed Media; Portland, OR
Amanda Teixeira​; Sculpture; Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil 
Natalie Woodlock; Printmaking; Minneapolis, MN

INTERDISCIPLINARY
Chisaraokwu Asomugha; Torrance, CA
Paula Matthusen; Middletown, CT
Katherine Profeta; Brooklyn, NY 
Michiko Theurer; Boulder, CO 
Tuce Yasak; Brooklyn, NY 
Netta Yerushalmy; New York, NY

Since Ucross’s first residencies were awarded in 1983, more than 2,700 artists have received the gift of time and space. Distinguished Ucross Fellows include Annie Proulx, Terry Tempest Williams, Elizabeth Gilbert, Ann Patchett, Bill Morrison, Theaster Gates, Anthony Hernandez, and Tayari Jones. National Book Award winners Susan Choi, Sigrid Nunez, and Sarah M. Broom have been residents, as have Academy Award and Tony winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Emmy Award winner Billy Porter, Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead, and three-term U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo.

Ucross will open applications for residencies in Fall 2025 on November 1, 2024. Learn more.

Today, Ucross announces the award-winning artists to be featured at its gala on September 26, including celebrated author and podcast host Anna Sale, painter Roxanne Everett, and singer-songwriter Beth McIntosh.

​A Place in Time: The Ucross Gala will celebrate the residency program’s dedication to fostering the creative spirit of working artists by providing uninterrupted time, studio space, living accommodations, staff support, and the experience of the High Plains, while serving as a responsible steward of its historic 20,000-acre ranch in northern Wyoming.

The Ucross Gala will also honor former Senator Alan Simpson and Ann Simpson with the Raymond Plank Award for Visionary Leadership. The award honors and celebrates business leaders, philanthropists, and innovators who have forged their own path and had an enduring impact on business, the arts, or land stewardship. The Simpsons have a demonstrated history of leadership across these fields, from the Senator’s celebrated service in the U.S. Senate and Wyoming House of Representatives, to Mrs. Simpson’s advocacy for arts and mental health.

The Simpsons will be introduced by Anna Sale, author of Let’s Talk About Hard Things, whose podcast Death, Sex & Money has been awarded Gracie, Webby, and Ambie awards. In a 2014 podcast episode, Sale interviewed Senator and Mrs. Simpson about their serendipitous intervention in a romance with her then-boyfriend, Arthur Middleton. Now married and the parents of two children, Sale and Middleton live in Berkeley, California, and spend summers in Cody, Wyoming. They have grown to be close family friends with the Simpsons.

The Ucross Gala will also feature Ucross alumna and Washington State-based contemporary landscape painter Roxanne Everett, who will paint en plein air during the gala. The resulting painting will be up for bid during the evening’s fundraiser auction. Along with exhibiting her award-winning paintings internationally, Everett has served as a backcountry forest ranger, hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, and retains her Washington State Architectural License.

​In addition, Ucross alumna and musician, poet, and storyteller Beth McIntosh of Jackson will perform during the gala. Winner of a Wyoming Performing Arts Fellowship, she has traveled extensively throughout the state and the nation, performing alongside artists and writers such as Emmylou Harris, Leo Kottke, and Terry Tempest Williams, a fellow Ucross alumna.

Heading The Ucross Gala auction is Kevin Doyle, also of Jackson. After working for Sotheby’s as vice president in business management for 20 years, Doyle joined Jackson Hole Art Auction as company part- ner and managing director in 2021. Ucross is pleased to partner with Doyle to highlight exclusive to-be -announced auction items and experiences as the fundraising component of The Ucross Gala.

“It wouldn’t be a Ucross event without the opportunity to experience the work of our alumni artists, live, and in-person,” said William Belcher, President and Executive Director. “We are honored that Beth McIntosh and Roxanne Everett have joined the program. And we are thrilled to have Anna Sale and Kevin Doyle participate in the evening’s festivities. These four incredible guests will help us celebrate the power of storytelling, the creative process, and the role that Ucross plays in so many artists’ lives.”

