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"Infinite Horizons: Impressions of the Colorado Plateau" by Joe Schafer

"Infinite Horizons: Impressions of the Colorado Plateau" by Joe Schafer

Telluride Arts HQ East

March 4 - April 7, 2024

Telluride Arts Presents:

Infinate Horizons: Impressions of the Colorado Plateau

By Joe Schafer

“Nature not only serves as an inspiration for the meaning of my works, but it also serves as a medium. Starting with sheet metal, which allows for a lot of experimentation, I use stains, dyes, and both water-based and solvent-based paints to build colors and textures. I then scrape away paint, sand down the composition, or leave works to freeze or rust in the weather. Painting outside in the elements provides my pieces with unique and organic qualities as the mixed mediums react to heat, cold, snow, and rain, building up various smooth or rough textures and providing a depth of color. The artworks included in Infinite Horizons: Impressions of the Colorado Plateau each began with a vision stamped in my mind after an adventure on the Colorado Plateau. Utilizing solvents, paints, plasters, and more, I form the foreground of my work and then scrape out the horizon line to reveal the composition. After whittling away, I then build up the color and the texture, all the while highlighting that initial feeling I’m aiming to capture—the texture of rock beneath my fingers while climbing in the mountains or the sweep of alpenglow on a deep brown mesa.”

Joe Schafer is a mixed media artist based in Durango, CO. After a successful career as a custom painter, Joe discovered his latent talent for fine art painting through experimenting with various mediums and techniques to create unique faux finishes for high end homes. Following an instinct to explore his creativity, Schafer created his first landscape painting in 2018. Shortly after, Schafer became a full-time fine artist and now works at The Artroom Collective, a diverse, working studio gallery in Durango.

Joe flexes into the skills that he learned in the trades, often incorporating unconventional techniques and mediums like stains and dyes. Inspired by the vastness of the wild landscapes in his own backyard of Southwest Colorado, Joe utilizes the elements to create the rich and unique textures that are signature to his paintings, such as freezing paints using winter temperatures or incorporating sand and soil into his mediums.

For more information contact Telluride Arts at 970-728-3930, info@telluridearts.org, or find us online at www.telluridearts.org.

Ski Jackets: Shannon Foley Henn

Ski Jackets: Shannon Foley Henn

March 2, 2024 - April 7, 2024 Telluride Arts is featuring Ski Jackets an exhibition by Shannon Foley Henn.

Shop the collection here!

Shannon has led an eclectic life which includes organizing safaris, running a boutique hotel and starting up the world's leading rock and roll cancer foundation. She has organized adventure concerts on Everest base camp, Kilimanjaro, Machu Picchu and Mount Fuji.

At a young age Shannon was enamored by pop art and was encouraged to be creative in every aspect of life. She started honing in on drawing portraits in high school and went on to study business at Boston College with a concentration in art.   

She started her career in the corporate world as a brand director which led her around the globe and landed her in Kenya working with the oldest safari company in East Africa. Under the original guidance of the best safari guides in the world, Shannon began to consult on global adventures. Her experience led her to produce the first concert on Everest Basecamp for The Love Hope Strength Foundation (LHS). While leading extreme fundraisers for LHS around the world and searching for bone marrow donors at concerts and festivals (including right here in Telluride), Shannon met Jeremy Henn. Jeremy, having been his brothers life-saving bone marrow donor, joined Shannon in her global pursuit to bring cancer care around the world. In 2016, they returned from a year in East Africa supporting a pediatric cancer center and moved to Winter Park, CO. Shannon has found a way to unite her life experiences into pop art pieces of acrylic on canvas.  

Her most recent series, “Ski Jacket”, is a culmination of her years working with musicians and album covers in the rock and roll industry and her current home in the ski town of Winter Park, Colorado. She loves infusing a bit of rock n roll energy into the ski community through this quirky series.

Alyce Levy

Alyce Levy

December 1, 2023 - January 31, 2024

Telluride Arts HQ East is featuring Alyce Levy as part of their Winter Wonderland popup exhibition. Alyce Levy's captivating artistry unfolds within the circumference of mesmerizing circles, where her creations not only reflect the inner cadence of her thoughts but also echo the emotional climate and occurrences in the world that surrounds her. With an acute focus on the interplay of colors, she orchestrates harmonious blends and dramatic juxtapositions, crafting unique art pieces that serve as poignant commentaries on her insightful observations.

Hailing from the vibrant state of Louisiana and raised in a lively, opinionated family, Alyce found solace in art as a means to navigate the diverse moods and situations that enveloped her. Armed with degrees in Philosophy and Psychology from the University of Kansas and initially aspiring towards an advanced law degree, she found that art remained a steadfast and soothing companion. Following a transformative heart-to-heart with her father during her senior year, she altered her post-graduation plans and pursued an associate degree in Graphic Arts from the Art Institute of Dallas. As a graphic designer specializing in logos and advertising, she left her creative imprint on projects for clients such as Arthur Anderson, Microsoft, and Southland Corporation.

In 2000, a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis brought about a significant shift in Alyce's life. Alongside her husband Doug, she embraced the "new normal" by establishing a bike team that raised an impressive $3 million over 20 years for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. A portion of all her art sales continues to be dedicated to this cause. The birth of their daughters, Jordan and Taylor, prompted Alyce to adjust her work schedule, and it was only when the girls entered preschool that she rediscovered the time and energy to rekindle her passion for creation.

