Ucross Founder’s Day to be Held on May 31

On May 13, Ucross, the Artist Residency Program, announced that they will host their fourth annual Founder’s Day celebration Saturday, May 31. The free public event invites the community to explore the artist residency grounds on Ucross’s 20,000-acre ranch in northern Wyoming and enjoy a day of creativity, connection and celebration.

Festivities will begin at 10 a.m. with the launch of “Confluences,” a new sound art installation on the Ucross grounds. Guests will be invited to engage with the land in a fresh and immersive way; Ucross will announce more details closer to the event.

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., guests are invited to tour the studios of Ucross’s current artists- in-residence, meet the artists, view works in progress and experience the creative process in action. As guests stroll, they will enjoy live music by ensembles from the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra.

Participating current artists-in-residence will include composer Gelsey Bell, composer Gregory Barnett, interdisciplinary artist Grant Cutler, sculptor Gina Herrera, installation artist Ruth Jeyaveeran, filmmaker Erin Semine Kökdil, poet Cindy Tran, nonfiction writer Raksha Vasudevan and poet Mathew Weitman. In addition, Sarah Ortegon HighWalking (Eastern Shoshone, Northern Arapaho) will give a special jingle dress dance performance during the open studios.

At 1 p.m., the Ucross Art Gallery will open “Luminous Forms,” a new contemporary art exhibition curated by Emily McElwreath, an alumna of the Ucross residency program and host of “The Art Career” podcast.

The exhibition features work by eight nationally acclaimed artists, including Ucross alumni Darina Karpov of Brooklyn, New York; Nancy Y. Kim of Bologna, Italy; and linn meyer of Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Other featured artists are Damien Davis, Inka Essenhigh, Alannah Farrell, Will Hutnick, and Marilyn Minter.

Luminous Forms explores the material, symbolic, and emotional dimensions of light. Across painting, sculpture, video, and mixed media, the featured artists engage with luminosity as subject, metaphor, and catalyst — inviting viewers to consider how light transforms perception, memory, and embodied experience.

McElwreath is an independent curator, art advisor, and educator with more than 18 years of experience in the contemporary art world. She is the founder of McElwreath Art Advisory and the creator and host of The Art Career Podcast. She has developed programs and lectured at the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and previously led communications and education at The Brant Foundation.

The exhibition explores how artists engage with light as a material, metaphor and emotional force. The opening reception will include a curator talk by McElwreath.

At the Founder’s Day Celebration, guests are encouraged to bring a picnic blanket and enjoy an afternoon on the lawns of the Big Red Ranch Complex. A pop-up Ucross Café food truck will offer housemade pizza, ice cream sandwiches, coffee and pastries for purchase throughout the day.

Founder’s Day honors the life and legacy of Ucross founder Raymond Plank (1922–2018), a World War II bomber pilot, entrepreneur and philanthropist who established the nonprofit artist residency program in 1981. Since its first residencies in 1983, Ucross has supported nearly 3,000 visual artists, writers, composers and choreographers.

For more information or to reserve free tickets, visit www.ucross.org.