82801 October/November 2019

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019

The World of

THE ART ISSUE

WYO FILM FEST SCREEN LEADS

An Intimate Conversation

with Senator Alan Simpson

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Art

Life Imitating There’s ample research to support the importance of arts and culture on the well-being of a community. We communicate through stories, and art is one of the most powerful tools for engaging societies, blurring cultural lines and bringing people together from all walks of life.

We might not necessarily notice art on a daily basis, but we notice when it’s missing.

It’s at the heart of a thriving city, like Sheridan, where the streets are lined with sculptures, murals, art galleries and theaters, and leaders go out of their way to create a space for creativity and artistic dialogue by supporting artists and advocating for the arts .

The challenge for us was choosing where to begin and how to reflect Sheridan’s vibrant art scene with only a limited number of pages. Admittedly (in the best way possible), we fell short, because this awesome city is positively teeming with thoughtprovoking and diverse artwork and artists.

In this, our annual art issue, we introduce theatrical artists — ambitious amateur dancers led by Sheridan College’s passionate dance teacher Stephanie Koltiska, who along with growing the college’s program, also believes in exposing

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her students to top-notch talent from coast to coast. This month, she and her students will be performing with the Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, a world-class New York City-based company with a long list of awards and accolades.

We delve into the life of another Sheridan College educator, an art instructor whose art – and self – have come alive and taken new form as she experiences the joys of motherhood for the first time…and meets up with a couple local quilters.

We also catch up with one of Wyoming’s most beloved and cantankerous politicians, former Senator Al Simpson, during his recent trip to Sheridan, where his family letters and historical photos live on in infamy at the Sheridan County Library’s Wyoming Room.

Finally, new contributor Danielle Hart attends the recent WYO Film Fest and shares her excitement about meeting several local Hollywood legends and her love of films and storytelling.

We hope you enjoy reading these pieces as much as we loved writing them. Sheridan is blessed with a vital and booming art scene, which we look forward to continuing to explore.

Jen C. Kocher

PRESIDENT Erika C. Christensen EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Stephanie L. Scarcliff FEATURES EDITOR Jennifer C. Kocher CONTRIBUTORS C. Danielle Hart DESIGNER Candice E. Schlautmann PHOTOGRAPHER Taylor A. Helton ADMINISTRATION Lisa A. Shrefler SALES Mercedes A. Fuller

OUTLIERS CREATIVE, LLC 2161 Coffeen Avenue, Suite 402 Sheridan, Wyoming 82801 307.461.4319 | 82801@mcllc.net 82801 Life is a publication of Outliers Creative, LLC © 2019, all rights reserved. Reproduction in any form, in whole or part, without written permission is prohibited. This magazine accepts freelance contributions. 82801 Life is not responsible for loss, damage or any other injury to unsolicited manuscript, unsolicited artwork including but not limited to drawings, photographs or transparencies and any other unsolicited materials. Outliers Creative, LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MC Aegis, LLC.

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The Seeker

We sit down with Former Senator Al Simpson to talk politics and life

4 LIFE IMITATING ART

Features Editor Jen Kocher talks about the importance of art in a community

13 STITCH TIME

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Little did Sheridan College Art Instructor Brittney Whisonant know that motherhood would redefine her life…and art

21 WHAT’S HAPPENING

Your monthly to-do list for everything fresh and fun in Sheridan

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ON THE COVER Justin Case is a photographer specializing in portrait, wedding, and outdoor adventure photography. He is based near the Bighorn Mountains in Sheridan. When he’s not taking photos you can find him involved with anything rock climbing related, or planning his next trip justincaseimages.com .

Dance Life

Sheridan College dancers prepare for upcoming performance of a lifetime with big time New York City dance troupe

Screen Leads

Renowned Hollywood stuntman Jerry Gatlin talks bucking horses, dynamite and Katharine Hepburn at 2nd Annual WYO Film Fest

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Senator Al Simpson, Congressman Dick Cheney, and Senator Malcolm Wallop from Wyoming greet U.S. President Ronald Reagan during a visit to Cheyenne, WY in 1982. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

Seeker

TheQuintessential Wyoming Statesman Shares Stories from The Hill, Life-long Lessons Learned & Memories Made

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lan Simpson walked into the Wyoming Room in early September, regaling Sheridan County Library Director Cameron Duff with a story about President Ronald Reagan. Leaning on his tall cane the size of a small tree, the 6-foot, 7-inches former senator finished his story before pausing to banter with a patron at the counter about the validity of his library card.

“Watch out for this guy,” Simpson called to Wyoming Room Manager Kim Ostermyer, who smiled from behind his cluttered desk.

Simpson is at home in the library surrounded by the weighty tomes and bits and pieces of history on the shelves documenting the early families like his own who helped shape the foundation of Sheridan, and the state as a whole, on the political stage.

His mother, Lorna, was one of three daughters of Dutch immigrant Peter Kooi, a hard-scrabbled, deft entrepreneur and businessman who was orphaned at age 4 and raised by foster parents. Kooi began his career as a runner for the railroad and later helped run underground coal mines in Monarch, eventually opening his own mine and founding the former company town Kooi, Wyoming. Among his many accomplishments, Kooi was proud of the mine’s flawless safety record and believed in taking care of his employees and giving back to his community, including supporting several civics

groups involving children. After retiring from the mine in 1920, Kooi moved his family and wife Mary to Sheridan where he died in 1935.

Letters written to his daughters from his travels abroad were donated to the Wyoming Room, along with a collection of photos. According to Ostermyer, Kooi traveled extensively abroad while trying to network and grow his businesses, and these letters offer a glimpse into that time. The letters are stored in three six-inch binders in the Wyoming Room and are currently in the process of being catalogued.

