Arts Perspective magazine - Issue #29

Landscape

Summer 2011 • Issue 29

visual | performance | literary | culinary | healing

www.ArtsPerspective.com

3

4

Landscape

Summer 2011

Landscape

Summer 2011 • Issue 29

D E P ART M E N TS

F e at u r e s

7 Note To Readers

Creede Repertory Theatre How a small western town replaced mining

Denise Leslie, Publisher

16 Art Events Calendar 28 Culinary Arts Listings 30 Resource Listings 32 Artist Listings 40 Business Directory

8

with a stage Judith Reynolds

10 A Lifetime of Landscape Seen Heather Leavitt Martinez

12 Short Story: Flash Fiction Collection

David Feela

21 ‘This Land Was Made For You and

Me’ Shelly Horton-Trippe and Steve Ardis take their art and compassion on the road Stew Mosberg

25 Cover Story: WPA-Style Posters Reflect Mesa Verde Landscape

Leanne Goebel

29 Mesa Verde: The Table Lands Lauren H. Slaff

35 Healing Waters Malia Durbano

37 Inner Landscape of the Body Sally Zabriskie

38 Music with Altitude

Music in the Mountains celebrates its silver anniversary Connie Gotsch

John Potter, Growing Thunder

42

The Aspen Zone: Veryl Goodnight’s Inspiration Leanne Goebel

www.ArtsPerspective.com

5

6

Landscape

Summer 2011

Awards Maggie Finalist Best B&W Layout & Design Western Publications Association 2008 Awards 1st Place A&E Feature “Hello, Goodnight!” Written by Sonja Horoshko Society of Professional Journalists 2008 Awards

Landscape Summer 2011 • Issue 29

3rd Place Personality Profile “Laboratory Ink” Written by Connie Gotsch New Mexico Press Women 2009 Awards

"... To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage.”

The mission of Arts Perspective magazine is to reflect the diversity of arts in Colorado and west of the Rocky Mountains.

- Georgia O’Keeffe

Publisher & Editor Denise Leslie | editor@sharedvisiononline.com Art Director & Designer Amy Hartman

Note to the Readers

Advertising Sales Veronica Cortes Heidi Farrell Kay Ford Janice Reich Copy Editors Tracy Korb Susan Ronn Proofreader Jeannie Berger Contributors Malia Durbano, David Feela, Leanne Goebel, Connie Gotsch, Scott Griggs, Miki Harder, Heather Leavitt Martinez, Stew Mosberg, Judith Reynolds, Lauren H. Slaff, Sally Zabriskie Distribution Jay Alsup, Scott Griggs, Alan Ralston, Janice Reich, Kathleen Steventon, Steve Williams 31,000 annually throughout the region including: Bayfield, Buena Vista, Cortez, Creede, Crested Butte, Dolores, Durango, Gunnison, Ignacio, Lake City, Mancos, Montrose, Ouray, Pagosa Springs, Ridgway, Salida, Silverton & Telluride, CO; Farmington & Aztec, NM; Blanding, Bluff & Moab, UT Marketing & Publicity Indiana Reed (970) 382-9734 | Indiana@indianareed.com Memberships Cortez Chamber of Commerce, Durango Arts Center, Durango Chamber of Commerce, Farmington Chamber of Commerce, Mancos Chamber of Commerce, Pagosa Springs Chamber of Commerce, Western Publishers Association, National Association of Professional Women Printing Vanguard Printing Subscriptions $25; mail payment to Arts Perspective magazine, P.O. Box 3042, Durango, CO 81302 or call (970) 403-1590 to pay by credit card.

Arts Perspective is an independent magazine published quarterly by Shared Vision Publishing, LLC. ISSN#15546586. Contents are copyrighted, 2010 by Shared Vision Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this print or online publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Queries are accepted.

Articles and letters are welcome; however the publisher is not responsible for unsolicited materials and will not return materials unless accompanied by sufficient return postage. Materials accepted for publication become the property of Arts Perspective and Shared Vision Publishing, LLC. Artists retain all rights to their work. Arts Perspective is not responsible or liable for any misspellings, incorrect dates or information in its captions, calendar, listings or advertisements. Articles and editorial notes represent the views of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of Arts Perspective magazine.

Shared Vision Publishing, LLC 802 E. 2nd Ave., Suite 201 Durango, CO 81301 (970) 403-1590 Publishers of Arts Perspective magazine, Southwest Arts Programs & Directory Services

This issue takes on a new life – both for the magazine and for me. It was one year ago that I took over the publisher’s reigns from founder Heather Leavitt Martinez, and began an incredible journey. My vision for Arts Perspective continues to develop as we showcase and discover just how rich the arts are in Colorado and areas west of the Rocky Mountains.

So the quest begins. While visiting our family in Bryan-College Station, Texas, I went to see Veryl Goodnight’s sculpture, “The Day the Wall Came Down.” Before the trip, Jaime at Goodnight’s gallery in Mancos gave me information to read about this piece. Goodnight’s work reflects freedom, and she stated at its unveiling: “Freedom of the human spirit cannot and will not be contained, and ‘The Day the Wall Came Down’ serves as a reminder to its visitors that there can be victory without violence.” Viewing the sculpture in front of the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, I stood in awe of its beauty and message. I realized just how much art inspires and teaches us about life; hence my vision for this magazine to serve that very purpose.

The Day the Wall Came Down, Veryl Goodnight Enjoy our biggest issue yet, with more feature stories and more advertisers who support us. We are reaching out to new communities as they have reached out to us!

I would also like to extend a very sincere thank you to those who have supported and encouraged me during my first year as publisher of Arts Perspective magazine. I met and began working with Susan Ronn - a wonderful and talented woman - a little over a year ago. This will be her last issue as copy-editor as she moves on to new adventures. It’s been a true pleasure working with her and we wish her many, many more successes!

Thank you all for sharing this journey.

Sincerely,

Denise Leslie

{

}...

Publisher & Editor

Susan Ronn has been copy editor of Arts Perspective for nearly seven years, and has very much enjoyed playing a part in sharing the vision. “Landscape” is the perfect issue for an exit: Walking in the mountains, she makes an unexpected turn, and the Pacific Ocean rolls in as the backdrop for her next adventure. A big thank you to everyone -- past and present -- at Arts Perspective magazine, and especially to Heather and the writers and artists I have grown to know and love.

Lots of kisses blown to our readers and advertisers as well. Susan Ronn is a freelance editor, writer, actor and voice-over artist. Contact her at susan.ronn@gmail.com.

On our cover: WPA Mesa Verde National Parks Poster see Cover Story on page 25

www.ArtsPerspective.com

7

Creede Repertory Theatre

How a small Western town replaced mining with a stage

by Judith Reynolds

Creede, Colorado sits high in the San Juan Mountains near the headwaters of the Rio Grande River. Tucked up against a steep canyon at 8,852 feet above sea level, Creede has had its share of boom-and-bust luck.

In its glory days, Creede swelled to 10,000 citizens, mostly miners in search of quick fortune. The silver panic of 1893 changed all that, and the town almost disappeared before the turn of the century.

Today, Mineral County boasts 800 year-round residents, most living in Creede. They weather the high country’s brutal winters, and more astonishingly, they welcome 20,000 visitors every summer. Why? Creede Repertory Theatre.

Founded in 1966 from a spark of an idea, CRT had a modest beginning. The Creede Junior Chamber of Commerce invited a group of Kansas University drama students to initiate a small theatrical company. Over the years, CRT steadily grew in popularity and reputation. Eventually it attracted professional actors and directors. Regional financial support followed — enough to establish a large patron base that has remained loyal over the years.

Awards started pouring in. Most recently, in February 2010, Creede won the Governor’s Arts Award for its deep and longstanding commitment to all the arts, but especially the world of theatre.

Performing

Now in its 46th season, CRT presents various special events and seven full productions, including an American musical and comedy improv. To many people’s surprise, a second stage has been added this year.

8

Landscape

The idea to add a state-of-the-art performance space hatched in 2006. The company purchased a good-sized mining structure that had been brought down from the mountains into town some years ago. CRT bought the Bob Ford Building in December 2007.

In the late 19th century, Ford achieved considerable fame as the man who shot Jesse James. Thereafter, Ford traded on his toughguy reputation and opened a saloon in Creede. He, in turn, was gunned down. Legend has it that he’s buried in Creede’s hilltop cemetery, but markers no longer exist.

Summer 2011

The purchase and renovation of the Main Street building bearing Ford’s name began with a capital campaign of grants and monies coming from theatre supporters. Gutted, refitted and

“green” throughout, the Second Stage Theatre opens in 2011 with Athol Fugard’s The Road to Mecca.

The space has been designed to be versatile with three possible configurations: traditional presentation style with the stage at one end facing the audience, black box in the round, or thrust stage into the audience. No seat is more than five rows from the playing arena.

LEFT PAGE: Creede, Colorado Willow Creek Canyon with remains of Commordore Mine THIS PAGE: John Arp and Jessica Jackson in the 2011 production of The Ladies Man. Courtesy CRTBrownie. Jonathan Allsup, Operations Managr and his dog Standby. Maurice LaMee, Director.

Two other productions will be mounted at Second Stage for its inauguration: Steven Cole Hughes’ The Bad Man and the improv comedy show, Boomtown.

The musical at the center of the 2011 season will be produced on the Main Stage, two blocks north of the Second Stage.

“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a big show,” CRT Artistic Director Maurice LaMee says. “We’ve done big musicals before with challenging sets and big casts — Urinetown and Crazy For You. This year I wanted to do something larger than life, and How to Succeed is just that. Recently it ran on Broadway with Daniel Radcliffe — to rave reviews. So why not Creede?”

CRT’s Main Stage will also mount Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle, Paul Slade Smith’s Unnecessary Farce, and late in the summer, on August 19, Charles Ludlam’s hilarious The Mystery of Irma Vep will open.

Productions are only part of CRT’s reason for being; LaMee noted that educational programs also serve the remoteness of small towns like Creede. The link is the art of storytelling.

Now in its 28th year, CRT’s Young Audience Outreach Tour takes original shows for kids K-6 on the road September through November.

Titles have included: Grimm Pajamas and Zeus on the Loose, dramatizing fairy tales and myths. Last year the theme was The Presidents! In 2011, the subject is the science of flight and the show is titled: The Wright Stuff.

The touring company travels to five states: Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Oklahoma and Texas, performing last year to 17,000 students in 45 communities. In-school residencies for elementary and junior and senior high schools range from two weeks to two months and involve teachers in the planning.

At home in Creede, the company provides Summer Day Camps for Young Artists. The students work alongside professional actors in classes, build giant street puppets for a town parade and create their own performances. The ultimate goal is a production known as The KID Show. This year it will be held July 27, 30 and August 3.

There’s also a concert series, pre-play lectures, changing art exhibits and one adult acting workshop with members of the company.

For information about the season and all CRT programs, go online to http://www.creederep.org, email info@creederep.com, or call (719) 658-2540. Tickets range from $10 for children up to $32. e Journalist, critic and co-author of Nordenskiöld of Mesa Verde, Judith Reynolds freelances for publications including The Durango Herald. She founded and directs a free lecture series in collaboration with Fort Lewis College. Before moving west, Reynolds was managing editor of an Upstate New York newspaper. Email judithlreynolds@yahoo.com.

www.ArtsPerspective.com

9

A Lifetime of Landscape Seen

by Heather Leavitt Martinez

Just before he shipped out to the war in Korea, his mother took him to the drug store

and purchased a Kodak Pony 135 with instructions to “take some pictures over there.”

Lou Swenson did just that, and has had some type of camera in his hand ever since.

Back in the ‘50s, he photographed onto transparency film. During that period, because processing had to be sent to a lab, a box of his slides was lost during a military reassignment. Gone are the images of Korea and those taken during a two-year tour in Kodiak and Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

Lou spent seven years in the Marines, rising in rank from private to captain, and fifteen years in the Army, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He was stationed in Korea, Alaska, Germany and Vietnam. Stateside tours included California, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, New Jersey, Kansas and Hawaii.

In 1968-69, Lou attended the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Upon graduating, the Army gave him a one-year leave of absence to complete college studies at St. Benedict’s College in Atchison, Kansas. One semester was spent in Kansas City, Missouri, in an urban studies program. With a degree in sociology, he was most interested in photographing the civil unrest brought about by the Vietnam War and the civil rights and black power movements. By then his photographic skills had improved, and Lou was using an M4 Leica.

Visual

Lou photographed the Black Panthers in the spring of 1970.

Their leader was the son of the head of the Black Welfare Rights Organization, who made the introductions necessary for Lou to be able to photograph in a black neighborhood. Lou made good relations and connections with the black community, which helped in getting many images from that period.