Since 1983, Ucross has provided residencies to more than 2,700 writers, visual artists, composers, choreographers and interdisciplinary artists from across the world. Ucross champions artist-alumni via world-class community programming, including events, workshops, publications and exhibitions in the Ucross Art Gallery.

​All proceeds raised during the gala will be used to continue this legacy. A select number of tables and tickets are available at ucross.org or by calling 307-737-2291.

On Friday, August 9, surrounded by her friends, family, and flowers, we will say goodbye to Kel Harris, who died on July 31. We are heartbroken by this sudden loss.

Since Kel joined Ucross as Horticulture Manager in 2019, she brought color to our campus and personality to our team. Quick with a joke, she loved to share her passion for travel, jazz, and — above all else — flowers. Her vibrant horticultural design throughout our grounds inspired more than 500 artists, writers, composers, and choreographers from around the world, as well as thousands of visitors to the Ucross Art Gallery, The Park at Ucross, and the Raymond Plank Center.

Please join us in remembering our colleague and friend through this profile in 2021, featuring Kel beaming with her favorite white daisies. 

MEET KEL HARRIS
Published July 10, 2021 (original post here)

Ever since she was a small girl, Ucross Horticulture Manager Kel Harris has wanted to spend her life surrounded by flowers. And so, she has — tending small home gardens in her youth, attending floral design school, working for her family’s former business in Buffalo (Grannie’s Bloomers), overseeing famed artist Neltje's gardens, and more. Today, she is in her 37th year of growing a greenhouse crop.

“My dreams have come true,” Kel told us on a recent morning, as she surveyed one of her vast, vibrant gardens on the Ucross grounds. She and her hard-working crew care for all of our plants, from the native grass landscaping by the writers’ studios to the carrots grown for the artists’ dinner plates.

Kel’s life follows the seasons. She is happiest right now, in summer, when she gets to work outdoors in the warm sunshine all day, planting, weeding, watering, and repeating. Autumn has its charm too: She likes to clean up, to make way for the new. During winter, she hibernates indoors, dreaming of sunnier, greener days as she plans the many landscapes of Ucross, which she changes every year. In spring, Kel spends long days in the greenhouse, watering, pinching, and transplanting.

“It’s so rewarding,” Kel said. “You work so hard — you take care of the plants, you weed them and water them and deadhead them — and then they perform for you.”

The next time you visit the Park at Ucross, take a stroll through the gardens, which are open to the public, and enjoy Kel’s living art form. And if you see a spritely woman gardening, joyful among the flowers, dressed to match in bright colors down to her rainbow toes, be sure to say hello. 

We are accepting donations for the Kel Harris Flower Fund, which will support a special memorial that we will unveil on her birthday, September 19. You may contribute online here, or mail your gift to Ucross Foundation, 30 Big Red Lane, Clearmont, WY, 82835.

Please click here to read Kel's obituary, share a memory on the tribute wall, and find details on the funeral services on Friday, August 9.

We send our love to Kel's friends and family. All are welcome to remember Kel in The Park at Ucross, open to the public daily from dawn to dusk. There, you can sit among the flowers in the Johansen Memorial Gardens, steps away from the interdenominational Ucross Chapel, and experience Kel's artistry.

Local arts organizations are joining forces to present Collective Arts Festival, a day-long celebration of the arts, on Saturday, August 10, at Whitney Commons in downtown Sheridan, Wyoming. The free, family-friendly event will include music and dance performances, art demos, literary and poetry readings, children’s arts activities, and artisan booths, as well as food trucks and a beer garden. 

Previously known as “Celebrate the Arts,” Collective Arts Festival is presented by the Bighorn Arts Collective, a new organization committed to enriching the arts and growing the creative economy in Sheridan County and across the region. Through meaningful collaboration with the community’s art entities and artists, Bighorn Arts Collective seeks to leverage the impact of all endeavors, ensuring that the arts thrive and remain an integral part of our community's identity.  