The Kennedys of Wyoming Few families have made such an indelible mark on the political stage like the Simpsons. Much like the Kennedys, the family’s political lineage is deeply entrenched within the Cowboy State for the past three generations, beginning with patriarch Milward, Simpson’s father, who served as both a state senator and governor. Simpson’s brother Peter also made his mark on state politics, serving as a Republican representative from 1981-84, while also heading up the administration at Sheridan College.

Later, in 1986, Peter would narrowly lose the race for governor to Democrat Michael Sullivan. Simpson’s son Colin represents the third generation in Wyoming politics as a Republican Wyoming State Representative from 1999 to 2011, and later a gubernatorial run in which he finished fourth in the primaries.

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For his part, Simpson was an attorney and served as Wyoming Legislator for 13 years from 1965 – 77, before serving three terms as a United States Republican Senator from 1979 to 1997, including a decade as Assistant Majority Leader.

After retiring from the Senate, Simpson spent two years as a visiting lecturer at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. As one of the top-ranking members under President Reagan and George H. W. Bush, with whom he was close, Simpson was one of four friends and family members chosen to give his eulogy last spring, an experience he’s called one of the greatest honors of his life.

Known for his rancor, humor, folksy and blunttalking style, Simpson is beloved throughout the state as a fiscal conservative and straight shooter with a colorful style.

Today, just as he has throughout the entirety of his lengthy political career, Simpson never shies away from an interview, and in fact, goes out of his way to accommodate every line of inquiry from anyone who cares to talk with him, from nosey journalists to angry constituents with axes to grind.

He and his wife Ann have also circled around 60 years later to once again serve as members of the Republican Precinct Committee in Cody, stepping up to squash the then-dominant Tea Party contingency, who in Simpson’s view, had lost interest in being fiscally responsible.

Folding his lean frame into a wooden chair in the back office of the Wyoming Room in early September, Simpson took off his navy blazer with Wyoming insignia lapel pin, and asked for a piece of paper and pen, so he could jot his own notes down while he spoke.

“People look at us and say, why would you do that?” he said of running for the precinct committee. “I tell them it’s better than sitting around bitching like you. If you want to sit around and bitch, well then go ahead. But I don’t have time to do that, so I guess I’ll get into the lowest form of political activity which is the precinct person.”

He was ready to be interrogated, he said with a wry smile. Doodling some blue waves at the top of his paper, he seemingly prepared himself to share key memories, insights and lessons he’s learned throughout the course of his buoyant career and life.

Corroded Containers At 88, Simpson has no interest in sitting on the sidelines. He’s been staying busy lately, he said, ticking off a list of activities he’s recently been involved in, including serving on the humanitarian organization, Wings of Hope, co-chairing the advisory board of Issue One, a nonprofit that strives to reduce the role of money in politics, and serving on the advisory board of American Promise to advocate for the 28th Amendment.

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Press Photos: Face Off Radio Program with Senator Ted Kennedy (Photo from Alan K. Simpson photographs, Collection Number 10449-s02, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming)

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Long known for his candid communication, Simpson is just as fiery, passionate and lucid today as he’s always been when it comes to fighting for his constituents and fighting back against hypocrisy. True to form he doesn’t hold back when it comes to the pitfalls of political correctness and the rancor among parties that seems to define American politics as of late. In this respect, he represents a dying breed of rational politicians who understood the benefit of working with people with whom they don’t necessarily agree.

Over the course of his career, Simpson said he’s been rightfully schooled on political correctness, but today it’s a mess and political correctness has been stupefied.

“What they do is get together and hold hands and sing “Kumbaya,’” he said of a recent meeting of the board of directors at the National Institute of Civil Discourse, which was established in 2011 for the purpose of improving civility among elected officials and the media for the sake of repairing a divided nation. The meeting was pretty pointless as far as Simpson was concerned, given the great polarization and animosity between parties.

“They sit down to talk, and someone mentions the name Donald J. Trump, and then someone else mentions Elizabeth Warren, and it’s over,” he said.

“Because now we hate people. There’s no dislike.

No disgust. We just hate.”

It’s a different Washington than the one he recalls from during his three terms in the Senate, when elected officials of both parties could actually work across the aisle to get things done. He thinks the current state of perpetual gridlock is both frustrating and fueled by hate. Mindful not to mince his words, he repeats an adage his mother told him at a young age about hate corroding the container it’s carried in.

He doesn’t want to get too far into modern politics, he said, but recounts the recent Democratic debate where Senator Kamala Harris “hit Joe Biden in the eye” because he worked with a couple of a segregationist senators.

and fury is to do your homework,” he said. “And I worked awful hard. I’m not brilliant, I’m not an academic, but I could work my butt off better than anyone else there because that’s the way you beat people back.”

“You know those things, but you don’t know what to do about them until you get to be about 45 50, 60,” he said. “You can tack a lot of those things on your wall, but you don’t do anything with it until you grow up a bit.”

“Hell, I worked with senatorial jerks,” he said. “I mean, right there is the symbol for what’s wrong with the Senate. If you’re only talking to people who think and believe just (the same) as you do, and you think (all) the others are slobs, all delegations will die. You have to work with people you don’t agree with or else get out. Quit.”

Hundred-percenters

How does a person get through it? As cliché as this might sound, you rely on your family and friends.

This is a mantra he learned from good friend, George H. W. Bush.

During his tenure, Simpson worked with plenty of people with whom he disagreed, including several notable politicians: Mississippi Sen. Cornelius Stennis, California Sen. Alan Cranston, New Jersey Democratic Bill Bradley and former Democratic Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy to name a few.

“I didn’t agree with Ted, but we had a hell of lot of fun together and did our work,” he said. “I enjoyed people on the other side. They were my dearest friends.”

Simpson was readily considered a moderate conservative as opposed to some of the other hardliners in his party, who stood up against both gay rights and abortion.

“I’m not a right-winger, I’m not a left-winger,” he said.

“I am a baby-killing, queer-loving son of a bitch.”

