Artists in Newspaper: 2007

NUMBER II

EVENTS + ARTISTS + NEWSPAPERS

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ARTISTS in NEWSPAPERS • 2007

AiN: back in black

Todd Murray 4 Dee Norleen 6 Beth Marcue 8

For 13 weeks during the summer, the Times provides a venue to showcase the work of local artists, as well as highlight some of the great events that keep visitors and locals entertained all summer long.

In addition to fresh original art on our RoundUp cover each week was an artist biography, both of which are compiled in this year’s Artists in Newspapers catalog. A larger sampling of each artist’s work as well as all of last year’s participants can be found online at www.gunnisontimes.com I was pleased to kick off this year’s Artists in Newspapers project with a piece that represents the idea and work behind AiN. A little over a year and a half ago, I had the idea for AiN. Unlike a journalist — and in my case a publisher — who creates news(papers), artists are left to create at will undaunted by the realities of a working world. The artist is creator, architect, engineer and craftsman. It is the artist who works vigorously, and it is the artist who says, “it is complete.”

My cover is meant to represent the process behind creation.

Starting with an idea, moving into the blueprint and sketching, and finally transformation into a finished product. It is an homage to the individuals and their work that will make up this year’s AiN project.

(Stephen J. Pierotti can be reached at publisher@gunnisontimes.com or call 970-641-1414).

Autumn Goodrich 10 Carol Connor 12 Linda Ahrensback 14 Brenda Johnson 18 Ivy Walker 20 Anne Littlewolf 22 Debby Phelps 24 Julie Wills 26 Joe Bob Merritt 28

For more information regarding this publication or other special publications of Gunnison Country Publications, call 970.641.1414, or email production@gunnisontimes.com No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Copyright© 2007. No part may be transmitted in any form by any means including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without permission of the publisher.

Any work (written, photographic or graphic) which the publisher “hired-out” becomes the property of the publisher. Publisher accepts no liability for solicited or unsolicited materials lost, damaged or otherwise.

Fantastic feasts for culinary aficionados

Photo courtesy Gunnison/ Crested Butte Tourism Assoc.

Dining options, cooking classes and culinary events add spice Great food and the Gunnison Valley go hand in hand. Not only wdo Crested Butte, Gunnison and Almont have an amazing selection of locally-owned restaurants and catering businesses, the valley has a burgeoning calendar of culinary events sure to please any food fanatic.

Tour de Forks, a tasty summertime tradition in the Gunnison Valley, soared to new heights of culinary delights in 2007, from sampling Gunnison County tenderloin on a deck overlooking the East River to gourmet lunches in a mountain meadow.

Those who took part in the sixth annual Tour de Forks enjoyed tours of some of the finest homes in Prospect, Trapper’s Crossing, Meridian Lakes and Skyland — and meals prepared by outstanding local and visiting professional chefs.

More adventurous dining experiences included a raft trip followed by gourmet cuisine at Garlic Mike’s in Gunnison, a jeep excursion up the Pitkin Valley with lunch at a special hideaway, and a crowd cheering on competing chefs at the Chefs on the Edge competition.

Tour de Forks runs through the end of August and benefits Crested Butte Center for the Arts, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2007. Reservations for Tour de Forks events are accepted starting in June; plan ahead, as many events sell out quickly.

For more information or to request a brochure describing all the gourmet dining opportunities, call (970) 349-7487, extension 3, or visit www.crestedbuttearts.org.

Crested Butte Wild Mushroom Festival, which also takes place in August, has grown 4

Todd Murray It’s called culinary arts for a good reason. It takes true skill and creativity to combine all things edible into something unique and delectable, especially when the possible combinations are limitless.

Like the artists competing in the Chefs on the Edge competition, the work I create is also about finding just the right combination of ingredients.

I had been making these assemblages for over a year when the epiphany hit me.

I suddenly understood how my life’s journey led me to develop this artistic style.

Born and raised in the West, I grew up in an era when Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy were big on the silver screen. The romance and intrigue of the Old West captured my boyhood imagination. My parents collected art and antiques, so we spent many family vacations visiting museums, galleries and ghost towns. I was always carting home old bottles, rocks, bones and odd bits of metal. A move to New Mexico would prove to be a big influence and the beauty and simplicity of Hispanic folk art would eventually surface in my work.

My work is part icon, part folk art, mostly recycled and 100 percent original.

The piece that appears here took root with a rusty pocket knife my wife found in Biloxi, Miss. She was there volunteering in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina and plucked it from the debris. It’s been sitting in a box ever since, patiently waiting for the right combination of ideas and ingredients needed to give it meaning again. I blended it with some barn wood, scrap metal and a Gene Autry cardboard cut-out to cook up a tribute to the hard-working chuck wagon chefs that once roamed the West.

For more information on Todd Murray’s work, view Artists of the West Elks at www.awearts.org; e-mail TDennisMurray@hotmail.com or call 970-642-0273.

every year, focusing not only on the science of mushrooms, but on the delectable things people can do with them.

Mushroom connoisseur Roger Kahn and restaurateur Mac Bailey took over Crested Butte’s mushroom festival seven years ago and made a solemn vow “to put the fun back in fungi.”

The festival emphasizes hands-on activities, such as forays into the woods and identification hikes, nicely seasoned with lectures, slide shows, a jazz concert and workshops.

Many Crested Butte restaurants also get into the spirit of Wild Mushroom Festival by placing wild mushroom specials on the menu. For more information, call (970) 596-4841 or visit www.cbmushfest.com.

New for 2007 was “Colorado Fest …

Celebrating Colorado’s Food, Wine, Beer & Art,” an event that focuses exclusively on Colorado Sept. 7-9.

The weekend began on Friday evening in Gunnison with an art gallery crawl, live music and a food and wine reception at the Gunnison Arts Center, where guests met and talked with David S. Carbonetti of Mountain Sommeliers, LLC and two Colorado wine makers. The weekend in Gunnison, Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte offered food and wine pairings, a wine tasting

with Colorado foods under the cottonwood trees, a beer festival and chili cook-off and a farmers’ market. Local restaurants featured fixed-price dinner menus of “Colorado only” products and guests tapped into their creative sides with hands-on pottery and cooking classes, music and more.

Organizers of Colorado Fest plan to hold the event annually. For more information about Colorado Fest, call (877) 448-1394 or visit www.ColoradoFest.com.

Later in September is the annual Taste for Caring Harvest Dinner. Gunnison Valley Hospital recruited one of the Gunnison Valley’s leading chefs, Michael Marchitelli, to create this fund-raiser for educational and community outreach for the hospital. Back by popular demand, Marchitelli prepared a seven-course gourmet Harvest Dinner on Sept. 15 at his restaurant, Marchitelli’s Gourmet Noodle, in Crested Butte.

Marchitelli worked closely with wine enthusiast Judy Byron of Grand Vin Distributors to pair each course with the perfect wine. As each of the seven courses was brought to the table, Byron will walk diners through the selections and explain how the selection complements the culinary dishes.

For more information and reservations, call Gunnison Valley Hospital at (970) 6417297.

ARTISTS in NEWSPAPERS • 2007

ToddMurray Murray Todd y _______________

Taylor Park Marina Fishing Derby

Photo courtesy Taylor Park Marina

The wealth of water in Gunnison County makes for exceptional fishing — less pressure on the fish means more success for anglers. Gunnison County’s lakes and streams are home to kokanee salmon, northern pike, and brown, rainbow, cutthroat, brook and mackinaw trout.