Bighorn Arts Collective comprises The Brinton Museum, Neltje Center for Excellence in Creativity and the Arts, SAGE Community Arts, Sheridan Public Arts Committee, Ucross Foundation, Whitney Center for the Arts at Sheridan College, and the WYO Performing Arts and Education Center. 

From 2018 to 2023, many of these arts organizations presented Celebrate the Arts, an annual summer arts celebration consisting of multiple events spread over multiple days across the community. 

“We are all energized by the impact of the Bighorn Arts Collective on the arts and culture scene in the greater Sheridan area,” said Kendra Heimbuck, Chair of the Bighorn Arts Collective and Executive Director of The Brinton Museum. “And we are excited for this next evolution of Celebrate the Arts.” 

The schedule of events on the main stage: 

10 to 11:45 a.m.
Neltje Center will present Michaela Ellingson and Bailey Walker of the Dancers Workshop in Jackson, Wyoming, with Ucross Fellow Brandon Welch. 

11 a.m. to 12 p.m.
The WYO Theater & WYO PLAY will present excerpts from James & the Giant Peach, Jr.; Sheridan County Youth Choir, and Mean Girls, the Musical (High School Version). 

12 to 2 p.m.
Big Horn Records will present Mason McTell, singer-songwriter.

2-4 p.m.
Ucross will present artists-in-residence, including Brandon Welch, a choreographer and dancer from Boulder, Colorado; Eleni Sikelianos, a poet from Providence, Rhode Island; and Vienna Carroll, a singer and storyteller from New York, New York. 

4-5:30 p.m.
Whitney Center for the Arts will present Trout Goggles, a local band. 

5:45 p.m.
Bighorn Arts Collective and Sheridan Public Arts Committee will recognize Kim and Mary Kay Love. 

The schedule of events in the arts tent: 

10 a.m. to noon
The Brinton Museum will present demonstrations by ceramicist and staff member Will Lopez and painter Robert Martinez. 

12-2 p.m.
Ucross will present demonstrations by visual artists, former artists-in-residence and staff members Tawni Shuler and Brittney Denham-Whisonant 

2-4 p.m.
Neltje Center will present Michaela Ellingson and Bailey Walker of the Dancers Workshop in Jackson, Wyoming. 

4-6 p.m.
SAGE Community Arts will present demonstrations by local artists.

Throughout the Collective Arts Festival, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., there will be free family arts activities, coordinated by SAGE Community Arts and The Brinton Museum, and an artisan fair, featuring arts and crafts by makers from across the region. 

There will also be onsite food trucks, including Colombian Guy CoffeeVan, Pete’s Za, Zaza Tacos, Kettle Krazy, Kona Ice and others, as well as a beer garden with Black Tooth Brewing Co. 

Collective Arts Festival is presented by the Bighorn Arts Collective presenting organizations. The event is also supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources, as well as the Homer A. & Mildred S. Scott Foundation and Peak Consulting. 

Today, ​Ucross joins 92 literary nonprofit organizations as recipient of an Amazon Literary Partnership Grant.
 
For 15 years, the Amazon Literary Partnership has provided more than $17 million to amplify overlooked or marginalized writers in the literary community. These grants foster writing programs and nonprofit literary organizations such as Ucross, whose mission is to foster the creative spirit of artists by providing fully funded residencies of uninterrupted time and space on their historic 20,000-acre High Plains ranch. 
 
“We too believe in the power of words — and art — to transform lives, and we are thrilled to receive support from Amazon Literary Partnership this year to support Ucross writers,” said William Belcher, Ucross President and Executive Director. “The grant will help us continue to serve overlooked writers and new voices from the High Plains and Rocky Mountain regions. We are grateful.”
 
Over the years, the Amazon Literary Partnership has supported the Academy of American Poets, Asian American Writers Workshop, National Book Foundation, PEN America, Poets & Writers, Girls Write Now, Lambda Literary Foundation, Loft Literary Center, National Novel Writing Month, Words Without Borders, and Yaddo, among others.
 
