TELLURIDE ARTS: MARCH ART WALK

05 Mar TELLURIDE ARTS: MARCH ART WALK

Gomez interprets Rodin

Bruce Gomez was the very first artist Will and Hilary Thompson, owners of the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art, signed for their stable when they opened their new gallery on Main Street (130 East Colorado) in 1985. Will Thompson first saw Bruce’s work in a Denver gallery, but the timing was not right to work with a pastel artist. Will was buying and selling original graphics exclusively, but he recalled thinking: “This kid really has something.”

In a Gomez, what you see is enough. In fact, his shimmering images are often described as “better than reality.” But scratch the surface and there is so much more: the artist’s lush, layered pastels are unapologetically sensuous, a complex tapestry of abstract passages, gorgeous studies of color and light, and whatever scene the artist’s captured with his camera, his starting point.

Entirely self-taught in the medium, Gomez has worked with pastels for about 30 years. The creative process for the artist begins with a photograph. Next he plots the principle elements of the composition from photograph to paper, which gets treated with sandpaper to create his signature velour effect and shimmering surface. Gomez’ subject matter comes primarily from his travels throughout the western U.S., France, Italy, and England. He tends to feature Telluride, Moab, the Grand Canyon, Wyoming, Paris, Provence, and Tuscany.

Only not this time.

This time the artist has ventured beyond his signature landscapes. Images his latest show include an interpretation of Rodin’s “Le Penseur” (“The Thinker”) and studies of a white horse.

“Bruce Gomez: The Other Side” opens in concert with Telluride Arts‘ First Thursday Art Walk.

The First Thursday Art Walk is a festive celebration of the arts in downtown Telluride for art lovers, community and friends. The Gomez show at the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art is one stop among a possible 15, all hosting receptions from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. to introduce new exhibitions and artists.

Another highly recommended stop is the Outside the Box fiber arts exhibition at the Ah Haa School for the Arts, 300 South Townsend. To create this juried show, artists within San Miguel and Ouray counties were challenged to think outside the box,. The result is in a collection of work as rich in diversity as it is in creativity using fiber. ( See Related Post.)

Located down the block from the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art, Arroyo, 220 East Colorado, is hosting a show of equine photography by Tony Stromberg. For two decades, Tony made his mark as an advertising photographer. However, a quiet but persistent voice eventually drew him out of his commercial roots and deep into the soul of the West. In their physical, and archetypal form, horses help to bring us back to something wild and unrestrained, reminding us of a sense of freedom that many of us have forgotten. Tony’s images are an homage to the equine spirit and a celebration of their remarkable presence in our lives. The artist is in town to discuss his work.

Ecospaces Design Showroom, 398 West Colorado, features the stained glass and pastel paintings of Patti Childers. Her passion and inspiration for stained glass and pastels matches her love of Telluride. She is drawn to the tactile and brilliant colors of the two mediums.

Gallery 81435, 230 South Fir, features contemporary Telluride. Join Telluride Arts for a closing party that features fresh new works and custom jewelry by Stephanie Morgan Rogers. The “Heaven|Earth” exhibit was inspired by the place sky meets earth and where we fit in as we move flit from one realm to the next. The exhibit features works on metal. March Art Walk Special: Design your own personalized, one of a kind necklace, with an original art pendant, with the artist.

Jody Pinkert, Crossings

Lustre Gallery, 171 So. Pine, hosts an artist’s reception with Jodi Pinkert. Jodi, a part-time Telluride resident, is the newest artist in Lustre’s stable.

Jodi creates a line of clay tapestries inspired by her travels to Africa. Her amulets and talismans are created with earthen clay and adorned with Bali silver, Berber pendants, Ghana glass, turquoise and other discovered treasures. The textural nature of Jodi’s work echoes the ornaments and symbolic patterns that adorn African people, showing up in jewelry, clothing, paint and scarring as symbolic references that reveal a wealth of meaning about the wearer.

“This is the fullness that draws me in – both primitive and advanced, colorful and monochromatic, awash with meaning and purpose, “ explained Jodi.

The clay tapestries are meant to be mounted on the wall or as standing totems.

At The Steaming Bean, 221 West Colorado Avenue, Brittany Miller presents “Unraveling: the You Are Here.” The new body of work is part of the artists’ ongoing ‘You Are Here’ collection. The mannequin, representing anyone and everyone, continues to serve as the artists’ stalwart muse. The mixed media works, some fashioned from reclaimed and found materials such as cabinet doors and scrap wood, encompass a depth of metaphor and symbolism alluding to matters of the heart and authenticity.

Image by Daniel Aragon

Telluride Arts’s Stronghouse Studios, 283 South Fir, presents “Recology,” a new body of work by local artist Daniel Aragon, a Telluride Arts Small Grants recipient. The exhibit was inspired by Biophilia, a theory that humanity has an innate love for the natural world and its diversity, clean air and water, natural materials, organic shapes, and cycles. It also proposes that the human desires to explore, tinker, modify, create, and progress are innate.  Daniel Aragon’s new paintings created for this exhibit illustrate natural, regenerative processes and  illuminate the tension between human curiosity and the systems that support all life. Though the works are based on real world projects and technology, they also illustrate the artist’s dream of vital, diverse natural systems. The exhibit is presented in collaboration with Telluride-based EcoAction Partners.

Telluride Arts and the Wilkinson Public Library, 100 West Pacific, collaborate to showcase regional artists work on the walls of the library. There are five main exhibit spaces in the library that host revolving exhibits that change monthly. Exhibits can be found in the following spaces this month: 1.) above the music area behind the desk on the main floor, 2.)Youth Art Projects in the youth room, 3.) Ally Crilly, Paintings in the stairwell, 4.) Molly Redecki, Paintings on the exterior walls surrounding the stacks on the second floor and 5.) Joe Skalsky, Photographs in the Palmyra Room.

A free Art Walk Map offers a self-guided tour that can be used at any time to find galleries that are open most days. Listen to Open Art Radio on KOTO from 12 – 1 p.m. on Thursday to hear interviews with the artists.

Maps are available at participating venues and at the Telluride Arts offices located in the Stronghouse Studios + Gallery at 283 South Fir Street.