While several fishing events and tournaments take place throughout the year, including the Blue Mesa Fishing Tournament, Monarch Search & Rescue Fishing Tournament and Caddis Cup Fly-Fishing Tournament, none matches the Taylor Park Marina Fishing Derby, now in its seventh year.

The Taylor Park Marina Fishing Derby is held each year and offers cash prizes for longest northern pike, largest pike by weight, most pike caught, and largest trout caught in the Taylor Park Reservoir. Registration begins at 6 a.m. the morning of the derby, with eligible fishing times between 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is an entry fee per person. Registration for the kids division is free, with non-cash prizes available.

Taylor Park Marina sits on the southern edge of Taylor Park Reservoir. At an elevation of 9,300 feet, the skies are blue and the air is light, crisp and clear. The north end of the lake is surrounded by the magnificent beauty of the Sawatch Range, made famous by the Collegiate Peaks. The undiscovered beauty of Taylor Park makes your vacation experience more adventurous since fancy amenities are not an option. Taylor Park Marina, however, can eliminate the need to bring your own equipment along for your ultimate fishing experience. The marina rents fishing boats, pontoons, and rents or sells all your fishing equipment needs. Taylor Park Marina carries a full line of fishing lures and bait as well as beverages and snacks for the “people needs.”

With over 2,000 surface acres of water, Taylor Reservoir is small enough to be quaint, deep enough to house lots of “big 6

Dee Norleen Dee Norleen is a mixed media artist newly operating as Rocking KD Creations, located in Gunnison. She has practiced art since childhood, and early interests were graphite and watercolor. As an adult, her career path led to interior and landscape design and computer graphics.

As an avid hunter and naturalist, Norleen began to pursue her true passions — the spirit of the land and Native American culture. From Maryland’s eastern woodlands to Colorado’s western slope, she followed her calling. Utilizing the gifts found in nature, and with much relish for Native designs, Norleen now creates unique art pieces which reflect visions of spiritual connection and natural order.

Throughout the last 24 months, Norleen has been honing her talent for handbuilt clay bowls and fetishes. Using drape and coil methods, Norleen builds bowls and fetishes in clay mediums. Her completed designs often depict big game, fish or birds, and many are a combined finish of carved oxides and painted acrylics.

Primarily designed as fine art pieces for display, and ranging in sizes, Norleen may dress a piece with beads, feathers, or other natural totems. You may find her working with leather and sinew, hides and skulls, antlers, clay, plant pigments, or old timber.

Norleen chose to create a ceramic piece to depict our local Pike Fishing Tournament. The bowl was built from clay using the drape method. Black oxide was then applied, burnished and hand carved, thus creating the design. Thereafter, the piece was dried and bisque fired, acrylic paints applied to highlight the image, and a final coat of matte fixative for shine and protection.

Norleen creates in honor of the “great spirit” and the connectivity of all things.

Her purpose is to create beauty in art that “speaks” to the viewer and honors the subject matter. In essence, she believes that “as we create, so we become. Our greatest deeds are those we do for the betterment of the whole.”

At this time, Norleen’s finished products are displayed for sale either in her Doyleville studio or at Buckhorn Trading Company in downtown Gunnison.

Visitors and commissions welcome – 43495 County Road 18 V V, Gunnison, CO 81230.

Fish Flurry under the lake As the sea spray blows by.

Under Heaven, afloat on Earth Our rods tilt towards the sky.

Fish Flurry under the lake As the tides pull to the shore.

Under Heaven, afloat on Earth We fish for evermore.

By Dee Norleen

lunkers” and large enough to accommodate lots of fishing boats and still have room for other water sports. For more information or to register for the derby, call Taylor Park Marina at 970-641-2922 (spring/summer) or 719-395-6484 (winter).

The area’s largest and most popular fishing river, the Gunnison River, the free-flowing East River and the Taylor River make for an enjoyable fishing experience.

Good fishing — by boat or from the shoreline — is also found at the easily accessible Blue Mesa Reservoir within the Cu-

recanti National Recreation Area. With 92 miles of shoreline, Blue Mesa Reservoir is Colorado’s largest body of water.

With hundreds of miles of scenic waterways and 3 million new fish released each year from hatcheries, Gunnison County offers a lifetime of fishing opportunities. The county, which is roughly the size of the state of Connecticut, offers crystal-clear reservoirs, three classic rivers, countless creeks and clear alpine lakes, and a plethora of fishing events throughout the spring and summer.

ARTISTS in NEWSPAPERS • 2007

DeeNorleen Norleen_______________ Dee

CB Museum shows its colors

Photo by Alex Fenlon

Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum’s annual fund-raiser, the Black and White Ball, is held every year, always on July 2.

Participants are asked to wear black or white evening wear — fabulous to funky — for a night of live music and dancing in the streets.

Admission is $15 for adults and children are free. Raffle tickets are sold for various prizes each year; this year, prizes included a pair of Salomon Foil 174 cm skis, a limited edition Nidecker Helvet Underground 161 cm snowboard, a CBMR gold pass, a classic townie bike and a week vacation at a beach condo in Corpus Christi.

The Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum is the only non-profit organization within the community dedicated to historical preservation activities. From 1982 to 1994 there was no historical museum in Crested Butte or Mt. Crested Butte.

The Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum, Inc. was formed in 1993 to raise funds to display and organize the collection. The museum was set up in only 700 square feet of the old Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Depot in September 1994. It soon became apparent that a larger and more central location was required. With the aid of a grant from the State Historical Fund, the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum opened in the Spritzer House in the Historic District in December 1995.

As the organization grew, it once again became evident in the summer of 2000 that the museum needed to move to a larger and more prominent location in Crested Butte to allow for the long-term growth of its displays and collection. While the Spritzer House provided a good home for five years, the museum decided to take the opportunity to move its location to the historic Crested Butte Hardware Store, locally known as Tony’s Conoco, located on Elk Avenue. Tony’s Conoco was originally built in 1883, making it one of the oldest standing structures in town.

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Beth Marcue With the exception of a couple of years here and there, Colorado has been my lifelong home. I love the landscape, the people and the sense of independence that defines this part of the country.

The other world that lives in me, right alongside of this one, continually pulls at my heart. It is the world of my childhood summers of my mother’s home in North Carolina. The things that I learned there, so many years ago, have never left me — the simplicity of life, the abundance of family, the wisdom of working the land and the poverty juxtaposed with a sense of plenty. I think that my appreciation of the old and well-loved, the worn and discarded comes from those early times and the notion of using and reusing. I believe that all things have a life and a story and there is value in that story, whatever it is, continuing in some form.

Over the course of my life, my experience of our culture has gone from a builtin frugality born of necessity to that of everyday excess and a disturbing sense of entitlement. Somehow, my attraction to the old and the discarded helps me to live more comfortably in the 21st century.

I like to use the old in new ways, combining things in ways I find interesting.

My artistic career began as a calligrapher and words and their meaning continue to be an important element in my work. I work mostly in metal, copper, old tin, wood and all sorts of found and collected objects. I have been working with hands as symbols for a number of years now and that continues to be interesting to me.

Each piece I create is one-of-a-kind.

Over the past winter, I began working on a series of shrinelets. These are small to medium sized altar-like assemblages that address our need to communicate with the divine. They are meant to settle our minds, ask for blessing and give thanks. I am also working with larger, more dimensional objects, old neon signs and theater marquee letters and boxes.