The genesis of her fine art venture, Modern Slice, arose from a rainy day encounter with a roadside stump along a bustling Dallas street. Alyce's fascination with the whorls and tree rings found in wood slices became the foundation of her artistic expression. Each slice serves as a fresh canvas, narrating a new story through Alyce's meticulous acrylic hand-painting, sealed with layers of epoxy resin. Colors, in Alyce's words, awaken her each morning with new combinations, ideas, and pigmented stories to tell.

Beyond wood, Alyce delves into the poetic realm with porcelain butterfly wall sculptures that gracefully adorn the hallways of homes in Dallas and Telluride. Her affinity for natural elements is evident in the hand-installed formations accompanying each butterfly collection.

Having entered the phase of empty nesting, Alyce and Doug find joy and creative stimulation in their cherished sanctuary: Telluride. Within this serene refuge, the Levys savor companionship, engage in sports, and immerse themselves in the awe-inspiring beauty it unfolds.

Alyce's distinctive work is showcased in the eclectic and vibrant Tweed Interiors, an interior design studio and boutique, as well as in Mecox, a prestigious home décor studio in Dallas, TX.

Apres Ski: Shannon Foley Henn

Apres Ski: Shannon Foley Henn

December 1, 2023 - December 31, 2023 Telluride Arts is featuring Apres Ski an exhibition by Shannon Foley Henn.

Shop the collection here!

Shannon has led an eclectic life which includes organizing safaris, running a boutique hotel and starting up the world's leading rock and roll cancer foundation. She has organized adventure concerts on Everest base camp, Kilimanjaro, Machu Picchu and Mount Fuji.

At a young age Shannon was enamored by pop art and was encouraged to be creative in every aspect of life. She started honing in on drawing portraits in high school and went on to study business at Boston College with a concentration in art.   

She started her career in the corporate world as a brand director which led her around the globe and landed her in Kenya working with the oldest safari company in East Africa. Under the original guidance of the best safari guides in the world, Shannon began to consult on global adventures. Her experience led her to produce the first concert on Everest Basecamp for The Love Hope Strength Foundation (LHS). While leading extreme fundraisers for LHS around the world and searching for bone marrow donors at concerts and festivals (including right here in Telluride), Shannon met Jeremy Henn. Jeremy, having been his brothers life-saving bone marrow donor, joined Shannon in her global pursuit to bring cancer care around the world. In 2016, they returned from a year in East Africa supporting a pediatric cancer center and moved to Winter Park, CO. Shannon has found a way to unite her life experiences into pop art pieces of acrylic on canvas.  

Her most recent series, “Apres Ski”, is a culmination of her years working with musicians in the rock and roll industry and her current home in the ski town of Winter Park, Colorado. She loves infusing a bit of rock n roll energy into the ski community through this quirky series.

Nicky Nodjoumi & John Sabraw in Original Thinkers exhibition

Nicky Nodjoumi & John Sabraw in Original Thinkers exhibition

October 2023

Telluride Arts HQ East 

220 W Colorado Ave 

Telluride, Colorado 81435 

Open 12pm - 6pm Most Days

Nicky Nodjoumi Bio: 

Nikzad Nodjoumi (b. 1942), known as Nicky, is an artist who has always taken notice of political and social contexts, depicting the relationship between power and violence in his paintings in more than his 6 decades of artistic activity. 

A recurring element in his artworks is the suited men as a symbol of the world's statesmen and politicians. Perhaps at first glance, the atmosphere of his paintings may appear unfamiliar or even humorous yet the humor is bitter and critical, stemming from the heart of history, politics, and the news. 

Born in Kermanshah, Nodjoumi imitated the works of Russian painters in his adolescence; following a friend's advice, he withdrew from copying and resorted to landscape painting. After finishing high school, he moved to Tehran to major in painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts.   

In 1967, having graduated from university, he displayed his artworks in a group show at Ghandriz Gallery for the first time. Between 1963 and 69, he collaborated with the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults as an illustrator. The book, "The Crystal Flower and the Sun", illustrated by Nodjoumi was honored at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in Italy in 1969. 

Being an excellent student during his university years, he managed to receive a scholarship. He wished to go to France to continue his studies, but the political and social condition of France at the time prevented him from going. When he was 28 years old, he traveled to the US and attended the City College of New York to further his education in painting. After completing his master's degree, Nodjoumi returned to Iran in 1974. Due to his political activities in the US, he was banned from teaching at university; however, he continued to display his artworks regularly in Iran until 1978. In 1980, he immigrated to the US forever. During the 80s, despite the common art style in the US being Minimalism, Nodjoumi continued doing figurative painting as his personal language took shape and was developed during those years. 

Over the last decades, Nodjoumi has gained a large audience in Iran and other countries. Even though his work has changed drastically, being influenced by the art movements of the day, he has always painted his critical approach, challenging the connection between art and politics. 

To depict what he has comprehended from the social and political incidents, he paints images of suited men and disintegrated portraits, disguised faces, clowns, and animals in various positions, adding geometrical patches and surfaces of color on the background of a natural landscape. He displays the human body in pieces or alters a section of the body parts. While not being properly connected and adjusted, the merging of different bodies seems to have given shape to those body parts or clothes. This form of depiction appeared for the first time in his artworks during the US – Iraq war. 

Nikzad Nodjoumi's artworks have been featured in a myriad of solo and group shows, and museums worldwide, especially in the US. In 2003, Stefan Stux Gallery presented his work at the Armory Show. In 2008, he collaborated with Shirin Neshat on the curatorial project, "Ardeshir Mohassess: Art and Satire in Iran", held at the Asia Society Museum in New York.   