This grant supports writers to help tell their stories and find their readers, empowering writers to create, publish, learn, teach, experiment, and thrive. In addition to championing writers from a diverse range of backgrounds, Ucross supports contemporary Native American writers at all stages of their careers through the Ucross Fellowship for Native American Writers, which provides a fully funded residency, $2,000 award, $1,000 stipend, and the opportunity to present work publicly.

Ucross today announced Arin Waddell has joined the artist residency program’s board of trustees. A former Ucross Fellow, Waddell has continued to make art, teach, and serve the greater community. 
 
“Arin Waddell is an impressive artist and leader whose strong background in the arts, philanthropy, and community building are a perfect fit,” said Ucross President and Executive Director William Belcher. “As a two-time Ucross Fellow, she also has firsthand knowledge of how the time and space we provide artists changes lives. We welcome her to the board, and we look forward to her input and guidance.”
 
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Waddell was raised on a Black Angus cattle ranch west of Billings, Montana. She is the daughter of oil painter Theodore Waddell and writer, musician, and scholar Betty Whiting. Mother of three, Waddell resides in Sheridan, Wyoming, with her husband John Heyneman and their youngest son. Recently, she developed an online storefront to market custom home products inspired by her original art. 
 
Waddell holds three degrees in visual art: a B.A. from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York; an M.A. from California State University, Chico; and an M.F.A. degree from the University of Texas, San Antonio. She has been featured in more than 150 solo and group art exhibitions throughout the Western United States, and has taught drawing, painting, sculpture, design, and installation art at several colleges and universities, including Montana State University, Sheridan College, and SAGE Community Arts. 
 
With a deep passion for philanthropy, community service, and education, Waddell has served on several nonprofit boards, including the Whitney Center for the Arts, Sheridan County YMCA, Science Kids, and Sheridan Economic and Educational Development Authority. As a former founder and president of The Food Group, she spent a decade providing nourishment and literature to children in Sheridan County. Waddell has served 12 years as chairman of the board of trustees for the Homer A. and Mildred S. Scott Foundation. In 2018, she was elected trustee for Sheridan County School District No. 2 and was re-elected in 2022; this is her fourth year as vice-chair of the district. In addition, Waddell served on the Sheridan County Recreation District Board of Directors for four years and is an active member of Rotary and Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church.
 
“For years, the Ucross Foundation has set a very high bar in its commitment to artists, writers, composers, and dancers from all over the world, who, like me, are deeply inspired by this special place and landscape,” Waddell said. “As an artist, philanthropist, and school board trustee, I hope to humbly serve this organization with creative collaboration, fiscal discernment, and good governance. It is an honor to join the Ucross team.”   

Ucross announces today a fall gala in support of its artists, art gallery, and ranch on Thursday, September 26. A Place in Time: The Ucross Gala will culminate in an award presentation honoring former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson and Ann Simpson of Cody, Wyoming, with the Raymond Plank Award for Visionary Leadership.
 
The evening’s activities will include cocktails in the Ucross Art Gallery, a seasonal dinner, performances by artist-alumni, a lively auction, and an awards ceremony in a heated tent on the lawn of Ucross’s historic Big Red Ranch House.
 
“We hope the community will join us to honor Senator Al and Ann Simpson for their distinguished service to Wyoming and the United States, as well as celebrate Ucross and its impact on our arts and culture,” said Ucross President and Executive Director William Belcher. “‘A Place in Time: The Ucross Gala’ will be a memorable evening with art, music and dance, all in the extraordinary setting of our historic ranch.”
 
The Raymond Plank Award for Visionary Leadership was previously presented to former U.S. Secretary of State and former Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil Rex Tillerson in 2018, longtime Ucross Chairman Jim Nelson in 2020, and Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott D. Sheffield in 2023.
 
The award honors and celebrates business leaders, philanthropists, and innovators who have forged their own path and had an enduring impact on business, the arts, or land stewardship. The Simpsons have a demonstrated history of leadership across these fields, from the Senator’s celebrated service in the U.S. Senate and Wyoming House of Representatives to Ann’s advocacy for arts and mental health. 
 
