Scrambled in Colorado by Keith 'Scramble' Campbell

Scrambled in Colorado by Keith 'Scramble' Campbell

Keith 'Scramble' Campbell captures the essence of live music through his colorful and spirited paintings, which he refers to as "Live Music Paintings."

His remarkable body of work features not only a visual record of music legends but also some of today’s most exciting emerging talent. Live Music Painting is a form of visual performance art, where the artist creates a piece during a public performance at a live music event—whether at an amphitheatre, arena, bar, festival, fair, hall, or venue. When the music stops and the band leaves the stage, what remains on Campbell's easel is a unique visual record of the performance, brought to life through brushes and paint.

Known for his bold use of color, powerful compositions, and energetic technique, Campbell adds a visual dimension to the concert experience by producing a one-of-a-kind artwork during each show.

A Colorado local, Campbell has been painting at the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival since 2012 and has spent over 40 years traveling across the country, creating art live on the road. His work has been featured at major events, including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre near his hometown.

At Telluride Blues & Brews, you can find him painting live in his usual spot in the VIP area along the fence.

Take a look at this incredible festival through the eyes and color-splashed palette of 'Scramble' Campbell.

Follow him on Instagram: @scramblecampbellart

The Golden Chain by Matias Di Carlo

The Golden Chain by Matias Di Carlo

Telluride Arts HQ West

August 29 – October 11, 2024

Telluride Arts Presents:

The Golden Chain

By Matias Di Carlo

 

Telluride Arts is proud to present "The Golden Chain," a solo exhibition by contemporary artist Matias Di Carlo opening August 29th, 2024. curated by international curator Rachel D. Vancelette. This solo exhibition offers an immersive journey through the profound connections between art, nature, and the quest for material transformation. Matias Di Carlo, a fourth-generation ironsmith from Buenos Aires, transforms metal and fire into exquisite sculptures rooted in tradition yet infused with contemporary flair, captivating viewers with its raw beauty and primal energy. Born in 1978 in Buenos Aires and currently residing near Malaga, Spain, Di Carlo draws inspiration from various disciplines, including architecture and landscape architecture.

 

This one-man show, "The Golden Chain", delves into the alchemical pursuit—a timeless quest for the transformation of materials. Di Carlo's sculptures serve as portals into a new realm, combining traditional craftsmanship with contemporary innovation. His process provides a new transformative process resulting in unexpected discoveries inviting viewers to contemplate the eternal cycle of creation and destruction. 

Matias Di Carlo’s oeuvre is multidimensional, revealing multiple realities through every angle, edge, or fold of his sculptures. His work explores the dynamics between Void, Māteria, and the perception of new layers of reality. Di Carlo's creations are a visual alchemy, combining multiple inspirations from his travels and life rock climbing in international mountain regions while always continuing the pursuit of transformation of ancient metal-shaping techniques.

 

Telluride has a rich history of innovation and discovery, from Nikola Tesla's pioneering experiments with alternating-current electricity. Telluride is set as an inspiration for the artist’s new creations. Di Carlo harnesses the power of art to illuminate the viewer, reminding all of us of our intrinsic connection to the natural world. Artist Matias Di Carlo will be in-residency at Steeprock Joinery throughout the month of August where he will be creating on-site artworks inspired by the surroundings of Telluride, Colorado. The exhibition will also include artworks created in his studio in Malaga, Spain.  

 

Di Carlo's monumental sculpture "Crossroads" was featured in the prestigious museum Artipelag with permanent placement in the outdoor Nature Park in Stockholm, Sweden. Di Carlo’s abstract monumental sculptures, crafted from corten steel, aluminum, iron, and concrete, have gained international attention for their distinctive expression. His works reflect a commitment to sustainability, incorporating upcycled materials to create visually stunning pieces that emphasize conservation and mindful consumption. 

The solo exhibition "The Golden Chain" will be on display at Telluride Arts HQ West, nestled in the heart of the Telluride Arts District. This vibrant community hub, pulsating with creativity and cultural exchange, provides the perfect space for Di Carlo's first solo exhibition in the United States.           

 

Supported by Telluride Arts District, Steeprock Joinery, INTROXPERT, Town of Telluride & Atlas Archeology.

Don't miss your opportunity to meet Di Carlo at three special events in the coming weeks:

  • Thursday, August 29, 1:00-6:30 pm, at HQ Gallery West | Opening reception: The Golden Chain  (Admission is free.)