In 2015, Nodjoumi's work was featured in the group show, "Bazm and Razm: Feast and Fight in Persian Art", held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and in 2020, his work was presented by Aria Gallery at Teer Art. Some of his artworks are currently housed in well-established permanent collections of museums such as Met in New York, the British Museum in London, and Guggenheim in Abu Dhabi.   

Links:

https://darz.art/en/artists/nikzad-nodjoumi  

https://tribecafilm.com/films/revolution-on-canvas-untitled-nicky-nodjoumi-2023 

Artist Statement:

Nicky Nodjoumi’s large-scale oil paintings explore the legacies of personal and collective trauma—including the artist’s own experiences of the Islamic republic from which he was displaced—and ideas of memory and power that loom over present day Iran. Frequently compared to Neo Rauch, Nodjoumi paints flattened, translucent figures that make reference to Persian history, vulnerable or sexualized animals, and Western men inspired by news clippings. He splices bodies onto one another to create a pastiche of history and evoke a sense of violence, while flattening the figures into a virtual space with abstract painterly backgrounds, locating the work in his imagination as much as a recognizable history. 

John Sabraw Bio: 

Artist John Sabraw was born in Lakenheath, England. An activist and environmentalist, Sabraw’s paintings, drawings and collaborative installations are produced in an eco-conscious manner, and he continually works toward a fully sustainable practice. He collaborates with scientists on many projects, and one of his current collaborations involves creating paint and paintings from iron oxide extracted in the process of remediating polluted streams.

  

Sabraw’s art is in numerous collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Honolulu, the Elmhurst Museum in Illinois, Emprise Bank, Bank of America, and Accenture Corp. He is represented by McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL; Qualia Contemporary Art, Palo Alto, CA; and Gallery Shtorm, London, UK. 

  

Sabraw is a Professor of Art at Ohio University where he chairs the Painting + Drawing and Digital Art + Technology programs and is Board Advisor at Scribble Art Workshop in New York. He has most recently been featured in TED, Smithsonian, New Scientist, London, Great big Stories, Business Insider, and Time. 

  

Links: 

Insta: @john_sabraw 

Website: https://www.johnsabraw.com/ 

  

Artist Statement 

My abstract explorations focus on natural phenomena, the earth’s ecosystem as a whole, and our role within that. This understanding has led me to incorporate ever more sustainable practices in my studio, in my life, and when possible actively engaging the public on the matter.  

In this body of work, painstaking painting methods are coaxed into interacting and amalgamating over durations of up to several months. The result is complex, luminous, mysterious paintings that strike a beautiful balance between controlled and organic processes. 

These works primarily use water-based paints, dry pigments, and other media. Pigment manufacturers and types are chosen with permanency and sustainability in mind. This goal is more attainable now since I have been partnering with Ohio University engineer Dr. Guy Riefler to develop paints with pigments derived from toxic runoff from abandoned coal mines – acid mine drainage or AMD for short. 

 

Pollution to Paint 

In Southeastern Ohio many of the streams run orange. Throughout the first half of the 20th century strip mining and room-and-pillar mining were common throughout this region.  Forests were clear cut, soils scraped away, and tunnels dug to remove the coal.  A few active coal mines continue in the region, but by the 1970s most of the mining companies had moved on leaving behind open mines and disturbed land, with inadequate restoration. 

  

Much of the forest has now regrown, although it is young, but the underground mines continue to release toxic water to streams.  When abandoned, many of the mines fill with water, and the oxygen and water react with mineral surfaces that had been buried for 300 million years.  When sulfides are present, these are common in Appalachian coal deposits, very high concentrations of sulfuric acid and iron are produced.  In one local seep, over one million gallons per day of polluted water enters Sunday Creek.  This water has a final pH below 2 and over 7,200 lb of iron per day. However, Engineer Professor Guy Reifler started asking what if the iron sludge could be sold as a valuable resource rather than disposed of as a waste product?  What if treating pollution could be an entrepreneurial endeavor rather than a societal cost? 

  

Artist and Professor John Sabraw was able to turn these powdered iron minerals into a working paint for the first time. Sabraw has developed a relationship with Gamblin Artists Colors who produced 37ml tubes of oil paint using three different pigment colors from out project. These “Reclaimed” paints have been distributed to artists around the world and the resulting artworks curated into an online exhibition highlighting our efforts and generating broader discourse on developing more sustainable art practices. #reclaimedcolor 

  

With little funding and lots of skeptics, we are now refining a process that can continuously treat AMD, restore a stream for aquatic life, and collect iron pigment that can be sold offsetting operational costs.  Based on our best estimates, we should be able to create a few jobs and produce a small profit, while eliminating a perpetual pollution source.  We are currently requesting qualifications for firms to design and build a full scale treatment facility to implement our process at the worst AMD pollution site in Ohio and begin producing large quantities of pigment.  Hopefully, in just a few years we will have started a new industry in Southeast Ohio that turns pollution into paint while restoring our watersheds. 

Rob Gonzo

Rob Gonzo

August 30 - September 30, 2023 

Telluride Arts HQ East 

220 W Colorado Ave 

Telluride, Colorado 81435 

Open 12pm - 6pm Most Days

Rob Gonzo, (aka. Robert Wolverton, Jr) is an Outsider Artist from Memphis, Tennessee who has recently relocated to North Carolina while still keeping a base in Memphis. Over the past 20 years, he has supported himself working odd jobs that included chinking log cabins and restoring buildings on the Natchez Trace Parkway, beer truck deliveries to JukeJoints and country stores in the Mississippi delta, digging ginseng and yellow root in Mt. Pleasant, picking, and some film acting. 

