Image at the top is an aerial perspective painting by artist Virginia Moore of the Popo Agie Watershed and one of the pieces that will hang along the Riverwalk.
New art murals along Lander’s Barney Riverwalk are being hung up, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony officiated by mayor Monte Richardson will be held on Dec 4 at 10 am. This marks the completion of AtLAS’ Popo Agie Gold Project and will be followed by an “open house” on the same day. In addition, one of the original pieces of art is being raffled off online to raise money for future AtLAS projects. Since its inception, AtLAS has coordinated with a variety of organizations to deliver exhibitions and programming intertwining arts and sciences.
For this project, the original paintings were commissioned to celebrate the Popo Agie Watershed from both an aerial and ground-based perspective. The pieces painted by artist Virginia Moore are acrylic on paper, and measure 12”x 30”. To hang them on the riverwalk, the paintings were scanned at high resolution and printed on 4’ x 10’ metal panels and then installed in custom frames so they will weather the Wyoming seasons.
The positioning of the panels on the wall will roughly correspond to the orientation of the watershed itself, with the left panels corresponding to agricultural areas to the east, and the right panels corresponding to the mountains to the west. So as community members wander down the Barney Riverwalk they will be able to immerse themselves in the journey of the watershed through Moore’s panels, as it flows beside them in reality.
Over the last three years, the Popo Agie Gold project has sought to engage community members around watershed challenges and provide education through various public art pieces, community events and educational programming. The project was aimed at how the community can help to mitigate some of these watershed challenges including encouraging responsible water use and how to collaborate to improve the health of our water.
“The scope of Popo Agie Gold has been immense,” says Rene Schell, Wyoming Game and Fish Department information and education specialist and long-time member of the AtLAS working group, “we could not have done this without our partners and supporters - so a huge THANK YOU must go to them.”
“While we are sad to see the Popo Agie Gold project come to a close, AtLAS will continue to work on projects that inspire and educate our community in creative ways," says Nancy Pieropan, Chair of the Lander Art Center and member of the AtLAS working group.
The public is invited to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony as well as the “open house” in front of the newly hung murals on the Riverwalk. AtLAS committee members will be there Dec. 4 from 11 am - 1 pm to host the “open house” and answer any questions. If you would like to own one of the original paintings, you can participate in the raffle here. https://go.eventgroovefundraising.com/landerartcenter-atlas-raffle
Tickets cost $20.00 each and only 100 will be sold with the drawing taking place right before Christmas.
-AtLAS was formed as an arm of the Lander Art Center to connect the community through the dynamic integration of art and science.
