Community Profile: A Shared Blanket

COMMUNITY PROFILE: A Shared Blanket of Beauty Gallery of Native American Gems

by John Peel

Photos by Lisa Mackey

Donna Frank gazes around her downtown Durango gallery, brimming with art made by hundreds of Native Americans, and she is filled with wonder.

“Beautiful people who make beautiful things,” she says. “It just awes me.”

Frank started her business, A Shared Blanket, 39 years ago. She moved into her present location at 104 East Fifth Street, adjacent to the Durango & Silverton Railroad depot, in 2008, after a fire burned down her former location in the 700 block of Main Avenue.

An artist with an education that includes a doctorate in archaeology/anthropology, she knows “every single artist” whose artwork she sells. So ask her a question and be prepared to absorb a lot of knowledge.

Frank, a Colorado native, spent years on the East Coast and abroad before returning to Colorado. She was an archaeologist on St. Lawrence Island, above the Arctic Circle, and later at Mesa Verde National Park. She rented a loft studio to paint, which evolved into a gallery to include like-minded artists.

Little by little, piece by piece and blanket by blanket, she built up a collection. To find authentic Native American goods, Frank drove her Toyota van to the Navajo reservation and put up a sign: “Buying rugs and art.”

“Everybody came up and talked to me,” she says. It didn’t take long for her to start getting invited to weddings and other ceremonies, building lasting relationships.

The name of her gallery comes from her childhood experiences at the Santa Fe Plaza, where she watched the Puebloan artisans lay out blankets with their creations for view. “That image stuck in my mind,” Frank says. In opening her gallery, “I was trying to put out a blanket for the artists.”

A Shared Blanket is now filled with a dazzling variety of art made by Native Americans from Alaska to the rest of the United States. Some of the featured art and artists include: • Navajo sculptures of Susie Enoah, made from Colorado alabaster. • Hopi Kachinas by Patrick Platero, Law rence Charley, Virgil Long, and others. • Original paintings by J.C. Black and local artist John Grow. • Intricately carved pottery by Ute Mountain Ute artist Norman Lansing. • Hand-forged knives of Damascus steel by six different craftsmen. • Award-winning Navajo jewelry by Tommy Jackson and others.

“I feel honored that they trust me with their works,” Frank says.

She and her staff aren’t salespeople as much as they are educators. Every item has a story. “We help people find pieces that speak to them. ”

“It’s fun being surrounded by beauty all day long.”

Build your own reality at Silver Creek Design Studio +Showroom

Southwest Colorado might actually have everything a person could want from mountain living. Until recently, though, Ron Stinemetze saw one glaring deficiency: Durango needed a true design showroom and studio. He wanted to create that, so in 2021, he did.

Silver Creek Design Studio + Showroom offers a head-to-toe design experience in Southwest Colorado. Being full-service means that Silver Creek provides design services as well as retailing the finest in flooring, tile, cabinetry, furnishings, and window treatments, so clients and their contractors can build a dream out of one single storefront.

“We really focus on providing a service that you can’t find anywhere else,” Ron says.

The thing that sets Silver Creek apart, though, goes beyond its offerings, and it’s as essential as a strong blueprint: This design studio devotes the time and care it takes to get to know their customers. “We pay attention to what tugs at your heartstrings,” says Andrea Noelle, senior interior designer. “We work with you and learn what you’ll love in your own space. Then we take the overwhelm out of that process for you.”

Clients—both residential and commercial—and their contractors can take advantage of Silver Creek’s meeting space. The design studio will collaborate with you to visualize your designs with renderings and scale modeling, and the showroom will help you pick out the perfect materials in person, where you can touch and see them. Then Silver Creek’s on-staff craftsmen can install your choices with confidence and experience.

Even if you’re somewhere else during your build, you can rely on the Silver Creek team to fulfill your vision on the ground. “Especially if you have been in another state or a different country as the build has happened,” Ron says, “I get to see you light up when we reveal the work that we’ve done.”

Whatever your needs, Silver Creek is here to spark your imagination and free you to dream. You have all the time you need, and they will work with you through your entire process, from idea to reality. “The honor of my career is to be tableside with customers as they watch their own dreams come true,” Andrea says. “We’re practically family by the time we finish a project.”