The Neltje Center for Excellence in Creativity and the Arts is a 15,000 sq. ft. center for arts and culture located 20 miles southeast of Sheridan, WY in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains that was an estate gift to UW from the artist, collector, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Neltje (1934-2021), who relocated to Wyoming from NYC in the 1960s. Neltje established herself as an abstract painter and champion of the arts in Wyoming and supported many local and state-wide arts and culture organizations throughout her life.
The Neltje Center for Excellence in Creativity and the Arts is Neltje’s former home,
studio, and outdoor flower and sculpture gardens. The Neltje Center is filled with
art and artifacts by makers both locally and from
around the world—including Neljte’s own paintings—that express her unique relationship
to color, form, texture and her respect for cultural expression of all types. The
Neltje Center is administered through UW’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Neltje Center Mini-Residencies provide a unique opportunity to UW faculty who are invited to propose an intensive period of study or multi-day workshop to take place at the Neltje Center at any time during the academic year, J-term, or summer semester. Mini-residencies typically last from 3-4 days and are led by one or two faculty who work onsite at the Neltje Center with a select group of between 3-10 students.
The Neltje Center makes its facilities—including Neltje’s former home, studio, grounds, and outbuildings—available to UW faculty and students as a way of enhancing student experience, providing a unique space for in-depth work outside of the Laramie campus, and exposing students to a space of visual beauty, complexity, and delight while working with their peers on a project(s) over a multi-day period. The Neltje Center has overnight capacity for 6 people, with opportunities for off-site accommodations for larger groups. Mini-residencies are welcome on weekdays as well as weekends, however the Neltje Center is not staffed and does not provide food on the weekends.
You will need to provide contact details and answer the following questions about your proposal:
Title
Other participating faculty
Describe target students
Description of project/workshop/course of study
What impact do you expect this project to have on students? What outcome(s) do you desire to achieve by using the Neltje Center?
Why does the Neljte Center make sense for this proposed course of study? How will the project engage/utilize the UW Neltje Center’s unique space, collection, and surrounding communities or region?
How will students be equitably selected to participant in this opportunity? This may include requiring students to write an application essay, selection by seniority, etc.
Desired travel dates
To submit a proposal online, click the button below for the application. Contact Beth Venn at bvenn1@uwyo.edu for more information.
“I think this type of focus is hard to come by on campus or at home. At the Neltje Center, you can put your head down and work – and when you lift your head, you see other people doing the same thing, or you see a sandhill crane hooting over the fields, or you see the ceramic bust of a crow woman hiding a nest of eggs behind her back…that makes it a good space for collaboration too, which is part of what made the science/storyteller workshop successful. There’s a feeling that you’ve stepped into a space that is meant for these types of conversations about bringing ideas to life.” - Graham Marema, MFA candidate '24
The Neltje Center for Excellence in Creativity and the Arts is a 15,000 sq. ft. center
for arts and culture located 20 miles southeast of Sheridan, WY in the foothills of
the Bighorn Mountains that was an estate gift to UW from the artist, collector, entrepreneur,
and philanthropist Neltje (1934-2021), who relocated to Wyoming from NYC in the 1960s.
Neltje established herself as an abstract painter and champion of the arts in Wyoming
and supported many local and state-wide arts and culture organizations throughout
her life.