His position on abortion today, as it’s always been, is that as a man, he believes, he has no right to an opinion. He supported abortion rights and voted against a ban on late-term abortion, which did not include the exception of physical health, but was opposed to federal funding for abortions. As for being “queer loving,” he often talks about his gay WWII hero and cousin, who saved lives, as well as his beautiful, red-head lesbian cousin who taught music to schoolkids in Illinois. He never thought anything ill about them; to him, they are wonderful people and he’s never shied away from taking a stance against bigotry and bias.

“When you’re confronted with issues filled with emotion, fear, guilt and racism, the only way you can win in the midst of that cacophony of sound

As Simpson learned throughout his career, humor is the universal solvent against the abrasive elements of life, and he used that to his advantage to bridge friendships and take on critics, particularly on hotbutton issues like immigration. Simpson teamed up with Kentucky Democrat Romano Mazzoli in 1986 to co-author the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), or Simpson-Mazzoli Act, that earned him scorn among his constituents.

He learned the hard way about the myriad of ways one is attacked in politics.

“People would say that Simpson is working on immigration and he’s a bigot,” he said. “And I’d say wait a minute, banjo ass, that’s not who I am. I am not a bigot. There’s nothing in my background that says I’m a bigot.”

This type of attack on his character is where Simpson drew the line. In his mind, when you’re in politics you should expect to be called a fool, boob or bonehead, but any criticism that distorts a person’s character is not fair.

During his career, he was also accused of being antiveteran for his efforts to reform veteran benefits as well as being a baby killer for his pro-choice stance on abortion.

You can’t reason with extremists, he noted.

“Show me a hundred-percenter and I’ll show you a guy with heartburn, B.O. and gas. Their bowels are churning.

They are called seethers. They seethe.

I prefer to stay with the seekers.”

These are the hard-earned lessons in a person’s life, he noted.

“You have love. It sounds corny, but it’s true.”

The Pretty Dark-Haired Cheerleader “Oh my God, it’s this woman,” Simpson said, recoiling in mock horror as his wife, Ann, walked into the room and set a white paper bag in front of him on the table containing a tuna fish sandwich.

“I wouldn’t want you to fade away,” Ann said, a tall, thin, regal white-haired woman in blue jeans cinched with a silver belt buckle, tapping him on the shoulder before walking out of the room.

“Ever get a craving for one of these?” he said, opening the bag with a boyish grin and chuckle.

“And look at this, just a great lump of stuff.”

They’ve been together for 65 years, Simpson said, and he credits his wife in large part for helping him turn his life around as a young man. Together they have three children, Bill and Colin, both lawyers, as well as a daughter, Susan, an art historian.

The couple first met in junior high. He was playing basketball for the Cody Broncs and Ann Schroll was a cheerleader for rival Greybull.

“She doesn’t remember this part,” he said, “but she came over, and I said, ‘my God, who’s that?’”

She ignored him, he said, because “he was covered in zits.” He didn’t see her again for a while, but when he did, she asked him if he knew how to dance and he said no and that was the end of that. Later, the pair ran into each other again at University of Wyoming, OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2019

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where she was a year ahead of him because he’d spent an extra year at the Cranbook School, a private prep boarding school in Detroit, Michigan.

The couple dated through college where Simpson also played varsity football, and when he announced he was going to stay on at UW to attend law school, he said he panicked and asked Ann to marry him. At the time, she’d just been offered jobs in California and Cheyenne. Simpson admits he was relieved when she told him she’d prefer to work a year before marriage.

She told him later that she thought he was a drunk.

At 6 feet 7 inches and 260 pounds, Simpson said he could put down a lot of suds.

“I thought beer was food, and I loved it,” he said.

One night he hit a cop and ended up in jail in Laramie. He called Ann to bail him out, but she refused, telling him that she was working her way through school and didn’t have money and that he could stay where he was and sober up.

It was around then that Simpson thought about changing his life around.

Along with Ann, the other person who he credits for turning his life around is his probation officer J.B. Moseley, who Simpson said wouldn’t let him get away with any B.S. As a kid, Simpson and his buddies loved shooting up mailboxes and even earned two years of federal probation for shooting mailboxes on federal property.

Later, when in 1954 he joined the Army and fought on the frontlines in Germany, he said he felt right at home “shooting up things.” It took him right back to his boyhood in Wyoming.

As his probation officer, Moseley would come to check on him and would find Simpson in the pool hall. One day, Simpson had a green stain on his hand from the felt that he tried to pass off as stains from mowing the grass. Moseley didn’t buy it. The two would go get a soda and just talk.

“He’d tell me he was proud of me,” Simpson said, looking down at the blue waves covering the top of his notebook paper. “I’d tell him I was trying to be better. He watched after me. He was just a very special man.

“I’m not proud of those things I did,” he said, “but in politics you have to get it all out there because the press will beat you up for it.”

Full-Court Press Simpson got a dose of this during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearing when he took on Anita Hill, who had stepped forward to accuse Thomas of sexual harassment. This is the one thing that hasn’t changed in Washington since his days, he noted. Today, the hearings are as bitter now as they were back then, beginning with the nomination of Judge Robert Bork by Ronald Reagan in July 1987, when Simpson was assistant leader under Bob Dole.

“That was the worse time, being involved in those.

Then along came Professor Hill,” he said, “and I really lost my marbles.”

Earning wide-spread scorn from the media and many on both sides of the aisle, Simpson aggressively challenged Hill during the hearing about the scope of Thomas’ behavior, asking what he did to her, whether he ever touched her, kissed her or attempted to make any aggressive moves to which she explained that as freshman at Yale, a group of them used to get together to watch porn movies. After the films, Hill said that Thomas liked to come up to her to talk about it, which made her uncomfortable.

The scope of the accusation infuriated Simpson.

“I just sat there. I had a wife, a mother a daughter,” he said. “One of them had been subjected to 180 degrees more crap than the professor, and I just lost my marbles.”