Senator Simpson was elected in 1964 to the Wyoming House of Representatives, where he served for 13 years. He became majority whip, majority floor leader, and speaker pro tempore before running successfully for the U. S. Senate in 1978. Simpson made his mark quickly by accepting difficult assignments and sponsoring legislation establishing federal standards for clean air and water, toxic waste cleanup, and nuclear regulation.
 
He was active on issues regarding veterans, aging, the environment, and national immigration laws. Following his reelection by a wide margin in 1984, he was nominated by his Republican peers to the position of the assistant majority whip. Simpson retired at the end of his third term, in 1996, and for four years taught as a visiting lecturer at Harvard, and for two years he served as the Director of the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School. 
 
Along with funding the University of Wyoming’s Alan K. Simpson Institute for Western Politics and Leadership, Senator Simpson served as chairman on the board of trustees for Buffalo Bill Center of the West, and trustee emeritus for the Grand Teton Music Festival. In Washington, D.C., he served on the boards of the Smithsonian Institution, Folgers Library, and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022. 
 
A native of Greybull, Wyoming, Ann Simpson launched the first American Field Service study abroad program in Cody. She has been a passionate advocate for mental health in Wyoming and in D.C., as well as a champion of the arts. She created the University of Wyoming's successful art outreach effort, the Ann Simpson Artmobile, which has traveled the state for more than 30 years showcasing objects from the University of Wyoming Art Museum's collection and engaging rural communities with the arts through hands-on activities.
 
In addition to honoring the Simpsons, A Place in Time: The Ucross Gala will celebrate the Wyoming nonprofit organization’s mission and impact. Ucross is dedicated to fostering the creative spirit of working artists by providing uninterrupted time, studio space, living accommodations, extraordinary staff support and the experience of the majestic High Plains, while serving as a responsible steward of its historic 20,000-acre ranch in northern Wyoming. Since the residency program began in 1983, Ucross has provided residencies to more than 2,700 writers, visual artists, composers, choreographers, and interdisciplinary artists from across the world.
 
Further championing the work of artist-alumni, Ucross also provides world-class community programming through events, workshops, publications, and exhibitions in the Ucross Art Gallery.
 
All funds raised before and during The Ucross Gala will support residency time for 115-plus artists each year, continued investment in community engagement activities, and responsible stewardship of Ucross’s historic ranch and facilities. Each ticket and table will help Ucross remain a meaningful and relevant resource for artists, the community, and the state of Wyoming.
 
Details for A Place in Time: The Ucross Gala are available at ucross.org or by calling 307-737-2291.

Ucross, the acclaimed artist residency program and art gallery in northern Wyoming, will hold an opening reception for We Have All the Time in the World, the third and final installation of a three-part gallery series celebrating its 40th anniversary at 6 p.m. 
Friday, July 26.

Guest curator Josh Kun has selected 15 fellow Ucross alumni to be featured in the latest show, an interdisciplinary exhibition with a focus on auditory art.
 
“Artists working across music and sound have long been instrumental to the Ucross residency program,” Kun said. “It has been a personal honor to shape an exhibition that draws from their extraordinary work. The artist lineup mixes established musicians, photographers and visual artists with emerging artists who are breaking new ground in the way sound and music are treated as artistic languages.”
 
The selections feature artists ranging from GRAMMY Award-winning drummer Terri Lyne Carrington to poet and musician JJJJJerome Ellis, improviser and interdisciplinary artist Bonnie Han Jones, and composer Jessica Pavone. And sometimes, the omission of audio makes just as much of an impact as sound.
 
“Some of the noisiest pieces in We Have All the Time in the World are the ones without sound,” Kun said. 
 
Visual artist Rhona Bitner captures photographs of spaces where music is performed, Matana Roberts forays into collage, and Jason Moran melds 43 years of piano with pigment and paper. 
 
