Telluride Plein Air and First Thursday Art Walk of summer season

02 Jul Telluride Plein Air and First Thursday Art Walk of summer season

Telluride is experiencing an art attack.

Since Monday, 30 top plein air artists have been in the region for the Telluride Plein Air event, painting the town fuzzed up, fluid, atmospheric, and tonal in the style of the Impressionists, reducing subjects to dots, dashes, blobs, and swaths of scintillating color to reflect our changing light.

On Thursday, July 2, the Sheridan Opera House hosts an Artists' Choice Gala Premiere/Silent Auction/Wine Reception, showcasing the work produced during the week. The event is an exclusive chance to bid on the paintings and meet the artists. At 8 p.m., Imagine, A Beatles Tribute Band performs.

July 2 is also the first Thursday Art Walk of the summer season, a daylong showcase of Telluride's fine art scene, including galleries and studios, which stay open late until 8 p.m. The Telluride Council for the Arts & Humanities conceived of the event as a way to deepen ties between the town's  business and cultural economies, exposing locals and guests to emerging and established artists and the town's retail scene. Almost all participating venues are located in and around Colorado Avenue, within walking distance of one another, and many hold opening receptions, 5 – 8 p.m.

Free Art Walk brochures are available at any participating venue (and our hotels and coffee shops), offering a self-guided map of the participating establishments.

July Art Walk includes the following events:

The Stronghouse Studios presents "The Way I See It," paintings, photography and furnishings by Jeffrey Schafer at 283 South Fir. Schaefer has been working ten years as a professional photographer and vieographer, but the collection of photographs, largely scenes and events in the San Miguel region; acrylic paintings of birds; and hand-crafted furniture mark the artist's local debut.

East Meets West features a treasure trove of Eastern and Western art and accessories in the Mountain Village.

The Schilling Studio Gallery at 151 South Pine is showcasing its new artists:

Diana Woods is a contemplative artist working in an experimental manner, exploring universal truths. Using wood as a painting surface,Woods incorporates a mixed bag of materials from paint, to metals, glass, beeswax, pumice, screen, and found objects to create layer upon layer of texture and luminous color.
A collaboration between Schilling Studio Gallery and "Sueno," owned by interior designer Mary Liekefet, a Telluride  resident of 30 years, features furniture made from re-claimed wood (barns in Brazil), lighting in organic wood shapes, and custom carpets  designed by Mary and woven by artisans in Teotitlan Mexico, using ancient techniques,  natural dyes and local wool.
A piece entitled  "Dark Creek Bed" by Carolina Reeves Johnson was recently highlighted in Southwest Art.

Dolce Jewels, 226 W. Colorado, has a unique collection of jewelry and sculpture.

Lustre, an Artisan Gallery at 171 S. Pine, has two trunk shows. One one of the artists, Aaron Furlong, is on hand for  Art Walk.  Furlong is known for his innovative jewelry and design techniques  inspired by natural colors and shapes. Todd Reed's jewelry is distinguished by rough, colored and polished diamonds set in 18k gold and silver.

Highly personal oil paintings by iconic illustrator Mark English are on display at the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art, 130 E. Colorado Ave.

At the Ah Haa School for the Arts, 300 South Townsend, experience the work of artists and teachers who have contributed to the spirit of the institution since its inception in 1990. The East Gallery features the photographic work of Brad Foley.