The Wort family realized a dream when they opened the Wort Hotel in Jackson, Wyoming, in 1941. After ups and downs and a devastating fire, it is flourishing again and boasts an American Automobile Association five-diamond rating. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.Above the stairs in the hotel’s lobby are, left to right, paintings by Joe Velazquez: Davey Jackson-Opening the Hole, History on Broadway-The Cutters and Ranching in the Hole.

Bill Baxter runs Holston Gases, a family business that manufacturers industrial and medical gases in Knoxville, Tennessee. He has also served as the commissioner of economic and community development in Tennessee and as chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors.

He and his family first visited Jackson in 1994, he says, and fell in love with the place. “We were typical tourists. We came to Jackson to hike, climb and to ski. I grew up in East Tennessee in the Smokey Mountains. They’re old mountains and rounded off and you never get above the tree line. The landscape here is incredible and full of wildlife. We had to find a reason to be here more often.The lobby of the Wort Hotel in Jackson, Wyoming.

Deborah Copenhaver Fellows’ bronze sculpture, I Saddle My Own Horse, is in the lobby.

“I stumbled into an opportunity to become a limited partner in the Wort Hotel,” he explains. “Eighteen months later I was 100 percent owner. I set out to learn more about the culture of where I was.” He hired Jim Waldrop to be general manager.

“I told Jim I wanted to make sure we adorned all public areas—the restaurant, the bar and the lobby—with original Western paintings and sculpture. We then created five themed suites and put original art in those rooms as well. The goal was to enhance the authentic experience of the guests. Art would be an integral part of their experience so they would feel they weren’t just in an old building.” The hotel has a brochure available for a self-guided tour of the collection with brief bios of the artists, many of whom have local connections and reputations that extend far beyond Jackson. “The guests stop, they appreciate and they wonder. They take it away as part of their experience. They’ve felt the real deal.”One of a suite of limited edition prints by John Clymer (1907-1989) in the Clymer Room. The prints were brought to the hotel by a former owner, the late Tom Chrystie.

A carved wooden door to the Cowboy Suite by Scott Strikwerda.

Among the first pieces Baxter bought for the property were paintings by the late Ray McCarty, whose own Western connections go back to the McCarty Gang of Butch Cassidy fame. “His paintings of saloon girls and cowboys are full of Western romance and capture the mood in the bar,” Baxter comments. “Deborah Copenhaver Fellows’ cowgirl sculpture I Saddle My Own Horse, shows the hard-working, self-reliant Western woman.”

The doors to the themed suites were carved by Scott Strikwerda of Lone Peak Carvings in Salt Lake City, each recalling the theme of the suites—Shoshone, Grand Teton, Silver Dollar, Cowboy and Cowgirl. The Shoshone Suite and some of the public spaces of the hotel feature Native American pieces conveying historical depictions of the Western frontier and Native American tribes.

Commanding a wall above the grand staircase are three paintings by Joe Velazquez one of which is Davey Jackson-Opening the Hole. David Jackson was an ensign in the War of 1812 and went west to be a trapper with the Rocky Mountain Trading Company. He eventually formed a trading company with two other partners, returning from hunting trips to the valley in the Tetons. One of his partners referred to the area as “Jackson’s Hole.”Ray McCarty’s Set ‘Em Up Boys is a focal point of the Cowgirl Suite.

Baxter continues to add to the collection.
“I look for work that captures an event or a time or a mood. It immediately communicates to you as an accurate representation. You can hear what the artist is trying to tell you.”

A rotating exhibition is held in the restaurant and the bar selected by Terry Ray who owns the West Lives On Gallery across the street from the hotel. —

Powered by Froala Editor