After retiring from the Army, Lou took a job doing commercial photography in San Antonio and earned a Master of Photography degree from the Professional Photographers of America. During that time, he opened a photography studio. It was a very expensive undertaking, considering the equipment required, a building lease and a payroll to meet. The studio did well, but after 13 years of photographing everything that came in the door and supporting a payroll of 11, he was worn out and wanted out. Seeking the quiet life, Lou sold the studio and returned to Colorado.

Lou Swenson, Black Panthers

10

Landscape

Summer 2011

With countless miles under his belt, Lou, in addition to capturing today’s social commentary, continues to return to the landscape as his genre. He objects to the clutter society dumps on

Photo: Eric Minh Swenson, www.thuvanarts.com

Though Lou is known for black-andwhite landscapes printed in silver gelatin, his travels and life’s path have allowed him to capture, on film, the social commentary of his time.

the landscape, an occurrence he finds especially true in the West and the Southwest United States.

One of his favorite places to photograph is the Northern Great Plains because of the absence of clutter, the graphic simplicity of the prairie and the quaintness of the small towns. His ancestors came from homesteading and pioneering stock, which draws him to places reminiscent of that era. He was born in the early days of the Great Depression and has fond memories of spending summers doing chores on his grandparents’ homestead.

In the age of pixel graphs, Lou is one of the few remaining confirmed film-enthusiasts who will stick with that tradition.

Affectionately known as “Analog Lou,” he handcrafts each image by burning and dodging, printing from a negative image.

Time and effort well spent, by a man who has captured our lives and landscape over the last half century. e

Lou Swenson, Abandoned Homestead

Lou Swenson, People Power

Lou Swenson now resides in Dolores, Colorado. His work can be found online at http://www.louswenson.com and at Open Shutter Gallery in Durango, Colorado. He has several limited edition collections available, including landscapes, nudes, social commentary, Native American portraiture and architecture. His son, Eric Minh Swenson, filmmaker, produced a series of short films about Lou that can be found online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59-qKtDLbHY. Lou’s daughter, Susan Swenson, is currently capturing the urban landscape and social commentary of London.

Heather Leavitt Martinez, cofounder and former publisher of Arts Perspective magazine, continues to print and write in her studio.

Her photography is available at Open Shutter Gallery, and her serigraphs can be found at There’s No Place Like Home. Her website is http://www.heathermartinez.com.

Lou Swenson, Impending Storm, Shiprock, New Mexico

www.ArtsPerspective.com

11

Literary

Flash Fiction Flash fiction — also referred to as sudden fiction or minimal fiction — is a style of storytelling that focuses on compactness, consistently trying to find a quicker way to answer the question,“How short can a story be and still truly be a story?” In two words, it’s miniature literature.

by David Feela Illustrations by Miki Harder

Bacchus Doesn’t Drink Here Anymore waitress showed me to a table near the window.

The restaurant was empty. The

She seated me, then apologized for the frenzied pace of the evening, rushing off to the kitchen where she claimed something was on the cusp of burning. I picked up the menu and glanced at the list of daily specials. Returning, she looked disheveled, as if she’d just finished wrestling with the chef.

“He ordered take-out once, but complained about the meatballs.”

I didn’t know what else to say; my knowledge of mythology was hampered by a single, poorly taught high school English elective over forty years ago.

“Do you serve ambrosia?”

“That’s our speciality!” she announced, clapping her hands together

“Is everything okay back there in the kitchen?”

“Oh, yes,” she sighed, running one hand through her hair while the other smoothed a few wrinkles out of her skirt. “May I bring you something to drink?”

“What do you recommend?”

“Nectar of the gods.”

I picked up the wine list, scanned it, but nothing going by that name was listed.

“Is this nectar concoction a mixed drink?”

“Oh no, it’s the actual thing.”

I looked up at her, expecting a smile, a giggle, some acknowledgment of the incredulity of what she had just said, but her eyes drifted dreamily toward the ceiling.

“So, what’s in this nectar drink?”

“Gee, I’m not entirely sure, but I know Zeus orders it every time he’s here.”

“Zeus?”

“Yeah, him and Cronus. And the Vestal Virgins, when they’re out on the town, which isn’t that often I’m sorry to say.”

I glanced around the restaurant once more, every table vacant, not a soul aside from the waitress and me.

“Are you trying to tell me the Greek gods eat here?”

“Oh yeah, and the Roman gods, too, but not on the same night.”

I decided to probe a little deeper: “Has Thor been in?”

She glanced around surreptitiously, then leaned close to my ear:

Illustration by Miki Harder

like a water nymph that’s just had a shower.

“I’ll have a mug of your nectar, then, a plate of ambrosia and a side of french fries.”

Mythological food is fine, if one has an appetite for it, but a little fat can get a person through the leaner times. e

David Feela is a recently retired high school English teacher, poet and freelance writer. His works have appeared in hundreds of regional and national publications since 1974, as well as in over a dozen anthologies. His poetry collection, The Home Atlas, is currently available. Contact David at feelasophy@hotmail.com.

12

Landscape

Summer 2011

www.ArtsPerspective.com

13

Flash FIction, continued from page 12

Greetings From the

Art World

Literary

Illustration by Miki Harder

Raising the Bar, Dimming The Lights

Illustration by Miki Harder

The reviews were lavish. Gallery owners swooned at the thought of hanging just one of her paintings.

She was Picasso without the blues, Van Gogh with both ears. She was Frida flat on her back without the dark shadow of Rivera looming over her bed.

Her art sold so well she began to suspect something was wrong. Maybe she hadn’t suffered sufficiently.

Maybe she’d rushed through her experimental phase and produced no embarrassing body of early work.

Sadly, as an artist, she was just too good.

Flash Fiction 14

Far, far away from Earth, on a tiny planet called her brain, the artist picked up a paintbrush with her left hand, while holding a cup of coffee in her right. A dollop of hot coffee splashed onto her left wrist. She winced and inadvertently spattered a glob of cool, blue paint onto her canvas. The school of Unnaturalism was born.

Its main tenet held that any idiot could be trained to paint with the hand that felt natural.

Order, discipline, knowledge and technique rule through that hand.

But the opposite hand is even more powerful, for it contains everything that’s hidden and unexpressed. By duct-taping her paintbrush to her left

Landscape

Summer 2011

wrist (the hand, she claimed, wasn’t strong enough to grip the brush on its own), the school’s founding mother produced work that only vaguely reminded critics of her former paintings, as if her masterpieces had been copied by a six-year-old.

Unnaturalism attracted immediate followers. A few artists faked awkwardness by painting badly with their good hands, but their talent showed through. One ambidextrous watercolorist had almost given up trying to be a part of the new school when he discovered the practice of duct-taping his brush to one – really, either – of his feet. A reviewer whimsically mused that “the boy had finally managed to get his foot in the door.”

Not until a lecherous old fart, who dabbled in acrylics, decided that sexual energy could be better expressed by taping a brush to his penis did the movement of Unnaturalism lose purchase with critics. The public was actually afraid to turn out to view his openings.

The movement had come full circle in just one year. But art is like that – a passionate attempt to hold a vision perfectly still and to render it faithfully without arousing suspicion. e

“I’m Mrs. Jacobs, Jacob’s mom,” she announced as she reached to shake my hand. “I’m here to check on his behavior in your English class.”

She smiled, her bright, artificially whitened and perfectly spaced teeth reminding me of a movie star.

“Mrs. Jacobs,” I said, “so good to meet you, come in and sit down.”

Her extreme pleasantness made me wonder what she had in mind.

She followed me into the classroom, scanning the movie posters I’d stuck to the walls. As we sat, she pointed to the slightly racy photo of Gwyneth Paltrow from a 1998 release of Great Expectations.

“I see you’re watching Dickens. How do your students like it?”

“Oh, they find the plot a little complicated, but not half as challenging as the black-and-white, 1946 Alec Guinness version.”

She sighed, her unspoken criticism of my methods now surfacing like a bubble in a witch’s cauldron.

“I’d heard from Jacob your classes are required to watch the same book twice.

Do you think that’s wise?”

“It helps the students focus, to see another perspective.”

Mrs. Jacobs stood, her finger starting to wag in my face.

Raising the Bar, Dimming The Lights Continued from previous page

“What’s the point if they’ve already seen it? You know, at home, Jacob has an extensive collection, including the classics. He loves watching books. I’d hate for school to ruin that.”

I let the silence after her rant fill the room, then stood to meet her glare.

“Mrs. Jacobs, this is a college prep course. If Jacob can’t handle the extra work, well, maybe he should transfer to a Twitter class. Next week we’ll be watching Keira Knightley’s 2005 rendition of Pride and Prejudice, followed by Colin Firth’s portrayal of Darcy in the 1995 release, and then the 1980 five-part BBC miniseries.

If there’s time before midterms, we’ll take in the Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier production. It did, after all, receive the 1940 Academy Award for Best Art Direction, despite its unfaithfulness to the actual book.”

Mrs. Jacobs could tell I knew my stuff, and she backed down.

“I’m sorry,” she said more quietly. “I guess I got carried away, but I worry so much Jacob will get confused and end up hating movies.”

She reached to wipe a tear away. I handed her a tissue.

“I’m sorry, too,” I said, “but don’t worry so much. Jacob isn’t likely to get confused. He sleeps through most of class.”

“Really?” Mrs. Jacobs brightened.

“You aren’t just saying that to make me feel better?”

“No, it’s true. He even snores a little.”

We both laughed a bit, the tension easing. By the time Mrs. Jacobs left, she knew I was right, that nobody truly appreciates a good book the first time he sees it. e

Old

World

Elegance

The photo in the magazine glowed with the kind of luxury reserved for families of wealth, a financial torch passed down for generations with nobody getting burned, so I made my reservation, two nights, and asked if they offered an AARP discount.

The voice at the other end of the line had a distinct British accent, and he asked me to repeat my request.

“AARP discount,” I repeated.

He said he’d never heard of such a thing, that it sounded a bit guttural for their hotel, and that maybe I’d prefer one of those new hotel chains with refrigerators and microwaves in every room.

“No, I’ll stick with you,” I said, and he said, “Very well.”

He could have said, “Very good,” but his language – a sign of breeding – assured me I had made the right choice.

When I arrived, no uniformed valet greeted me, which seemed odd. I parked the car and walked into the lobby.

The check-in desk wasn’t really a desk, but an old, three-drawer dresser beside a wooden stool.

“Very antiquey,” I said to the receptionist.

“Pardon me?” she said.

“I was just commenting on the old-world elegance of your furnishings.”

She glanced down, shoved a sock back into its drawer.

“I beg your pardon,” she said, a twinge of embarrassment flushed in her cheeks. “Do you have any luggage?”

“I left it in the car,” I said.

She reached into another drawer and retrieved an oak paddle, which she slammed against the dresser. Immediately a little girl clad in rags

Illustration by Miki Harder

emerged from behind a curtained doorway where, it appeared, she’d been sleeping.

“Get the gentleman’s bags!” the receptionist shouted, as she swatted the girl’s backside with the board.

“No, really, I’ll carry them myself. They’re actually quite heavy,” I said.

The little girl glanced back toward her keeper like one of those orphans you see in drawings illustrating a Dickens novel.

“Very well,” the woman said and the urchin disappeared behind the curtain.

I climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, toting my suitcases. A sign on the elevator read “Out of order” and the creaking stairs reminded me of a Bronte novel, though I can’t say which one, those sisters arranged in my mind like identical hotel-room doors.

I located 432 at the end of the hall, and as I reached for my key somebody inside the room coughed. I knocked.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I thought this room was mine.”

The same little girl pulled the door wide and ushered me through with a gesture.

I surveyed the room with a sweeping glance while she went back to sweeping the floor.

A wooden palate in the corner with fresh straw spread across it, a bucket turned upside down beside a bigger bucket with a lid, like a crude, unsteady table, and a pitcher of water.

I had stepped into another century, and my luggage standing in the hall looked so out of place I decided to leave it.

I closed the door. A stench from the street came up through an open window.

If I could survive for two days without festering boils and a fever, I’d have to consider this little getaway one of my most memorable. e

www.ArtsPerspective.com

15

Summer 2011Art Events Calendar Free Art Event Listings are subject to editorial revision to accommodate space and AP Style Guidelines. Limited space is available on a first come, first serve basis. Email editor@sharedvisiononline.com by August 1, 2011

JUNE

Jun-Jul Crazy for Color Reception: Jun 10, 5-9 p.m.

