82801 February/March 2019

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

Takeat Heart home TINY HOUSE

BIG

DREAMS

TAKING ROOT Community Gardens Growing the Next Generation of Producers

page 5

2018 Textron Off Road Wildcat XX STARTING AT $20,499

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307-675-CATS (2287) 2524 Heartland Dr | Sheridan, WY 82801

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FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

Take Heart, AT H O M E

J

ust as quickly as an interior design trend surfaces and gains popularity, it is replaced by the next big thing.

If you’ve recently found yourself inspired by the mother of farmhouse / style, Joanna Gaines, and are now working on updating your circa 2005 Tuscan-style kitchen, perhaps swapping out travertine tile for shiplap, you’re already behind the curve, according to various design experts.

But are your farmhouse sink and sliding barn door dreams crushed forever?

Take heart.

Good design, like fine art, is subjective. Sit down with six designers, and you’ll leave with six different opinions on trends and approaches to your space. Yes, “good design” is governed by a set of principles, but within those principles lies subjectivity in interpretation and execution. As

a trained graphic designer and art-school grad, I could really “nerd out” on this, but let me spare you the jargon and get to the point.

What you like matters and has merit, especially in your home. In fact, legendary designer Billy Baldwin said it best.

"Be faithful to your own taste, because nothing you really like is ever out of style."

I’m no Billy Baldwin, but my key piece of advice on trends from a design standpoint is there is such a thing as too much of a “good” thing, and it all comes down to execution.

Have your heart set on farmhouse chic despite the experts saying it’s on the outs? You get your “Fixer Upper” on and put up some shiplap, but maybe keep it to an accent wall or two and go easy on the hand-lettered barn signs.

And if you’re looking for some fresh ideas for your home in the 307, you’ve come to the right place. In this, the second edition of the home issue, “old” is cool again, as we take a

closer look at a local, modern homestead with classic, quality features like hardwood trim, stone façade and elegant fixtures designed to look aged in “Modern Twist on the Old West”

by Jen Kocher on page 8. We also chat with Army veteran-turned-artist Sandra Coleman about her 187-square-foot home/art studio on wheels in “Tiny House, Big Dreams” on page 11.

Considering putting your home on the market? Be sure to check out page 10 for “6 Tips on Staging a House” to get your home sold quickly for a minimal investment with maximum impact!

We’re so glad you picked up this issue, and hope you find the inspiration on the following pages to see new possibilities for your spaces by looking at your home with fresh eyes, and always, a full and happy heart.

By: Candice E. Schlautmann FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

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Contents 5 GROWING

Youth gardens are growing the county’s next gen producers.

3 TRENDING

Design pros agree: quit listening to the experts and go for what resonates.

11 LIVING LITTLE

Local veteran and artist Sandra Coleman has big dreams and a tiny house.

Photo by Mandy Williamson for ERA Carroll Reality Co., Inc.

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Taking Root:

Community Gardens Growing the Next Generation of Producers

I

t’s not every day one hears children getting excited about Brussels sprouts, and local teacher Lori Clark was happy when her pre-kindergarten class took an interest. The students at Holy Name Catholic School had spent the past weeks working in the school garden and were eager to sample their hard work, even in the form of vegetables.

“We took them back to our classroom, cooked them, and ate them,” Clark said. “Many of my students hadn't tasted them before, and their families were pleasantly surprised to hear that so many of the children enjoyed them.”

In fact, the students had a great time learning about what each seed would need in order to produce a fruit or a vegetable, she added, not to mention the fun of playing in the dirt.

Clark doubts that they’d have taken such a vested interest if they hadn’t been involved in the process of picking and growing the seeds themselves.

And that’s exactly the point, according to Bonnie Gregory, executive director of the volunteer non-profit youth gardening collaboration Rooted in Wyoming (RiW), which is dedicated to building and nurturing school and youth gardens throughout Sheridan County.

Since its inception two years ago, RiW volunteer staff and board have built six gardens thus far, with the intention of providing intergenerational and educational recreation based around healthy, locally grown foods.

For Clark, it was the perfect opportunity to give her 4- and 5-year-old students a chance to get some hands-on learning with the added benefit of seeing where their food comes from.

Along with the garden at Holy Name, other gardens have been built throughout the county.

The group has planted six gardens so far, including gardens at Big Horn School, Tongue River,

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

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“Gardens provide students with a sense of ownership of their school and the community” Normative Services Academy, and Woodland Park.