 Having been drawn to art at the age of 6. He tried art school, but dropped out after a couple of weeks. His art career followed the path of typical Outsider Artists who give paintings away to interested fans, or sell them for $100 or less. Also typical was Rob’s zeal for creating art.  He was turning out dozens of paintings every month. 

 That path changed when Rob’s style began to take on a more evolved look around 2016.  A broader, more seasoned group of art collectors began paying attention to his art using two strong reference points...Jean-Michel Basquait and Pablo Picasso.  Rob was suddenly shipping art to New York, London and Los Angeles appealing to, among others, young film producers and directors who recognized the uniqueness and greater value in his paintings. 

  His odd jobs dropped to the wayside as he began dedicating full time to his art, focusing more on quality and details rather than on quantity. 

 Rob’s art is considered to be a mix of styles including: contemporary, abstract, folk art, neo-expressionism, street art and graffiti. He uses material such as fabrics, cardboard, and other found objects to build up texture, dimension and create stories. During his picking days, he gathered a lot of ephemera dating back to the early 1900s that he also uses as small touches of collage. 

 He has graduated from his early folkart days where he would paint on almost anything that would stay still long enough.  Now Rob prefers canvas, but still paints both large and small images on board. He likes to use bright vivid colors, sometimes straight from the tube. 

 Rob connected with one of his hometown heroes, nationally acclaimed artist George Hunt in 2018.  The two completed a couple of “Shared Spaces” paintings working together.  One of the shared paintings was for the 2022 Beale Street Music Festival poster. Hunt, like Rob, was heavily influenced by Picasso and Basquiat and he shared Rob’s regular use of  interesting and unique collage materials. 

 Some of Rob's inspiration also comes from old-school folk artists like Howard Finster.  

  

Rob Gonzo painted the original image for the 2021 & 2022 Telluride Blues & Brews posters, and has now debuted a third image for the 2023 festival. 

Website

Instagram

DAVE PRESSLER’S: SUMMER’S ALMOST OVER

DAVE PRESSLER’S: SUMMER’S ALMOST OVER

August 25 - September 29, 2023 

Telluride Arts HQ West 

224 W Colorado Ave 

Telluride, Colorado 81435 

Open 12pm - 6pm Most Days 

Known for his fun and humorous depictions of robots, monsters, and pop culture, Dave Pressler has a unique ability to bring a level of humanity to the inhuman, imbuing each of his subjects with noticeable personality. Now, with his first solo show in several years, Pressler brings the robots themselves to the forefront of the conversation.  

Summer’s Almost Over challenges viewers to put themselves in the place of the robots, who are, like many of us, feeling unsure and threatened with the rise of new technology and artificial intelligence. The last several years have presented undeniable and unforeseen difficulties. With his arsenal of robots, Pressler deftly explores the current state of our world, using the bots as a light-hearted tool to navigate this time.  

Self-described blue collar artist Pressler hails from a working class background in the southern suburbs of Chicago. Raised in a factory town, he was surrounded and influenced by people who worked with their hands for a living. Drawing upon those early, formative experiences, he uses his robot subjects to shine light on a highly relatable, but often ignored, pillar of society. His approach to his own work is not unlike that of a blue collar worker, blending impressive discipline and dedication, which has propelled Pressler’s career despite a lack of formal art training early on. Driven by the belief that art is a technique that, with hours of hard work, is attainable for anyone who wants to try, Pressler’s work is truly accessible.  

Presenting his first solo show since his career retrospective, Idea to Object, at the Lancaster Museum of Art & History in 2018, Pressler once again welcomes viewers into his humorous, but gritty world of robots and often monsters. His characters have previously begrudgingly fulfilled their duties, creating a robotic mirror of our own society. Now, they tackle the latest challenge–the rise of AI. No one is safe from the effects, not even the robots. As the robot’s lives parallel ours, Pressler explores the effects of new technology on every facet of worker. With the robots as his vessel, he projects personalities, sensitivities, and a sense of loss in the days since the onset of AI.  

“The last few years have been rough on everybody, so these robots are a personification or metaphor for all of us as we have navigated this time. So much has changed for humans, and so much has changed for robots.” 

No stranger to change in his own industry, Pressler is also a beloved player in animation. Over the past 25 years, he has developed and designed characters and worlds for many major companies, co-creating the Emmy nominated animated show “Robot And Monster” for Nickelodeon, art directing “Boss Baby Back In Business” for Dreamworks TV, and is currently the co-executive producer on “The Rugrats” reboot for Nickelodeon. In this position, he oversees the art direction and look of the entire show, drawing on his impressive attention to detail and once again his dedication to the fun and funny. Pressler has also found success in illustration with the Bigfoot Book series Back to School with Bigfoot and Bigfoot Wants A Little Brother for Scholastic. These years of creative and collaborative work have also shaped his world, and by extension the world of the robots.   

With 13 pieces throughout the Telluride Arts HQ West, and quite a few more robot surprises throughout, including a suspended sculpture, Pressler brings whimsy to the space. Balancing his successful animation career and illustration work, he returns to fine art with an engaging take on change and human nature.  

Robots – they’re just like us.  

About Dave Pressler 

Dave Pressler is a creative force to be reckoned with. A skilled multimedia artist, illustrator, animator, painter, sculptor, character designer, the list goes on and on. While his talent is undeniable, it is his humor and spirit of adventure that has cultivated his relationships with viewers and amassed a large and loyal fan base, with robots, monsters and pop culture as the cornerstone of his artistic canon. 