The piece for Artists in Newspapers deals with time and memory and how they shape and define our world view. This piece has a distressed canvas background with old gasoline price signs hanging off the canvas that can be changed and rearranged. The price signs were salvaged from an old store in Virginia. I chose this piece to represent the Black and White Ball, a fund-raiser for the Mountain Heritage Museum in Crested Butte early in July. The museum is housed in the old Tony’s Conoco building. The correlation between the black and white gas price signs of this piece, the Conoco building, and the fact that they each concern themselves with history, time and memory seemed a perfect match.

I also work as a graphic artist, designing logos, business packages, brochures, illustration, advertisements, posters, signage and more. I find this work challenging and enjoy the process of taking a concept and developing it into something complete and usable. It is satisfying to help clients successfully promote their business or product.

Assemblage work, hands and shrinelets can be seen at Tango at 144 Main Street in Gunnison and Lupitas’ Bazaar in Ridgway. My studio number is 641-3345.

The museum launched the successful “Save Tony’s” fund-raising campaign and was able to acquire Tony’s Conoco in September 2001. Work began on the structure in June 2002 and the museum re-opened in its new location in July 2003. The new location gives the museum a highly visible permanent home with the space for new interactive exhibits to educate and entertain the community and its visitors. The additional space allows the museum to

develop a local history and photographic archive, host events and establish a Community Museum Store.

The mission of the museum is to bring about a better understanding and appreciation by the community of its history and cultural heritage of mining, ranching, skiing and other activities which have been indigenous to the East River Valley, particularly Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte.

ARTISTS in NEWSPAPERS • 2007

BethMarcue Marcue_______________ Beth

Rotary puts on another July 4 blast

Photo by Matt Smith

Celebrating Independence Day in the Gunnison Valley entails more than just fireworks. The merriment includes a firehouse pancake breakfast, one-third marathon (“Run, Walk or Crawl”), parade, food vendors, old-fashioned games, live music and block parties.

Start out the Fourth of July on a hearty note with flapjacks prepared by Crested Butte’s volunteer fire department and emergency medical services teams. Pull up a chair at the Crested Butte Fire Station’s pump room, 3rd Street and Elk Avenue, and dig in for all-you-can-eat pancakes, sausage, juice and coffee. The cost is $8 for adults and $6 for children.

Kids are often treated to rides in a fire truck “cherry picker” and play with sidewalk chalk while waiting for their breakfast. For more information, contact the Crested Butte Fire Department at (970) 349-5333.

The Gothic to Crested Butte Run, Walk or Crawl 1/3 Marathon has taken place each year for over 35 years. This longtime Independence Day favorite, organized by Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) begins at 8 a.m. in Gothic. The racecourse winds through aspen woods and meadows to Mt. Crested Butte, travels past the ski resort, and ends on Elk Avenue in downtown Crested Butte. Shuttle buses from Crested Butte transport all participants to the starting line in Gothic.

The race is a fund-raiser for the nonprofit RMBL. For more information, contact RMBL at (970) 349-7231 or visit www.rmbl.org.

After the run, stick around Crested Butte for the traditional Fourth of July parade.

Expect funky, fun and good-natured laughter as people line Crested Butte’s Elk Avenue about three deep to take in the sights. Crested Butte Mayor Alan Ber10

Autumn Goodrich As a child, my sister, Faith, and I were always engaged in some sort of craft project. If we were making friendship bracelets or gluing nuts and bolts to a barrette, there was the element of taking pieces of different things and seeing what we could create. This was a way to be creative and make use of whatever we might find sitting around the house.

Being raised in the Gunnison Valley, I was exposed to the amazing variety of colors and elements that nature has to offer. Often my outdoor activities led me in search of the next rock I could add to my collection. Little did I know that one day it would become an artistic outlet. However, as adolescence set in, high school and then college at Colorado College became a bigger part of my life and the projects of my youth seemed all but forgotten.

After graduating and returning home to Gunnison, a good friend introduced me to jewelry making. Though I had taken only a few art classes, I was already interested in finding a creative outlet for my love of stones and rocks. What a delight to find that what I loved to do had such a wonderful artistic outlet. It should not have taken me by surprise when I started to work almost exclusively in stone beads.

My jewelry is constantly evolving. If I find inspiration in a book or a song, it somehow makes its way into the twists and turns of the wire, or makes the smaller beads become the frame for the largest center piece. My travels to New Zealand and South America also have a great influence on my craft. The size of the stones, the reoccurring techniques I use and even the color palettes that arise, seem to all reflect some experience of my travels. What I cannot bring back physically from my travels, I bring back in the form of inspiration and ideas.

The natural variation found in stone beads helps me create interesting and unique pieces. In addition, I find that the process of jewelry making complements my meticulous nature. While each piece can seem sporadic, revolving around a color scheme, a specific pendant or even a clasp, it slowly weaves its way into my unconscious, and the final layout is finished in those moments between sleep and awake. No matter where life may lead me, I believe I have found one creative outlet that will always keep me intrigued.

My pieces are currently available at Tango in Gunnison. In addition to my jewelry making, I also work as a massage therapist. For more information you can contact me at 596-4944.

nholtz and friends are known for creating floats that wow the crowd with action such as costumed characters skiing down a water slide through a ring of fire or flying over a dirt hill on mountain bikes. Scientists, staff and friends of Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory also have built a reputation for wearing outfits created from skunk cabbage leaves, which grow prolifically near the laboratory’s facilities in nearby Gothic.

Come afternoon, thousands of locals and visitors alike make the annual pilgrimage to the Gunnison Rotary Club’s Independence Day fireworks. The Gunnison Rotary Club has sponsored the event for 56 years, raising funds for college scholarships and local causes, and in recent years added a block party to make it a full after-

noon and evening of family fun.

Bike decorating and face painting for kids and music in IOOF Park in Gunnison kicks off the afternoon festivities. The kids then form a bike procession and travel to Jorgensen Park to kick off the block party.

Spread out the blankets and fold out the chairs to dine on tasty treats from food booths and take part in the many activities for kids and adults, including carnival games, a petting zoo, large inflatables, music and more. The fireworks begin in the park at dusk.

The festivities are entirely free of charge.

Donations, however, are encouraged. It costs the Gunnison Rotary about $30,000 ($13,000 in fireworks alone) to put on the event.

ARTISTS in NEWSPAPERS • 2007

AutumnGoodrich Goodrich___________ Autumn

Celebrating ranching heritage, western spirit

Photo by Aimee Jacoby

Gunnison’s “Granddaddy of Colorado Rodeos” made its humble debut 107 years ago. Back then, Main Street served as the arena when rodeo hopefuls from the area congregated into this mountain valley town to show off their roping, racing and riding skills.

“Cattlemen’s Days is a 10-day festival that is all about celebrating Gunnison’s ranching heritage and western spirit,” says Cattlemen’s Days President Dan Woodbury.

Over the years, the rodeo venue has seen several locations, including what is now the Western State College track field, before it settled into its current home. It also tried out a few different names such as “Pioneer Days” and “Helldorado.” In 1901, the celebration came under the sponsorship of the Gunnison Valley Stockgrowers Association and the rodeo officially adopted the name “Cattlemen’s Days.” The event began operating under the direction of the specially created Cattlemen’s Days Association several decades later.

Scheduled between spring calving and summer haying, Cattlemen’s Days continues to demonstrate the rhythm of traditional ranch lifestyles. But the event has made leaps and bounds from the days when Gunnison ranch hands tried their luck with ornery local livestock. Its popularity now attracts PRCA rodeo cowboys and cowgirls from around the United States — professionals who promise topnotch performance. In addition, the rodeo features the best rough stock available and award-winning specialty acts.

