Wildlife Artist Dawn Senior-Trask of Moonhorse Art Studio
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Saratoga High School Students Pitch in on Murals

Kids get a chance to put skills to work on community’s “Life Along the Platte” project
Rawlins Daily Times staff report, May 17, 2005

Art, poetry and history were joined with the energy of Saratoga High School students in a construction warehouse last Friday where they helped trace mural artist Dawn Senior-Trask’s drawing onto a mural panel in preparation for painting.

Linda Fisher-Perue’s art students, including the youngest of her six children, were bused to Custom Builders to provide the skilled labor and kick off the “Life Along the Platte” mural project spearheaded by the Platte Valley Arts Council. Fisher-Perue is the project coordinator. The students are expected to visit the site again on Tuesday, May 24.

The Platte Valley Arts Council was selected for a 2004 Arts and Rural Community Assistance Initiative grant award. Platte Valley artists Judi Miller-Morris, Dawn Senior-Trask and Denise Patton were selected to design three large murals for the valley. Liz Wood of Saratoga, former arts council president, said, “I am extremely impressed with what the artists have done. The murals will be a nice addition to Saratoga and the Platte Valley.”

The mural project is an opportunity for the arts council to “give back” to the community, which has been so supportive of the council’s work, Wood said. John Perue is the new arts council president.

Senior-Trask’s mural is under way at Custom Builders. Fisher-Perue’s students traced her original design on a layer of glassine, which Senior-Trask will then use with graphite paper to transfer the heavily detailed design to the mural board.

Senior-Trask’s work, along with Miller-Morris’s, are to be traveling exhibits. Senior-Trask’s mural is comprised of four panels, each four-by-eight-feet. SHS students helped trace the first panel on Friday. Senior-Trask, an Encampment resident, started her mural’s first panel with images from “the north end of the Valley” including the “Overland Trail crossing, where pioneer immigrants took their wagons across the river.

Wildlife, native plants and “local history based on historical photographs” along with traditional quilt patterns highlight her work. The quilt patterns include Birds in the Air, Wyoming Star and Indian Paintbrush. “Each panel will be different,” Senior-Trask said. The quilt patterns, used as border at the top and bottom of the murals, help tie the four-panel series together.

Senior-Trask and the SHS art students were joined by Carbon County author Lori Van Pelt and poet Stephanie Painter of WordBand. Van Pelt told the stories of some of the historical images included in Senior-Trask’s first panel. Van Pelt also discussed some of the county’s historical figures featured in her book Dreamers and Schemers, Profiles from Carbon County, Wyoming’s Past. WordBand specializes in choral poetry, and Painter recited a piece highlighting the unique place-names of Wyoming.

Senior-Trask plans to work in the Custom Builders warehouse on Cedar Street from 9 a.m. until noon Mondays through Thursdays. She will be drawing and painting. The public is invited to participate or just drop in for a visit.

The second traveling mural, by Miller-Morris, also consists of four panels which can be separated or displayed together. “These four panels, depicting the Platte Valley from high country to the river, are a much-deserved tribute to the generations of life, both animal and human, living in this region,” a release said.

Miller-Morris plans to work on the mural in front of Saratoga’s Wyold Aspen Studio on Memorial Day, May 30 at noon, with refreshments and performances by cowboy poet Chuck Larsen scheduled to add festivity to the occasion.

The third mural, designed by Patton, is to be painted on the unfinished outside south wall at the Hobo Pool. Patton’s mural is to feature North Platte River wildlife and images “dedicated to all who respect, love and work with the natural world along the river.”

If you would like more information on our artwork or would like to place an order, email Moonhorse Art Studio or call us 307.327.5381. We look forward to hearing from you!