His work spans from the screen to the canvas, splitting his time amongst creative endeavors from the tangible to the digital. In the past 25 years, he has developed and designed characters and worlds for many major companies, co-creating the Emmy nominated animated show “Robot And Monster” for Nickelodeon, “Boss Baby Back In Business” for Dreamworks TV, and is currently the co-executive producer on “The Rugrats” reboot for Nickelodeon. In addition to his media projects, Pressler is an accomplished painter and sculptor whose work shows in galleries all around the world. A natural extension of his production work in children’s entertainment, Pressler has also found success in illustration, with Back to School With Bigfoot and Bigfoot Wants a Little Brother. 

Never fear! With all the TV, books, space, and more, there’s still time to make tactile art which can be found at www.davepresslerart.com

ORGANIC ELEMENTS: Featuring Kirk Drogsvold, Lucy Peveto, Rebecca Messier, Tara Carter, and Ted Moore

ORGANIC ELEMENTS: Featuring Kirk Drogsvold, Lucy Peveto, Rebecca Messier, Tara Carter, and Ted Moore

Telluride Arts HQ West Presents:

Organic Elements: An Exhibit Featuring Kirk Drogsvold, Lucy Peveto, Rebecca Messier, Tara Carter, and Ted Moore

224 W Colorado Ave

This July 2 – August 22, Telluride Arts is presenting Organic Elements, a group show produced in collaboration with Art + Architecture 2023. New in Art + Architecture 2023 is the Garden Tour on Saturday, July 15th. Meander through private gardens and experience the landscape designer’s use of nature’s palette to create beautiful, personal outdoor spaces. In a similar vein, not only have the artists represented in this gallery exhibition explored nature as inspiration, many of them have also used elements in nature as tools for creative expression.

Organic Elements features local and regional talent including Kirk Drogsvold, Lucy Peveto, Rebecca Messier, Tara Carter, and Ted Moore. Telluride Arts will host receptions for Art Walk on July 6th and Art + Architecture on July 14th, both 5-8pm. There will also be an artist panel conversation in the gallery on July 14th from 1-3pm.

The gallery is open Tuesday-Sunday from 12-6pm or by appointment. Contact Telluride Arts at 970-728-3930 or info@telluridearts.org. To see past Telluride Arts HQ Gallery exhibits or to submit an exhibit proposal visit www.telluridearts.org/telluride-arts-exhibits.

Artist Bios

Kirk Drogsvold

John Kirk Drogsvold is an artist with a passion for exploring new frontiers in art and technology. He is excited to explore the possibilities of blockchain and digital fabrication art to create stunning works that are both authentic and cutting-edge. In addition to his passion for innovation, John values collaboration and welcomes the opportunity to work with other artists, designers, and creatives to bring creative vision to life.

John Kirk Drogsvold is a versatile artist who plays alpine flamenco on guitar, whistles, and builds 3D sculptures for both real and digital environments. With a passion for exploration, he has traveled the world in search of creative inspiration, including journeys to Brazil, Spain, and Colombia. Through his music and art, he seeks to convey authenticity and honesty, constantly refining his craft to find the perfect expression.

Lucy Peveto

Lucy Peveto is an artist and former attorney who seeks to show how lives can be transformed.
"I utilize mixed mediums to celebrate the assurance that we can be born again through grace and the beauty of natural transformation.  I deconstruct 'pattern' to represent how we may find unexpected light and shadow in nature and in art.”
She has worked as a full-time artist for over 10 years and her work has been featured at the following: Art to the Power of Ten, sponsored by McNay Contemporary Collectors Forum, McNay Art Museum; Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum Red Dot; Southwest School of Art; AnArte Gallery; Neiman Marcus and galleries across Texas, New Mexico (Santa Fe, Canyon Road), Hawaii and Florida. Corporate collections include San Antonio University Hospital, The University of Texas at San Antonio, The University of the Incarnate Word, La Cantera Resort and Spa, Scaleworks, Children's Bereavement Center and Estancia Hotel, by Hilton.   

Rebecca Messier

Rebecca was born in Seattle and raised in the mountains of Telluride, CO.  Over the course of her young adult life, she spent time in Boulder, Los Angeles and ultimately London studying hair at Vidal Sassoon.  After landing back in Telluride and running her salon for 16 years, she decided to turn her focus back on honing her creativity as an artist.  Her current works, large scale ceramic wall installations and thread on paper, run with a theme of repetition in nature, using muted and organic tones and materials such as clay, paper, thread, cold wax and watercolor.  Both in practice and presentation, her goal is to create a slow rhythmic meditation.

Tara Carter

Tara is a ceramic artist living in Sawpit, Colorado. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, she earned both her Bachelor of Arts in Ceramics and her Master of Business Administration from Otterbein University. Since graduating in 2011, Tara has been teaching ceramics classes, developing her own work by attending a variety of workshops, and exhibiting her wares. Currently, Tara works full-time at the Ah Haa School for the Arts as the Ceramics Program Director and manages a pottery co-operative, the Wheel House. She fills her spare time making pottery and bird sculptures while enjoying the mountains of Telluride.

Ted Moore

Ted’s artwork is inspired by the landscape, cultures, and history of the Southwest U.S., with a particular focus on trees and wood. Trees measure the passage of time and seasons of life, creating ecological and cultural records; Ted’s art addresses layers of history embodied in both nature and everyday cultural items. His work is characterized by realism, monochromism, and the co-optation of centuries-old European art and craft forms. He combines photorealistic ink painting with historical European cabinetry forms such as retablos, triptychs, reliquaries, writing desks, apothecary cabinets, and cabinets of curiosity, mediating between the known and the unknown, the mundane and the transcendental. His research as a medievalist informs his ability to adapt traditional visual vocabulary to a contemporary aesthetic in order to explore an ecological ontology, a different way of navigating conceptions of what is transcendent, what is present, and how those two meet. By juxtaposing devotional and organizational objects and natural objects, he seeks to overturn anthropocentric and dualistic thinking to convey a sense of interobjectivity. His work allows objects to be traditional as well as ahistorical, products of both nature and human labor. 