Artifacts Gallery, Farmington, NM (505) 327-2907 http://www.artifacts-gallery.com Jun-Aug, 1 pm Summer of Sundays Durango CO (970) 247-0212 http://www.trimblehotsprings.com Jun-Aug 7, 7:30 p.m.

I Capture the Castle Creede Reperatory Theatre, Creede CO (719) 658-2540 http://www.creederep.org Jun-Aug Tea Bowls and Tea Vessels Jun 1-30 Scott and Kay Roberts, Clay artists Jul 1-31 Joe Kroenung, Clay artist Aug 1-31 Adam Fields, Clay artist The White Dragon Good Feelings Tearoom and Gallery, Durango CO (970) 769-1022 Jun-Jul 9 Gateway to Imagination Farmington Museum, Farmington NM (505) 599-1174. http://www.farmingtonmuseum.org

http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com Jun 16-Jul 17 Sylvia Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts Pagosa Springs CO (970) 731-SHOW http://www.pagosacenter.org

Jun 3-27 Peggy Cloy, Artist Reception: June 3, 6-9 p.m.

Arborena Contemporary Art Gallery & Wine Bar, Mancos, CO (970) 533-1381 http://www.arborena.com

Jun 16-19, 10 p.m.

Telluride Bluegrass Festival Peter Rowan, Béla Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Edgar Meyer, Tim O’Brien, Emmylou Harris, and of course the Sam Bush (800) 624-2422 http://www.bluegrass.com/telluride

Jun 5, 4-7 p.m.

Summer Music Larry and Les Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com

Jun 17 Women Passionate About Art Sharona Brown,Pati Helmick, Judy Morgan, Maryellen Morrow, Mary Lou Murray Reception: 4-8 p.m.

Antiques & Art on Main, Durango CO (970) 375-0101

Jun 9, 7 p.m.

Contemporary Examples of Ancestral Puebloan Arts & Crafts at Hopi Joseph Day Far View Lodge, Mesa Verde National Park Cortez CO (970) 529-4465 http://www.nps.gov/meve Jun 10, 5-9 p.m.

Summer Art Walk Farmington, NM (505) 599-1419 http://www.farmingtonmuseum.org

Jun-Jul 29, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

TGIF Orchard Park, Farmington NM (505) 599-1419. http://www.farmingtonmuseum.org Jun-Sept Ouray Art Walk 2nd Saturday of each month http://www.dreamtimearts.org/gallery/ourayartwalk Jun 2-30 Tasting Reality Carl Marcus, photography Reception: June 2, 5-8 p.m.

Ah Haa School for the Arts, Telluride CO (970) 728-3886 http://www.ahhaa.org Jun 2-31 Mancos Mix Reception: Jun 3, 5-7 p.m.

Featuring music by The Vixen, Cortez Cultural Center, Cortez CO (970) 565-1151 http://www.cortezculturalcenter.org

Jun 3, 4-8 p.m.

WET: An Art Exhibition River Style 846 Main Avenue Studio 219 Durango CO (970) 759-8404 mccarsonjones@hotmail.com

Jun 10-Aug 13, 7:30 p.m.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Creede Reperatory Theatre, Creede CO (719) 658-2540 http://www.creederep.org Jun 10, 8 p.m.

Langhorne Slim in Concert: Country Folk Rock Band Sheridan Opera House, Telluride CO (970) 728-6363 http://www.SheridanOperaHouse.com Jun 11-Aug 27, 6 p.m.

Summer Terrace Series (505) 599-1174 http://www.farmingtonmuseum.org Jun 11, 7:01 p.m.

There’s No Place Like Home Durango Barbershoppers Community Concert Hall @ FLC (970) 799-3724 http://www.durangobarbershoppers.org Jun 12, 4-7 p.m.

Summer Music Mad Haggis Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879

16

Landscape

Summer 2011

Jun 17 Three Springs Plaza Pics How to Train Your Dragon Three Springs Plaza, Durango CO http://threespringsdurango.com Jun 16-19 Film: Small Town Murder Songs The Back Space Theatre, Durango CO (970) 259-7940 http://thebackspacetheatre.org Jun 19, 4-7 p.m.

Summer Music “Matt Rupnow & Jerry Diesada” Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com Jun 21 Fee Free Day - The First Day of Summer at Mesa Verde National Park Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez CO (970) 529-4465 http://www.nps.gov/meve Jun 22-26 Telluride Wine Festival Telluride CO (212) 766-4335 http://telluridewinefestival.com Jun 23, 7 p.m.

Mr. Douglas, Ms. Curtis and Nampeyo - the Origins of the Denver Art Museum Richard Clemmer Crow Canyon Archaeological Center Cortez CO (970) 564-4385 http://www.crowcanyon.org

Jun 23-Aug 6, Thurs-Sat, 8 p.m.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Sandstone Productions Lions Wilderness Park, Farmington NM. http://www.fmtn.org/sandstone.

Jun 24, 6-8 p.m.

Featured Artist Night “Jackie Wiebe” Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com Jun 24, 5 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

Fridays @ the Fort Goes Downtown Presented by Community Concert Hall @ Fort Lewis College Kirk James Blues Band and the Plateros Downtown Durango 11th & Main (970) 247-7657 http://www.durangoconcerts.org June 24, 7 p.m.

Trio Solisti 4-H Event Center, Ridgeway CO http://www.ocpag.org Jun 24-Sept 10, 7:30 p.m.

Unnecessary Farce Creede Reperatory Theatre, Creede CO (719) 658-2540 http://www.creederep.org Jun 25, 12-8 p.m.

Northern New Mexico Music Festival Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com Jun 26, 1 p.m.

Barriers Canyon Style & Ancient Paints of the Colorado Plateau David Sucec Anasazi Heritage Center, Dolores CO (970) 882-5624 Jun 26, 4-7 p.m.

Summer Music “Inside Straight” Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com Jun 28-Jul 4 8th Annual Telluride Plein Air Artists Painting in Telluride: Jun 28-Jul 2 Quick Draw Competition and Sale: Jul 1, 5:30-7 p.m.

Artists Choice Gala Premiere and Silent Auction: July 2, 5-8 p.m.

Plein Air Art Sale: Jul 3-4, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Jun 29, 7 p.m.

Heather McGaughy Children’s Summer Theatre Lions Wilderness Park, Farmington NM (877) 599-3331 http://www.fmtn.org/sandstone

JULY

Jul 1-30 Hats Off to Art TRWC Art Center & In Cahoots! Gallery Reception: Jul 1, 5-7 p.m.

(505) 716-7660 http://www.threeriverswomen.com Jul 1-31 Karen Kristin, Artist Reception: Jul 1, 6-9 p.m.

Arborena Contemporary Art Gallery & Wine Bar, Mancos, CO (970) 533-1381 http://www.arborena.com Jul- 1-31 Southwest Art League Exhibition Cortez Cultural Center, Cortez CO (970) 565-1151 http://www.cortezculturalcenter.org Jul 2, 8 p.m.

Jason D. Williams in Concert: Rockabilly Blues Band Sheridan Opera House, Telluride CO (970) 728-6363 http://www.SheridanOperaHouse.com Jul 2 & 3 Traditional Hopi Dances by the Lomayestewa Family Far View Lodge, Mesa Verde National Park Cortez CO (970) 529-4465 http://www.nps.gov/meve Jul 3-Aug 14 Crested Butte Music Festival Performers this summer include Award winning musicians and musical legends like Boston Brass, The Kingston Trio and the American String Quartet (970) 349-0619 http://www.crestedbuttemusicfestival.com Jul 3, 4-7 p.m.

Free Summer Music “Dan Lambert Duo” Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com Jul 5-29 Clay & Sculpture Barbara Conrad Gallery Durango Arts Center, Durango, CO (970) 259-2606 http://durangoarts.org Jul 7, 5-7:30 p.m.

Delightfully Durango Book Signing: McCarson L. Jones 862 Main Avenue Studio 219 Durango CO (970) 759-8404 Jul 7-15 Watercolor and Fiber Arts Rob Schultheis & Nancy Craft Daniel Tucker Gallery Ah Haa School for the Arts, Telluride CO (970) 728-3886 http://www.ahhaa.org Jul 8-Sept 10, Fri & Sat, 8 p.m.

Greater Tuna Durango Arts Center, Durango, CO (970) 259-2606 http://durangoarts.org Jul 8 And She Made Quilts: The Women of San Juan County, New Mexico, 1890 - 1950 Connie Nordstrom Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Cortez CO (970) 564-4385 http://www.crowcanyon.org

Jul 8 Three Springs Plaza Pics Despicable Me Three Springs Plaza, Durango CO http://threespringsdurango.com Jul 8-Sept 22, 7:30 p.m.

The Road to Mecca Creede Reperatory Theatre, Creede CO (719) 658-2540 http://www.creederep.org Jul 9 6th Annual Animas River Blues Festival Riverside Park, Aztec NM http://www.animasblues.com (505) 330-4616 Jul 9-10 Bluegrass In Paradise Crested Butte Mountain Resort Crested Butte, CO Gypsy Jazz Social Club/ Head for the Hills, Town Mountain, Sierra Hully & Highway 111, Seldom Scene, Ralph Stanley & His Clinch Mountain Boys, Honey Don’t, The Josh Williams Band, Nashville Bluegrass Band, Keller & The Keels, The Kruger Brothers, Drew Emmitt & The Paradise All-Star Band http://www.bluegrassinparadise.com July 9-31 Music in the Mountains http://www.musicinthemountains.com (970) 382-6820 July 11, 7:30 p.m. Celebration of Strings July 12, 7:30 p.m. Conservatory Parade July 13, 7 p.m. Latin Jazz Mambo Kings July 14, 7 p.m. ¡Tango! Chamber Concert July 15, p.m. Philadelphia Boys Choir July 16, 5 p.m. Poetic Elegance Chamber July 17, 5 p.m. Gypsy Airs Chamber Orchestra July 18-20, 7:30 p.m. Next Generation July 20, 5:30 p.m. Pops Night Benefit Dinner & Concert July 21, 7 p.m. Harmonic Adventure Chamber July 22, 7 p.m. Stringfever July 23, 2 p.m. Conservatory Gala Concert July 24, 5 p.m. Passionate Masters Festival Orchestra July 25, 7 p.m. Delectable Duo July 26, 7:30 p.m. Conservatory Faculty Concert July 27 & 29, 7:30 p.m. Next Generation July 28, 7 p.m. Trio Chamber Concert July 29, 5:30 p.m. Steamworks Beer Tasting July 30, 5 p.m. Romantic Fantasy Festival Orchestra July 31, 5 p.m. Anniversary Fanfare Festival Orchestra Jul 10, 4-7pm Free Summer Music “Jazz Is” Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com Jul 10, 5-9 p.m.

Shay M. Lopez: A Tale of Twists, Truths & Tracings.

Studio & http://www.anddurango.com Jul 10, 8 p.m.

Anthem in Concert: 70’s Rock Tribute Band Sheridan Opera House, Telluride CO (970) 728-6363 http://www.SheridanOperaHouse.com Jul 10-Aug 21 Artists of the West Elks Summer Arts Festival Sundays, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Crested Butte CO

Participating Artist, J.Potter, Back Country Pool

Over forty members of the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters and invited guests will be in the Pagosa Springs area for the 10th National Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters Show. Wild Spirit Gallery is hosting the event from July 27 - August 7.

Artists will be in the area painting the exquisite scenery; all paintings will be new.

The opening reception begins at 5 p.m. Friday, August 5, with artists in attendance.

A Quick Draw on Saturday, August 6 commences at 11 a.m., with the sale at 1 p.m. “Pagosa Springs really is a hidden treasure of Colorado’s high country,” says RMPAP President Stephen C. Datz. “Wild Spirit Gallery and the community have responded with tremendous enthusiasm. With such a warm welcome, and the wealth of gorgeous subject matter in the area, I have no doubt that our 10th Anniversary event will be one of our best ever.” For more information, call (970) 264-9453 or go to http://www.wildspiritgallery.com.

Jun 10-Sept 24, 7:45 p.m.

Durango Melodrama & Vaudeville The Pursuit of Happiness & After Dark (970) 375-7160 http://www.durangomelodrama.com

Jul 18 Blind Pilot in Concert: Indie Folk Band Sheridan Opera House, Telluride CO (970) 728-6363 http://www.SheridanOperaHouse.com

Jul 11-17, 8:00 p.m.

Telluride Playwright’s Festival Sheridan Opera House, Telluride CO (970) 728-6363 http://www.SheridanOperaHouse.com

Jul 20-24 Crested Butte Wine & Food Festival Crested Butte CO (720) 375-5241 http://www.crestedbuttewine.com

Jul 15, 7 p.m.