Gregory and her crew of volunteer workers and board members say they just do the heavy lifting and labor to install the garden space, then turn it over to students, teachers, and youth leaders to design it, name it, and literally do the dirty work.

Thus far, the gardens have been a big hit with both students and teachers as the program continues to catch on.

In the meantime, Gregory is pleased to see the buy-in for so many young people. In fact, the impetus from her starting the initiative was her fear that the younger generations were getting further and further removed from the knowledge of where their food comes from.

In her past capacity at the Downtown Sheridan Association, in which she oversaw the local Farmer’s Market, it was becoming increasingly harder and rarer for her to find young growers and farmers. As the older generations aged out, she feared that lack of interest in hobby farming or on a larger scale would begin to have a direct result on the local food chain.

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Also, as the mother of three boys, she was equally disappointed to see the high degree of processed food on the school lunch menu. In the past, due to federal guidelines, many local schools didn’t have a choice in what they served so Gregory packed her kid’s lunch instead.

And after stepping down from her post with the DSA, with the intent of spending more time at home with her family, Gregory soon found herself a new occupation when a conversation she’d had three years prior boomeranged back around.

Back when Big Horn Elementary School was being built, she had told Sheridan County School District #1 Business Manager Jeremy Smith to leave her space to build a garden on school grounds. Years later, Smith jokingly asked Gregory what was taking her so long. He had left her a garden space, now all she had to do was build it.

Meanwhile, the not-quite-retired Gregory found herself with a new mission at hand. And when she came home one day and told her husband, Ryan, she’d just assigned herself with a new executive director position, instead of giving her the husband

THE GARDENS:

of a chronically overworked wife sigh and lecture, he instead offered to jump in and help her get it off the ground, along with her three teenage boys who also stepped in to help.

That was all it took for her to galvanize the troops and get to work. To date, she estimates that she and her all-volunteer board and staff have logged in more than 6,500 hours of community service to get the program off the ground.

For her, the mission is two-fold. Along with encouraging young people to become potential future growers, she also sees the garden spaces as extended classrooms.

A recent conversation between herself and two teachers indicated that the most valuable skill to instill in a child is to become a problem-solver.

The gardens, as Gregory points out, are perfect opportunities for children to gain connections to science, health and nutrition, while also building skills in English, math, art, social studies and history.

“Gardens provide students with a sense of ownership of their school and the community,” she said. Not only have they been proven to help

RiW Board Members: Kelly Hahn, Pam Standish, Samantha Heide, Tiffany Leimbach, Mandy Morris, Missy Hubert, Ami Erickson, Donna Johannesmeyer, Ellie Martin and Lise Foy ________________________________ BIG HORN “RAM HARVEST”: Built by sheer grit and determination, RiW’s first garden was built by a hardcore group of volunteers who put their time and dedication into building the garden, including help from community partners. ________________________________ HOLY NAME “GARDEN OF ISIDORE”: Named after the patron saint of farmers, this is what RiW fondly refers to as the “pop-up” garden.

In production for two years, the garden serves as not only a source for fresh produce but also an extension of the school’s science lab, complete with an observatory hive of bees that help to pollinate it. ________________________________ TONGUE RIVER “EAGLE’S NEST YOUTH GARDEN”: New this year, under the direction of Lise Foye, this garden was brought into production for the Tongue River Valley Community Center’s Youth Garden classes and SCSD #1’s Early Childhood Program. ________________________________

children become better environmental stewards, she noted, they’re also developing important secondary skills like patience, cooperation, teamwork, pride, and volunteerism.

Recently, she was pleased when a teacher at Woodland Park Elementary told her a student had announced she planned to grow up to become a farmer.

“We both whooped,” Gregory said, “I can’t tell you how happy that made me.”

By:Jen C. Kocher

WOODLAND PARK “GARDEN OF PRIDE”: With 20 raised beds, grape teepee, pizza garden, pumpkin patch, hoop house (through grant from Wyo Dept. of Education), the Garden of Pride came about with many hands and hard work. ________________________________ SCIENCE KIDS “GARDEN GNOMES”: This garden classroom collaboration at the historic Quarter Circle A Ranch (The Brinton Museum) is a thriving project in the works. ________________________________ RISING SUN GARDEN: RiW provided Garden Leader Carl Dube starts and money for garden materials.

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

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Modern Twist

on the Old West

A

mong the historic, older houses in Sheridan, this property on Fairway Court sits stoic.