“The ranching community has an opportunity to come into town and celebrate with the rodeos, fair and stock shows. It also gives the non-agricultural community a chance to support and rub shoulders with the ranching community. At the 4H livestock sale, regional businesses and individuals support the local kids by pur12

Carol Connor Two of my lifelong passions have been making art and interacting with horses.

Having the opportunity to create a piece for AiN has led me to observe the commonalities between making art and horsemanship, including commitment, passion, discipline, creativity, logic, technique, patience, risk-taking, discovery, allowing and melding the traditional with the new. My relationship with the other-art, or horse, deepens intuition because the connection with each engages insight and outer sight and is ultimately about feeling and sensing.

Movement and color are integral elements in my work. The intention in my pieces is to evoke questions that result in further growth and wisdom, expanding boundaries and perhaps comfort zones. For me, working with horses does the same.

In 1979, I moved to Crested Butte. Previously I studied art at Georgia State University. Currently I live in the heart of the Gunnison Valley, near Jack’s Cabin, on a working ranch. Since 1991 my artwork has been displayed locally at Rijks Family Gallery at 310 Second St. in Crested Butte. More can be seen at www.awearts.org, and in group shows at the Gunnison Arts Center.

chasing their animals,” Woodbury said.

Traditional beef projects are still part of the Cattlemen’s Days Livestock Show. Although more members take on swine and Cashmere goat projects, 4-H beef project members take on the extra challenge and responsibility of raising a larger animal, one that has had a role in the Gunnison area for generations.

“Rodeo events represent many of the skills used on a working ranch,” Woodbury added. “Horses sometimes buck, heifers and calves often need to be roped and tied to be doctored, and barrel racing shows horsemanship at high rates of speed.”

As always, the marquee events for Cattlemen’s Days are the rodeos with their thrills, spills and good-natured fun.

Not only are talented competitors key to a top rodeo; there must also be experienced producers and stock contractors behind the scenes. The services of Stace Smith (2004, 2005 and 2006 PRCA Stock Contractor of the Year) were once again secured by Cattlemen’s Days in 2007.

Smith produced the rodeo again, as he provided WNFR quality bucking stock in all three of the rough stock events for the first time ever.

Another event that has become a Cattlemen’s Days staple is the PRCA Tough Enough to Wear Pink (TETWP) campaign to raise contributions towards breast cancer awareness.

On Tough Enough to Wear Pink Rodeo Night, the crowd and cowboys are encour-

aged to get into the spirit and wear pink, with a portion of rodeo ticket sales for the night going to the cause.

In 2006, Gunnison Cattlemen’s Days “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” set a national record by raising $90,000 that is being used locally to support breast cancer awareness, examinations, diagnosis, prevention and local hospital technology digital mammography upgrade.

In 2007, another $70,000 was raised for local efforts aimed at fighting breast cancer.

“The efforts throughout both Gunnison and Hinsdale Counties to raise funds for TETWP were more than we could ask for,” stated Jim Swaim, director of the TETWP campaign in Gunnison. $70,000 will go a long way to bring more awareness of the importance of having a mammogram.

“We have only scratched the surface in our attempts to eliminate breast cancer here and we thank all who participated and look forward to building on these efforts in the coming years,” added Swaim.

Other highlights in conjunction with the rodeo are the Watershed Team Roping and Barrel Racing for local adults and youth.

Horse racing at the fairgrounds wraps up Cattlemen’s Days.

Tickets go on sale about a week in advance, at the Cattlemen’s Days ticket booth located at Gunnison Bank, 232 W. Tomichi Ave. Tickets can also be purchased at the door. Call 641-1501 for further details.

Cattlemen’s Days 2008 is slated for July 4-13.

ARTISTS in NEWSPAPERS • 2007

CarolConnor Connor Carol r ______________

Small and Charming Home Tour

Photo courtesy of Maureen Hall

Four summers ago, former High Country Citizens’ Alliance (HCCA) board member Maureen Hall spearheaded an effort to highlight the small homes of Crested Butte for two reasons: first, to show people that small houses can be charming and livable, and second, to offer an event for people who aren’t necessarily avid outdoorsmen.

The project is also a fund-raiser for HCCA, an organization dedicated to protecting, restoring and enhancing the natural ecosystems and quality of life in the Upper Gunnison River Basin.

Each time the tour has run, it has sold out, explained Hall. It continues to expand and the groups get bigger every year. The Small and Charming Home Tour has gained popularity for a variety of reasons.

The tour itself is unique, as “unlike other ski towns, (Crested Butte) has a walking tour of small and charming houses,” said Hall. The houses that are part of the tour are also distinctive, most of them also endowed with historical features.

“A house is so much more than its size and volume,” said Hall. “Small homes can be quite charming, comfortable and inviting.”

In the 1950s, houses were built with about 290 square feet per family member.

Today they are more than 800 square feet per member. As it has been said, “Comfort is born of smaller scale and fine details.”

Since houses are dependent on the very commodities that are most damaging to the earth to produce: energy, chemicals, metal and lumber, High Country Citizens’ Alliance encourages small homes which make better use of raw materials and use less energy to operate. Small homes create places of beauty and increase the quality of life in the process.

The selection process for homes that are featured in the Small and Charming Home Tour is one mostly of word of mouth. “A 14

Linda Ahrensback Linda Ahrensback is a contemporary oil painter. Selecting subjects from her rural surroundings, her paintings capture the beauty and textures of nature.

Ahrensback’s formal education was completed at Weber State University, nestled in the northern Rocky Mountains of Utah. She has taught art in the public schools for over a decade, but is currently taking a sabbatical to further explore her art expression.

Growing up surrounded by the majestic landscapes of northern Utah and nurtured by creative parents, Ahrensback experimented with many art forms and media. Standing quietly in the wilderness, she learned to see the changes in temperature, color and quality of light as the day passed. Her passion is to capture and share how she interprets her world.

Accompanying her husband with his work has taken Ahrensback to Jackson Hole, Wyo., where they lived for a few years. While there, she learned the art of “Plein Air” painting and was immersed in an artist’s world.

She now lives in Gunnison, where her work is once again influenced by the various landscapes, people and massive wide open spaces. She chose to depict the “Small and Charming Home Tour” for her Artists in Newspapers submission.

Ahrensback exhibits and sells her artwork in local galleries and art shows in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Her paintings are also currently represented by the Gunnison Arts Center. She commissions personal barns, houses and landscapes.

To contact Ahrensback, e-mail: lahrensback@yahoo.com. To view more paintings, log on to: www.awearts.org/lahrensback.html.

couple of people get together and talk about people’s homes (in the area) then contact them (about being in the tour),” Hall said.

“So many people are excited about having their homes on the tour.”

Examples of homes you may see on the tour include an extensively remodeled early 1900 Sawmill, now a cozy family home nestled right in downtown Crested Butte and a charming home on the sunny side of Elk Avenue that was built around the turn of the century and lovingly restored.

Most homes you will see have been restored from their original state, while still retaining their time-honored appeal. One such house is that of Mike and Nan Johnson on 223 Sopris. The house is typical dwelling construction of the late 19th century with Queen Anne details and asymmetric design. By the 1960s, two distinct 20’ x 10’ additions had nearly doubled its size. In 2002, the Johnsons began the third and final addition. Their love of Crested Butte and its small, quiet homes led them to strive for the smallest and least obtrusive extension possible for full-time Crested Butte living. At 1,050 square feet, the home is a testimony to the fact that quality of space matters much more than quantity of space, and that smaller homes are not

only more cozy, but also easier on the environment and on the eyes. The coal shed at the back of the property was built in the 1880s, although it was not moved onto the site until sometime after 1910. It is typical of the outbuildings erected in Crested Butte during the late 19th century with a gabled roof, vertical plank siding and a simple design.