A: shiwi A:wan Ulohnanne: The Zuni World James Enote Far View Lodge, Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez CO (970) 529-4465 http://www.nps.gov/meve

Jul 21, 5-9 p.m.

Tess Jordan: Privacy and Publicity Studio & http://www.anddurango.com

Jul 15, 7 p.m.

Philadelphia Boys Choir & Chorale, Silver and Gold Celebration Presented by Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College and Music in the Mountains (970)385-6820 http://www.durangoconcerts.orgxz July 15-Aug 26, 10:30 p.m.

Boomtown: Improv Comedy at CRT Creede Reperatory Theatre, Creede CO (719) 658-2540 http://www.creederep.org Jul 17, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Wine & Shine Classic Car Show Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com Jul 17, 4-7 p.m.

Free Summer Music “Keith Cochrane and the San Juan College Band” Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com

Jul 21 - 23 Telluride Americana Music Fest Wednesday: VIP party - Ashleigh Flynn Thursday: Bruce and Charlie Robison Friday: The Trishas and The Greencards Saturday: Carrie Elkin & Danny Schmidt and Radney Foster Sheridan Opera House, Telluride CO http://www.tellurideamericana.com Jul 22, 5 p.m.

19th Annual Ah Haa School 007 Art Auction Ah Haa School for the Arts, Telluride CO (970) 728-3886 http://www.ahhaa.org July 23, 9 a.m.-9 p.m.

9th Annual Indian Market & Festival Berg Park, Farmington NM (505) 947-3332 Jul 24, 8 p.m.

Deer Tick Sheridan Opera House, Telluride CO (970) 728-6363 http://www.SheridanOperaHouse.com

www.ArtsPerspective.com

17

Jul 27-Aug 4 Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters Show Reception: Aug 5, 5-8 p.m.

Quick Draw: Aug 6, 11 a.m Reception: Aug 6, 5-8 p.m.

Show and Sale: Aug 7, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Jul 27 - Aug 31 Shelley Horton Trippe, Artist Travelling Suitcase Review Rochester Hotel, Durango CO (800) 664-1920 http://www.rochesterhotel.com Jul 27, 7 p.m.

Heather McGaughy Children’s Summer Theatre Lions Wilderness Park, Farmington NM (877) 599-3331 http://www.fmtn.org/sandstone Jul 29 Three Springs Plaza Pics Grease Three Springs Plaza, Durango CO http://threespringsdurango.com Jul 28-Aug 28 A Year with Frog & Toad Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts Pagosa Springs CO 970-731-SHOW http://www.pagosacenter.org Jul 29, 5 p.m.-7 p.m.

Fridays @ the Fort Robby Overfield and D.L. Marble Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College (970)247-7657 http://www.durangoconcerts.org

Jul 31-Aug. 5 51st Artists’ Alpine Holiday Art Show Exhibition: Jul 29-30, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.

Quick Draw Challenge: Jul 30, 10 a.m.

Quick Draw Art Auction: Jul 30, 7 p.m.

Exhibition: Jul 31-Aug 5, 10 a.m. - 7p.m.

Exhibition: Aug 6, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Ouray Community Center, Ouray CO (970) 626-3212 http://www.ourayarts.org

AUGUST

Aug-Sept Bits and Pieces Reception: Aug 12, 5-8 p.m.

Artifacts Gallery, Farmington, NM (505)327-2907 http://www.artifacts-gallery.com Aug 1-31 “Mother and Sons” Paintings, Poetry, Sculpture and more!

Jean Nuttall,Ted Nuttall, Joe Nuttall Reception: Aug.6, 5-7 p.m.

Cortez Cultural Center, Cortez CO (970)-565-1151 http://www.cortezculturalcenter.org Aug 2-Sept 2 Muses: Life’s Inspirations: Front Range Contemporary Quilters Barbara Conrad Gallery Durango Arts Center, Durango, CO (970) 259-2606 http://durangoarts.org Aug 4-26 Acrylic Landscapes Elaine Fischer Daniel Tucker Gallery Ah Haa School for the Arts, Telluride CO (970) 728-3886 http://www.ahhaa.org Aug 5-7, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

39th Crested Butte Arts Festival Crested Butte CO (970) 349-1184 http://www.crestedbutteartfestival.com Aug 5-7 Telluride Jazz Celebration Tower of Power, Taylor Hicks, Allen Toussaint, Rita Coolidge and Paquito D’Rivera.

Town Park, Telluride CO http://www.telluridejazz.org Aug 5-29 Brenda Grajeda, Artist Reception: Aug 5, 6-9 p.m.

Arborena Contemporary Art Gallery & Wine Bar, Mancos, CO (970) 533-1381 http://www.arborena.com August 7, 4-7 .p.m Free Summer Music “Eric Kiefer” Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com

Ouray Art Walk Jun-Sept, 2nd Saturday of each month

Nestled in the breathtaking San Juan Mountains, the little town of Ouray is an art Mecca, filled with charming fine art galleries and bustling studios. It offers a wide variety of unique local and international arts and crafts.

Jul 31, 4-7 p.m.

Free Summer Music “It’s Jose” Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com

18

Landscape

Aug12-14 Gypsy Jazz In Paradise Presented by Crested Butte Music Festival and DjagoFest™ (970) 349-0619 http://www.crestedbuttemusicfestival.com August 12, 7 p.m.

Rediscovering the Colored Walls of the Ancestral Puebloans of Mesa Verde Frank Matero Far View Lodge, Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez CO (970) 529-4465 http://www.nps.gov/meve August 12 - Sept 7 Exposure 2nd Annual Juried Exhibition Open Shutter Gallery, Durango CO (970) 382-8355 http://www.openshuttergallery.com

Summer 2011

Aug 12-Sept 24, 7:30 p.m.

The Bad Man Creede Reperatory Theatre, Creede CO (719) 658-2540 http://www.creederep.org Aug 13 Mushroom & Wine Fest Durango Mountain Resort (970) 247-9000 http://www.durangomountainresort.com Aug 13, 8 p.m.

Eric Brace & Peter Cooper with Phil Lee in Concert: Country Americana Trio Sheridan Opera House, Telluride CO (970) 728-6363 http://www.SheridanOperaHouse.com Aug 13-14, 9:30 a.m.

Salida Riverside Fine Arts Festival Riverside Park, Salida CO http://www.salidaartfestival.com Aug 13-14 Ridgway Rendezvous Arts & Craft Festival Ridgway CO (970) 318-0150 http://www.weehawkenarts.org Aug 13-14, 20-21 Hopi Glassblowing Far View Terrace, Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez CO (970) 529-4465 http://www.nps.gov/meve August 14, 4-7 p.m.

Free Summer Music “Mel Archuleta & Roy Gallegos” Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com Aug 17, 7:30 pm Robert Earl Keen Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College (970) 247-7657 http://www.durangoconcerts.org Aug 20, 5-9 p.m.

A One Night Show Clint Reid, Nancy Harris, Aubrey Prigge, Rosie Carter, Bethany Bachmann, Becca Whitehead Studio & and Serving Life Chiropractic http://www.anddurango.com Aug 18-21 Great Rocky Mountain Brass Band Festival Kendall Mountain Recreation Area Silverton CO (970) 799-3896 Aug 19-Sept 23, 7:30 p.m.

The Mystery of Irma Vep Creede Reperatory Theatre, Creede CO (719) 658-2540 http://www.creederep.org August 20 St. Rose Fiesta Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com Aug 20, 3-7 p.m.

Art in the Garden Festival Chris Mountain Ranch, Pagosa Springs CO marykathryn@centurytel.net Aug 20, 3-8 p.m.

Super Amazing Art Show & Sale: Part THREE Cindy Coleman, Miki Harder, Elizabeth Kinahan, Amy Vaclav-Felker 537 Jackrabbit Trail, Durango CO (970)-385-0409 www.duckgirlart.com/exhibits.html August 21, 4-7 p.m.

Free Summer Music “Rick Hatfield” Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com Aug 26 Verde Vintners Dinner Far View Lodge, Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez CO (970) 529-4465 http://www.nps.gov/meve

Aug 26, 5-7:30 p.m.

2 Man Show Jewelry designer Ben Nighthorse and Bronze Sculptor Gerald Balciar Sorrel Sky Gallery, Durango CO (970) 247-3555 http://www.sorrelsky.com Aug 26, 5-7 p.m.

Fridays @ the Fort Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College (970) 247-7657 http://www.durangoconcerts.org August 26, 6-8 p.m.

WSJ Photography Show Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com Aug 27, 7:30 p.m.

Kenya Safari Acrobats Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College (970)247-7657 http://www.durangoconcerts.org Aug 27 – Oct 1 Toyed With : An Annual Juried Photography Exhibition Open Shutter Gallery, Durango CO (970) 739-3200 http://www.toyedwithphoto.com Aug 28 Silverton Jamboree Kendal Mountain Recreation Center Silverton CO http://silvertonjamboree.com August 28, 4-7 .p.m Free Summer Music “10 Day Band” Wines of the San Juan, Blanco NM (505) 632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com

SEPTEMBER

September 1-12 Moab Music Festival Moab UT http://www.moabmusicfest.org Sept 1-30 e-Motion Nicole Finger Daniel Tucker Gallery Ah Haa School for the Arts, Telluride CO http://www.ahhaa.org Sept 9-18 Open Doors – A Taster Exhibition for Durango Open Studios Barbara Conrad Gallery Durango Arts Center, Durango CO http://www.durangoopenstudios.com Sept 9 Gallery Night Downtown Durango CO Sept 9 - Oct 19 Krodachrome: Images by Steve McCurry Open Shutter Gallery, Durango CO (970) 382-8355 http://www.openshuttergallery.com Sept 9-25 Durango Showcase of the Arts Durango CO http://www.durangoshowcaseofthearts.org Sept 17-18 Durango Autumn Arts Festival Durango CO http://www.durangoarts.org Sept 23, 5:30 p.m.

TOP Fashion Show Live and silent auctions Durango Arts Center, Durango CO http://www.durangoarts.org Sept 29-Oct 2 First Annual Crested Butte Film Festival Crested Butte CO http://cbfilmfest.org

www.ArtsPerspective.com

19

20

Landscape

Summer 2011

‘This Land Was Made for You and Me’:

Shelley Horton-Trippe and Scott Ardis take their art and compassion on the road

by Stew Mosberg

and depression-era homeless filled makeshift tent cities, the words of troubadours such as Jimmy Rogers and Woody Guthrie provided hope and encouragement, and, most of all, understanding. Through their music, art and elegiac poetry, they and others, including John Steinbeck and Dorothea Lange, lamented the woes of America’s vagabonds and displaced families.

In something of a reprise, multi-talented, highly acclaimed Santa Fe artist Shelley HortonTrippe has taken to the road in a converted 1961 Airstream and teamed up with musician Scott Ardis in a project entitled FOLKyTONK. Their goal is “to discover, document, entertain and collaborate with families who have lost jobs and homes, as well as the American Dream.”

FOLKyTONK had its beginnings around campfires in the La Plata Mountains, on a series of camping trips during which, the artist says, “We began working on visual and musical projects reflective of these modern-day, hard times. We met people who had lost everything — their houses foreclosed and no place to live but in the national parks — and decided this audience needed some recognition, some inspiration.”

After that initial experience, she and Ardis further developed the project by combining music and performance art and putting on shows at various locations in Santa Fe, including last summer’s SITE Santa Fe Biennial.

In order to finance the idea and expand its reach, they started writing grant proposals and doing performance pieces in museums and record stores, on street corners and at a few house parties. Additional funding comes through artists’ stipends and private donations from individuals who find the work valuable, and they pass the hat during shows. Horton-Trippe and Ardis have also aligned with several nonprofit organizations so they fall under a wider umbrella. Ironically, while the premise of FOLKyTONK was, and is, to entertain the financially downtrodden, finding funds for the venture has been very difficult, and a good part of the pairs’ time is spent seeking grant money.

Ardis, his steel-blue eyes peering out from under a straw cowboy hat, clarifies further by stating, “There’s a whole new situation in motion [in this country] — people are on the edge.”

Some years back, Scott Ardis, then known as T.W.Man, hosted a radio program in Durango and also founded the original Montessori school in town. The school started in 1986 with just six children and grew to approximately 70 before Ardis gave it up to pursue his passion for music.

FOLKyTONK’s video, performance and roots music experiment seeks to redefine community and examine class structure. The video portion of the show was undoubtedly inspired by Nam June Paik, the acclaimed originator of the medium, with whom HortonTrippe studied in Paris. Paik was an accomplished musician himself; therefore, so it is quite possible that talent influenced Horton-Trippe’s current musical venture as well.

