A Banner Year

Katie Earixson's banners, created to commemorate Steamboat Creates' 50th Anniversary, depict iconic Steamboat Springs scenes.

Katie Earixson

COURTESY OF KATIE EARIXSON When she first moved to Steamboat Springs, Katie Earixson would play a game with her partner that they called “The Perfect Steamboat Day.” “We had this short list of things that would make the most 'Steamboat' day ever,” she says. The activities the couple imagined included hot air balloon viewing, bike riding, fireworks, and live music. In celebration of Steamboat Creates’ 50th Anniversary, Steamboat Creates asked her to turn this “perfect Steamboat day” vision into a series of banners on Lincoln Avenue this summer.

Earixson created gouache paintings using a mix of watercolor and acrylic paint on black paper. Consisting of six images in total, the project features the most iconic of Steamboat activities: live music, hot air ballooning, biking, fishing, skiing and horseback riding.

“The idea was to celebrate the magic of Steamboat,” Earixson says. “Our town itself is very vibrant, with lots of interesting people who like to really live life to the fullest. Steamboat really knows how to have a party.”

Earixson stuck to this theme not only with the project’s subject matter, but with her art style. “Each has a little bit of ‘sparkle,’” she says. “The light here sparkles to me, and that just ties into this magical experience.”

This was the first project of this kind that Earixson has worked on, as much of her other work is in mixed media, most notably designing the packaging for Seedhouse Coffee several years ago. “I saw that project as a mini celebration of Steamboat and the surrounding area,” she says. “That’s how I see the banners too.”

“I just look to capture the environment as a whole.”

– Katie Earixson

Earixson uses art as a daily practice, keeping a sketchbook in her pocket at all times and creating plein air drawings as items catch her attention throughout the day. “I just look to capture the environment as a whole,” she says. Earixson also creates acrylic abstract landscape paintings.

As an up-and-coming local artist, Earixson sees this opportunity as a move in the right direction by the Steamboat arts community. “This project was an opportunity, as a novice artist, to get my name out there. As our community continues to grow, I’d like to see more opportunities for younger artists: spaces to create, residencies, and opportunities.”

To view more of Katie Earixson’s art, visit www.MountainMindStudio.com. w

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