Voices

Ucross, population 26, elevation 4082'
Powder River Basin

Places are thick with resonance, yet elusive. The confluence of Piney Creek, Clear Creek and Coal Creek is a locus that connects and extends to the broader watershed, communities and ecotones of this vast region of the High Plains and Bighorn Mountains. It is a crossroads where people, plants, animals, elements, time and history braid together and diverge–where openings and closures coexist in harmony and tension. This place holds so many resonances–vast open spaces filled with echoes of all kinds of labor, peace, struggle, loss, renewal, abundance and scarcity. The wind and scattered scoria speak of continuity with the past as well as rupture, brutal realities and reconciliations. It is all there to be felt, sensed, and carried with us as visitors to this place, or as longtime residents whose ancestors touched the earth here, too. Touch this place. Listen to it. Hold it until it speaks.

We are enormously grateful to the many people who contributed their wisdom, experience and perspectives to this work, sharing their worlds with us generously and with warm welcome.

Voices of all who appear in the work include:

Vickie Abbott, former Program Manager, Ucross Residency Program

Fritz Bates, Maintenance and Grounds Manager, Ucross Foundation
Rancher, Bates Family Ranch

Beverly Bates, Rancher, Bates Family Ranch

Barry Bauer, Ucross Ranch Manager

William Belcher, former President of Ucross Foundation

Zach Byram, District Manager for Clear Creek Conservation District

Karim Douaidy, musician / composer, Ucross Alum
Performed classical guitar improv at Jesse's Two Composer's Cabin [also placed in front of the Ucross Art Gallery]

Sharon Dynak, former President of Ucross Foundation, 26 years service

Esper Gaspardi, Farmer, Ucross Foundation

Kel Harris, former Horticulture Manager, Ucross Foundation

Heather Heath, Business Director, Ucross Foundation

Jessica Kahkoska, writer, producer, researcher, playwright, Ucross Alum
Read Impressions of Wyoming essay, recited at Kocur Writer's Retreat
[placed at Kocur, Big Red Lane and the School House]

Jeremiah Jossim, multidisciplinary artist, Ucross Alum

Doug Kauffman, Clear Creek Hunting, Clearmont, WY

Linda Kernstock, fiber and bone artist, Arvada, WY

Tracey Kikut, former Program Director, Ucross Artist Residency

Nancy Y. Kim, painter, Ucross Alum

Karlon Knudson, Rancher, Knudson Family Ranch, Arvada, WY

Abby Knudson, Rancher, Knudson Family Ranch, Arvada, WY

Cal Knudson (3 years old), Knudson Family Ranch, Arvada, WY

Carl Largent, Ucross Residency Program Coordinator

Mike Latham, former Maintenance and Grounds Manager, Ucross Foundation, lifelong resident of Clear Creek Valley

Tressa Lawrence, Rancher and lifelong resident of Clear Creek Valley

Nathan Lindsey, Former Conservation Stewardship Managaer, Ucross Ranch
currently Habitat and Access Coordinator, Wyoming Fish and Game

Crawford McIntosh and Wilford McIntosh-Round, "Finding My Rhythm" performed at the Ucross Gala 2024 in Ucross, WY [recording placed under the tree in the roundabout in front of Ucross Art Gallery]

Dave McKee, Archaeologist, (former student of Donovin Sprague)

Andrew MacClean, Geologist, Bureau of Land Management, Buffalo, WY

Tim McCleary, Dean of Academics, Little Big Horn College, Crow Agency Montana

Brian Mealor, Director and Professor, Sheridan Research and Extension Center, Institute for Managing Annual Grasses Invading Natural Ecosystems, University of Wyoming

Linn Meyers, painter / draftsperson, Ucross Alum

Rick Pallister, Former Game Warden, Wyoming Fish and Game
former Program Director for Northeastern Wyoming, The Nature Conservancy

Joanne Puckette, Big Horn Audubon Society

David Romtvedt, Wyoming Poet Laureate and former faculty, University of Wyoming
Reading two poems: Birds Too Fat to Fly and Still Here on Earth. Recorded on the lawn at Big Red Ranch House

Londs Reuter, dancer, Ucross Alum

Michael (Smitty) Smith, Former Maintenance Technician, Ucross Foundation, lifelong resident of Clear Creek Valley

Donovin Sprague (Lakota), History Faculty, Sheridan College

Tawni Shuler, Program Director, Ucross Artist Residency

Edward Simon, composer, musician, Professor of Jazz Piano, San Francisco Conservatory of Music and California Jazz Conservatory, Ucross Alum
Performed jazz improv at Jesse's One Composer's Cabin

Soom, experimental artist, Ucross Alum
Performed vocal improv in the Chapel at The Park at Ucross

Seth Swenson, Rancher, Ucross Ranch

Tyler Stoll, installation / performance artist, Ucross Alum

Linwood Tall Bull (Northern Cheyenne), Ethnobotanist, former faculty, Dull Knife College, Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Lame Dear, MT

Michiko Theurer, composer, Ucross Alum
Inner Voices [sound sculpture and installation in the aspen grove at Triple Creek Park]

Jackie Vitale, Chef, Ucross Artist Residency

Therese Workman, musician / composer, Ucross Alum
"Real, Real Me" [placed along Highway 14 / Highway 16 between Big Red Lane and the School House]

We are grateful to the following people whose voices were essential to this work, connecting us to places in the greater High Plains region.

Reba D. Epler, Attorney and Rancher

Fran Felz, Clearmont Historical Center

Sandy Hirz, Clearmont Historical Center

Debra Littlesun, Assistant Director, University of Wyoming Art Museum, member of Crow Agency

Robert Prusak, Chair of Clearmont Historical Group

Jason Robison, Professor of Law, University of Wyoming