As a visual artist, Shelley HortonTrippe has exhibited in Europe and the United States, and at the Edinburgh Festival and Venice Biennale. A resident of Santa Fe, she has been awarded endowments from New Mexico Arts and is a four-time recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. She previously taught painting and drawing at the College of Santa Fe and Santa Fe Community College and has conducted pastel workshops in Durango. photo: Dan Baldesari

While she creates art in a variety of mediums and styles, her landscape art is most often treated in the abstract.

Continued on page 23

Visual & Performing

Back in the days of hobo and migrant worker camps, when the dust bowl

photo of the San Juans by Scott Griggs

www.ArtsPerspective.com

21

22

Landscape

Summer 2011

FOLKyTONK, continued from page 21

“I paint a specific place, at a certain time of day, in an exact season of a particular year,” says the artist. “It’s so much about the moment when you’re remembering a situation. Maybe you want to capture it because you would like for it to last forever, yet you know it’s going to pass very quickly.

There’s a sense of knowing that the sublime is so fleeting, and because of that, there’s an underlying melancholy.”

At the end of July or beginning of August, Horton-Trippe will be exhibiting close to 30 works of art at the Rochester Hotel in Durango.

The exhibition of her voyage-themed art is called Travelling Suitcase Review and will be accompanied by a display of the Rochester Hotel’s collection of antique suitcases. Plans call for a performance by FOLKyTONK in the hotel’s courtyard sometime during the same period as the art show.

One fascinating coincidence of their visit to Durango is the connection the Rochester Hotel has with previous itinerant performer-artists. According to Diane Wildfang, owner of the hotel, during the county’s early mining days, actors and other entertainers often stayed at the Rochester when they were performing on the other side of the pass, in Silverton.

FOLKyTONK’s music is an amalgam of honky tonk and folk, hence the name, but pays homage to earlier songs by Rogers and Guthrie, as well as songs by the “Hanks,” as in Williams, Snow and Thompson, country western stars of the 1950s. The shows also include music once performed by the Carter Family.

Still in its infancy, the FOLKyTONK traveling show has been visiting campsites in Utah, Arizona and Colorado, and in the twosome’s original meeting place of Oklahoma. They have an opportunity to take the concept abroad, and with the keen interest in Americana and 1950s rock-and-roll, places such as France’s Champagne region, to which they have been invited, are already in their sights.

While they seek venues, Horton-Trippe teaches art to private clients around the country, and she and Ardis are close to completing a CD of their music and enhancing their website.

Recounting the intention of FOLKyTONK, Ardis says, “Our interest is the uplifting of people through airstream photo: Miranda frivolity, the rediscovery of a historic subculture, and an appreciation of simple pleasures.”

So many years after the great depression, it is ironic that Ardis and Horton-Trippe have found so many homeless and struggling families living in camping sites and national parks. The world’s present economic woes are reflected in the words of Guthrie’s music. The refrains and chorus of his signature song are still apt when speaking of welfare offices, the grumbling of the downtrodden and of those who wonder now, as they did then, if this land is still made for you and me. e Stew Mosberg is a freelance writer living in Bayfield. He has been an arts publisher and journalist and has written two books on design. His email address is wrtrf@aol.com.

www.ArtsPerspective.com

23

WPA-Style Posters Reflect Mesa Verde Landscape

by Leanne Goebel

The look is iconic.

Cover Story

Clean, simple lines. Layers of color with black-and-white details and sans-serif fonts, a modern merging of cubism and geometric abstraction. The look is monumental. Small works of art writ large by compositional devices such as centricity, axial symmetry, diagonals and overlapping. The look is the graphic poster style of the Works Progress Administration, a work relief program instituted by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal Administration in 1935.

24

“how-to” manual for the poster divisions and traveled extensively advising FAP artists.

It is likely that Velonis traveled to California where 13 National Parks subscribed to the WPA Federal Poster Project. National Park posters were silk screened between 1938 and 1941 at the Western Museum Laboratories in Berkley, California, which produced interactive displays for the parks as well.

It was the image of Jenny Lake at Grand Teton National Park that first caught the attention of Doug Leen (also known as Ranger Doug) in 1973. The young park ranger was on clean-up duty, clearing Following the Great Depression, nearly 30 percent of the able out an old horse stall at Beaver Creek, workforce in the United States had no when he noticed the poster hanging job to go to and no paycheck coming by a nail on a crossbeam. He asked his in. The WPA provided more than eight boss if he could have it, neither of them million jobs over eight years to carry realizing it was a rare, original WPA out public work projects, from building National Park poster. The poster hung in roads to operating large arts, drama, Leen’s Seattle home for 20 years before media and literacy projects. Almost every the director of the Grand Teton Natural community in the U.S. had a park, bridge History Association called, looking or school constructed by the agency, and it for a poster idea to commemorate the particularly benefitted rural and Western renovation and relocation of the Jenny populations. The art programs were part Lake Museum. Leen had the perfect of Federal Project Number One, which image and faithfully reproduced the administered the Federal Theatre Project, poster, printing 600 copies for that Federal Music Project, Federal Writers event. It was then that he contacted Tom Project and Federal Art Project (FAP).

Durant, who managed the print and By 1938 the FAP existed in all 48 states photograph collection at the National (the size of the U.S. at that time).

Park Service archives in Harpers Ferry, The FAP is most remembered for its West Virginia. The Grand Canyon had murals, hundreds of which were painted recently called Durant, asking about on walls in schools, hospitals and airports, the provenance of a poster they wanted along with those commissioned by the to republish, and Durant realized the Treasury Department for post offices and design sounded similar to Leen’s Grand courthouses. However, between 1935 and Teton poster. Durant located 13 black1943, more than 2 million posters from and-white photographs of National Park 35,000 different designs were produced as Mount Rainier National Park, Artist Unknown posters and gave them to Leen. From part of the FAP. Today, only 900 original those 13 photographs, Ranger Doug’s WPA posters survive in the custody of the Library of Congress’ Enterprises was born, reproducing original posters and designing Prints and Photographs Divisions. new park images in the style of the FAP poster artists.

“The government unwittingly launched a movement to improve the Since this encounter in 1993, a Petrified Forest original has been commercial poster and raise it to a true art form,” Richard Floethe, a discovered, and five Mount Rainier posters turned up at a garage sale German-born industrial designer and head of the New York poster in South Seattle, three sandwiched together in one frame. Bandelier division of the FAP, wrote in a 1930s essay. The Bauhaus-educated National Monument discovered more than a dozen posters. And in Floethe encouraged artists working with him in the poster division 2005, an anonymous collector based in Los Angeles paid $70 for to experiment with bold colors and many different styles. Artists two posters in a junk store. After contacting Leen, the collector like Anthony Velonis brought the new technique of silk screening returned to the store and purchased seven more posters, all original. to the department and trained other artists in the process. Posters The nine posters were sold through the Swann Gallery in New that previously were created individually with hand lettering could York for $38,500 plus a 20 percent gallery commission. The Library now be mass produced; as many as 600 posters were printed in a of Congress purchased five of them for their archives. According day. Velonis wrote a book, Silk Screen Technique, which became the

Landscape

Summer 2011

(Continued) to Leen, the original park posters were printed in very limited quantities, perhaps as few as 50, and were not for sale, but created to entice people to visit the parks. “As a result, most posters did not survive,” Leen said. He’s documented only 36 survivors to date.

It was Leen who created the Square Tower image for Mesa Verde National Park in 2006, a poster done in the WPA style, but an original Leen design.

Leen visited Square Tower, which has been closed to guests since about 1940. Square Tower is the tallest Ancient Puebloan structure and what the park wanted to emulate on their poster.

Another original WPA poster inspired Ruthie Osa to create her version for Mesa Verde’s centennial celebration. Osa said her grandfather had the Yellowstone geyser poster hanging in his basement, and she fell in love with the graphics. Trained as a fine artist and then as a graphic designer, Osa loves the rich color of the silk screen process and uses Adobe Illustrator to replicate the layering of color and achieve the clean line that happens with traditional silk screen. Her poster design began with a hand-drawn image that was scanned into her computer and then redrawn in Illustrator as a Vector document. She is particularly fond of the WPA style for its control of color. “It’s a discipline to convey space and form intelligently without the fuss of painting,” Osa said via telephone from her home studio in Olathe, Kansas. “You have to know how to build a subject up in layers. It’s laborious. I consider it a thinking man’s art. You have to have an intuitive understanding of composition.”

Arches - See America, Frank S. Nicholson, Artist

In the book Posters of the WPA by Christopher DeNoon, art historian Francis V. O’Connor postulates in the introduction that the WPA poster program allowed American abstract artists “to make aesthetically revolutionary design principles the basis of a socially revolutionary art.” It was that revolutionary-ness that Mesa Verde National Park Poster, Doug Leen and Brian Maebius concerned many on the right who disliked the WPA programs. Others considered the FAP program a lifesaver that made it possible for artists to continue to paint. The FAP budget was one percent of the total WPA budget and made it possible for artists to survive the most difficult economic time in U.S. history.

For Richard Floethe, the goal of the Poster Division was to “preserve the skill of the unemployed artist” and return artists “to private industry with more knowledge in their profession and greater confidence in themselves.”

This truly American poster style continues to inspire artists working today. e

Rocky Mountain National Park Poster, Doug Leen and Brian Maebius

Leanne Goebel is an award-winning arts journalist, critic and writer. Contact her at artsjournalist@mac.com.

Posters are reproductions from originals reprinted courtesy of Ranger Doug Enterprises, the only source for WPA National Park serigraphed posters. http://www.rangerdoug.com

www.ArtsPerspective.com

25

26

Landscape

Summer 2011

www.ArtsPerspective.com

27

CU L I N AR Y ARTS L i s t in g s

If you would like be part of the Culinary Arts listings, email 30 words or fewer, including your contact information, description and a photo or logo to denise@sharedvisiononline.com or call (970) 403-1590. Listings are $50

Durango

M ESA V ER D E

N A VA J O L A K E

CHRISTINA’S GRILL AND BAR

SEASONS ROTISSERIE & GRILL

21382 Hwy. 160 West • Durango, CO (970) 382-3844 http://www.christinasgrill.com

764 Main Ave. • Durango CO (970) 382-9790 http://www.seasonsofdurango.com

Where good friends meet and eat. Grab a burger on Tuesday night, a huge pasta spread on Wednesday night, or the Saturday rib-eye special.

American-style cooking perfectly paired with exemplary service. Our casually elegant dining room buzzes with the excitement of an open exhibition kitchen, award winning wine list and the best views of Main Street.

CUCKOO’S CHICKEN HOUSE & WATERIN’ HOLE

Metate Room at Far View Lodge

Wines of the San Juan Winery, Tasting Room and Vineyard 233 Hwy. 511 @ Turley - Blanco, NM 87412 505-632-0879 http://www.winesofthesanjuan.com

Explore Native American Ancients' territory as you meander along the San Juan River below Navajo Lake. Experience a "fine to fun" tasting fiesta for the palate in a rustic atmosphere with International acclaim.

Open Daily except Tuesdays.

Located at There’s No Place Like Home, Inc 820 Main Avenue, Durango, CO (970) 769-1022

Durango’s Family Sports Restaurant serving Broasted® Chicken, with over 20 varieties of wings. We offer casual dining in a family-friendly environment, along with high definition TVs for all your sports viewing pleasure. Mon. 4 -10 p.m., Tues.Sun. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.

Purveys a selection of artisanal teas from Chinese Farmers. General Tearoom services 3-5 daily.

Tea Flights upon request. Monthly shows of clay artists and tea vessels. Call to schedule tasting party or drop by during regular hours.

Hesperus

Alley House Grille 214 Pagosa Street | alleyhousegrille.com Reservations (970) 264-0999

Located in downtown, the Alley House Grille has brought the dining experience to Pagosa Springs. Enjoy our global fusion cuisine in a 1912 renovated home. Winter/Spring hours: Tues-Sat. 5-9pm

KENNEBEC CAFÉ 4 County Road 124 • Hesperus, CO (970) 247-5674

Himalayan Kitchen

eno 723 E. 2nd Ave. • Durango, CO (970) 385-0105 http://www.enosdurango.com

Durango’s newest coffee/wine/tapas bar is an exciting contemporary atmosphere dedicated to the finer things in life, gourmet coffee, fine wine and tapas.

2010 Winner of the coveted American Culinary Federation Award for Excellence in Sustainable Cuisine, the Metate Room will surprise all your senses - heritage foods prepared with a southwestern flourish.

P AGOSA S P R I N GS

White Dragon Good Feelings Tearoom

128 E. College Drive Durango, CO (970) 259-6322

(15 miles inside Mesa Verde National Park) 970-529-4422 Open nightly 5 - 9:30 p.m.

