keeping art in our everday lives!
The late Jerry Parlen was a noted artist. His Stampede cartoon series featuring the lovable ranching couple, Flo and Elmo, is the largest weekly syndicated cartoon feature in the agricultural sector of both this country and Canada. The humorous antics of Flo and Elmo reach over two million readers every week.
When he was not drawing the antics of Elmo and Flo, he devoted his passion for his art whether it be cartoons, pen and ink drawings, watercolor painting, oil painting or sculpting. Only a few pieces of his art are available because as he put it, "if they don't meet my standards of excellence, then they shouldn't be shoved off on someone else". This scarcity has established a large following of collectors who vie for his work.
Every President since Jimmy Carter has used his bronze sculptures for presentations and official gifts. Jerry has done several monumental bronzes around the state, and the latest one is a seven-foot monument of the Wyoming artist Bill Gollings. This bronze is in front of the Wyoming Arts Council building across the street from the Capitol in Cheyenne.
A graduate of the University of Wyoming with a degree in political science and economics, Palen was honored as a distinguished alumnus in 1998. In 1999, he was honored as one of Wyoming's candidates for Citizen of the Century. He received the 2009 Governor’s Arts Award for his contributions to the arts.
Jerry dedicated himself to making art in an uncomplicated manner, exploring new ways to look at what people think art is. "Doing the same thing over and over again is NOT art, it's NOT exploring our own creativity. If I do what is EXPECTED of me, then I am not being true to my art."