Tame Your Marmots: Tammi Brazee

Tame Your Marmots: Tammi Brazee

June, 2023, local artist, Tammi Brazee, will be showcasing her series, Tame Your Marmots, at 224 W Colorado, Telluride Arts HQ West.

While a hint of an accent reveals Maryland roots, Colorado has been Brazee’s home since 2011. Returning to college as a “late-bloomer,” she now holds two graduate degrees, one in environmental science and the other in visual art. This unusual combination of interests has had a profound influence on her work, keeping it suspended somewhere between recognizable reality and imaginary narrative. Brazee tends to investigate the human relationship with the natural world, with its creatures, with others, and with themselves. She makes social commentary with a sprinkling of humor, a nip of nonsense, a dash of self-deprecation, a pinch of bird droppings, and a dose of deeper meaning. 

Runs June 1- 30, 2023

The gallery is open most days from 12-6pm or by appointment. For more information contact Telluride Arts at 970-728-3930, info@telluridearts.org, or find us online at www.telluridearts.org. To see past Telluride Arts HQ Gallery exhibits or to submit an exhibit proposal visit www.telluridearts.org/telluride-arts-exhibits.

Telluride Shredders: Ben Eng

Telluride Shredders: Ben Eng

Ben is a freelance photographer based full-time out of Telluride, CO since 2011 (part-time since 2004). As a graduate of Fort Lewis in nearby Durango with no formal photography training, Ben found his way in life through his camera and a passion for being on snow. Being a product of 90’s snowboarding and skateboarding has influenced the content of Ben’s art as well as the aesthetic. He says, “the intent of this collection is to simply show some of the local pros getting after it in our own backyard.”

Instagram: @ben_eng_photo

Website: www.benengphotography.com

The gallery is open most days from 12-6pm or by appointment. For more information contact Telluride Arts at 970-728-3930, info@telluridearts.org, or find us online at www.telluridearts.org. To see past Telluride Arts HQ Gallery exhibits or to submit an exhibit proposal visit www.telluridearts.org/telluride-arts-exhibits.

Mountain School's Student Exhibition 2023

Mountain School's Student Exhibition 2023

Mountain School's Student Exhibition

Featuring work by Annabelle Starr, Briar Shultz, Matteo Ebbitt, Rider Abbott, Ruby McHarg, Sage Barnes, Sebastian Ogle, Sydney Gallagher, and Sydney Martin.

April 26-May 3, 2023.


Open Space: Diane Best

Open Space: Diane Best

This March, Telluride Arts is featuring Open Space, an exhibition by Diane Best. The Art Walk opening reception will be held on Thursday, March 2nd, 5-8pm at Telluride Arts HQ Gallery West at 224 W Colorado Avenue. Enjoy live music by local, multi-instrumentalist Anneke Dean at the Art Walk reception.

With this series, Open Space, Diane Best continues her exploration of the more and more remote, uninhabited, and overlooked corners of the earth. She says, “I am interested in preserving or recording a single incredible moment of converging light and landscape while enjoying the space, beauty and quietness.”

Featured in the show will be a series of large format, acrylic paintings from desert, arctic, and alpine landscapes including her coveted work “Telluride Whiteout” (2018, 36x72”). Additionally, Diane will be showcasing new and old, large format brush drawings inspired by the iconic Joshua tree, a staple of the desert, and a favored subject of hers for 25 years. She calls them “tree portraits” and loves their movement and unique structures, reminding her of Dr. Seuss creatures.

Diane Best was born in Boston, and studied in the San Francisco area (Stanford University, San Francisco Art Institute), before moving south to Los Angeles. There, she did commercial artwork for the entertainment industry. Moving to Joshua Tree in 1995, she continued working freelance for Los Angeles animation studios, but over time shifted the focus of her talent to capturing the intense drama of the desert landscape that surrounded her. Diane’s work has been presented in solo and group exhibits throughout the country, including shows at the Carnegie Museum, the Southwest Museum in LA, a show of her “Shack” photos in NYC, and the Joshua Treenial 2015, 2017 and 2019. She has taught painting workshops for the Desert Institute in Joshua Tree National Park for many years, and has been profiled in publications such as: Palm Springs Life, Lifescapes: West Coast Art & design, Art Patron Magazine, and a KCET documentary for Artbound. She has also worked with the National Parks as a featured artist for Joshua Tree National Park.

The gallery is open most days from 12-6pm or by appointment. For more information contact Telluride Arts at 970-728-3930, info@telluridearts.org, or find us online at www.telluridearts.org. To see past Telluride Arts HQ Gallery exhibits or to submit an exhibit proposal visit www.telluridearts.org/telluride-arts-exhibits.

Human/Nature: Tammi Brazee

Human/Nature: Tammi Brazee

Local artist, Tammi Brazee, will be showcasing her series, Human/Nature, for the kickoff show at 224 W Colorado, Telluride Arts HQ Gallery West.

The Human/Nature series began as a mashup of animal and human behavior, an exploration of mate seeking and the power of pheromones, visual cues, adornment, competition, attraction, and ritual. In this series, there are four very large, sensual women; Tammi gave them complete control over their own bodies and sexuality by making their canvases much larger than the others. Their titles give them absolute authority to select with whom they share themselves. While this series is humorous on the surface, the topic, of human sexuality, is a complex and sometimes emotionally loaded subject.
 