April 22 - October 21, 2011 http://www. visitmesaverde.com/dining/metate-room.aspx

992 Main Ave. Durango, CO (970) 259-0956 http://www.himkitchen.com

Authentic flavors of the high-mountain regions of Tibet, Nepal and India. Our daily lunch buffet is a gourmet delight. The dinner menu offers a variety of tempting choices, including Yak, Lamb, Chicken, Beef, seafood, an extensive vegetarian menu and freshly baked bread from our clay oven.

A taste of Tuscany nestled in the La Plata Mountains. Bistro setting featuring Mediterranean & American inspired cuisine, 10 miles west on Hwy 160.

Extensive wine list, full bar, takeout and an ever changing seasonal menu. Event and banquet facility available.

Mancos

ARBORENA 114 Grand Ave. • Mancos, CO 81328 (970) 533-1381 http://arborena.com/home.html

Wine bar café featuring California and International wines along with light fare, cheese platters, appetizers, soups and salads. Open Thursdays-Saturdays and Mondays 4-9

Rena Wilson, Owner

Arborena photos: Scott Griggs

28

Landscape

Summer 2011

Mesa Verde: The Table Lands

by Lauren H. Slaff “They” must have dined at the Metate Room at the Far View Lodge at Mesa Verde National Park.

Perched 8,250 feet above sea level, the Metate Room — the only restaurant within a national park to receive the ACFCCA Award of Culinary Excellence — sits atop the “Great Sage Plains” home of the Ancestral Puebloans, boasting breathtaking views, including monumental Shiprock to the south and the dramatic, snow-capped La Plata peaks to the east.

The Native Americans have long believed we are part of nature — no different from the cliffs, the trees, the four-legged creatures. It’s suggested that to relieve the stresses of life, we simply sit among nature. Would it be so wrong to indulge in a gourmet meal while sitting?

Culinary

They say we eat first with our eyes.

Like the gifted architects of the legendary cliff dwellings, Brian Puett, graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America ProChef Level II program, is the architect of the Metate Room’s indigenously inspired cuisine. Arriving at the park’s famed dining room following a successful stint at Lake Powell, he continues to explore his passion for the bold cuisine of the Southwest. Puett weaves culinary components inherent to the ancient peoples of this land with a variety of cultural influences fashioning his own unique brand of creativity.

Puebloan scholars remind us that to understand the history of these lands, we must understand the landscape itself. The landscape, not just the archeology, is what drives life. The plants. The water. All of the elements that sustain us. The landscape is indeed what drives the life of the Metate Room and blissfully sustains those fortunate enough to partake in its offerings.

The use of corn, beans and squash, often referred to as “The Three Sisters,” is integral to the inventive menu. Tribes often grew the crops together, using the corn stalk to support the beans, the beans to add nitrogen to the soil, and the large squash leaves to shade the soil and keep it moist.

Many species of wild, regional game are prepared, from the diminutive quail to the hulking elk. Brian’s style and cheekiness is reflected in the Elk Shepherd’s Pie laden with roasted corn, Dove Creek black beans, Hatch green chilis enrobed in decadent Southwestern green chili mashed potatoes.

The Ancestral Puebloans were among the earliest to domesticate turkeys. A playfully stacked turkey napoleon honors this accomplishment while tantalizing the senses with its vivid ingredients, including the fruits of native piñon and cherry trees.

The park further honors the land by sourcing as many ingredients locally as the changing seasons and arid landscape of Southwest Colorado will permit.

To perfectly marry the sensory experiences provided by the historic and majestic landscape and its culinary resident, Mesa Verde offers a neatly packaged afternoon-to-evening experience. Two can take a half-day ranger- guided tour of the ancient sites followed by a relaxing dinner for an affordable $139.

I can’t help wonder: When they coined the moniker “Table Lands,” was somebody hungry? e

food photos courtesy of Aramark all other photos: Scott Griggs

A native New Yorker and grateful transplant to Southwest Colorado (think Sex and the City meets Into the Wild), Lauren Slaff brings the ideal combination of high-end professional training and heartfelt passion for the fruits of the earth to her students and clients as chef/ proprietor of verypersonal* chef. Visit http://www.verypersonalchef.com.

www.ArtsPerspective.com

29

R e s o u r c e li s t in g s

Free Resource Listings are subject to editorial revision to accommodate space and AP Style Guidelines. Limited space is available on a first come, first serve basis. Email editor@sharedvisiononline.com by August 1, 2011

Call for Artists SHY RABBIT Print International 3: An International Juried Online Exhibition will be held Jan.1Dec. 31, 2012. Submission deadline: Oct. 31. For information, call (970) 731-2766 or visit http://www.shyrabbit.com/Calls.html.

The Ouray County Arts Association’s 51st Artists’ Alpine Holiday Art Show will be held July 31-Aug. 5. This is a national juried exhibition open to all artists. Judge is artist Hugh Greer. Submission deadline: July 11. For information, call (970) 626-3212 or visit http://www. ourayarts.org.

Toyed With, a juried photography exhibit for those shooting with toy or vintage cameras and/or printing in antique/alternative processes, will be held Aug. 27-Oct.1, in Durango, CO. Juried by Michelle Bates. Submission deadline: July 8. For a prospectus, email submissions@ toyedwithphoto.com or download from http://www.toyedwithphoto.com.

TOP, a juried garment design exhibition and auction fundraiser for the Durango Arts Center, will be held Sept. 23. Artists are provided with a stylish, high-quality t-shirt and invited to refashion it with their own innovative, original design. Submission deadline: Aug. 24. Download a prospectus at http://www.durangoarts.org. For information, call Regina Hogan at (970) 385-4989 or email top.nfp@hotmail.com.

Ah Haa School for the Arts’ 19th Annual Art Auction is accepting artwork donations for the art auction on July 22. Submission deadline for placement in the catalog: June 1; deadline for artwork for the auction: July 1. For information, call (970) 728-3886, email Lauren@ahhaa.org or visit http://www.ahhaa.org.

Calling all people and artists interested in all activities related to GOURDS. Cultivation, historical uses, gourd show competition, fine art, craft work and artistic decoration. A “Gourd Patch” is looking to start in the Four Corners area under the New Mexico Gourd Society. All New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona. For information, call Janice at (209) 404-4694 or email JRsashacat@aol.com.

The Crested Butte Film Festival is pleased to announce a Call for Entries for its festival Sept.

29-Oct. 2. Submissions accepted include: best in narrative, documentary, and short films. For information, email cbfilmfestival@gmail.com or visit http://www.cbfilmfest.org.

Pagosa Art in the Garden is issuing a regional call for artists for a juried garden art show on Aug. 20. For information, visit http://www.pagosaartinthegarden.com.

The White Dragon Good Feelings Tearoom and Gallery is interviewing clay artists for a gallery show of vessels related to tea, e.g., bowls, vases, water jars, and plates. For information, call Michael at (970) 769-1022.

The River Café in Durango is looking for local artists and photographers to display their work.

Open to all themes and styles but prefer a more “contemporary” feel. Pieces may be listed for sale. Prefer framed work. Great location and atmosphere to share your talent. For information, call Jen at (610) 563-8415 or email jen.rivas@hotmail.com.

The Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts’ Gallery is calling for artists for hanging or wall patches.

Work to be shown during productions by Thingamajig Theatre Company. All types of art are welcome. For information, call (970) 507-0408 or email laura@pagosacenter.org.

Classes & Workshops June 4-25 At the River’s Edge, Art Workshops for Adults, Farmington Museum, 3041 E. Main St., Farmington, NM, (505) 566-2290 June 4 Relief Print, Stamping and Stencil, with Mary Beth Yates June 9 Metal stamping for ages 14 and up, with George Francis June 10 String beading for ages 14 and up, with Vivian Willie June 11 Wool-dyeing, with Carmelita Topaha June 25 Low-budget filmmaking workshop hosted by George Thomas June 9-Sept. 18 Summer Programs at the Ah Haa School for the Arts, Telluride, CO, (970) 728-3886, http://www. ahhaa.org June 9-11 Texture | Color | Feeling, a mixed media workshop with Jan Sitts June 20-23 Plein Air Landscape Painting in Oil, with Jeanne Mackenzie July 7-10 Light & the Figurative Subject in Oil, with Robert Lemler July 11-14 Dive Into Printmaking, with Jennifer Ghormley July 15-17 Summer Landscape Pastels, with Bruce Gomez July 25-28 Abstract Painting with Cold Wax & Oil, with Rebecca Crowell August 2-4 Landscape & Wildflower Photography, with David Fitzsimmons & Telluride Outside August 3-5 Painting Portraits, with Julie Smith August 12-14 The Art of Seeing | Mixed Media and Collage, with Susan X. Billings August 17-18 “Tin Folk” Portraits | Found Object Assemblage, with Barbara Gilhooly August 19-21 Art Cloth | Unique Hand-Printed Fabric Fiber Workshop, with Ayn Hanna September 16-18 Encaustic & Pigment Stick, with Shawna Moore

30

Landscape

Summer 2011

June 11 Beginning Botanical Studies in Cyanotype with Heather Leavitt Martinez, $65 includes materials. Willowtail Springs, Mancos. (970) 739-3200, heather@heatherleavitt.com, http://www. willowtailsprings.com June 11-Aug. 27 Workshops with Mary Ellen Long, $65 includes materials. 209 El Diente Drive, Durango, CO, (970) 259-4363, wmelart@yahoo.com June 11 & August 20 Papermaking - basic “kitchen” techniques, western and eastern style methods with emphasis on local fibers June 18 & August 13 College - basic techniques and understanding of adhesives Aug. 27 Book Arts - review of all styles, bindings and sculptural forms June 12-Aug. 13 Summer Programs from Three Rivers Womens’ Collective/In Cahoots Gallery, 109 N. Allen, Farmington, NM, (505) 716-7660, http://www.threeriverswomen.com June 12-14 Surface Design Techniques, with Becky Burt June 15-17 Cold Connections ,with Becky Burt June 18 Woven Credit Card or Cell Phone Holder, with Betty Reed July 9 Encaustics, with Michael Billie Aug. 13 Precious Metal Clay, with Sue Johnson June 14-16 Special Workshop for Children, Farmington Museum, 3041 E. Main St., Farmington, NM, (505) 566-2290 June 18 Creative Composition with Elizabeth Kinahan. $60. A three-hour workshop in the elements and principles of good composition. Bring a notebook or sketchbook. The Art Supply House, Durango, CO. elizabeth@elizabethkinahan.com June 20-Aug. 19 Summer programs at Durango Arts Center, Durango, CO, (970) 259-2606 http://www. durangoarts.org June 20-30 G.O.A.L. for girls (6th-9th grades) combines basic art fundamentals and the 10 Success Skills for Girls, developed by Girls Count. Mon.-Thurs. $400 June 10-August 19 Fabulous Fridays for students (6-11 years) to learn more about the wonderful world of art and develop their artistic skills. $50 includes materials. June 10,17, 24: Clay explorations; July 15, 22, 29: Drawing Architecture; Aug. 5,12,19: Painting People

Aug. 8-18 Classes are geared towards students who want to improve their skills in the visual arts. $40 includes materials. August 8 &15: Ceramics; August 9 &16: Printmaking; August 10 & 17: Painting; August 11 & 18: Sculpture Ongoing (1st two Thursdays each month) Figure Drawing for Adults, $10 DAC member/$15 nonmember per session Ongoing (1st two Wednesdays each month) Portrait Group for Adults, $15 DAC member/$20 non-member per session June 25 Advanced Film and Toning in Cyanotype with Heather Leavitt Martinez, $125 includes materials. Willowtail Springs, Mancos. (970) 739-3200, heather@heatherleavitt.com, http://www. willowtailsprings.com July 8-Sept. 23 Summer Programs from Weekhawken Creative Arts, Ouray, CO, (970) 318-0150, http://www. weehawkenarts.org July 8-9 Functional Metals 101, with Lisa Issenburg July 14-16 Becoming a Better Landscape Painter, with John Cogan July 29 Water and Oils DO Mix! with Amy Evans July 30 Get Out and Paint! with Amy Evans July 30 Wildflower Photography & Identification, with Rich Durnan Aug. 29-Sept. 2 Watercolor Fun and Free, with Karlyn Holman Sept. 10-11 Kiln Fused Glass, with John Clark Sept.16-18 Pocket Sketching, with Kathy Macaulay Sept. 22 The Hero’s Journey, with Lucinda Schroeder Sept. 23-25 Workshop with pastel artist Bruce Gomez Aug. 12-14 Traditional Blacksmithing with Joe DeLaRonde. $350 includes materials. A unique hands-on workshop learning the basics of blacksmithing. DeLaRonde Forge, Mancos, CO. (970) 533-7093 http://www.delarondeforge.com Sept. 17-18 Toy Cameras with Michelle Bates. $225. Open Shutter Gallery, Durango, CO. (970) 739-3200, heather@heatherleavitt.com, http://www.toyedwithphoto.com Ongoing Belly Dance Classes, Thurs., 5:30 p.m., Smiley Building Dance Center, Durango, CO; Wed., 5:30 p.m., 100 N. 4th, Dolores, CO, http://www.annecorrine.com Ongoing White Dragon Good Feelings Tearoom and Gallery offers classes and tasting in the art of Chinese and Japanese tea. Tea Flights specifically designed for groups upon request.

