FALL ARTS FESTIVAL, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - 5E
Relics from a golden age
Fighting Bear Antiques 375 S. Cache St. 307-733-2669 FightingBear.com ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
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By Mike Koshmrl
arrison Crandall’s camera lens helped freeze Jackson Hole’s dude ranch era. Crandall, a photographer and a painter, captured timeless images of a day when most Americans flocked to the Teton Range to pretend to be cowboys rather than to ski or run the rapids on the Snake River. Plenty of relics from the dude ranching era still exist today. Parts of the old ranches still stand, and much of their contents, including furniture and other antiques, still float around the valley. Some of this memorabilia can now be found at Fighting Bear Antiques, which for the 2013 Fall Arts Festival is focusing on the dude ranching era that lasted from around 1925 to 1955. “What we’re really trying to do is re-create that time in our store,” said Terry Winchell, co-owner of Fighting Bear. Winchell, a local history buff, is leaning on Crandall to help complete that task. A new book about the Kansas photographer, “Harrison R. Crandall: Creating a Vision of Grand Teton National Park,” has been one of his primary guides, Winchell said. Kenneth Barrick, author of the book, will be at Fighting Bear 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 8 to sign copies and speak with Crandall fans. “And we’ll have a bunch of vintage Crandall photos in the gallery,” Winchell said. Also at Fighting Bear, you can pick up some of those relics of the golden age of dude ranching. Furniture from the era, much of it made from local lodgepole pine, will fill the gallery. Some select pieces will be from the Whitegrass Ranch in Grand Teton National Park, Winchell said. Fighting Bear switches themes each year for Fall Arts. In the recent past, festival themes have focused on everything from Native American art to Thomas Molesworth furniture, Winchell said.
In the 1930s Harrison Crandall sold photographs of area wildflowers from his shop at Jenny Lake.
One event that departs from this year’s festival theme is a benefit for Native American Jump Start, a nonprofit that helps find employment for American Indian high schoolers. The Native American Jump Start event will be held at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 11 at the gallery. Winchell invites younger folks and Jackson Hole newcomers to drop by and learn about the valley’s rich history this Fall Arts season. “One thing we want is for some of the young people to understand that there’s more to this valley than an
iPhone,” Winchell said. “They should come check it out. “The same cool stuff that’s going on now was going on back then,” he said. “Everybody pretty much came here for the same reason: love of the outdoors.” The former chairman of the Center for the Arts board of directors is insistent that Jackson Hole locals should not forget about the valley’s history. “I think a lot of times we forget our Western roots,” Winchell said. “This was, is and always will be a Western town.”
Two Grey Hills Indian Arts & Jewelry
110 East Broadway Jackson, WY 307-733-2677 www.fineindianart.com Email art@fineindianart.com
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