Colorado has been Tammi Brazee’s home for over two decades. She is a professional artist and science geek, holding two graduate degrees, one in environmental science and the other in visual art. This unusual combination of interests has had a profound influence on Brazee’s work, keeping it suspended somewhere between recognizable reality and imaginary narrative.

Apres Ski: Shannon Foley Henn

Apres Ski: Shannon Foley Henn

December 15, 2022 - January 30, 2023 Telluride Arts is featuring Apres Ski an exhibition by Shannon Foley Henn.

Shop the collection here!

Shannon has led an eclectic life which includes organizing safaris, running a boutique hotel and starting up the world's leading rock and roll cancer foundation. She has organized adventure concerts on Everest base camp, Kilimanjaro, Machu Picchu and Mount Fuji.

At a young age Shannon was enamored by pop art and was encouraged to be creative in every aspect of life. She started honing in on drawing portraits in high school and went on to study business at Boston College with a concentration in art.   

She started her career in the corporate world as a brand director which led her around the globe and landed her in Kenya working with the oldest safari company in East Africa. Under the original guidance of the best safari guides in the world, Shannon began to consult on global adventures. Her experience led her to produce the first concert on Everest Basecamp for The Love Hope Strength Foundation (LHS). While leading extreme fundraisers for LHS around the world and searching for bone marrow donors at concerts and festivals (including right here in Telluride), Shannon met Jeremy Henn. Jeremy, having been his brothers life-saving bone marrow donor, joined Shannon in her global pursuit to bring cancer care around the world. In 2016, they returned from a year in East Africa supporting a pediatric cancer center and moved to Winter Park, CO. Shannon has found a way to unite her life experiences into pop art pieces of acrylic on canvas.  

Her most recent series, “Apres Ski”, is a culmination of her years working with musicians in the rock and roll industry and her current home in the ski town of Winter Park, Colorado. She loves infusing a bit of rock n roll energy into the ski community through this quirky series.

Seasonal Reflection: Almigdad Aldikhaiiry

Seasonal Reflection: Almigdad Aldikhaiiry

This October and November, Telluride Arts HQ Gallery is featuring Seasonal Reflection an exhibit by Almigdad Aldikhaiiry.

Born in Sudan, Aldikhaiiry was a political cartoonist before he was a painter, turning out a fearless stream of visual commentary under the repressive regime of President al-Bashir. The artist was granted refugee status to the U.S. in 2016. His physical home today may be the city of Los Angeles, but his artistic and political focus is broader than ever.

In the weeks leading up to the October Art Walk, Telluride Arts hosted Aldikhaiiry for an artist residency, and he completed new works of art inspired by the Telluride valley. Almigdad responded to the natural environment, the colors of autumn, the animal kingdom, and more.

INTERPLAY: Art + Opera

INTERPLAY: Art + Opera

September 27th through October 3rd, Telluride Arts HQ Gallery and Original Thinkers are featuring a pop-up, group exhibition, INTERPLAY: Art + Opera.

INTERPLAY: Art + Opera is an interdisciplinary gallery and performance project created by The BRDG Project and soprano & creative producer Leah Podzimek. “Interplay was created as a mechanism to provide artists with new creative capital, share opera with rural communities in informal yet intimate settings, and build cross-disciplinary relationships between visual and performing artists that help to enhance audience experience,” said Podzimek.

Visual artists from all mediums came together with opera singers this past June at the Telluride Transfer Warehouse. The program included stories and histories of the musical selections, as well as live performances by Denver-based singers Leah Podzimek and Kira Dills-DeSurra, with accompaniment by Jessica Nilles Kressin. In the months since, seven local artists—Brittany Miller, Daniel Kanow, Fran Windsor, Jonathan Bailey, Kathy Green, Margaret Rinkevich, and Molly Perrault-Daniel—went away to create new works of art inspired by the music. Now, those works will be curated into a group exhibition within the gallery walls at Telluride Arts HQ featuring live performances of the same music that inspired the art.

“When we were approached about this project, it seemed like a perfect match for Original Thinkers. Fresh, different and we particularly loved that Leah was reaching out to local artists to make her vision happen” said David Holbrooke of Original Thinkers.

Podzimek writes, “The creative community in Telluride has welcomed this project with such open arms, it is a truly humbling experience that proves artists of all mediums share a kindred spirit - one of joyful creation, expansive thought, and a desire for collaboration! We are excited to see the art these folks have created and perform in town again, continuing to showcase the 'interplay' of visual and audio art for local audiences.”

This project is a collaboration between Leah Podzimek, Telluride Arts and Original Thinkers Festival. An opening reception for the gallery exhibition will be held on Wednesday, September 28th, 5-8pm at Telluride Arts HQ Gallery at 220 W Colorado Avenue. Live music by Kirk Drogsvold, and small bites will be available at the reception. Then, Original Thinkers will host a special event in the gallery for passholders only on Friday, September 30th as well as a free, community encore on Saturday, October 1st with performances starting every 20 minutes from 12-6pm.

Properties of Thirst: Tintypes by Lara Porzak

Properties of Thirst: Tintypes by Lara Porzak

In 2016, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated novelist Marianne Wiggins suffered a sudden stroke and moved in with her daughter, Lara Porzak, an artist herself. Marianne’s book, Properties of Thirst, was unfinished. In the preceding months, Lara cared for her mother and helped her finish her mother’s book, all the while filming a new documentary short.