Introduction to Green, Oolong, White, Black and Pu-erh teas. For information, contact Michael at (970) 769-1022.

Groups The Durango Barbershop Chorus meets Tues., 7 p.m., at Christ the King Lutheran Church, 495 Florida Rd. in Durango, CO. Call (970) 799-3724 or visit http://www. durangobarbershoppers.org.

Durango Friends of the Arts meets the 2nd Thurs. of Jan., Mar., May, July, Sept., and Nov., 10 a.m. For more information call (970) 247-9624.

Durango Photography Club meets the 3rd Thurs. of the month (except Dec.), 7-9 p.m., at the Administration Building of the La Plata County Fairgrounds. Contact Barry Durand at (970) 385-8470 or Linda Pampinella at (970) 884-7053.

Wild Women Writing meets the 1st and 3rd Wed. of each month. First Wed. meetings are social networking get-togethers for writers. Third Wed. meetings are more focused on reading and critique sessions and are held 6:30-8 p.m., in Conference Room 308 at the Crossroads Center, 1099 Main Ave., Durango, CO. For information, contact Molly Anderson-Childers at (970) 759-9993, stealingplums@yahoo.com or visit http://www. wildwomenwriting.blogspot.com.

Southwest Art League Artists local to Montezuma County, CO, meet monthly, have weekly paint get-togethers, and engage in numerous exhibitions each year. Call Anna at (970) 5603531 or visit http://www.southwestartistsleague.com.

TRWC Art Center Fostering, promoting, educating, and encouraging the creative artists of San Juan County, NM. Meetings are held the last Sat. of each month (except Sept. and Dec.), 3 p.m., at 109 N. Allen Ave., Farmington, NM. For information, call (505) 716-7660 or visit http://www.threeriverswomen.com

In 2000, a group of artists met for the purpose of painting with like- minded spirits, passionate about creating art in the out-of-doors. Painting in nature allows for direct observation while capturing light, shadow and color on an intimate level.

When painting outside, the gifts often include gusty winds, insects and intense sun challenges not found in the studio. This professional group has grown to 42 members, representing New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona. Bimonthly paint-outs have been held in various national parks and monuments including Mesa Verde, Arches, Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly and Chaco Canyon.

Members are represented in private galleries and have been accepted in numerous national K.K. Walling, Summer Garden and regional juried shows. Annual group exhibits often take place at San Juan College, Fort Lewis College, Farmington Museum, Anasazi Heritage Center and Mesa Verde.

Additional information about individual artists, with examples of their work, may be seen at http://www.fourcornerspleinairpainters.com.

www.ArtsPerspective.com

31

A r t i s t L i s t in g s

If you are an artist or wish to support an artist you know by running an Artist Listing, email 30 words or less, including your contact information, description and a photo or logo to denise@sharedvisiononline.com, or call (970) 403-1590. Listings are $50.

Venaya J. Yazzie

Jeff Reznikoff

Dine’ / Hopi Poet, Painter, Photographer www.yazzgrlart.com yazzgrl@hotmail.com Contemporary images of indigenous people of the Southwest.

Dreamtime Gallery & Studio, Ouray jeff@dreamtimearts.org • (970) 318-0447 www.dreamtimearts.org Charcoals • Pastels • Watercolors • Paintings Art from underground

David Sipe Folk & Fine Artist & Wood Sculptor (970) 533-7518 ssbsnd@hotmail.com Largest collection of wood-carved sculptures in the Four Corners area. Just 3 miles east of Mesa Verde on Hwy 160. Sculptural furnishings for home, office and outdoors. Will travel for on-site dead tree enhancement.

Photogenesis Photography Jonas Grushkin (970) 259-2718 www.grushkin.com Photographer specializing in artists’ portfolios, commercial work and unique portraitures. More than 30 years experience.

Lisa Mackey Photography Janet Grenawalt Designs

Farmington, NM (505) 320-6598 thisfromthatmosaics@q.com Mosaics inspired by nature.

Wall art, home décor, and garden mosaics

Photography services (970) 247-3004 www.lisamackeyphoto.com Stunning images from Durango and the surrounding region. Offering high quality printing of your images up to 12x18. Prints and notecards available online and at Open Shutter Gallery.

Tracy E. Imhoff Mariah Kaminsky Commissioned Portraiture & Paintings www.durangocustomworks.com Oil on canvas paintings from life or photos in any size up to 6’6”. Call 970-749-4089 for a consultation.

Artist and owner of art supply store www.paintingmarmotart.com 970-325-7232 612 Main St./PO Box 1790 Ouray, CO 81427 Oil and pastel artist. Portraiture and pet portraits. Also work with Encaustics and glass.

Mary Alice Hearn

Mochie-Roo

Fiber Designs MAHcreate@aol.com (970) 259-2442 Hand Weaving, Fabric Printing and Dying, Knitting, Contemporary Quilting and Collage.

In Town Studio

Chloe Marty, Owner and Artist www.MOCHIEROO.com From your favorite photos, I will produce an original watercolor portrait of your pet. My passion is to capture each animal’s unique personality.

Patricia Burk Photography 38359 Rd. H, Mancos, CO 81328 (970) 533-7841 Views of the Valley greeting cards Four Corners area, Africa, Oaxaca, Alaska, Cape Cod. Available at Raven House Gallery, P&D, Absolute Bakery and Desert Pearl.

Maureen May (970) 259-0176 maymaureen@yahoo.com www.shyrabbit.com/MMay Printmaking, Painting, Drawing Represented by Shy Rabbit Contemporary Arts, Pagosa Springs, CO

Beth Wheeler Calligrapher (970) 533-7943 Taking your favorite poem, song lyric, quotation, etc. and turning it into a work of art. Professional hand lettering and picture framing. Custom Calligraphy and Frame, est. 1991.

Barbara Grist Photography & Fine Art Artist • Educator • Photographer (970) 560-2767 www.barbaragristphotography.com * Creative images for all occasions including publication, stock, events, portraiture and fine art. * One-on-one or group classes in the arts or photography. * Fused glass jewelry and masks. * Work for sale at Artwork Network in Denver, Picaya Home in Cortez and Sideshow Gallery in Dolores.

Wild Sage Studio Barbara Tobin Klema (970) 946-0786 www.barbaratobinklema.com Creating contemporary portraits ofpeople and landscape. Work shown by appointment.

Classes taught in drawing and watercolor.

32

Landscape

Summer 2011

Pat Senecal

www.patsenecal.com PatCSenecal@gmail.com Celebrate someone! Commissioned portraits are yours with just a photo!

A r t i s t L i s t in g s Lizelle Marais Dreamtime Gallery & Studio, Ouray lizelle@dreamtimearts.org • (808) 497-2606 www.dreamtimearts.org Painted oil dreamscapes • Archetypal masks with poetry • Mixed-media sculptures • Sacred objects • Naïve art • Photography

Sue Johnson suefibers@hotmail.com (505) 215-9370 Fiberart, Jewelry (fine silver & fiber), Prints (monoprints, solar etchings, linocuts).

Showing at In Cahoots! Gallery, 109 North Allen, Farmington.

Jan Wright Watercolor artist * shamanic practitioner (970) 882-3130 * jan@butterflyvisions.com www.butterflyvisions.com Watercolor images of ruins and rock art at Mesa Verde's Far View Lodge Lounge.

Also see paintings at Artisans of Mancos.

Curt Stafford Landscape Paintings, Commissions (505) 334-9502 gcs@gobrainstorm.net A New Mexico Artist that captures the beauty of the arena north of Durango and scenes around Vallecito Lake.

Yvonne Meek Public Relations • Designer (970) 208-2456 whymeek@gmail.com Publication Design • Newsletters & Brochures Business Cards & Letterhead • Display Ads Event Promotion • Entertainment & Arts PR Social Media Consultant

Marilyn Kroeker Introducing watercolor works At Raven House Gallery 120 Grand Avenue, Mancos Mon-Sat 10-5 • 970-533-7149 kroeker_3@q.comand at Desert Pearl, Cortez

Amy Vaclav-Felker www.amyfelker.com (970) 759-8457 Quirky, colorful and ALWAYS fun!

Stop by my website to see what's in stock ~ or request a creation of your own!

Elizabeth Shull “Strand-Formations” by Elizabeth Shull 110 W Main St. Farmington (505) 327-212 Other custom pieces can be seen at Art Bead & Soul in Farmington.

Beth Dolos bd natural design jewelry badolos@gmail.com (541) 941-3600 Handmade unique natural image etched pendants, concrete pendants, and much more!

Belly Dance Durango AnneCorrine www.annecorrine.com AnneCorrine has been teaching Belly Dance in Durango since 1998. All levels/ages welcome in Dolores and Durango.

Timothy J. Black

jsboxtop@yahoo.com Handmade in the San Juan Mountains • violins, violas and cellos Commissions and restorations.

Paul Boyer Photographer pboyer@frontier.net • 970-385-6983 Studio in the Open Shutter Gallery Portraits • Product photography Architecture • Fine Art photography • Instruction • Travel

www.ArtsPerspective.com

33

34

Landscape

Summer 2011

Healing Waters

by Malia Durbano

up 70% of the Earth’s surface and 50% to 65% of our body mass. We are inherently attracted to water – be it a waterfall, tranquil lake, or the therapeutic waters of a hot spring.

The Four Corners Region boasts access to numerous hot springs. The healing benefits of these naturally occurring waters have been known for centuries by Native Americans; they were great believers in the healing powers of the heat and minerals in the waters. Warriors were known to recuperate from battle in these protected areas, which were considered neutral ground and off-limits to invading tribes.

The Native Americans recognized what is now the formal practice of using natural mineral water for the treatment or cure of disease, known as “balneology.” Soaking in highly concentrated mineral water is thought to have many benefits, such as increasing body temperature, thus killing harmful germs and eliminating toxins; increasing blood flow and circulation; increasing metabolism; and allowing the absorption of essential minerals. An increase in metabolism accelerates healing, soothes muscles and detoxifies the body’s lymphatic system. Soaking allows minerals to pass through your skin and be absorbed into body cells, which may help fight the effects of fatigue, insomnia, edema, poor circulation, a repressed immune system and even arthritis.

Heat from the waters has a relaxing, soothing effect on muscles and the mind. Stress and tension are dissolved, allowing our energy to flow more fluidly. The Taoists believe that Qi (energy) flowing more smoothly benefits our internal organs. The waters have a deeply cleansing effect on our entire bodymind.

Soaking in the mineral rich water, in a relatively natural environment, allows us to receive natural Qi or life force energy from all five elements in nature: earth, metal, water, wood and fire. These elements combine to balance and harmonize our bodymind naturally and effortlessly.

The Ute Indians who frequented the mineral pools in Pagosa Springs named the town after the hot springs. The Ute words “pah,” meaning “water,” and “gosa” meaning “boiling,” caught on, and today the accepted definition of Pagosa is “healing waters.”

Pagosa Hot Springs, terraced to overlook the beautiful San Juan River, offers 23 hot mineral pools containing sodium, potassium, magnesium, silica, iron, boron and other elements. The pools range in temperature from 83 to 114 degrees F, providing comfort for all tastes.

