Sam Dowd was born in Omaha, Nebraska, where men are men and corn is scared. He got into art at an early age and was turned onto ceramics in seventh grade and has pursued that medium up to the present day. He earned his MFA in ceramics from Kansas State University in 2002. Dowd currently works for the Art Association of Jackson Hole where he coordinates and runs the ceramics, sculpture and YARD Art programs.
     
Sam works primarily in clay, pouring handmade slip cast molds, altering the forms and making quirky robots and airships from them. He also welds and casts in metal.

Bland Hoke was born in Jackson, Wyoming during a power outage. He paricipated in the first year YARD was offered with local artist Ben Roth. YARD served Bland well in college where he graduated from Alfred University with a BFA in 2007. Since then Bland has focused on finding exotic waste to upcycle and repurpose into artwork which inspires, confounds and provokes a ponder or two. From a semi-sustainable snow sculpture on Snow King broadcasting sound scapes via a solar powered sound system to a 1000 foot long tunnel in the desert of Nevada which sent 200 solar powered flashlights to Africa, Bland has a knack for pursuing somewhat ridiculous projects.

Bland is enamored by finding unique materials to integrate into expansive public art projects. He also goes hammocking and kiting and will soon combine the two.