  • Friday, August 30, 12:00-1:00 pm, at HQ Gallery West | Panel Discussion with Matias Di Carlo; Isabel Harcourt (Steeprock Joinery) & Rachel Vancelette, Curator  (Click here for more information.)

  • Saturday, September 7, 10:00-5:00 pm, at  Steeprock Joinery | Mastery Workshop with Matias Di Carlo: Transforming Metal into Art and Beyond to Access the Realm of Sculpture (Click here for more information.) Tickets $325

  • Panel Discussion with Matias Di Carlo, Artist, Isabel Harcourt Steeprock Joinery & Rachel Vancelette, Curator

Follow him on Instagram:  @matias_di_carlo

"Born from Fire"Matias Di Carlo, by SnapCollective | Preorder Book: https://shop.snap-collective.com/en-us/products/born-from-fire-by-matias-di-carlo!

Observed By Nature by Lucy Peveto

Observed By Nature by Lucy Peveto

Telluride Arts HQ West

August 1 – September 29, 2024

Telluride Arts Presents:

Observed By Nature

By Lucy Peveto

 “Over the past year I've focused on a series of paintings based on beloved Aspen trees and flowers using many built up layers and 3D textures.  The process starts with stacking colors of paper and print that decide when they want to peak through creating light and shadow.  You may recognize hints of past issues of the Telluride Daily Planet’s articles and advertisements revealing itself between the fabric of trees and flowers.  This work was done in my small, chaotic studio in solitude; however, the feeling was not lonely at all as I was surrounded by finished pieces patiently waiting to be framed.  Similar to how a sleepy pathway can break way into a hike, a unity with nature unfolds before us.  The eyes of the Aspen tree become deep pools of emotion, the leaves quiver in the breeze, and the flowers peek open to stretch towards the light.  To savor this moment is to know you are not alone. This series encourages you to see what’s in front of you today because it might see you too."  

-Lucy Peveto  

 

Although far from a naturalist, Lucy Peveto’s fandom of the menagerie of trees, flowers and butterflies show in her work over the years.  She utilizes mixed media formats including many layers of fabric, newspaper, compound, canvas, resin, acrylics, oils and alcohol inks. 

 

Her work was featured at 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 ROYGBIV (catalogue); AnArte Gallery (yearly solo exhibitions); Neiman Marcus, Spring Trends (solo exhibition) and in other shows and galleries across Texas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, 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, Estancia del Norte by Hilton Hotels, Scaleworks and GFR Development Services. Her work was also selected for print by The Exquisite Rainbow Corpse by Gentileschi Aegis Gallery Association as well as featured in magazine publications of American Art Collector, La Prensa Texas Newspaper, The Houston Chronicle, Telluride Daily Planet, The Society Diaries, and Austin-San Antonio Urban Home among others. Her wearable art collection by Evocateur Style can be found in fine jewelry stores nationwide including the Met Opera Gift Shop. 

Follow her on Instagram:  @lucypeveto

Earth Versions by Heather Romney

Earth Versions by Heather Romney

Telluride Arts HQ East

July 2 – 29, 2024

Telluride Arts Presents:

Earth Versions

By Heather Romney

 Originally trained as a photographer, Heather Romney has been painting since 2017. For this series, she has been exploring the geography of the former Lake Bonneville, a Late Pleistocene paleolake. The Great Salt Lake is a remnant, and the old shorelines can still be seen in the foothills of the Wasatch Front. Heather travels the area using Google Earth, snipping photos of different landscape elements. She creates collages from those screenshots, and paints the new images in oil. Although some views may seem familiar, the exact perspectives cannot be found in real life.


Google Earth maps the earth by airplane and satellite, taking millions of overlapping photos of the landscape and knitting them together using photogrammetry. At this point in time, the algorithm draws and completes geometric shapes with precision, but organic objects like trees often render as blobs and awkwardly pasted textures. Heather is interested in capturing this moment in paint, before the technology improves and the 3d modeling of organic shapes becomes perfectly photorealistic. 

Follow her on Instagram:  @heddaronno

Liquid Mountains By Jack Plantz

Liquid Mountains By Jack Plantz

Telluride Arts HQ West

May 24, 2024– July 29, 2024

Telluride Arts Presents:

Liquid Mountains

By Jack Plantz

Jack Plantz is a local artist and designer, born and raised in Telluride. His work celebrates the immense complexity of the natural world while exploring the creative possibilities of modern technology. As a lifelong skier, climber, and kayaker he loves playing in the mountains, and finds endless inspiration adventuring amongst them.