During the hearing, Simpson wanted to know why Hill didn’t report the abuse immediately and waved off her explanation that she was afraid of damage to her professional life, saying it was “incredible” to him that Hill remained in contact with Thomas and spoke about the “terrible pain” he would feel if his own sons were falsely accused of “such alleged contact.”

(Photo by Taylor Helton/Outliers Creative, LLC)

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“Sitting there thinking about my own personal situation with people I love, I just lost it, and I was

nasty,” he said. “I looked nasty, and they nailed me as a sexist pig. Ann was there, and she’d told me that I didn’t need to get into it that deeply.”

“He threw the sniveling bastards out of the office,” Simpson said. “He said don’t come in here and try to bribe or threaten me and go try to beat me.”

The recent nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh last year opened some of those old wounds.

Simpson said there’s a way to resolve all of this.

Every senator, Democrat and Republican, who comes on the judiciary committee must have a full FBI investigation from birth.

They did. He lost by about 2,400 votes. That was a loss that stung.

“Then we’ll find out if they ever got drunk and puked,” Simpson joked.

didn’t do so well last time. The younger Simpson suggested they make a trip to Sheridan County to

And as for Brett Kavanaugh’s fiery defense of himself last spring, Simpson would have done exactly the same thing.

“It would have been the difference between a puddle and Vesuvius,” he said.

Sheridan County Delegation

In 1962, Milward decided to make another run for the state Senate. Simpson volunteered to be campaign manager because, as he’d told his dad, he

Simpson said they thought he was a liberal slob, but he always fought back.

His kids would chide him, asking why he was getting down on their level.

“I’d say, just watch me,” he said with a boyish grin, poking a bony finger on the table for emphasis.

“That’s my name they’re distorting, and I’m not taking that shit from anyone. And I never did. And I never lost an election, but I saw a lot of guys lose.”

Taking Leave As he prepared to leave, unfolding his towering body with a grimace as he stood to put on his blazer, Simpson showed the only indication of age in his otherwise extremely agile, active life.

“Oh, my goodness,” he said wincing with a grin. “When you’re driving over the mountain at 88, you get a little stiff.”

Some of Simpson’s first lessons in politics were learned from his father’s political career.

That doesn’t stop him from Milward Simpson had first run traveling. Simpson and Ann unsuccessfully for the Wyoming both stay busy. The pair visited Senate in 1940. Later, he barely Helsinki in June, then traveled won the race for governor in to St. Petersburg and Moscow.

(Photo from Alan K. Simpson photographs, 1954. His parents were wellNext, they’re planning on a trip Collection Number 10449-s02, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming) suited for politics, Simpson to Florence. recalled, with his dad as “tough and outspoken” tell the contingency what’s different now and eat and his mother “gorgeously sensible.” a little crow. At the end of the evening, Milward As he was walking out the door, a framed WWI asked how many in the room would support him. jacket on the wall caught his eye and he stepped Four said they would support him. Another said closer to read the fine print.

Prior to Milward’s second run for governor, he he wouldn’t, but he’d keep his mouth shut. The was visited by a delegation from Sheridan who last said he would actively work against him with were angry that the federal government wanted “I know this guy,” he said, poking the glass. “Lt. everything he had. to put the new I-90 interchange in Buffalo, Willard H. Marshall. I knew his grandson.” which they’d found offensive given that it was a just a “hick town.” The handful of Sheridan folks Simpson figured they had a shot, and they did.

This Wyoming boy is home as he assumes his wanted the governor to flex his hand to get the This time Milward won. own place in history. interchange moved to Sheridan, Simpson said.

They reminded him that he’d carried Sheridan by When it was his turn in the political ring, the Jen C. Kocher 2,500 votes, since his wife, a Kooi, was from there. younger Simpson faced his critics and had town If he couldn’t help them, however, they told him meetings whenever they challenged him. Gillette he would lose the county in the next election. was particularly tough on him, he said, because OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2019

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One Stitch at a Time hen she learned she was about to become a mother, Brittney Denham Whisonant began to see the world in a new light. It’s an experience the Sheridan College art teacher can safely say has changed both her life and her art in ways she’d never imagined. For starters, who would have guessed that quilting would become a predominant theme in both her life and work. In a million years, she wouldn’t have called that one.

She laughed with big eyes as she recalled her earlier, pre-pregnancy self as she began to question her family’s traditions and what they would look like for her own family and son.

“Having a child breaks you open in a way you can’t explain,” she said. “It’s this weird merging of science and tradition and history and the whole idea literally made me question my life and view of the world.”In 2016, two years before her son Hayes was born, Brittney decided she wanted to learn the tradition of quiltling, even though she’d never so much as picked up a needle and thread, so she sought out the expertise of local quilter and Quilter Fix co-owner Jackie Jolovich for help.

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"The arrival of this body of work is about creating life."

She and her friend Christina Harrelson approached Jackie to ask about taking some classes to which Jolovich explained there currently weren’t any, but she’d be willing to teach the girls for free if they showed up in the morning.

They did. And continued to come every day for the remainder of the summer, dragging back and forth their tiny portable Singer sewing machines and bags of quilting supplies.

It was a long process, beginning with learning to fill the bobbin and thread the machine and needle, then cutting the fabric with a quarter-inch foot, how to press and match the points in the middle, to sewing them all together into the Wyoming quilt star. Other quilters would come in and lend their insights and help the girls along. When she was ready to bind it, she learned by watching the veterans, who generously gave her pointers and tips.

For her part, Jackie equally enjoyed the experience. She began to quilt at age 6 with her grandmother and likes sharing what she’s learned.

As she puts it, it’s what she does. The trick with the girls was getting them to explore brighter colors.

“They came in with such monochrome color ideas. Grays, blacks and whites,” Jackie said with a smile, “and I told them they needed to explore some color.”

In the end, Jolovich was pleased to see their quilts take on bright blues and greens.

