Committee Members:
Carl Kohut, AIA, Chair
Rachel Delventhal, AIA
Dan Stalker, AIA
Britney Sulzen, Associate AIA
A large amount of work currently experienced by Wyoming’s architects is apparent. Unfortunately, our entire committee, including myself, has struggled to participate as our work doesn’t allow additional time for the volunteer activities. Moving forward, it’s important for our committee to creatively approach how we not only boost AIA Wyoming membership but additionally promote accessible and easy involvement by our existing members. Efficient and broader member support is critical in ensuring AIA Wyoming pursuits are not only the result of a small group of heavily dedicated members but rather a larger group of selectively active members.
So, what does this mean for membership development? It means we need to be creative, resourceful, and attractive to engage, retain, and recruit our membership. The MDC pursues these goals by creating active and entertaining events to spur more individuals to join and be more active members. The efforts are a marathon, not a sprint, and it will take time to see measurable benefits.
This year’s activities hosted by the MDC included the Cow Tunnel Mural, Save the Block break-out panel discussion and Pelton of Homes Bike Tour. See below for a press release sponsored by JH Public Arts on our Cow Tunnel mural painting:
JH Community Pathways, Prospect Studio, and Jackson Hole Public Art are pleased to announce the completion of a new mural at the Cow Tunnel underpass along Path 22. This new mural was realized over a day by members of Wyoming’s American Institute of Architects (AIA) chapter with the additional help of Teton Science Schools’ Mountain Academy art students. The mural — titled “Cow in Motion” — spans the length of the underpass, located near the entrance to Teton Science School’s campus.
The genesis for “Cow in Motion” came from the local architect firm Prospect Studio and Project Architects Zeke Nelson and Carl Kohut. In planning this year’s AIA Wyoming conference, which took place in Jackson Sept. 16-18, the Prospect Studio team looked for opportunities to engage the state’s visiting architects with the local community. JH Community Pathways and JH Public Art offered the chance to paint the Cow Tunnel underpass (historically used to run cattle). The team came up with the idea to reinterpret English photographer Eadweard Muybridge’s “Horse in Motion” series. They created eight stencils of a cow in motion, and on Friday, Sept. 17, a group of 15 architects came together to lay the stencil along the underpass. Mountain Academy students Dolyn Kinney and Augustine Porter also joined to add whimsical, colorful graphics to the monochrome stencil.
“As a professional organization, AIA Wyoming seeks to engage the public in alternative ways to increase the connectivity within the communities we work. The Cow Tunnel mural was an amazing opportunity to do that kind of work in a fun and creative way working with Teton County Pathways, JH Public Art, and Teton Science School.” — Carl Kohut, AIA, Prospect Studio Project Architect