Tours begin at 10 a.m. at the Visitor’s Center/Chamber of Commerce in Crested Butte. Tickets are $30 and include a guided tour and a light lunch.

This event sells out every year and the number of reservations is limited. Advanced reservations are required. Make your reservations by calling 349-2778.

“Many people who could afford big houses in gated enclaves are choosing to live in smaller homes in closely knit communities, where people are friendly, and there is an active mix of commercial and residential life,” says Stephen Schreiber, director of the University of South Florida’s architecture school.

The Small and Charming Home Tour provides an opportunity to reminisce of historical days in Crested Butte, while also shedding light on the comfort of small home living.

ARTISTS in NEWSPAPERS • 2007

LindaAhrensback Ahrensback Linda k ___________

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ARTISTS in NEWSPAPERS • 2007

P R O G R A M M I N G

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Supporting Artists, the Arts and the Community GUNNISON CENTER

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Stitching a masterpiece

Quilters join forces for festival, musical at Gunnison Arts Center For 16 years, the Gunnison Arts Center (GAC) has hosted the Land of the Rainbow Quilt Festival contest, giving it a different theme each year. This year, the GAC celebrated both the mining and ranching heritage in the Gunnison Valley with the theme, “Red Ladies and Cowboys.”

Quilts are usually displayed throughout the month of August, until they are judged and winners are announced. In conjunction with the quilt festival is the musical, “Quilters,” the story of a pioneer woman and her six daughters.

“Quilters” blends a series of interrelated scenes into a rich mosaic which captures the sweep and beauty, the terror and joy, the harsh challenge and abiding rewards of frontier life. Illuminating stories contained in various patches or “blocks” with music, dance and drama, the action depicts the lot of women on the frontier: girlhood, marriage, childbirth, spinsterhood, twisters, fire, illness and death. But, with these, there is also love, warmth, rich and lively humor and the moving spectacle of simple human dignity and steadfastness in the face of adversity. In the end, when the various patches are assembled into one glorious, brilliantly colorful quilt, the effect is both breathtaking and magical.

“Quilters” was originally developed and produced at the Denver Center Theatre Company. It is a joyous and moving celebration of American Womanhood and it became a record-setting regional theater success before its presentations 18

Brenda Johnson My passion for dance began about 20 years ago back home in Emporia, Kan. In my first ballet class, at the age of four, I was completely captivated with every element of dancing, and for the next 15 years, my world revolved around it. I danced competitively with the Starfire Dance Company for 11 years and performed in a variety of places, including Europe for the Tanszommer Dance Festival, New York City, Disneyland/Tomorrowland and Vegas. I have held several dance scholarships and titles, including National Entertainer and was a national finalist for the Colorado Dance L.A. Agent award.

Teaching in Gunnison has led me to find a new personal understanding of this art and has been more of an inspiration than I had ever imagined. It was my goal this year to push all of my dance students to dance outside of their comfort zones.

They have all undoubtedly tapped into new realms of individual and collective creativity and ability. Through my choreography, I hope to provide a glimpse of all the things dance can truly be. There is mystery and illusion, raw emotion, a sense of longing mixed with joy and complete fulfillment all wrapped up with technical difficulty and of course, a bit of sass.

The challenge of creating a movement piece that would connect with quilting, an art form not usually associated with movement, was at first daunting. However, the parallels between the two art forms are actually quite unbelievable. While the obvious theme that threads all quilts together is that of family and tradition, my research into the world of quilting proved to me that there is much more to this apparently quiet and domestic craft than meets the eye. The story of quilting is surrounded by an intriguing web of myth about the origins of some of the greatest stories ever told. Every individual quilt tells a story, while every piece of fabric holds the key to deciphering an untold history. Quilting, in a sense, has often stood as one of the only legitimate forms of expression available to women, giving voice to the voiceless. The ability of a quilt to give form to the intangible is fascinating; like dance, it holds the priceless ability to speak a thousand words without saying anything at all.

Within my piece, I worked to create a sense of celebration and appreciation around the central aspect of quilting: women. Much like the process underlying the creation of a quilt, I have pieced together many of the elements of dance in order to communicate not only my understanding of the quilting tradition, but the sense of emotion instilled in me by the stories of women passed down within my own family. Through my choices in music, costuming, staging and choreography, I hope to portray a sort of sentimental celebration of strong, independent women while giving thanks from one generation of women to all those that came before us.

on Broadway and at the Edinburgh Festival. Combining music, dance movement and scenes of vivid dramatic intensity, the play pays eloquent tribute to the courage and spirit of our nation’s pioneer woman.

This year’s festival saw many other events as well, including an opening reception and trunk show with awardwinning quilter Jean Roesler. Roesler presented her trunk show, “Ida Jane and the White Apron Story,” highlighting traditional quilts from her own and her grandmother’s collections, giving stories about their patterns and histories. Roesler also taught a full-day Folk Art Appliqué

Workshop, where appliqué techniques, embellishment and border treatments were discussed and demonstrated.

For complete details about the contest, exhibition and festival, call the Gunnison Arts Center at (970) 641-4029 or visit www.gunnisonartscenter.org.

The Land of Rainbow Quilt Festival’s inaugural year was 1991; the festival has continued to grow in size to occupy and enjoy the exhibit space at Gunnison Arts Center. The historic stone building sits on a prominent corner in downtown and hosts numerous theater performances, concerts, exhibitions and classes year round.

ARTISTS in NEWSPAPERS • 2007

BrendaJohnson Johnson____________ Brenda

Standard Flower Show goes golden

Photo by Matt Smith

The Top O’ the World Garden Club celebrated its 50th annual Standard Flower Show this August. To celebrate the past 50 years since becoming a federated member of National Garden Clubs, Inc., the theme of the flower show was “Top O’ the World Goes Golden.”

The annual flower show is open to the public for both entry and viewing. Judges from the Colorado Federation of Garden Clubs then evaluate the entries.

In the flower design division, past favorites of the last 50 years were chosen to be interpreted into flower designs. These categories are: Western Sunset (1973), Rainbow Rapture (1987), Fire and Ice (1992), Independence Day (1975), Visions of Sugar Plums, Fall Fiesta (2003), Astonishing Angles (1985), Vertical Elegance (1992), Whirligig (1999) and the Pot et Fleur is Grandmother’s Garden (1997).

All entries for horticulture must be grown by the exhibitor in the Gunnison area. Exhibitors may make more than one entry per class or sub-class if each is a different genus, species, variety, cultivar, type, size or color.

Containers are furnished by the garden club.

It is preferred that the cut specimens have no foliage below the water line. Different sections available for entry are: annuals, perennials, biennials, roses, bulbs, corms and tubers, container grown plants, fruits, vegetables and herbs.

Flower show books with a full list of rules and classification of entries are available to anyone who would like to enter a floral design or locally grown horticulture by calling Toni Bullock (641-0836) or Audrey Dickinson (641-0662).

Top O’ the World Garden Club is a working garden club with an unlimited membership. Anyone interested in joining may call Ann Goldberg, club president, at 641-3024.

Meetings are held monthly on the third Tuesday at 1 p.m. Annual dues are $20 for individuals and $30 for families.