“They just shared all of this knowledge because they love the craft and were excited to pass on the tradition to the next generation,” Britney said. Later she realized the experience had lasting ramifications as quilting began to subconsciously filter its way into her other art work as did the experience of becoming a new mother.

Once her son Hayes was born, she also realized she needed to rethink her process and materials. As a printmaker and photographer, she worked with various inks, chemicals and other materials that heretofore she’d never even questioned, but the

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idea of having a baby in that environment suddenly seemed dangerous. She began experimenting with non-toxic water-based inks for her prints and used avocados and red onions and other fruits and vegetables in her quilt dyes.

And though the act of sewing a quilt for her son was long behind her, various quilt patterns began to take over her other work based on patterns she remembers seeing as a kid growing up in Wyoming, as well as quilt designs on barn walls from her days as a graduate art student in Ohio.

“It all just seemed to seep in subconsciously,” she said, as she realized that the direction of her art too was becoming more maternal and increasingly more personal, intimately revolving around her son and her new role as a mother. Hence, her new exhibit “The Arrival” was literally born, involving quilt-like prints full of 3-D houses, patterns, and milestones from her son’s growth progress as well as the intimate experience of giving birth.

“The arrival of this body of work is about creating life,” she said. “It all started when he was just a couple of months old.”

Initially, she thought it was taboo to make art out of motherhood but found a supportive crew of other parents and faculty artists around her who spurred her creativity along.

“I felt really scared because I thought, ‘who’s going to care?’” she asked.

She pointed to two framed prints in the series sitting along one wall in her comfortably messy studio/ office on the second floor of The Whitney Center for the Arts building that she just showed in a gallery in California. In one, a lithographic print of fluorescent pink silhouettes of bottles are superimposed onto a line graph. This was inspired by her son’s growth charts, which is another facet of motherhood that fascinates her. In a photograph, an orange razor rests starkly on an pink background, inspired by one of the more surreal, introspective aspects of giving birth when the nurse shooed everyone out of the room to shave her body.

Quilter Fix store co-owner and long-time quilter Jackie Jolovich.

“It was otherworldly,” she laughed. “It was so strange to be naked and having your body shaved when she asked me if I was ready for his arrival.”

It was a pivotal moment for Brittney as “arrival” suddenly took on a double connotation as she rethought her own role in the process as both mother and artist and sees endless possibilities for new works and series.

“I think this theme will dominate my work until he’s 18,” she laughed, then quickly made a face with the realization of those teenage years.

“Ugh, just think of all that resentment and anger and what that’s going to look like.”

Jen C. Kocher OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2019

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Acclaimed Dance Company Brings its Talents to Sheridan Daniel Gwirtzman, producer, educator, filmmaker and performer, celebrates 25 years as a New York choreographer and company director. His repertory has earned praise for its humor, stylistic diversity, musicality, charisma and accessibility. “Mr. Gwirtzman does know that in dance less can be more.

And that’s a good thing for any choreographer to know,” writes The New York Times. The New Yorker describes him as a choreographer of “high spirits and skill.”

The acclaimed New York-based nonprofit Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company (DGDC) commemorates its 20th Anniversary season with a performance showcased at such renowned events as the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Edinburgh International Fringe Festival, Fire Island Dance Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Bryant Park and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

The company’s dance films have screened in national and international festivals, including the American Dance Festival, and DGDC has also been awarded residencies by New York’s Joyce Theater, Raumars (Finland), Sacatar (Brazil), Djerassi (California), Skafiotes (Greece), Maison Dora Maar, (France), Centro Negra (Spain), Gdański Festiwal Tanca (Poland) and The Studios of Key West.

Since its inception, the nonprofit has demonstrated a commitment to education through multigenerational interactive programming.

Copy provided by Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company

Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company in Affront Photo by: Kathryn Butler

Sheridan College dance students in Stephanie Koltiska’s beginning jazz class practice for their upcoming show on Oct. 20

Music

in Their Soles THE CLASS Enormous silver hoop earrings flew as Sheridan College Dance Instructor Stephanie Koltiska leaped into the air with a twist before landing on her toes only to twist off again. “Here we go, 5,6,7,8...," she said, and her beginning jazz class immediately jumped into line, conscientiously watching their form in the luminous mirrors lining the front wall of the WYO Theater dance studio in downtown Sheridan. Spinning across the floor like tops, students of all ages and sizes fell into line behind Koltiska, as they made their way through the first half of the Gwirtzman’s choreography, which in less than a month, they’ll be performing alongside

the professional dancers of the New York-based Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company.

“Add your own style. Be you!” Koltiska called over her shoulder before shutting off the music to give her students a much-needed break. As a handful crumpled dramatically onto the floor, others made a beeline to the drinking fountain, huffing and out of breath.

With only a few weeks into the semester, the choreography is challenging for the beginning jazz class, but what they lack in skill, they more than make up for in spirit as they gamely fell back into formation for a second take.

Koltiska has been working hard for the past two years to introduce a dance emphasis track within the college’s theater and dance associate’s art degree program, and this spring, she’ll watch her first two students graduate. In fact, it was her passion for dance and affinity for her students that inspired Koltiska to put in the work to push the program forward.

"I finally felt like I had two students who were hungry for dance, and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity,” she said. “My overall vision for this degree track is to offer students access to every OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2019

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Chelsey Varner (left) and Ivy Harbour practice the duet they will

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be performing in the upcoming “Welcome to the World of Dance” performance later this month.

ounce of knowledge I’ve acquired over my 15-year professional dancing career, both as a performer and instructor.”

And Koltiska has extensive experience to share. Originally from Sheridan, she has danced her way from coast to coast. After receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, she moved to San Francisco, where she worked as a freelance modern dance performer for numerous companies around the Bay Area, most notably performing with La Alternativa (formerly Motion Lab) and Robert Moses’ Kin, with whom she took on a solo role in the world premiere of “Draft.”