The complete roundup of Ucross alumni-artists are: Rhona Bitner of New York City and Paris, France; Terri Lyne Carrington of Woburn, Massachusetts; Andrew Raffo Dewar of Tuscaloosa, Alabama; JJJJJerome Ellis of Norfolk, Virginia; Guillermo Galindo of Oakland, California; Michael Harrison of Yonkers, New York; Bonnie Han Jones of Baltimore, Maryland, and Providence, Rhode Island; Regina Martinez of Chicago, Illinois; Nicole Mitchell of Charlottesville, Virginia; Jason Moran of New York, New York; Jessica Pavone of Astoria, New York; Jerónimo Reyes-Retana of Boulder, Colorado; Matana Roberts; Ken Ueno of Lawndale, California; and Du Yun of New York, New York. The work of collaborative artists Yuan Liu of Brooklyn, New York; Floyd Webb of Chicago, Illinois; and Habib Azar of New York, New York, are essential to the inclusions of Mitchell, Pavone and Yun, respectively.

As a curator, Kun’s projects and exhibitions have appeared with the Los Angeles Public Library, the Vincent Price Art Museum, the California African American Museum, the GRAMMY Museum, and the Getty Foundation. As an artist, his work has appeared with San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Prospect New Orleans, and Steve Turner Gallery in LA. Kun is the recipient of a Berlin Prize and an American Book Award. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2016. Kun is vice provost for the arts at University of Southern California (USC) and professor and chair in cross-cultural communication at the USC Annenberg School. His books include Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America; Songs in the Key of Los Angeles; Double Vision: The Photography of George Rodriguez, and several others.
 
We Have All the Time in the World will be displayed in the Ucross Art Gallery until Jan. 10, 2025. The gallery is located at 30 Big Red Lane in Ucross, and open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Admission is free, thanks in part to support from the Arete Design Group and the Wyoming Arts Council, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Wyoming Legislature.
 
Learn more at ucross.org. 

Ucross announced today its third annual Founder’s Day on Saturday, June 1, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. During that timeframe, the community is invited to tour the artist residency campus, located on a 20,000-acre ranch in northern Wyoming; experience live music played al fresco by members of the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra; visit the artists in their studios; explore the new exhibition in the Ucross Art Gallery, Wyoming Women to Watch; and enjoy a picnic on the lawn. The event is free and open to the public.
 
“Since we launched Founder’s Day in 2022, this event has become one of our favorite moments on the calendar. It celebrates our artists, our residency program, and Raymond Plank’s legacy, and it’s one of the rare instances when the public can get an insider’s look at all that goes on behind-the-scenes at Ucross,” said Ucross President William Belcher. “We hope the community will join us for another fun afternoon on our beautiful ranch with an incredible roster of artists from across North America.”
 
From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., the community will be invited to visit the studios of photographer Jeremy Dennis of Southampton, New York; choreographer and performer Mauriah Donegan Kraker of Appleton, Wisconsin; painter Roxanne Everett of Seattle, Washington; visual artist Holly Fay of Saskatchewan, Canada; poet Adam Giannelli of West Lafayette, Indiana; musician Steve Jansen of Albuquerque, New Mexico; poet Tamara J. Madison of Orlando, Florida; visual artist Michael Pribich of New York, New York; and fiction author Alyssa Songsiridej of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
 
As they explore the picturesque campus grounds, visitors will encounter live contemporary and classical music from members of the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, including Concertmaster and violinist Megan Karls of Great Falls, Montana; Karls’s husband, singer-songwriter David Raba; and principal harpist Jane Ann Hamman of Casper, Wyoming.
 
At 1 p.m., the Ucross Art Gallery will host a reception celebrating the opening of Wyoming Women to Watch. Created by the Wyoming Committee of National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), this traveling exhibition features the five Wyoming artists who were shortlisted for New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024, a critically acclaimed biennial exhibition at NMWA in Washington, D.C. The artists include Sarah Ortegon HighWalking of the Wind River Reservation, Jennifer Rife of Cheyenne, Ucross alumna Bronwyn Minton of Jackson, Leah Hardy of Laramie, and Katy Ann Fox of Jackson.
 