Club projects include planting flower beds at Jorgensen Park, Legion Park and the 20

Ivy Walker So many rich childhood experiences grew out of playing in my grandmother’s large yard and garden. In the back of my mind, I wondered about this woman who created these very particular garden spaces that I was able to watch bloom and grow like clockwork for many springs and summers after she passed. It was as if there was a conversation to be deciphered by noticing that she put her favorite Sweet Williams close to the willow tree or the strawberry patch right next to the coolest water spigot. She made good neighbors out of the grape vine, mint shrubs and day lilies. Her roses in the front yard were the show stoppers of every summer. Not to mention the harvests of asparagus, cherries, raspberries, carrots, corn, tomatoes. It is no wonder to me that my art-making is still connected to my experiences in the garden and the outdoors.

As a child, I played outside and was always curious about small things, such as the kaleidoscopic insides of tulips, the one-of-a-kind pattern of each snowflake, the texture of grape hyacinths, the secret lives of birds and bugs and the silent ever-present movement of the seasons. I have always been drawn to quiet or intricate things that point to a spiritual quality and reveal God’s hand in repeated patterns of connectedness. My current artwork is informed by these small things and by the underlying, complex web all life is held within.

There are moments when life lifts the veil and something is impressed upon my person, spirit and imagination. These tiny revelations reveal the leitmotifs of our lives, the recurring themes of personal, secret importance. My recent paintings are inspired by these haphazard epiphanies and explore how they manifest in dreams, meditations of the heart and everyday life. My paintings are multi-paneled and combine text, floral forms, sentimental objects and patterns. I incorporate writings taken from a personal collection of letters, postcards and dream journals. The text is meant to be obscured yet give hints of an individual writer’s focus through a few words or the attitude of their handwriting. Floral forms are used as a metaphor for the transforming and temporary. I portray objects or patterns that create an awkward sense of familiarity — something you may have seen before but may not be able to place.

Like clues or puzzles, the multiple panels give the feeling of putting pieces together.

The paintings grasp at moments that defy completion and contain the uneasy halfessence, or unresolved quality, that dreams leave behind.

In another series of work, I explore the intricate and ephemeral through art made with the landscape. I create temporary, gentle and hardly perceptible interventions in the land and use photographs to document their different states of being and demise.

Marks or text, made with chalk, ink or thread, are combined with plants, rocks, dirt, flowers, etc. in the landscape. These pieces are altered by the elements and dissolve within a relatively short period — from a few moments to a few months. Through these works, I create a delicate dialogue with the land that is potent yet vulnerable and fleeting.

Like so many of our neighbors, I was drawn to the Gunnison Valley by the incredible landscape and all the great activities to do within it. I moved here in 2000 with my husband, Todd, after completing a master of fine arts degree in painting and drawing at CU-Boulder. While in graduate school and for a few years after, I taught a variety of undergraduate art classes. I’ve exhibited and given talks about my work in the Denver-Boulder area. In the last few years, I’ve kept busy raising our daughter, Lia, and making art. Recently, I had a painting show at the Gunnison Arts Center entitled “Dreamflower.” Continuing projects include more painting, an upcoming Web site, www.ivywalkerart.com, seeking gallery representation and gardening with my daughter. For inquires, e-mail me at ivykwalker@yahoo.com.

Pioneer Museum. The club also helps with maintaining a native wildflower garden for the Hospice Garden at the Gunnison Health

Care Facility. In addition, each summer, Top O’ the World selects area yards for “Yard of the Week.”

ARTISTS in NEWSPAPERS • 2007

IvyWalker Walker Ivy r ________________

Horsemanship clinics benefit horse and rider

Photo by Susan McMann

For 30 years, Johnny Leverett — Gunnison Valley’s own “horse whisperer” — has been quietly demonstrating his unique way of “helping” a misunderstood horse, starting a young colt and helping a person experience a life-changing relationship with their four-legged companion, the horse. Those who have been fortunate enough to know or work with Leverett agree that he stands as one of the best horse clinicians in the country.

Fulfilling a promise to his beloved wife and life-long partner, Sybil, who passed away two years ago after a long battle with cancer, Johnny continues to offer his experience, knowledge and insights by offering his spring, summer and fall horsemanship clinics.

Leverett’s horsemanship clinics appeal to all abilities, from basic skills for beginners to more advanced instruction and problem solving. Many horse owners of all abilities are missing the basic fundamentals of communicating with their horse.

“People treat horses the way ‘they’ want to be treated, not the way the horse wants to be treated, which is why so many people get into trouble with their horses,” said Leverett.

These clinics are meant to bring riders to a point where their horses will do what the rider asks and the horse will perform willingly and with respect in a non-confrontational environment.

In every clinic, Johnny stresses the same foundation: communication, understanding and respect. To really connect with horses, humans need to open their eyes and throw away their clocks, egos, frustrations and expectations.

Clinics include personalized instruction, ground and arena work and lunch and refreshments at the end of the day.

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Anne Littlewolf Anne Littlewolf is a transplanted New Mexican who has always been in love with Colorado’s splendor. As someone absolutely crazy about horses, Littlewolf enjoys working to help people communicate with and enjoy their horses more fully. It is a good way to stay grounded in the basics and frequent mountain trail rides provide inspiration and ideas for more paintings. Additionally, studying the Native American way of life has provided a great deal to think about and work into new material.

While having little formal training, it has been a great privilege to be able to work with such notables as Tim Cox, Gerald Farm, Gary Roller and Donovan Begay. These friends have given valuable help when things got puzzling. Since oil painting is a very old technique, it is a wonderfully flexible, forgiving and challenging medium. It gives an artist room to expand and explore a whole realm of possibilities. The artists Littlewolf admires most are Rembrandt, who broke all the established rules and yet remains probably the foremost classical painter; Wilson Hurley, whose skill at capturing light and clouds is unmatched; and Robert “Shoofly” Shufelt, who is the undisputed master of the pencil.

Having come here to Gunnison just over two years ago, Littlewolf thoroughly loves the mountains and all the neat places to visit, and finds the Gunnison openness to art refreshing. “In most communities, if you’re an artist, people kind of look at you funny as if you’ve got something seriously wrong with you — or maybe you really are weird. But in Gunnison, if you’re not an artist, people kind of look at you funny (in a wonderful way). It’s good to see that kind of receptivity,” Littlewolf said. Littlewolf’s life here is shared with four incredibly hardworking, very special horses, two dogs, two cats and a special trail partner who gives depth and meaning to life. Littlewolf has a daughter in Maryland who is an accomplished artist in her own right, and another daughter, a student in New Mexico, who is showing some interest in art as well.

This year, the third annual Sybil Leverett Memorial Horsemanship Clinic took place Aug. 12, to benefit Living Journeys, Gunnison Valley’s Cancer Support Group in Crested Butte. Living Journeys is a non-profit organization that has been in operation since the fall of 2000, providing support, education and awareness to people living with cancer and their loved ones. Cheryl Ryan, a founder of Living Journeys, envisioned activities such as the Summit Hike and a retreat center for emotional wellness and physical health.

The weekend also included a summit hike and silent auction to benefit Living Journeys.

“This horsemanship clinic is dedicated to my mother, who battled breast cancer with unsurpassed courage right up until her death. Please support this worthy cause in honor of my mother and Living Journeys,” said Stacey Leverett. “Team Sybil” headed by Stacey and Johnny Leverett participated in the Summit Hike that weekend, in memory of a wife, mother and friend.

The Crested Butte Summit Hike is Liv-

ing Journeys’ major fund-raising event to help cancer victims to pay medical bills and alleviate the stress of daily living expenses during their cancer treatments.