A contemporary play on traditional Western asthetic, it’s easy to see why the 2016 property is our editor’s top pick on the market this month. With its stone façade and almost ostentatious detailing, it’s every Magnolia homesteader’s dream come true... and then some.

Perfectly situated backing up against the golf course with west-facing view of the Bighorns, this 2-year-old home has hard wood details and classic design.

Designed by Sheridan-based Yarak Construction as a spec home, the builders spared no detail, with hardwood trim and doors made to be sturdy and evince Old West design.

The lot is professionally landscaped with

a wraparound walk and fire pit for spending summer nights gazing up at the stars, just like the original homesteaders.

Vaulted ceilings give the house an airy, yet cozy feel with exposed wood beams and highend finishes.

Granite countertops throughout the kitchen and baths lend a contemporary touch to the home’s traditional feel.

Kim Hall

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

ERA Carroll Reality Co., Inc.

(520) 227-55439

6 Tips for Staging

by Kim Hall

1. Declutter: Sell, store, donate, or toss any personal items that you do not use. Rule of thumb: If you haven’t used it in a year, you probably won’t!

2. Clean, clean, clean!

Both bathrooms have updated tile work, including trendy Subway tile, and earth tone classics.

Not to be outdone, the garage comes complete with heater and classic finishes with new-age Western style.

Contact licensed Wyoming Realtor Kim Hall with ERA Carroll Reality Co., Inc. at (520) 227-5543 for more information.

By: Jen C. Kocher

Photos: Mandy Williamson and Janae Neeson.

Never under estimate the power of a clean house. Always assume buyers will look in every nook and cranny, because they do. Refresh old grout, get rid of the grungy shower curtain liner, scrub off the greasy stovetop… you get the picture.

3. Remove unneeded furniture pieces and arrange the remaining pieces to maximize floor space and flow. The key is to create as much space as possible.

4. Depersonalize your accessories and photos. Keep personal photos and collections to a minimum. The goal here is to allow the buyer to envision their own things in the home.

5. Create a pleasing, neutral color scheme and feel throughout the home. Keeping the color palette and style of the furnishings consistent is a must. If your bathroom walls are hot pink, put on your painting clothes and get to work!

6. Fresh linens are critical. Remove old, worn out towels, bedding, shower curtains, etc. Use light, new linens to instantly refresh your home. This is minimum investment for maximum impact!

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FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

Tiny House

BIG

DREAMS

C

ramming one’s life into 187 sq.-ft. living space might not be everyone’s dream come true, but for art student Sandra Coleman, her tiny, portable house is the perfect fit. Not only is her life now movable, but she even has an art studio on wheels.

She parks it on her aunt’s land here in Sheridan, where she plans to stay until next fall when she heads to University of Wyoming.

Right now, she’s finishing up her associate’s degree in art at Sheridan College, where she was recently named student of the year. The accomplishment was a huge surprise for Coleman, who at age 40, feels like she’s making up for lost time.

Dreams of going to art school had been put on hold when, at 17, Coleman enlisted in the Army. It was supposed to be a short-term stint allowing her the opportunity to garner money for college which, after graduation from high school, was still well out of her financial reach.

She didn’t want to be burdened with school loans, so she opted to enlist. She scored high enough on the entrance exam to have her pick of jobs and chose mobile satellite communications, something at the time she knew nothing about but that sounded interesting. It ended up being a good choice.

When her term concluded, the Army offered her a bonus to stay in for another 6 years. When that gig ended, they offered her another bonus and she remained in the service for the next 10 years.

Along with providing her educational money and a hefty nest egg for which to buy her tiny dream home, she was also able to travel and live in places all over the country and around the world, including posts in South Korea, Kuwait, Uzbekistan and Japan.

Japan was by far her favorite stop. She had a tiny Japanese apartment downtown, in which she loved the food and all the “Japanese gadgets.”

It fed into her love of small spaces and designs.

Finally, after two decades, she decided it was time to come home and fulfill her long-term dream of art school.

It felt weird being one of the oldest students in her classes, and she initially approached school

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

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“Spiral” “Spiral” (Front View) (Front View) 6x6 6x6 Laminated Laminated Wood Wood

Above - "Fox" 11x8 Charcoal & Pencil.

Right - "Spiral" 6x6 Laminated Wood (Front & Rear View). Opposite page - "Grandmas' Tree"

16x20 Black & White Charcoal on paper.

impatiently as if making up for lost time.

The first couple semesters at college were admittedly a little rough for the tenured soldier.