After performing and touring the West Coast for roughly half a decade, Koltiska ventured east, moving to New York City, where she received a Master of Fine Arts degree in dance performance and pedagogy at SUNY Purchase. While living in the Big Apple, she performed world-renowned works by choreographers such as Lester Horton, Carmen de Lavallade, Regina Larkin, Lisa Race, Larry Keigwin and Mark Morris Dance.

Sharing her passion for movement and introducing her students to a wide variety of choreographers and dance professionals is part of her primary aim. Over the last year, she has brought in companies from both San Francisco and New York, most recently working with The Whitney Center for the Arts to bring the Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company to Sheridan.

“I’ve made it my mission to bring in guest artists from across the United States to work with our community college students in hopes of connecting them with the greater dance community,” she said. “Right now, I am only one voice for these students, and I know that they need to work with as many teachers and choreographers as possible.”

She sees great opportunities for dancers in the area and plans to continue to reach out to companies big and small to help inspire and connect Sheridan College dance students with professional dancers, choreographers and dance companies.

“The world of dance seems so large when you are first getting started,” she said, “but I have found how interconnected it truly is, and I hope to help connect those dots for young artists (and) to help cultivate connections as they begin their journeys."

To that end, she’s determined to see students transfer to four-year colleges to earn their BFA, or dive right into the world of professional dance from the get-go. She’d like to one day have a “resident” dance company that comes every other year on a regular basis while working in a different choreographer or company in the years between.

“Why can’t a small community college in Sheridan have a stellar dance program?” she said.

“My goal is to build one.”

THE DANCE COMPANY Gwirtzman is more than happy to help Koltiska. The two met last year when he was doing a fellowship at Ucross during which he reached out to Koltiska, who in turn, invited him to the college to teach a master class.

It went well, both for him and the students.

“It was a wonderful experience for me,” he said in late September by phone from his Tribeca loft in New York City. “I enjoyed seeing so many students come to class, including the theatre students who had never taken dance classes before.”

Koltiska was excited for his company to come back for a performance this fall. The “Welcome to The World of Dance” show on Oct. 20 falls in conjunction with the company’s 20th anniversary, and he’s excited to see the dance program, and dance in general, growing within the Sheridan community.

“A big part of our doing this as a company was to support that (growth),” he said. “It’s a big deal, and we want to really build on that and help them to diversify their program.”

Along with performing, teaching students is a big part of what they do, Gwirtzman said, including educating the community about modern

“It’s a dance party,” he said. “Our goal is to engage all facets of the community, to see one’s community represented on stage regardless of age or level.”

modern dance and the overall performance, which includes an interactive dance opportunity at the end in which the audience – of all ages – will be invited to participate.

And though the company could have chosen to take the much easier route and just perform, Gwirtzman has invited various groups throughout the community to join them on stage, including students from Meadowlark Elementary, Sheridan College Theatre and other local dance classes. The company will be arriving five days prior to their performance to practice with these local and regional students leading up to their performance on Sunday.

Sheridan College Dance Instructor Stephanie Koltiska (front) leads her jazz class through a practice routine.

dance and breaking down some of the pre-existing misconceptions about dance in general.

Dance is one of the more elusive arts, Gwirtzman noted, and as such, one of the least accessible.

“There’s a big disconnect when it comes to dance,” he said, “and I’d like to see some of that demystified.”

Gwirtzman and company will take the time to talk with members of the audience between performances and after the show to answer questions and explain some of the ideas and more technical aspects driving the choreography in an effort to educate the audience on concepts of both

THE DUET This is not an easy thing to do. It’s one thing to dance with another person keeping your arms and legs in sync. It’s quite another to dance within inches of another dancer’s face with arms connected, while landing technical moves and keeping balance. Add to this a 3-inch height difference and a dancer who thinks that one of her legs might be “seriously shorter” than the other.

The two dancers, and first two graduates to complete Koltiska’s new dance track, Chelsey Varner and Ivy Harbour have their work cut out for them. They will be performing Gwirtzman’s original OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2019

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choreographed dance “Together,” which even he dance instructor Stephanie Koltiska was in the ONE OF THE “OLDER GALS” acknowledges is a pretty hard one to pull off. process of creating an accredited degree program for “Technically speaking, it’s a highly virtuosic dance and she joined, mainly because of the teacher.

Mary Beth Evers never imagined she’d ever “When I was a little kid, I saw Stephanie duet,” he said, “requiring mobility, flexibility and step into a dance studio again. At 64, the retired dancing and thought I want to do that. I want to strength. It requires asking a dancer to find balance kindergarten teacher had danced in high school be a dancer,” she said. while being connected to another dancer trying to and college but hadn’t put on a leotard in decades.

Chelsey, on the other hand, grew up dancing find balance and requires strength and calm to not Nonetheless, her ears perked up when friend told her pretty much as soon as she could walk, taking throw your partner off.” about Koltiska’s dance classes at Sheridan College.

It also requires the dancers to be literally classes from Sheridan-based Donna’s Dance She thought, “Hot diggity! I’m going to do it!” staring each other in the face, which as Gwirtzman Academy where she learned jazz, modern, ballet Turns out, she was not the only “older gal in noted, is a challenge for today’s generation who are and contemporary dance, classes that she has since class,” owing in large part to Stephanie’s contagious pretty much born with a device in hand. returned to teach. Now 19, she went straight into excitement and enthusiasm for her students.