The hike from the base of the ski area to the summit of Mt. Crested Butte can be modified by taking the chairlift up or down.

Last year’s Summit hike raised $28,000 and as of June this year, Living Journeys has donated over $70,000 in grants for people living with cancer.

Additional information about Living Journeys can be found at www.livingjourneys.org or by calling 349-0591.

Leverett’s Green Mesa Ranch is located 13 miles east of Gunnison, one-third of a mile past the QT Parlin Store. The 300 acre working cattle ranch abuts thousands of acres of BLM land and is one of the most beautiful places to ride on the Western Slope of Colorado.

Private lessons, specialty clinics and winter boarding are also available. Contact Leverett for details by calling 970641-5800 or e-mailing greenmesaranch@ aol.com.

ARTISTS in NEWSPAPERS • 2007

AnneLittlewolf Littlewolf Anne f _____________

From epic to historic

Photo by Will Shoemaker

Full range of summer and fall mountain biking events in Gunnison Valley The marathon of off-road bike racing returned to Gunnison this August, as dedicated spoke-spinners from all over partook in the fifth annual 24 Hours in the Sage at Hartman Rocks.

Over 160 riders — covering the complete spectrum of age and ability — began the epic journey at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 18 and didn’t stop peddling until 12 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 19.

Riders beared the brunt of the day-long cruise on their own, in co-ed teams of two, men’s and women’s teams of four or co-ed teams of five, all in attempt to accumulate the largest number of laps completed in one day.

A singlespeed class was open to solo riders and four-member teams.

Each lap of the race took competitors over 13 miles of terrain, ranging from the pavement of Gold Basin Road to the rugged singletrack of Hartman Rocks, covering an elevation change of 1,100 feet.

“At a certain point you’re just in a different world,” said 24 Hour veteran Garrison Garcia.

For the slightly less dedicated peddlepushers, a 12-hour race, Observed Trials and the Townie World Championships provided another opportunity to shine.

All proceeds from the event go to support Gunnison community projects and are presented by Brainstorm Productions and Denver Bike Tours.

For more information, visit www.24hoursinthesage.com.

Known as a “mountain biking mecca,” the Gunnison Valley offers several biking events throughout the year.

The Spring Mountain Biking Series at Hartman Rocks takes place in May, con24

Debby Phelps An avid bicyclist, artist Debby Phelps chose to promote the 24 Hours in the Sage Bike Race. The idea of depicting bicyclists climbing and descending hills during both light and dark was intriguing.

Phelps and her husband have cycled in the Western United States and in several foreign countries. Cycling has taken them to New Zealand, China, Italy and Ireland. Often on these trips, Phelps does quick watercolor sketches, thus blending her two passions.

Through the years, Phelps has been extremely fortunate to have wonderful art teachers. These people not only taught her about art, but also became longtime friends. Her high school teacher, Barbara Dahlin, was a constant support until her death several years ago. Phelps still sees her sculpture professor from college. Lynn Wolfe, who lives in Boulder, will be 90 years old soon. He still critiques her art regularly. Closer to home, local artist Bob Maurer is an endless source of knowledge.

Phelps cherishes these mentors.

Phelps received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Master of Arts in transpersonal counseling and art therapy from the Naropa University.

She practiced art therapy in private practice and in hospital settings. During her years in private practice, Phelps worked with adults, children and hospice. Art therapy gave her an opportunity to use art and image-making to help people in crisis.

“Everyone possesses a creative spirit. It’s just a matter of accessing that spirit. Clients found that image-making and the art process can uncover unconscious thoughts and feelings. The healing process begins as the client addresses these thoughts and feelings. After a course of therapy, the client has a visual record of their recovery from emotional stress. This visual record shows their journey from disease to health,” says Phelps.

After retiring from art therapy, Phelps has pursued her own art. She works in watercolors and acrylics. Currently Phelps is writing and illustrating two children’s books. While the books are still in progress, her art can be seen at The Gunnison Arts Center. Phelps has had two one-person shows there and is working toward her third. She is very grateful the Gunnison Arts Center provides such a wonderful space for artists to show and sell their works.

sisting of varied routes for competing kids, beginner/intermediate and expert riders.

An awards party, food and fun follow each race, and proceeds go to Hartman Rocks for upkeep and trail work.

Call Brian Riepe at 641-9336 for details.

In late June comes Fat Tire Bike Week, the world’s oldest mountain biking festival. This oldie-but-goodie includes a host of various racing events and games for the biker in us all, while beer gardens and a food court add flavor.

Locally led tours of Crested Butte’s epic bike trails, a family fair, mountain biking movie showings and an day of trail maintenance from the International Mountain Biking Association and Crested Butte Mountain Biking Association are only a few of the featured events of FTBW. For more information and a complete schedule, including times, contact the

Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce at (800) 545-4505 or visit www.ftbw.com.

Following FTBW is the Colorado Mountain Biking Summit, where the International Mountain Biking Association, Bicycle Colorado and the Bureau of Land Management join to improve mountain biking opportunities on BLM lands around Colorado, and Bridges of the Butte 24Hour Townie Tour, where riders can cruise along as they please.

Those interested in the story of mountain biking can see it all year long at the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, located in the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum in downtown Crested Butte. Classic bikes, photos, mementos and media clips tell the lively story of this home-grown sport and the characters who gave it life.

Visit Mountain Bike Hall of Fame online at www.mtnbikehalloffame.com.

ARTISTS in NEWSPAPERS • 2007

DebbyPhelps Phelps______________ Debby

Making trails ‘bigger, better’

Photo by Matt Smith

Trail advocacy groups working together to improve Gunnison’s trails For many Gunnisonites, trails are right at the top of the list of reasons why they live here. Trails are used for a variety of activities, including walking, running and riding horses, bikes and motorcycles to access the vast public lands that surround Gunnison.

That’s why local mountain bike legend Dave Wiens conspired with a group of fellow trail users last summer to address the problems public trails face, chiefly the problem of not being properly maintained.

Wiens founded “Gunnison Trails” last summer to provide sustainable, highquality singletrack trail opportunities for residents and visitors on the public lands adjacent to the city of Gunnison. In doing so, the organization has three primary functions: maintaining existing trails; educating trail users; and proposing, working for approval of and building new trails and new trail systems close to town.

Since Gunnison Trails has been in operation, its members have spent hundreds of hours of volunteer trail maintenance on numerous trails at Hartman Rocks, Gunnison’s mountain bike “playground;” assisted the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) with projects such as installing barriers and narrowing spreading routes; and had formal meetings with the BLM, Forest Service, Division of Wildlife (DOW), county commissioners, city of Gunnison, National Park Service, Gunnison County Trails Commission, Western State College (WSC) and the Gunnison County Sage Grouse Coordinator — all to ensure trails continue to increase as Gunnison grows.

Heidi Schacht, Western State College’s 26

Julie Wills My current body of work, titled “Surrogate Violence,” is a series of explorations addressing illogical retribution enacted against a secondary party.

Abraham’s willing promise to slaughter Isaac; Lot’s daughter offered to appease a hysterical mob; Mary’s circumstantial atonement for Eve’s errors — all laudatory examples of ritual (or perfunctory) sacrifice.

On an individual level, “Surrogate Violence” incorporates a punishment of the body for crimes committed by the mind or spirit, and conversely the punishment of the spirit — through the conceivable possibility of hell — for crimes committed by the body.