This September, Telluride Arts HQ Gallery is featuring an exhibition, Properties of Thirst: Tintypes by Lara Porzak. The Art Walk opening reception will be held on Thursday, September 1st, 5-8pm at Telluride Arts HQ Gallery at 220 W Colorado Avenue. Live music by Anneke Dean, wine, and small bites will be available at the Art Walk reception. New work by Blackbird and the Snow Fine Jewelry will also be on display.

Additionally, Sunday, September 4th, Telluride Arts and Between the Covers Bookstore will host a reading and reception with Marianne Wiggins for her new novel, Properties of Thirst, at Telluride Arts HQ Gallery amidst Lara’s photography exhibition. Start time TBD.

Lara Porzak is an American, fine-art photographer living and working in Los Angeles. She exclusively works with analog methods. In an article for Fresh Style Magazine, Annalise Devries writes, “Lara commits herself to the particular photographic aesthetic you cannot preview on the back of a digital camera. Using old techniques—from the Leonardo pin-hole camera to the century-old daguerreotype to the 1960s Diana—she captures raw emotions, even spiritual sensibilities in grainy shades of gray.” Lara has exhibited in prestigious galleries across the United States and Europe. Her photographs have notably joined the J. Paul Getty Museum collections.

Marianne Wiggins is the author of eight novels, including John Dollar and Evidence of Things Unseen, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award. She has won a Whiting Award, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, the Heidinger Kafka Prize, and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction. She lives in Venice, California.

To see more of Lara’s work, visit laraporzakphotography.com. For more information about Marianne’s book, visit simonandschuster.com.


Mushroom People: Lindsey Ross

Mushroom People: Lindsey Ross

Lindsey Ross, b. 1981

Mushroom People Artist Statement:

Everyday humans are bombarded with information that forms their perception of reality. These versions of reality are incomplete. They omit vast amounts of information, among many things, the fairies in the mushroom forest. 

The forest is filled with beings both seen and unseen; these fairies or elementals exist beneath humans’ visible perception. These images remind viewers of the wonder, idealism and bliss often found in nature

Elementals exist in folklore throughout history in every culture and region. They may be small or large; they have different physical appearances and are strong, active, physical forces in their environment. Their unifying trait is their connection to nature. 

The elemental world is like the human world: they are mischievous, jealous, act in self interest and make mistakes.  Like humans, they are flawed. 

In the 19th century the term “veracity of photography” was used to describe the objectivity of photography.  This meant that what appeared in a photograph was true to life, existed in the physical world, and was synonymous with reality and science.  It was visual proof of the existence of what was depicted in the photograph. Mushroom people employs the veracity of photography to show the viewer an unseen world.

Wet plate collodion process is only sensitive to blue and ultra violet wavelengths so it includes some information that is not in the visual spectrum and filters out certain wavelengths in the visible spectrum.  This process functions as filter that show viewers what their eyes cannot see in reality adding and subtracting information from what they see. 

Humans have specific impressions of what mushrooms are in their reality: they are small and on the ground, they are edible, delicate, harmless and have no central nervous system. But could there actually be unseen beings inhabiting a forest of mushrooms?  

These images are intended to disrupt and cause viewers to be curious about other interpretations of reality based on a different set of information.

Lindsey Ross Bio:

Lindsey Ross is a California-based artist who primarily works with large format photography and the 19th century process, wet-plate collodion.  Ross started working in this process in 2011 and she quickly realized it was the ideal format for her artistic practice. The slow pace of collodion requires a presence and intimacy that connects Ross to both the physical and spiritual world. 

In 2015, Ross rebuilt a 20x24in process camera from the 1920’s.  She had always admired the work of William Henry Jackson and Carleton Watkins, who documented the American West in the same format in the late 19th century.  Ross soon found herself documenting the American West as well but from the perspective of a woman in the 21st century.  

Two years later, in 2017, Ross had a 32x24in Chamonix View Camera custom built. She wanted to create larger art objects allowing the viewer to step into the environment of the image. 

Ross has participated in several artist residencies including Telluride Mountain Film Festival,  The Squire Foundation and the Budapest Art Factory.  Her work has most recently been exhibited at Andrew Smith Gallery in Tucson and Penumbra Foundation in New York City.  


The Beauty of Imperfections: Rebecca Mcfarland

The Beauty of Imperfections: Rebecca Mcfarland

MD Famous Artist + Katy Parnello

July 2-31 , 2022

Opening Reception July 7, 5-8pm.

Rebecca McFarland was raised by two academics in New Orleans, La. When everyone else was outside playing, she spent her childhood with the passionate Jane Eyre, the deep contradictions of Hester Prynne and the outspoken Lizzie Bennet. Women’s stories, in classic literature, movies, and theater, have defined Rebecca’s life and work. After graduating from Tulane University, she spent twenty years in Hollywood having a successful television career as an actress.

When she began painting in 2001, after an inspiring five-month adventure in Europe, she naturally turned her talents to the female figure. Her portraits involve layers of collage and acrylic paint followed by sanding to reveal the cracks and decay beneath the grace and allure of beauty. Her methods have been developed through sheer force of will combined with constant experimentation.

“I’m interested in what we reveal to each other and what we keep as privileged information—the layers we cover ourselves with to hold our secrets. I want the worn down bits to show, the broken parts. I want my women to remove their social masks and confess their deepest woes. Ultimately, I’m a storyteller, and my

passion is the story of women”. Rebecca McFarland

MD Famous Artist + Katy Parnello

MD Famous Artist + Katy Parnello

MD Famous Artist + Katy Parnello

June 1-30, 2022

Opening Reception June 2, 5-8pm.