A further challenge is learning the moves from the program at Sheridan College and she’s trying to “She’s the best teacher you will ever find; she’s a video and practicing without the benefit of having figure out where she wants to go next. so encouraging and affirming,” Mary Beth said. “Her Gwirtzman on hand until four days prior to their Meanwhile, Ivy is engaged to be married and goal is to share the love of dance and makes everyone performance to help them learn and refine. The pair trying to map out her own future. feel like they’re a dancer, no matter their level or age.” have been working Standing in a on the dance since black leotard in the the summer, meeting lobby of Wyoming every week for several Theater on a break hours to decipher, from Monday with the help of their morning’s jazz class, teacher, the various Mary Beth couldn’t choreography. say enough good “This is things about the definitely the hardest class or her teacher. thing I’ve ever done,” Right now, they’re Chelsey said. Ivy practicing for their nodded. performance with “It’s definitely the professional made us closer,” Ivy company on Oct. 20. said with a laugh, Mary Beth as she explained admits that she’s not the process of in the classes for the concentrating to performances but Mary Beth Evers is enjoying retirement by brushing up match Chelsey’s rather thinks it’s an breathing, and her dance skills and having fun with students of all ages Stephanie Koltiska’s beginning jazz students practice their excellent – not to through a variety of dance classes at Sheridan College. “jump and shimmies.” balancing each mention fun – way to other’s weight and stay fit and exercise.

Both girls are at a crossroads, and this movements. “We’re learning to use each other to hold She’s not in it for the degree, but appreciates the unknown helps connect them as they work through each the other steady, both in dance and in life.” structure of the semester-long course and all the the rigor of classes and perfect this piece.

The two come from very different worlds. Ivy, variety of classes and camaraderie with the younger To help them bond, Gwirtzman suggested they now 26, grew up in a house where her parents loved students, who like Stephanie, are welcoming. find a shared theme or story, which in the end, they to dance, but she didn’t take many classes formally, “It’s awesome,” she said as she made her way decided was their own uncertain futures, which they and instead, she and her sister taught themselves to onto the dance floor. use to literally find a way to help keep them balanced. dance via Youtube videos. Later, when she tried out “It’s changed our friendship,” Chelsey said. for the dance program at the University of Wyoming, Jen C. Kocher Later when they perform their duet in front she was rawer than a lot of the others with more Photos: Taylor Helton of their classmates in jazz class, one older student formal training, but she placed in the program and will comment that it brought her to tears while studied modern, ballet and jazz. She graduated with others remark about the beauty, intensity and a degree in fine arts that encompassed studio arts as skill of the two dancers. well. Once home, she’d heard that Sheridan College

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October / November 2019

Community Calendar October 19

Historic Women of Sheridan Living History Tour & Fundraiser Learn more about some of the unique women and trail blazers of Sheridan County on Sheridan County Museum’s Historic Women of Distinction Living History Tour. Shake hands with these pioneering women as they are brought back to life.

The tour begins at 7 p.m. at the museum at 850 Sibley Circle. Tickets are $25 per person (only 30 are available) and can be purchased at the museum or online at mercantile.sheridanmuseum.org.

October 20

Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company New York City-based Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company brings its celebrated interactive show “Welcome to the World of Dance” to Sheridan on Sunday, Oct. 20. This highly interactive, narrated program illustrates fundamental concepts through a range of acclaimed theatrical dances, weaving Sheridan College student dancers and other community members into the show. The performance begins at 2 p.m. in Kinnison Hall at the Whitney Center for the Arts. For more information or to order tickets, go to whitneyarts.org.

October 23

Autumn Fest in Dayton Join the folks in Dayton for their annual family celebration in the beautiful Tongue River Valley.

The event kicks off on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 5:30 p.m. in the Dayton Community Hall with a night of engaging conversation, entertainment and dinner, including Killy’s chicken, scalloped potatoes, green beans, pie and ice cream for a suggested contribution of $8. Guests can RSVP at The Hub by Oct. 16. For more information call The Hub at (307) 672-2240 or The Dayton Community Center at (307) 655-9419.

October 26

Jaycees’ Annual Halloween Parade Bring your costumed kiddo to the Sheridan Jaycees for their annual Downtown Halloween Parade from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26. There will be plenty

of trick or treating, activities and fun. The event is for children 0-12, and they must be accompanied by an adult. Check out their Sheridan Jaycees’ Facebook page for more information.

October 27

The Brinton Museum Annual Holiday Show Always a holiday favorite, this year’s Holiday Show will feature the museum’s ever-popular, annual “smaller works” exhibit by an array of local and national artists. The all-day event is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday at 239 Brinton Rd. Do some shopping and sip some cider on the beautiful grounds in the shadow of the Bighorns. For more information, visit brintonmuseum.org or call (307) 672-3173.

October 29

WTBC Sheridan Start Up Challenge Pitch Night Watch five budding entrepreneurs from Sheridan and Campbell counties pitch their start-up ideas to the Wyoming Technology Business Center as they vie for the best business proposal. The free event is open to the community from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the WYO Theater. The finalists include Sharon Jones and Lisa Durgin with MuscleShok Sport Therapy, Alisha Bretzman with Piney Island Native Plants, Dwight and Meg Stanislaw with WYO Candle Company, Marta Ostler with Purpose Physical Therapy, and Jared Koenig with Recreational Sandals. For more information, call Gini Horner at (307) 675-1939.

October 31

Buffalo Monster Marchw Bring your goblins, ghouls and genies to Buffalo Chamber of Commerce’s annual Monster March from 4 – 6 p.m., Oct. 31. This safe, downtown event begins on North Adams Avenue between Bomber Mountain Civic Center and the Jim

Gatchell Museum and continues through the historic courthouse, south along the west side of Main Street to Angus Street, then across Main Street and back up the east side of Main Street to end at the Chamber of Commerce. Goodies will be handed out, and don’t be alarmed if you see a flash mob on Main Street.

For more information, call (307) 684-5544 or go to buffalowyo.com.

November 2

Big Horn Woman’s Club Christmas Bazaar Get a jump on your Christmas shopping or just come for the homemade freshly baked cinnamon rolls and chili lunch. The all-day bazaar runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Big Horn Woman's Clubhouse at 314 S. 2nd Street in Big Horn. There will be crafts, a bake sale and lots of goodies for purchase. For more information, contact Alice Baker at (307) 674-6348 or Merry Potter at (307) 672-9977.

