CASPER, Wyo. — Suzette McIntyre is a nationally acclaimed photographer and writer whose works will be on display at the Casper Art Walk September 2. She will have a book signing and art show at the Atrium Plaza.
McIntyre is a born and bred Casper photographer. She says, “I have always been an artist … but I used to own a furniture store in town, and one day I just decided to close it down and went back to college again.” She started taking pictures when she was in college studying to be a journalist. She never thought of photography as an art until this point, and says that it is thanks to Casper College that she found something that she loves.
When describing her raw passion for her art, she said, “Photography and writing come from the same place … you know when you write, it just comes from deep inside, and when you find the right words it feels so good? Photography comes from that same place. So, 25 years later, it is my career.”
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Her book Reflections of Casper: Then and Now is a beautiful artistic interpretation that explores the past of Casper and what it has become today. She follows three main subjects that capture “who” Casper is.
It starts out with Milestones — the Native American transition, Fort Caspar and the Guinard Bridge, sheep, oil, and the railroad. For each of these subjects, she has photographs from the past and from today. She explores how everything was a necessary step in order to produce the Casper we know and love today.
McIntyre’s next topic is the Landmarks. Here she has some amazing photos of all Casper’s most famous attractions. She features all the icons in their past and present forms.
Finally, the last part of the book is about Recreational Heritage, like the mountain, river, and wide-open plains. She says, “Growing up here, I took all of this for granted … and it’s not till you move away that you start craving it like the air you breathe.”
The book is a printed version of her exhibition that opened at Fort Caspar and is now currently on display at the Natrona County Airport. McIntyre says that she owes a big deal of thanks to Michelle Bahe from Fort Caspar, who saw her art and encouraged her to put together this body of work.
She will also be selling her book The Art Of Being Alive during the Art Walk.
Her art show will be displaying some of her beautiful photographs, but they are quite different from her book. While the book focuses on landmarks of Casper, the show will focus on wildlife. The photos depict the animals of the old west, and have a rustic feel to them. All of the photographs have been taken in Wyoming. Among the photographs, you can see some of Wyoming’s biggest interests: horses and bison.
McIntyre now lives in Windsor, Colorado, but loves to visit Casper. She says that she see it as a work of art. She says, “It was not until I moved away that I began to appreciate the resources, the history, and the advantages my hometown had to offer.”
For more information about her art and books, feel free to visit her website, and be sure to visit her at the Casper Art Walk in the Atrium Plaza during Casper’s last Art Walk of the season.