Never Drink Downstream: Factual Tales and Artful Musing on Wyoming Water

November 8-10, 2012

The University of Wyoming is excited to present a symposium on water, Never Drink Downstream: Factual Tales and Artful Musing on Wyoming Water, Friday, November 9 and Saturday, November 10, 2012 in the Family Room of the UW Union from 9 am – 5 pm each day. There will be an opening reception on Thursday evening, November 8 from 6-8 pm at the UW Art Museum, in conjunction with Wyoming River Fugues, an art installation by artist Margaret Cogswell. A closing reception will take place on Saturday, November 10, from 5 - 7 pm in the UW Union.  

The symposium will feature more than 30 speakers, each of whom will have 10 minutes to convey their thoughts on, stories of, research about, and creative responses to Wyoming water needs, issues, places, policies, recreation, impacts and more. The UW Art Museum’s goal is to provide a breadth of interpretation, understanding and interaction on the subject of Wyoming water, by presenting multiple perspectives ranging from the sublime to the serious. Question and answer sessions throughout each day will provide opportunities for the audience to engage in this ongoing conversation about water, and consider the crucial role water plays in all of our lives.  

Presenters include:

• Margaret Cogswell, Artist
• Pat Frolander, Wyoming’s Poet Laureate and Rancher
• Domenic Bravo, Chief Administrator for Wyoming State Parks and Historic Sites
• Fred Ogden, Cline Chair of Environment and Engineering
• Erik Molvar, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance
• Margaret Haydon, Associate Professor of Ceramics, UW Art Department
• Gary Collins, Tribal Liaison for the Governor’s Planning Office
• Larry MacDonnell, UW College of Law
• Scott Miller, UW College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Hydrologic Sciences
• Mike Snigg, Fisheries Biologist, WY Game and Fish
• Sharon and Pat O’Toole, Savery, WY Ranchers  

Cogswell’s Wyoming River Fugues exhibition is the result of three years of extensive research that included traveling to observe, listen and record both general and specific landscapes, in search of particular sounds or images that capture the pulse of Wyoming rivers and surrounding landscapes and life. Narratives from individuals who live or work along the rivers, or whose research and work focuses on the natural resources surrounding the rivers, have informed the direction of the development of Wyoming River Fugues. The resulting installation explores the complex relationship between Wyoming’s natural, cultural, historic, engineered, and industrial landscapes. The artist will lead off the symposium with a brief reflection on her experiences as researcher and artist.

Never Drink Downstream: Factual Tales and Artful Musing on Wyoming Water, and visits to the UW campus by artist Margaret Cogswell to work with faculty and students are funded by the UW Colonel Rogers Fund for Excellence.  

A correlating event, Listening to Nature: an Evening of Readings and Visual Art by Scientists and Artists, features great writing and visual art projects focused on nature and the environment. Co-sponsored by the University of Wyoming’s MFA in Creative Writing, the Wyoming Outdoor Council, and the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, the program invites the public to enjoy a display of award-winning art projects and a lively set of brief readings by students and alums of the MFA program, faculty and students in the arts, sciences, and humanities, and members of the local community. The event will be held in the auditorium of the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center, November 9, 2012, from 6:00 – 8:00.  It will include a reception from 5:15 – 6:00.  “Listening to Nature” seeks to bring together a range of communities in celebration of the power of the image and the written word. Featured readers for 2012 are Emilene Ostlind, Kristen Gunther, Chris Madson, and Carlos Martinez del Rio.  

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For more information, contact the UW Art Museum at 307-766-6620.