ArtStroll features photographers

The Second Friday ArtStroll/Still Strolling Saturday in downtown Thermopolis, October 12 and 13, features photographic artists Lindsay Hensley, Douglas Nelson, and Dan Wychgram along with other media artists set up in retail stores. Stroll hours on Friday evening are from 5-8 p.m. The ArtStroll continues Saturday during regular business hours. 

Elliott Erwitt, an American advertising and documentary photographer, wrote “To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” While the Big Horn Basin is no ordinary place, the three photographers in this month’s Stroll, all from Thermopolis, share their different ways of looking at our world.

 Gavin Turner will be on hand with a selection of Halloween costumes. 

Dan Wychgram will be featuring his photography. Wychgram is an exploration geologist, private pilot and photographer and he has managed to combine all three disciplines.

Lawrence and Connie Wickstrom (Kinnear) are coming to the Stroll for the first time. Connie brings her fiber arts and jewelry creations and Lawrence will sing and play guitar. Douglas Nelson will be there also, with his photographs. 

Main Street Thermopolis’ newly produced downtown buildings notecards will be for sale during the Stroll.  Several members of the Smoking Waters Art Guild donated the art and the sales benefit Main Street Thermopolis projects.  

Check out Barb Rice’s repurposed art, Ana Mosser’s jewelry, the baked goods art of the Ladies Auxiliary of Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital, and Harold Hutson singing and playing the guitar.

Author Mary Budd Flitner will be on hand for a book signing and reading of selections from “My Ranch, Too”. Flitner has been a rancher for over 50 years and this is a colorful memoir of life in the Wyoming high country. 

Nature’s Corner, the host business, will have photography by Lindsay Hensley in the Crow Bar. Sallie Wesaw will participate in the Stroll and Thermopolis’ own Songbirds will be singing too.

Still Strolling Saturday is a good time to revisit the artists during regular business hours and to check out the Hot Springs County Museum and Cultural Center. Guild member Marcia Nelson will be teaching a class with alcohol ink, a vibrant and quick drying medium, at the museum from 9 -11 a.m. for a $10 fee. Call 921-8496 to reserve a space. Later in the day, at 2 p.m., the Hot Springs County Historical Society presents a fun and scary afternoon of Ghosts, Ghouls, Goblins, and paranormal activities in and around the Cowboy State. The lecture program is free and light refreshments will be served.

Stollers are encouraged to pick up a map at any stroll business to find the location of artists and activities. Main Street Thermopolis, a partner sponsor of the ArtStrolls, asks that you fill in your ideas on the map/guide, for what you would like to see as new businesses in our downtown. Return the map to the host business at the end of Friday evening’s stroll to be entered to win a piece of art work donated by the artists.

The Second Friday ArtStroll and Still Strolling Saturday is organized by Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation and Smoking Waters Art Guild with additional help from Main Street Thermopolis, Hot Springs Travel & Tourism and local businesses and individuals.