The body is the site and instrument of expectation and punishment, even where the body is not touched directly; the body is the physical space through which intangible motivations, desires, considerations and infractions are mediated and controlled. The initial works in this series incorporate bones and animal remnants, referring both to the temporal nature of physicality and to the presence (or absence) of the body in punishment and its negotiation.

I was raised in Colorado, then lived 11 years of my adult life in Montana before returning home. Though my research interests lie with sociological conditions — particularly social expectations, gender and familial roles, and biological and cultural motivations — I have grown increasingly aware of the Western landscape’s continuous impact upon my experience, desire and aesthetic. Others have noted a “rural poverty” in my work, and I have made increasing efforts in recent years to acknowledge the specificity of social experience within this environment in my works and thoughts. The bones found in these works were gathered from around Colorado, including a spot directly behind my studio on the outskirts of Gunnison.

I work as an artist and an art theorist, frequently exhibiting work in other locales and writing for periodical publication; more works and texts can be seen on my Web site (www.juliewills.com). My educational background includes the completion of a M.F.A. degree from the University of Colorado as well as a M.A. degree in art criticism from the University of Montana. In addition to my individual studio practice, I also work with The Bridge Club, a collaborative performance art group (www.thebridgeclub.net). My husband, Matt, and I moved to Gunnison to be near to family and to build our lives in a landscape and social climate we care for very much; we are expecting our first child in December.

Service Learning Program coordinator, has also been working with Wiens, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to improve trails close to WSC. 2007 was the Service Learning Program’s pilot year to “reclaim” some of the current recreational trail system behind the college campus.

WSC students, along with volunteers from the community, hosted six trail restoration sessions Aug. 26-28. The whole trail was filled in with dirt, which will prevent erosion from damaging the land, and a series of switchbacks from west to east was created, which will triple the length of the current trail and make it more environmentally friendly, said Schacht.

In years to come, Schacht plans to devote energy and time to the whole trail system, making it a “bigger, better, large and sig-

nificant attraction for statewide visitors.”

The trails proposed conceptually by Gunnison Trails include a new trail head northwest of Gunnison, more trails northeast of WSC and a trail connecting Crested Butte and Gunnison, to name a few.

“Trail use in the Gunnison area is at an all-time high,” said Wiens. “When I first arrived here in 1982, there were almost no singletrack trails near the city of Gunnison, but there wasn’t much desire for them either.

“But while the Gunnison of 25 years ago didn’t have much use for singletrack trails near town, the Gunnison of today has come to see these trails as an important amenity and a primary reason many people choose to live or visit here.”

Weins can be contacted at: info@gunnisontrails.com.

ARTISTS in NEWSPAPERS • 2007

JulieWills Wills________________ Julie

Labor Day events bring close to summer season

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

In addition, Labor Day brings a time for end-of-summer festivities, including the following, which take place around Labor Day weekend each year: • Cowboy Mounted Shooting at the Fred Field Western Heritage Center. Call 970-641-1501 for details. The event is free.

• Crested Butte Mountain Theatre Fall Production. Call 970-349-0366 for details.

• Paragon People’s Fair – Crafts, Food, Music. Call 970-349-6438 for details. The event is held on Elk Ave. in Crested Butte, and is free.

• Gunnison IOOF Park Farmers’ Market. Located at the corner of Virginia and Main (Hwy. 135). Call 970-6411501 for details.

• Gunnison Labor Day Weekend Sidewalk Sale on Main Street. Call 970641-1501 for details.

• Crested Butte Labor Day Weekend Sidewalk Sale on Elk Ave. Call 970-3496438 for details.

• Gunnison Gallery Crawl. Call 970641-1501 for details. The event is free.

Although the leaves on the trees begin to change and the air gets a little cooler, events keep up the pace throughout the autumn season, such as Colorado Fest — Celebrating Colorado’s Food, Wine, Beer and Art, and Fall Festival of Beers & Chili; both events take place the weekend after Labor Day. Keep an eye on the Times’ community calendar, as well as the online calendar at www.gcbcalendar.com to keep abreast of upcoming events.

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Joe Bob Merritt What will check the battlefields of dung? What will the fortune really look like? Will it mirror the calm steel of desert storms or of dribble blobs boring the laziest and the flustered? For in this head as in all, I, ears the ring of misspelled science and of the whine of un-cooperatives. On the other hand, quite a joyous individual and social psyche who dreams of lightening and birds. Needless to say, I am a huge sports fan. Summer is my favorite season. Black is my favorite color.

Let us leave one on one side of Spain’s eight centuries of spiral dancing, and one on the other. Let us lean them against the fill and cracks and circles of the Moors.

Let us leave them on the Muslim’s portrait of the Wakan. Nothing looks great next to nothing (thanks be to God), it always has, and it is not going to change this season.

All this was seen by him while he whip beat wedding cakes and ground salt. Urine, rather like the wise investor and not unlike the speculators who are only familiar with a particular small clock, pond frond, or of the obscure and unanimous consent of mankind (let us suppose the continuity is plausible and not true).

So, I propose that we all shoplift jelly and copy the copy of others’ words. At this rate it will be a mere 3,000 years before our questions are finished. This is universal of the I and I (the I in I), it points to the readings of theologians and quail. For as any respectable ichthyologist can assure they both sing the winds that wing that war, and spring the ills of the conceptual orders of presidential mis-procedure.

And now, before completely concluding and bidding my readers firewall a fond farewell, I will remain a clam and speak of the rifles and for the flowers. Those same flies teach their maggot children techniques that also apply to the upholding of laws and of the enforcement of tradition. All the while they seed in the fields in front of the center of the agencies that target rings of international crime and drug, aka “the legion of doom.” It is no wonder rational thought, emancipated skirts and all theology is vast and that all of the heat space there … must be there and that the swelling in this hour is unique and perfect. Consciousness knows itself. Not only is it very important, it is broadly necessary to know how to scale ourselves ridiculous — not only for early to bed but also for richer and wiser until nothing real happens. Friends, this cannot be done just for the seventh generation but for others who sit behind or to the south, looking this way or that. Or if you are of the mind, you know that I just said the same thing without changing a single word.

Of all the mad who store and storm the land of the nuns, opium, and wine, I offer the one thought that I do not know. Hale Bop is the only representative who ever returned to earth. So I swear I am weary, and most anxiously awaiting the new scratches of vandals, all the while I feel rescued and safe from the cruel and cunning. I on the other hand have had the great ability in many ways. So I encourage and insist all: “Tell the Empress that reluctantly I will spare the woven and the wolves of Istanbul if she will pay me forty four dollars and forty four cents. Like all demons, they are sick and tired of the increase in rent caused by the overpopulation of the lower levels. So screw you and go to heaven.”

The rest of this conversation shall rudely passes as a visit not important. Dominions now embraced the wrung balance of a hushed Asia. We know now that he walks retired to his palace at Samasara. This dwarfs in all ways the draw of the strong and of the political developments that are photon beamed by the ray guns, beginning with the dog’s boner, and ending with the middle of the heard which was bred last century.

It is all measured anatomically by the courageous time pieces that had become the King’s court. He of course was the one who had signed the book that the governor had stolen from the somatic provinces in the north sky. The pig said that counting was for pigs. However, upon a closer look, I agree.

Joe Bob Merritt is a practicing artist who resides in Gunnison. His portfolio includes written and spoken word, music, architecture, environmental sculpture, photography, mixed media, oil, acrylic, digital painting and drawing. Merritt is available for commissioned work in the fields of creative thinking, alternative building design, land use planning and object making and can be reached by writing joebob@solspacelight.com.

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