With these works Jack wanted to experiment with digital tools to create artworks that capture the feeling of being in the presence of some of the world's most iconic peaks, while depicting them in a new and different light. The intensely saturated colors, intricate detail and sweeping lines attempt to convey the sense of scale one experiences when looking up at these summits. The sense of flowing liquid also hints at the dynamic and changing aspect of mountains. In our short lifetimes they appear to be permanent features, but over geologic timescales they are in constant motion, subject to persistent forces that act over millennia to create the forms we see today. It’s part of why I love being in the mountains, to feel like a tiny dot in a massive landscape, and a brief blip in unfolding eons of time.

To create this series, Jack sourced elevation data from LIDAR and satellite imagery to create accurate 3D models of each mountain or formation. These high resolution models were then rendered using physics based ray tracing methods to simulate the reflections and refractions that would occur if the terrain was made of a transparent medium like water or glass. The accurate detail in the geometry of the mountains melts into abstract color, resulting in surreal and vibrant images grounded in data measured from the actual locations. 

Desert Dreams By Kellie Day

Desert Dreams By Kellie Day

Telluride Arts HQ East

May 24, 2024 – June 30, 2024

Telluride Arts Presents:

Desert Dreams

By Kellie Day

In 1992, fresh from a Joliet Illinois cubicle, Kellie landed in Sedona, Arizona as a Volunteer Wilderness Ranger for the US Forest Service. She was handed a copy of Desert Solitaire by her chaw-chewing boss, given a “pickle suit” and a shack to live in, and began patrolling the red rock desert.


For years, she drove back and forth across the Navajo Reservation to get from her part-time home in Flagstaff, Arizona to her future home of Ridgway, Colorado. Herds of sheep meandered with their dog and sometimes a scarved woman or a child. Scraggly horses ran together in numbers. Shiprock guarded it all. These desert images became more embedded in my soul.

“In this exhibit, you'll see the rattlesnake and how it blends into the earth and rocks, its patterns created using handmade collage papers and gold marks,” says Kellie. You’ll see Navajo sheep herded by their dog, and the cool skin of the agave made with papers and layers of gels.

You’ll feel a twisted Juniper tree along the cool San Juan River. You’ll see Navajo horses grazing in the sage, hand drawn with gold lines. A coyote trots through the Banana Yucca, his scraggly fur reflecting colors with thick brush strokes. You’ll see a Tucson sunset.

“It’s all here waiting for you to be still for a moment and allow these images to sink in. Maybe if you linger a moment longer, it will embed its desert beauty in your soul,” says Kellie.

"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.

Love Is Love: A Telluride Gay Ski Week Collaboration Exhibit

Love Is Love: A Telluride Gay Ski Week Collaboration Exhibit

This February, Telluride Arts HQ East is featuring Love Is Love, a group show in collaboration with Telluride Gay Ski Week featuring local and regional artists Brooke Einbender, Carly Hodes, Christopher Warren, Cie Hoover, Emma Gerona, Seth Berg, Joanie Schwarz, and Steven Beutler. Telluride Arts and Telluride Gay Ski Week are thrilled to be teaming up to give queer-identifying artists and allies a space to exhibit their work.

Brooke Einbender, known as “Mindbender”, explores portals as vessels for connection. During the Covid-19 lockdown, Brooke began contemplating the deep isolation we experienced as a collective on a global scale. Personal transformations began happening to us all - behind closed doors. As a reaction to the times, she began collecting reclaimed doors from her community in Telluride, CO. This spark ignited The Unknown Zone, an immersive installation project of portals.

Carly Hodes is a non-binary contemporary artist living and working in Telluride, Colorado. Their work explores the politics of the queer identity and its give-and-take within a relentlessly anti-queer society. Hodes’ saturated, character-oriented images evoke the intimacy and struggle of confronting one’s gender and sexuality while weighing the potential consequences of queer expression.

Cie Hoover lives and creates his unique and captivating wood-based art in Ouray, Colorado. In addition to performing alongside his wife Karisa in the nationally touring folk-rock duo You Knew Me When, Cie has always had a passion for the visual arts since the days of his youth. After working in the Nashville music industry for nearly a decade, and then touring full-time for six and a half years throughout North America with You Knew Me When, Cie immersed himself in his love of the visual arts amongst the San Juan Mountains.  Through the employment of wood as his primary medium, Cie's art aims to pay homage to nature and to the natural world around us. His artwork is primarily based in utilizing various types of wood to create both wall-mounted works with depth and texture, as well as large sculptural work that beg to be reflected on from all angles. His public art installations can be seen throughout Colorado and his work is represented by the Slate Gray Gallery in Telluride. 