“I was fighting myself and my instructors about what art is,” she said. “All of my life I’d just been doing art on my own, just picking something to draw and doing it.”

As a child, she'd grown up with a love of charcoal pencils and drawing. Turning humdrum subjects into fanciful art was an alley into her imagination, where as a quiet kid, her drawings took on a new magical life in the form of stories.

“Since early childhood, I have always loved the idea that I could create my own reality with just a pencil and paper,” she said. “There is something deeply satisfying in taking a mundane

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FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

object or idea and giving it a whimsical twist.”

She wasn’t used to discussing technique or the emotions that went into a work of art.

“It was difficult to think about art like that,” she said.

Add to this the additional pressure of being “Fox” 11 x 8 in &her late 30’s and feeling like she had to race Charcoal Pencil against the clock to make up for lost time.

“I felt like I was so behind and didn’t have time to make the normal mistakes that students make when learning,” she said. However, she learned that making mistakes and taking one’s time was all a part of the process.

She’s learned the hard way that every

“Since early childhood, I have always loved the idea that I could create my own reality with just a pencil and paper”

“Spiral” (Rear “Spiral” View)(Rear View) 6x6 6x6 Wood Laminated Laminated Wood

student has a lot to learn, regardless about how old they are or where they’re coming from. That’s been one of the more assiduous lessons, but she’s getting there, and learning to enjoy the process of exploration into the art itself.

“My teachers are pushing me to try new techniques and mediums I would have never tried if I hadn’t been forced to,” she said. Among these include oil painting, sculpture and wood carvings, which she’s begun to really enjoy.

“Getting used to different kinds of art was cool,” she said. Oil painting, in particular, “blew her mind” because she wasn’t accustomed to working in color.

WHITNEY CENTER FOR THE ARTS The Whitney Center for the Arts is home to live performances, art exhibitions, and the Schools of Music and Art of Sheridan College.

Officially opened in 2016 through a generous contribution from Whitney Benefits, the WCA was conceived to provide Sheridan College with much-needed space for its fine and performing arts programs.

Its 422-seat concert hall, the largest in the region, features a changeable proscenium stage, motorized fly system, and a hydraulically convertible orchestra pit.

The musical classroom space in the WCA features a large band room, a choral room, a piano classroom, multiple practice rooms, a recording studio, a music theory classroom, faculty offices, and storage.

As home to the SC Art Program, the WCA is one of the most advanced, innovative art education centers in the United States.

Art learning spaces focus on crossdisciplinary opportunities for students studying ceramics, painting and drawing, sculpture, printmaking and digital media.

Two gallery spaces showcase work from students, faculty and traveling shows from top artists around the world. ____________________________________

Morgan Price Artist Talk and Opening March 7 at 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm Artist Talk at 4 p.m. with reception to follow.

Free and open to the public.

The Edward A. Whitney Gallery is open Monday-Friday 10a-7p and Sundays 12-4p.

Morgan Price "Winners and Losers" Lithograph

“Grandmas 16 x 20 Black and W Charcoal on

“I was so used to graphite and pencil and think I was sort of afraid of color,” she said.

It’s been an awakening, and being in school has really helped open her eyes to all the possibilities.

“They literally force new things on me, and it’s so cool,” she said. “I hadn’t worked with clay since elementary school, let alone tried any block cuts.”

The more she learns, the more appealing she finds nature and drawing natural stuff. She doesn’t know why that is but thinks it probably has something to do with growing up in Sheridan and innately liking to spend time outdoors.

And though she tends toward reality, her teachers continue to try to push her away from that literal side of her mind that was honed during her time in the military.

“I’m trying to become more whimsical again,” she said, “and put more gesture into my drawings.”

It feels good to finally be in school again, she said, even if she’s in the same class as her

nephew, which strikes her as funny.

And after school, she’s not sure where she wants to go, but as she points out, she has the perfect house to go with her. For now, she’s enjoying making up for lost time with her family, who she maybe got to see once a year, if that often, during her time in the service.

Right now, she’s looking forward to entering her first juried contest at the Whitney Center for the Arts on campus, as well as entering a VA art contest come spring.

Next fall, she’ll be leaving her tiny house behind in Sheridan, and trading it in for a furnished apartment for non-traditional students on campus.

But as she notes, her tiny house is equipped for offthe-grid living, which she thinks might just be the perfect fit for a budding artist big on adventure and exploring her talents ... and the world.

By: Jen C. Kocher FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

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