November 16

Give with Impact Gift Market by Bought Beautifully Peruse the assortment of hand-made artisan products, refreshments and snack items, featuring artists, entrepreneurs and individuals from around the world who are reflecting God’s love. This all-day event lasts from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16 at the WYO Theater in downtown Sheridan. For more information, call (307) 752-8139.

November 16

Sheridan College Symphony Orchestra & Choirs Come hear the Sheridan College Symphony Orchestra and choirs on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. in Kinnison Hall at Whitney Center for the Arts.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information and to see more upcoming events, see whitneyarts.org.

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BUCKING HORSES, DYNAMITE & HOLLYWOOD LEGENDS Danielle Hart

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arlier this month at the second annual Sheridan WYO Film Festival, Hollywood legend Jerry Gatlin, who has lived in Story for years, captivated the audience as he took to the stage, cowboy hat and all, at the WYO Theater for a question-and-answer session with friends.

Gatlin shared stories from his epic career as a stuntman and stunt coordinator in the film industry, or what he calls “the picture business,” while seated with Bruce Moriarty, first assistant director on films such as “Forrest Gump,” “Apollo 13” and ”Man of Steel,” Sheridan filmmaker Salvatore Brown and festival organizer Justin Stroup.

and made some money.” His International Movie Database (IMDb) page boasts over 140 industry credits.

Gatlin had been rodeoing for four years when he stumbled into the film world. His father was in Tucson and urged him to come down and get a winter job on a film that was shooting in town. He ended up working as a local stand-in and double for a couple of actors.

“The picture business was something to go make a dollar at,” Gatlin said of those times, and he and the director hit it off.

A short documentary on Gatlin’s life, “Hell of a Run: Stuntman Jerry Gatlin,” directed by Brown, was shown before the panel discussion.

“There were some bucking horses to ride,” he remembered. “One [actor] bucked off and one rode, and I was doubling both of them in separate shots, and the director asked me if I could do it. I told him, if the horse bucks me off when I’m not supposed to, you don’t owe me a dime.”

“The Magnificent Seven” was Gatlin’s first feature film, and he retired with “The Shawshank Redemption.” Gatlin noted he “had 40 years in between, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of fun,

At the time, the director called him cocky, to which Gatlin replied, “Well sir, that’s the way it is.”

The pair agreed that Gatlin would earn Hollywood wages, not local.

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The rest is history.

That director later told Gatlin he would help him get his guild cards if he wanted to go to Hollywood for stunt work. With encouragement from his father, that’s just what Gatlin did.

“I had made $450 in a day, and we had a big steak. I mean a big, big steak, and we had a couple of shots of whiskey to go with it,” Gatlin recalled. “I told him, ‘Father, all of my life I’ve been trying to ride bucking horses, and now I get paid $50 more to fall on my head.’”

He said one of the “spookiest stunts” he’d ever performed was a big fire scene, in which the special effects crew were using gas and propane to build the fire the director wanted. Gatlin doubled as the runner out of the Hindenburg as it exploded.

Gatlin said lying back in the fire with only an asbestos blanket for protection, waiting for his cue.

“There were no radio communications, there were hand signals,” Gatlin recalled. “I crawled out from under my blanket and started across there because all the hair on my head, bald, popped up in blisters, and I had a very warm butt.”

"I think Wyoming is the greatest state. I love it!"

Around 75 percent of Gatlin’s career was horse work. He did the horse fall in “Blazing Saddles” with help from former football star, turned actor Alex Karras, to get the timing just right.

“Horses had better spots to fall in than I did,” said Gatlin, adding they were also treated well on set. He trained the stunt horses himself, which takes around two years.

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He credits an old effects man for saving his behind by giving him the blanket.

In another film, Gatlin was stacking dynamite to blow up a saloon and was awarded buckle #13 from the Stuntmen’s Association of Motion Pictures, an invitation-only membership club founded in 1961.

“What’s the big deal about loading dynamite?”

Gatlin asked when the effects guys asked for help while working on “The Train Robbers.”

“John Wayne came walking in and said ‘What in the hell are you doing?’ I said, ‘Well, helping the effects guys,’” Gatlin said. “[Wayne] said, ‘I tried for years to make an actor out of you and look at you.’”

John Wayne was great to work with if you were professional and came to work, Gatlin noted. Along with working, he enjoyed playing cards with “The Duke.”

Gatlin also had the opportunity to work with Katharine Hepburn.

“She had never shot a Winchester before,” he said. “She pulled me aside, and we had several lessons on recoil.

During the shooting sequence, the person she shot on the wagon was me.”

Photo Courtesy of Stuntman Association of Motion Picture

While filming “Rooster Cogburn” in Bend, Oregon, Hepburn enjoyed canoeing, so the publicity people asked to get a photo of the actress on the rapids.

Hepburn agreed, but let them know Gatlin would also be going down there with her.

“Well, gentleman, here is where she starts. You have the rapids in the background, but this is where the lady starts. She said, ‘Whatever he says is what we will do,’” recalled Gatlin.

One of the funniest memories Gatlin shared was of traveling down the highway with his late wife while filming “Planet of the Apes.” He was head ape, and she also played an ape in the film.

While his wife drove the truck pulling a camper, Gatlin, in full makeup, and another movie ape were in the back of the camper when they came upon a hitchhiker.

“We had a crawl space and I said, ‘Stop, pick him up,’” Gatlin remembered with a laugh. “She stopped and here came the guy - boogity, boogity, boogity. Get in the back.

He [The hitchhiker] opened the camper door, and we both said hello in a drawn-out tone. That was the last we saw of him. He took to the barbed wire fence.”

It wasn’t all fun and games, however. During the Q&A session, a member of the audience asked if Gatlin had any major injuries.

“No,” Gatlin replied, “but a lot of minor ones: three broken legs, a collar bone and two lumbar out of my back.”

But nothing major.

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