Western Design Conference Sees Increase in Attendance

2011 numbers for popular annual Jackson Hole design event up from 2010

Jackson, Wyoming – September 29, 2011 – Attendance at this year’s 20^th Annual Western Design Conference Exhibit + Sale showed a substantial increase over 2010 numbers, announced Conference Director Nancy McCullough-McCoy.  The Western Design Conference (WDC), which includes a fashion and jewelry show gala and lectures, as well as a gallery-style exhibition and sale of one-of-a-kind Western design by artisans, is held annually in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

“We’re very pleased with the attendance of this year’s event,” says McCullough-McCoy. “Plus, artists in the event reported an increase in sales this year. Most of the artists left very happy.”

Some 1,200 people, purchased tickets to attend the show held at Snow King Pavilion during the three-day event, September 8-11. In addition, the Western Design Conference Gala Fashion Show at the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts hosted a sold-out crowd.

The nation’s finest Western-influenced designers and artists from across the country applied to be part of more than 100 exhibitions on display for this year’s exhibition and sale, with cash prizes totaling more than $22,000 awarded to handcrafted works in leather, metal, accents, woodworking, jewelry and fashion.  This year’s award winners included $5,000 for Best of Show to Many Tears (Supaya Gray Wolfe) of Camp Verde, Ariz.; $1,000 for The Wort Hotel Historical Craftsmanship award to Gauteraux Boot Co. of Redmond, Oreg.; $1,000 for the Sonny Tuttle Spirit Award to Timothy Jennings of Jackson, Wyo.; and a $4,000 Peoples’ Choice Award, chosen via votes by visitors to the show and sale, to Sue and Jim Berkenfield of Tetonia, Idaho.  A full listing of this year’s awards is available online at http://www.westerndesignconference.com/awards/.

The Western Design Conference is the foremost exhibition and celebration of what is happening in the world of Western furniture, fashion, and home accessories.  The 19th Annual Exhibit + Sale is a multi-million-dollar event featuring one-of-a-kind works of museum quality functional art on display and for purchase.  Additional information on the conference, including schedules and tickets, is available at www.westerndesignconference.com, and on Facebook and Twitter (@WesternDesign).

Media Contacts: Allison Merritt, allison@westerndesignconference.com, 307.690.9719; Nancy McCullough-McCoy, nancy@powdermountainpress.com, 307.690.0238

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Ward + Blake Architects Receive Four Dream Home Awards

Jackson Hole architects’ winning conceptual home designs published in Habitation

Jackson, Wyoming—September 21, 2011—Ward + Blake Architects received four Dream Home Awards, presented annually to companies and individuals who “set new standards of excellence in the nation’s building industry,” according to the Dream Home Awards organization.  The Jackson Hole architecture firm Ward + Blake received a Gold Award and two Silver Awards in the category of Best Conceptual Home Design plus a Silver Award in the category Best Whole House Remodel.  Its Gold-winning design concept for the Freedom, Wyo., Sharp Residence is published in the annual Dream Home Awards issue of hab-i-ta-tion Design Magazine.

Dream Home Awards are presented to those companies and individuals who assist in creating America’s Dream Homes; the awards honor trend-setting products and technology from the previous year.  The competition is open to interior designers, architects, building and remodeling firms, communities and trade contractors from across the country who compete in categories related to custom home products, interior design, commercial and mixed-use projects. The program describes itself as “the only comprehensive competition open to the nation’s design-build industry.”

For its Gold Award-winning concept for the Sharp Residence, Ward + Blake integrated the residence with the environment, nestling it into the site’s grassy slope – a distinct revision from the owner’s original expectation of a two-story house.  Three small ponds, created using excavated fill from the daylight basement, enhance the property’s existing stream.  In addition, the firm received Silver Awards for its designs of the Rominger residence in Jackson, Wyo., the Yanke residence in Thomasville, Georgia, and for the remodel of the Villa di Famiglia Vita in Alta, Wyoming.

Ward + Blake’s use of a ‘New West’ architectural vocabulary epitomizes the growing Western Modernism movement. The Jackson Hole residential and commercial architects capture the authentic, independent spirit of the West while taking regional design in a fresh and modern direction. The Jackson, Wyo., residential and commercial architecture firm is known for its award-winning eco-friendly innovations and received the Wyoming AIA Award of Excellence.  To view photographs of the awarded projects and learn more about the winners, see hab-i-ta-tion Design Magazine at http://www.dreamhomeawards.com. For additional information, contact Ward + Blake Architects at 307.733.6867.

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