Portraits shaped by Western iconography and identity coming to LCCC

A decade of work shaped by life in the Mountain West is at the heart of an upcoming exhibition at Laramie County Community College featuring paintings by nationally recognized artist June Glasson.

Glasson’s exhibition will be on view Aug. 11–Sept. 5 in the Esther and John Clay Fine Art Gallery on LCCC’s Cheyenne campus. A public reception is scheduled for 6 p.m. Aug. 28 in the Surbrugg/Prentice Auditorium. The exhibition, reception and programming are free and open to the public.

Primarily focused on portraiture, the show spans 10 years of work created during and after Glasson’s time living in Laramie, Wyoming. Traditional oil portraits and works on paper make up much of the collection, all rooted in photo shoots she staged with participants during her time in the state. Subjects were invited to bring their own props and costumes, resulting in portraits infused with self-presentation and symbolism, many referencing the visual culture and materials of the American West, including cowboy gear, bison hides and firearms.

Several pieces in the exhibition come from Glasson’s “mountain man” series, developed while participating in a community residency in Pinedale, Wyoming. Inspired by the mythology and material culture she encountered at the Museum of the Mountain Man, the project asked friends and local residents to pose in ways that reimagined or responded to the archetype. Landscape paintings and mixed media works influenced by the region also appear throughout the exhibition, along with newer pieces that consider historical images of women used to represent ideals such as liberty, justice and national identity.

Across her work, Glasson explores the gap between how people are seen and how they wish to be seen. Themes of labor — particularly the often invisible or symbolic work women perform for others — echo throughout. Though portraiture is at the center, the exhibition also reflects her interest in storytelling, interpretation and the performative nature of identity itself.

The exhibition is presented as part of the Ed & Caren Murray Art Series, an annual event through the LCCC Foundation that brings new art and artists to campus each August through gallery shows, presentations, workshops and public receptions. The series kicks off the Foundation’s Cultural and Community Enrichment Series.

Returning to Wyoming for the exhibition holds personal significance for Glasson. She lived in Laramie from 2010 to 2018 and was deeply involved in the creative community through teaching, exhibitions and co-founding the Wyoming Art Party, a small collective of artists who created opportunities and spaces for artists in the community. The years she spent in the state were among the most generative of her career and helped shape her collaborative and place-based approach to artmaking.

“I haven’t been back to Wyoming since I left in 2018, so this invitation from the college felt really meaningful,” Glasson said. “The work I’m showing was deeply influenced by my time living there, and it’s a wonderful opportunity to circle back to such a formative place. I hope it’s enjoyable for people to see what I was making then, and also what I’ve been working on since.”

Currently based in Millbrook, New York, Glasson has exhibited internationally, with her work appearing at the National Portrait Gallery in London, Nature Morte Gallery in Berlin, and in publications including New American Paintings, The Wall Street Journal and The Paris Review. She is represented by Kenise Barnes Fine Art on the East Coast and Visions West Contemporary in the Rocky Mountain West.

For more information about the show, visit lccc.wy.edu/CulturalSeries.