The five artists will discuss their work at the Ucross Founder’s Day reception, which will also include a black-light jingle dress dance performed by Ortegon HighWalking, the artist selected by NMWA.
 
Throughout the event, visitors may enjoy a picnic on the lawn outside of the Big Red Ranch Complex, with Sheridan-based food truck Pete’s Za onsite, as well as the opportunity to purchase coffee, tea, and Chef Jackie Vitale’s housemade ice cream sandwiches at the Ucross Café.
 
The event recognizes the 102nd anniversary of the late Ucross founder, Raymond Plank. Born on May 29, 1922, Plank grew up on his family farm in Minnesota. He entered Yale University in September 1940 but left just three months later, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps Reserves. During World War II, he piloted B-24 bombers, completed 40 combat missions, and earned numerous commendations. After the war, Plank went on to graduate from Yale; form an accounting and tax service; and eventually co-found and become chairman and CEO of Apache Corporation, which was based in Minneapolis and is now based in Houston, Texas. Plank passed away in November 2018 at age 96.
 
Plank founded Ucross Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, in 1981, and the residency program welcomed its first artists in 1983. Over the next 41 years, the program has developed into one of the most respected artist communities in the nation. More than 2,700 visual artists, writers, choreographers, and composers have been to Ucross, benefiting from its uninterrupted time, studio space, living accommodations, and meals by a professional chef, as well as the experience of the majestic High Plains. Many alumni have gone on to earn national recognition, including Pulitzer Prizes, MacArthur “Genius” Fellowships, National Book Awards, Tony Awards, Academy Awards and more.
​
Get free tickets to Founder’s Day here. Parking is limited, and carpooling is encouraged.

Ucross and the University of Wyoming announced today that the inaugural Haub Fellow at Ucross will be Corrine Knapp, an associate professor in the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. 

Presented once a year to a Haub faculty member, the fellowship offers a two-week residency at Ucross, which includes private studio space, living accommodations, meals by a professional chef, and the experience of interdisciplinary, cross-cultural conversation with international artists-in-residence, all on Ucross’s 20,000-acre ranch in northern Wyoming. 

“Our landscape, our land stewardship initiatives, and the deep connection between creativity and place are embedded in the Ucross mission, as well as the unique perspective on the American West that we provide,” said Ucross President and Executive Director William Belcher. “This partnership with the Haub School is a natural extension of our program, and we look forward to welcoming Corrie Knapp to Ucross this fall.”

The idea of the partnership began in 2023, after Ucross and the Haub School collaborated on a pilot fellowship project during which Jacob Hochard, the Knobloch Associate Professor of Conservation Economics in the Haub School, received time and space at the prestigious residency program. Hochard described his two-week residency at Ucross and the bond formed with the interdisciplinary artists in his cohort as “lifechanging.”

“We are excited about this partnership that brings a member of the Haub School to the Ucross community of residents to seek inspiration from the wild and working lands that are so vital to Wyoming,” said Haub School Dean John Koprowski, also a Wyoming Excellence Chair. “Corrie Knapp is the ideal inaugural Haub Fellow at Ucross, for she epitomizes our interdisciplinary approach and commitment to creative scholarly activities.”

Knapp plans to use her uninterrupted time and space to draft an article exploring how socioecological feedbacks can amplify or dampen perceptions of climate change, illustrated with case studies.

Before coming to UW in 2019, Knapp directed the Integrated Land Management Program in the School of Environment and Sustainability at Western Colorado University in Gunnison. She received her B.A. in literature and writing from the University of Colorado-Denver, her M.S. in rangeland ecology from Colorado State University, and her Ph.D. in human ecology from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.

Knapp’s research interests are at the intersection of land-based livelihoods and conservation in the context of climate change. She has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles on topics ranging from local/Indigenous knowledge to climate change adaptation, endangered species management to rangeland ecology.
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Learn more about the Ucross artist residency program and art gallery here.