Joanie Schwarz has been known in the publishing world for over 25 years for her dreamlike imagery, and her endless patience with children and chaos. Creating images that show unconditional love is what Joanie was born to do. She is fascinated with, and has studied advanced natural lighting techniques with numerous artists, including Joyce Tenneson at The Maine Media Workshops and Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. Her work has been on the covers of Time, Us News and World Report, NY Times Magazine, and the LA Times. 

Christopher Warren is a gay artist living in the San Juan Mountains in Durango, Colorado. His artistic resume includes private and public commissions from fortune 500 companies, city governments, and non-profits alike. He has exhibited in multiple solo and group shows in Colorado, as well as having his own solo museum exhibition at 31 years old. His works often feature topographic recreations of elements found in nature. This series of magazine collages represent a departure from most of Warren's work. Through these pieces, Warren is exploring both his queer and comedic sides in ways that past bodies of work have not touched on.

Magnum Opus: Britt Bradford x Katy Parnello

Magnum Opus: Britt Bradford x Katy Parnello

Telluride Arts HQ West

224 W Colorado

February 1 - February 29, 2024

Magnum Opus, or “The Great Work” refers to the alchemical process of transmutation of the primal material into the philosopher’s stone. The philosopher stone, or gold in traditional alchemy, is the most refined and valuable substance which through the alchemical process emerges from the crudest. Later, in the Gnostic tradition, this was interpreted not as the transmutation of metal, but of the soul or psyche of the alchemist himself.

This transformative process happens through the integration of the conscious and unconscious aspects of the alchemist’s psychology through the four stages of transmutation:  Nigredo, Albedo, Citrinitas and Rubedo. It is the process whereby an individual realizes a state of spiritual and psychological wholeness. Through this process, that, which was previously fragmented and broken, is restored and synthesized so that a whole and unique individual emerges; an individual who is fully authentic and embraces their destiny. 

Negredo is the first stage which is called “shadow work” in Jungian psychology. This is the “Maya” in other traditions. The stage in which we are in the illusion, but cannot see that we are in it.

Albedo is the stage in which communication between the unconscious and conscious begins to happen. It is the lunar or mirroring phase, which brings illumination. This stage builds relationship to the Self.

Citronitas is the solar stage, the moment of Grace entering to help heal and transform the awareness from the previous stages. At this level of transformation, one is able to start consciously relating to others and the world at large with a new wisdom and empowerment. 

Rubedo is the final stage and one embodies and lives their unique truth. The journey has now lead to living your personal myth and discovering how to incorporate meaning and consciousness through living a purpose filled life. In a way, you have discovered what it is to be immortal and infinite. 

About Britt Bradford

Britt received an undergraduate degree in art at the University of Colorado and has trained extensively at the Barcelona Academy of Art and Grand Central Atelier where she learned under master painters in the classical tradition.

About Katy Parnello

Katy Parnello is a self-taught woodworker and elementary electrician. Her latest body of work is inspired by animals and the energy exhibited in old comic books. Combining these two entities, her work strives to depict the power and force that exists in the moment of creation.

Henrik Haaland: The first comprehensive show of his graphic work.

Henrik Haaland: The first comprehensive show of his graphic work.

January 3, 2024 - January 30, 2024 Telluride Arts features: Henrik Haaland.

Telluride Arts HQ West is featuring Ridgway based artist Henrik Haaland for the first comprehensive show of his graphic woodcuts. Henrik brings years of printmaking, painting experience, and a startling vision of nuance and scale in his series of large-format, single-block woodcuts. His style has developed through the “marriage between the given and imposed." After accepting the dictates of organic pine wood grain patterns, he creates a series of imposed patterns through cuts and marks. The resulting image competes with the natural surface texture of the wood. His subject matter is also a duality between two worlds: the recognizable features of Colorado's Cimarron Mountains, rural eastern Dutchess County, New York, and Western Connecticut—his boyhood home—and the more abstract world of patterns and marks. 

Each woodcut is designed and drawn in reverse on large-scale, hand-crafted woodblock. In order to maintain the image's texture, Haaland removes the softer pulp between the heavier wood grain. He enjoys the physicality of burnishing and hand-pulling the prints rather than using a press. The process makes each numbered piece essentially a monoprint, since the act of hand transferring the image results in a unique impression each time. The total effect is not only dramatic, it is singular. His series includes several woodcuts featuring the Telluride Area, including the San Juan and Cimarron Mountains.

Art Walk Reception: January 4th, 5-8PM

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.