Donna Joywalker, massage therapist and esthetician in Telluride, is a self-proclaimed hot springs addict: “The serene setting, the mineral composition of the water and the heat combine to cleanse not just your physical body, but your mental state and your aura. I love the feeling that everything is cleansed, and I feel relaxed and purified.” e

L i s t in g o f F o u r C o r n e r s r e g i o n

hot springs

Dunton Hot Springs Dolores, CO (970) 882-4800 http://www.DuntonHotSprings.com Healing Waters Resort & Spa Pagosa Springs, CO (800) 832-5523 http://www.PHotSprings.com Orvis Hot Springs Ridgway, CO (970) 626-5324 http://www.OrvisHotSprings.com Pagosa Springs Resort and Spa Pagosa Springs, CO 81147 Reservations: (800) 225-0934 Front Desk: (970) 264-4168 http://www.PagosaHotSprings.com Trimble Hot Springs Durango, CO (970) 247-0111 http://www.TrimbleHotSprings.com

Healing

There is something captivating and mesmerizing about the fluid that makes

Weisbaden Hot Springs and Spa Ouray, CO (970) 325-4347 (888) 846-5191 http://www.WeisbadenHotSprings.com

Malia Durbano is a freelance writer and Zumba instructor in Durango. She enjoys international travel and outdoor recreation.

www.ArtsPerspective.com

35

36

Landscape

Summer 2011

Healing

Inner Landscape of the Body

by Sally Zabriskie

Energy can paint a broad picture of the inner landscape of an individual.

The modality of energy work gives specific attention to inner landscape.

Outer landscape can indicate many things. But history is mostly held within our bodies. The inner picture can be as varied as the natural world we see every day, with beauty and light, darkness and distortion, color, fluidity or solidity, temperature – the list goes on.

As an energy worker, the images or perceptions that arise from a client’s body represent impressions of the energy, which allows an avenue to interpret and understand it. Sometimes the image or perception of the energy is literal, sometimes metaphorical. And the individual’s energy will convey many aspects: acute or chronic physical issues, mental or day-today stressors, emotional information, be in history or current, etc. It is not “reading their mind” but reading the energy.

The client of energy work and bodywork is seeking change in their system. Specifically, they seek relief from pain or tension held within, regardless of the source. The hoped-for outcome is freedom from that tension; preferably, freedom from the tendency to hold on to that tension.

The beauty of working with energy is that it pervades all the physical systems of the body as well as emotional and mental attitudes. So by accessing and working energetically with an issue, it’s much easier to shift pain and the mindset or emotions that can accompany it. By directing a client’s attention to the energy within, rather than the story, that person can be fully present with what’s there without getting caught in the emotions or mental chatter about it. Plus, it doesn’t hurt as much.

The process of improving inner landscape is not difficult, though it takes time, attention and skills. Stillness is key. Without distraction and with quiet attention, the inner landscape becomes more perceptible, simply because the attention can register things that don’t register when distracted.

The person’s energy will begin to change, simply because of their presence with themselves. And then, with tools, guidance, and experience from the practitioner, an unwinding of the system happens on many levels. Tension is released at far deeper levels than can be achieved other ways. The system as a whole can recalibrate and realign back into a more natural state of ease and flow. Circulation is improved on every level.

The body’s energy opens as the heart relaxes. It’s as if a wellspring opens up within the person and flows more freely, flooding and nourishing the inner landscape. People often see colors move and shift and change. They will feel release as their body lets go of unnecessary holdings – old emotion, stress, shock, tension, etc. The analogy of a dam gradually opening and re-establishing flow and balance fits. Circulation opens on every level, and ease and flow are restored. e Sally Zabriskie facilitates and teaches tools for transformation through energy work, bodywork and meditation.

Light Body Works: Redefining the Massage Experience. (970) 799-4269 and http://www.lightbodyworker.com

www.ArtsPerspective.com

37

Music With Altitude:

Music in the Mountains Celebrates its Silver Anniversary

by Connie Gotsch

Performing In a sense, the mountains created Durango’s summer music festival, Music in the Mountains.

During the early 1980s, Dallas-based conductor Mischa Semanitzky was scouting a new home for his Fine Arts Chamber Players. He visited Durango and learned that the Purgatory ski resort, now Durango Mountain Resort, needed events to fill its recently erected candy-striped tent.

“After several summers coping with 100 degree heat and 100 percent humidity, we were ready to find somewhere cooler,” the now-retired conductor recalls.

Semanitzky offered his ensemble the opportunity to perform in the beautiful San Juan Mountains of Colorado, and in 1987, Music in the Mountains opened with 11 players under Semanitzky as festival artistic director and conductor. His message to the audience began with “The hills are alive with the sound of music. …”

Today, Music in the Mountains features both orchestral and chamber music concerts, as well as jazz and pops. Performances take place in several venues, including the festival tent at Durango Mountain Resort and the Community Concert and Roshong Recital Halls at Fort Lewis

photo: Chris Marona artist: Joe Cajero

38

Landscape

Summer 2011

College. The musicians love the three-week festival.

“Most successful musicians have to make their livings in crowded urban areas,” says current Festival Artistic Director Gregory Hustis. “It is a refreshing change of pace to be able to play in this area.”

A horn player, Hustis has performed at Music in the Mountains almost since it began. Being in the mountains inspires him.

Music Director and Conductor Guillermo Figueroa adds: “A favorite moment is always the break in the morning rehearsal, after playing beautiful music, to come out of the tent and look at those mountains. It’s like a reward for the work done, but still knowing that we will go back and play some more.”

In addition to inspiring musicians, the Durango landscape has also influenced designers of the Music in the Mountains program book and marketing materials, according to Festival Marketing Director Beth Lamberson. “Photographers, fine artists and graphic artists have easily found their inspiration in the natural landscape for the print materials,” Lamberson said. “This includes musicians posing with their instruments on the chairlift at Durango Mountain photo: Chris Marona Resort, beside a mountain lake or silhouetted against the San Juan Mountains.”

But the environment doesn’t always mean glowing peaks, pine-scented breezes or wildflowers bouncing on delicate stems. Hustis recalls bears joining the crowd at intermission, hanging around the back of the tent. Fortunately, they harmed no one.

“On another occasion, someone had left candy out for the musicians in the backstage area,” he recalls. “The next morning we found a hundred empty wrappers and a big mess.”

Figueroa believes weather conditions present the biggest challenge for Music in the Mountains performances. “One doesn’t really know if it will be hot, cold, dry, windy, sunny, dark or whatever.”

Musicians can adjust to any of those situations, but rapid changes can make playing difficult. A roaring rainstorm, crashing thunder and screaming wind can interrupt a concert. Hustis recalls stopping more than once, waiting for a storm to pass. But neither the audience nor the musicians mind. “It’s all part of the mountain experience,” Hustis says. “It puts the audience in a receptive, quiet and wonderful mood, ideal for listening. Even when it pours, we all have the gratifying sense of being in this together.”

Both Hustis and Figueroa make some programming selections with the uncertainty of the environment in mind. Figueroa avoids placing quiet music on a performance scheduled for the tent because of extraneous noise. The size of the orchestras allowed by the venues also dictates programming choices. The works of composers like Wagner, Berlioz, Mahler or Strauss require ensembles too large for Music in the Mountains’ stages.

Even with these limitations, the mountain setting offers programming opportunities. This summer, for instance, Hustis will perform Mozart’s Concerto for Alphorn and Orchestra. A few years ago, the festival featured a piece for Native American flute.

Hustis and Figueroa try not to let the environment influence their musical choices too much. Ultimately, they choose pieces appropriate to a summer festival.

“After all, a summer festival needs to have a sense of merriment and celebration,” says Figueroa. “So that’s what I do.”

Of course, the success of the Music in the Mountains Festival does come down to the quality of the music.

“It is the extremely high quality of the music making that is the main attraction in Durango,” says Figueroa. “The orchestra is so fine and so responsive, it is an absolute joy.”

The 25th Anniversary Season of Music in the Mountains runs July 9 - 31. e

Connie Gotsch is a freelance arts writer, who has published two award-winning youth novels, Belle’s Star and Belle’s Trial, written from a dog’s point of view and promoting pet care. She is the program director of KSJE FM public radio in Farmington, New Mexico. Contact her at gotschc@sanjuancollege.edu.

www.ArtsPerspective.com

39

B u s in e s s D i r e c t o r y

40

Landscape

Summer 2011

Subscribe!

Have Arts Perspective magazine delivered right to your door!

Arts Perspective magazine is a free quarterly publication reflecting the diversity of the arts throughout the Four Corners region including Durango, Bayfield, Ignacio, Pagosa Springs, Creede, Lake City, Silverton, Mancos, Dolores, Cortez, Telluride, Montrose, Ouray and Ridgeway in Colorado; Aztec and Farmington in New Mexico and Bluff and Moab, Utah. Your subscription helps our distribution efforts.

â?? Yes! I want a year’s subscription = $25 (4 issues)

Send mailing address and your check or money order to Arts Perspective magazine, P.O. Box 3042, Durango, CO 81302

www.ArtsPerspective.com

41

The Aspen Zone: Veryl Goodnight’s Inspiration

by Leanne Goebel

Visual

And while Colorado does have the occasional warm, dramatic sky, there are often a lot of high, thin clouds that create an overcast, flat light. Those are good days to sculpt for Goodnight. On clear days, she goes out into the land and captures in plein air the dramatic peaks, snow and wildflowers on small canvases. Some are then turned into larger studio paintings. She completed about 40 plein-air works in 2010, but only 6-8 of those made it into frames for exhibition and sale. She completed about 6 easel paintings as well, compared to the 3 sculptures she finished.

photo by Claude Steelman

“I didn’t know you were an artist, too!”

It’s an odd remark, no matter how innocent, and one that often takes Veryl Goodnight by surprise. The accomplished Western and wildlife sculptor is amazed at how often she hears those words when a collector or fan sees her paintings for the first time. Ironic, because Veryl Goodnight began her artistic career in the 1970s as a wildlife painter, studying with James Disney and Ned Jacob in Denver. She began sculpting as a student of Ken Bunn and considered it a way to teach herself anatomy in order to become a better painter. But sculpture dominated her career. It wasn’t until she moved back to Colorado in 2006, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, that she found the time and the inspiration to paint again.

Goodnight and her husband, Roger Brooks, live between the brow of Mesa Verde and the La Plata mountain range, near Helmet Peak. Within a 30-minute drive, Goodnight can explore groves of aspen trees, the headwaters of the La Plata River, the barren alpine tundra above timberline, or the red rock canyons to the south. Herds of elk and deer are abundant, joined by the occasional bear, mountain lion or coyote.

The famed warm light of New Mexico, the dramatic sky and barren landscapes are what initially attracted Georgia O’Keeffe, E.L. Blu men s c hei n , and Ernest Martin Hennings to the area. That light continues to photo: Scott Griggs inspire dozens of contemporary painters. However, for Goodnight, inspiration comes from more than warm light. It comes from the dramatic landscapes of Colorado.

“I absolutely love the mountains. There are mountains in Santa Fe, but they don’t have the grandeur. I did not like the high desert piñon and juniper landscape. For me, the aspen zone is my favorite altitude.”

42

Landscape

Summer 2011

She’s finally gotten into the rhythm to be able to move freely between painting and sculpting, but it took some time. At first, when she began painting again, it would take a day or two to transition back into sculpting and vice versa. Now, the two seem to flow smoothly. Her goal is to split her time equally between the two and to create sculptures and paintings that go hand in hand. Though her painting is inspired by the effect of light on the landscape, her sculpture is about capturing movement — accurately depicting the movement of feathers on a rider as the horse picks up its gate or the swish of a girl’s skirt as she’s leading a cow. And she is actually known to sculpt not only the animal, but the landscape as well. One of her recent works, “High Country Summer,” is of an elk calf emerging from a field of mule’s ear flowers.

“I deal with mass in both my sculpture and my painting,” Goodnight said. “By trying to sculpt something like flowers, you have to be careful with mass.”

She writes about the comparison between sculpture and painting in her new book, No Turning Back: The Art of Veryl Goodnight, which was published to coincide with her 40-year retrospective at the Thomas Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma in April 2011.

“Painting is an illusion. The challenge comes in taking paint and creating a sense of light and an illusion of three dimensions on a two-dimensional surface.

It is a challenging balance to get the correct value when striving for the correct color and color temperature.”

Painters and sculptors are both fine artists. Whether abstract or realistic, the considerations are the same: composition, line, positive and negative space, light and shadow. Goodnight goes photo: Scott Griggs on to explain that sculpture has the added challenge of needing to incorporate these elements from 360 degrees, as well as from top and bottom. In sculpture, a limb, head and torso are “drawn” from every conceivable angle, and symmetry is vital.

Goodnight takes up her paintbrushes, her easel and, as the days get longer, she may sculpt in the morning and spend her afternoons painting.

The painting may be more for herself than anything else; a time to be in the landscape she loves, trying to capture that symmetry, that light, on canvas before the moment is gone. She’s always been an artist, but now she is both painter and sculptor of the animals and the landscape she loves. e Leanne Goebel is an award-winning arts journalist, critic and writer. Contact her at artsjournalist@mac.com.

www.ArtsPerspective.com

43

44

Landscape

Summer 2011