Touchstone Laramie 2020 Opening Reception Features Local Musicians and Sweet Melissa’s Specialities

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, art lovers can still look forward to the much-anticipated biennial exhibition and sale, to take place in November as an online event. Beginning Friday, November 6 with a live Opening Reception on ZOOM from 6-8 pm, the exhibition will continue through Saturday, December 5, 2020.

Favored local restaurant, Sweet Melissa’s, is featuring a special Touchstone Laramie 2020 Dinner and Drink for the Online Opening Reception, November 6. The menu includes Stuffed Acorn Squash, Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad, Squash and Green Apple Soup and Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie. The Specialty Drink is a Rosemary Appletini. Dinner and a Drink can be called in or ordered online and is individually priced for personal selection. Please allow 45 minutes for preparation.

33 local musicians will provide the audio accompaniment to the Touchstone Laramie 2020 Online Opening Reception exhibition of visual artwork. Musicians include 10¢ Stranger, Bas Mati, Bob Lefevre and The Already Gone, Bondurant, Elk Tongue, Flatbed Love Truck, Green Street Majority, Hunter Hicks, J Shogren Shanghai'd, John May, John Poland, Jon Gardzelewski, Mama Lenny and The Remedy, Mantisgrove, Michael Ward, Mumbletypeg, Paul Taylor, Peter Queal, Shawn Hess, The By And By, The Dauphin Of Mississippi, The Libby Creek Original, The Littlest Birds, The Woodpile, Timothy John, Whiskey Slaps, and Wolves In Cheap Clothing.

Viewers will be able to engage with artists through ZOOM Chat conversations during the opening. A series of panel discussions by the artists will be offered during the month-long exhibition. Video interviews, studio visits and links to individual artists websites are posted on laramieartistsproject.org.

To register for an invitation to the ZOOM opening and receive updates and information about the artists and the exhibition, visit laramieartistsproject.org. Follow @LaramieArtistsProject on Facebook and Instagram for current news and information.

The artists participating in Touchstone Laramie this year are John Baker, Wendy Lemen Bredehoft, Mimi Fenton, Favian Hernandez, Barbara Bogart, Tessa Dallarosa, Celeste Havener, Svetlana Howe, Jim Jereb, Clay Johnson, Sarah Konrad, Lee lane, Linda Lillegraven, Ginnie Madsen, Jon Madsen, Susan Moldenhauer, Chris Parmelee, Allison Pluda of Seneca Creek Studios, Jon Madsen, Amy Reed, Camille Rendall, Erin Stoesz, and Aubree Lynn.

The online exhibition will present from 3 to 10 images per artist. Viewers can visit artwork at any time during the month-long exhibition, and art will be for sale on a secured site throughout the event. Thanks go to the Wyoming Arts Council, the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, and local sponsors Coal Creek Coffee and Bruce Adams, DDS for their support!”

For more information, visit laramieartistsproject.org, email touchstonelaramie@gmail.com, or call John Baker at (307) 314-2815.