As published in the Jackson Hole News & Guide, Wednesday, September 04, 2013.  Written by Richard Anderson.

This Owl Creek Refuge was designed by Ellis Nunn & Associates, built by Two Ocean Builders and landscaped by MountainScapes, Inc.

Some of the best art in Jackson Hole doesn’t hang on the wall of museums, galleries or even homes. Some of the best art in Jackson Hole is the walls themselves.

This year’s Fall Arts Festival shines a light on the architecture and interior design of a handful of private residences with a “Showcase of Homes.” Hosted by Homestead Magazine, the showcase will spotlight several custom made homes in the valley and the architects, interior designers and landscapers who helped turn each one into something spectacular.

Some of us have been lucky enough to be in some of these homes. A few of us may even be lucky enough to live in such digs. But most of us, and certainly most visitors during Fall Arts Festival, have never before had the chance to step through the doorway of these prime properties. “It’s a shame nobody ever gets to see it,” said Latham Jenkins, president of Circ, which publishes Homestead, an annual magazine in which several of the homes have been featured. “These are beautiful pieces of art, and very few people get to experience them. The showcase is a platform to go and appreciate these works …and enable you to speak to the artist that created them.”

“There couldn’t be a better fit in time than the Fall Arts Festival,” he said. I view the design and craftsmanship that goes into these homes as its own art form, like what hangs on the walls. How great would it be if we could open up some of these homes for people to view?”

The tour will be self-guided. Visitors go to JacksonHoleShowcase.com to purchase tickets – limited to just 250, with sales benefiting charities of the homeowners’ choices – then can pick up the program guides at Circ Inc. 215 West Gill Ave.; Altamira Fine Art, 172 Center Street St.; Willow Creek Design, 115 E. Broadway; or the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce, 112 Center St.

At each home principal designers will be present to greet visitors, show off highlights, and answer questions. At most sites, light refreshments will be offered.

“We’ve got a great base of committed people with homes,” Jenkins said, “and longtime valley professionals – architects, interior designers, contractors and landscapers. …We approached the design community at large to include all those groups to see who had projects they could showcase.”

So not only will a selection of fantastic Teton homes be on display but the talent that created them will be, too – firms such as Jacque Jenkins-Stireman Design, Berlin Architects and Stephen Dynia Architects, MountainScapes Inc., and Bontecou Construction, Two Oceans Builders and Mill Iron Timberworks.

It’s a great way to be able to interact with possible new clients, “ said John Walker, of Mill Iron Timberworks, the general contractor of the showcase residence on North Gros Ventre Butte. Walker said his company does just about every kind of work, though this house, designed by Dynia, is quite contemporary. It was built just a year and a half ago, he said, and it appeared on the cover of last year’s Homestead magazine. “We’ll be on hand, as will the interior designer” and architect Dynia, the builder said.

“The stories behind the homes are best told by the architects that worked on them,” Jenkins said. Attendees will have the opportunity to talk to the professionals behind the projects in a meaningful setting. They won’t have 1000 people coming through all trying to talk” to the designers. With just 250 tickets sold, buyers will have the luxury of spending time with the residences and professionals.

“A lot of these homeowners really value the design community that came together to create this work of art that they live in,” Jenkins said. “We felt this is where the pairing with the Fall Arts festival was really important.” The festival has over the past 28 years offered art patrons plenty of opportunities to come to galleries and meet the artists whose work hangs on the walls. The Showcase of Homes allows similar epicures the chance to see art on a different scale.

“That’s the alignment we were trying to take,” Jenkins said, “to come view art in a different form and talk to the artists.” The 2013 Fall Arts Festival is the first year for Homestead’s Showcase of Homes, but Jenkins hopes the event will grow. “Our goal this year is to put on a quality event and to set the stage for the future,” he said.