Telluride Arts: August Art Walk

30 Jul Telluride Arts: August Art Walk

Rob Schultheis, Camel

Rob Schultheis grew up on the Pacific Rim, in Hong Kong, Manila, and locales still classified, where his father was C.I.A. Chief of Station. After graduating with an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Colorado, he traveled extensively in Asia, including long periods of residence in Katmandu, Peshawar, the Hindu Kush and Bamiyan, where he covered the mujahedins’ war against the Soviets and the subsequent civil war for Time, CBS, The New York Times, etc. Over the years, he has also written for The Washington Post, National Geographic, and Outside. Rob is the author of six books, including “The Hidden West” and “Fool’s Gold,” the latter about the changing face of his home town, Telluride, Colorado. Rob is also a poet and an accomplished painter.

“After a long hiatus I began painting again around 15 years ago, partly to express emotions from my years covering the wars in Afghanistan that had been locked down tight for too long. After awhile I began to create paintings from a much wider and deeper (and more positive) level of consciousness: wild animals, tribal hunters and fishers, mythical landscapes, goddesses and tutelary deities, Fredonian circuses. I am now working on a new series of paintings and mixed media pieces that I hope will serve as a doorway or window into the realm of magic hidden beneath the surface of our everyday world.”

Maggie Taylor, The Burden of Dreams

Rob’s magical work opens in concert with Telluride Arts‘ First Thursday Art Walk, which takes place this month on August 1. His work is part of a show, “Topsy Turvy,” opening at the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art, 130 East Colorado Avenue, a three-ring show of fanciful painting, sculpture and jewelry, featuring work by Dan Collins, Krista Harris, Toulouse-Lautrec, Kristin Lora, (all circus jewelry), Thomas Ostenberg, Maggie Taylor, and Robert Weatherford. (Wine Tasting with The Wine Mine plus cupcakes and popcorn.)

First Thursday Art Walk is a festive celebration of the arts in downtown Telluride for art lovers, community, and friends. “Topsy Turvey” is just one stop among 15 at venues on and around Main Street hosting receptions from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. to introduce new exhibitions and artists. 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 First Thursdays 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.

Turtle by Sarah Welch

Another highly recommended show takes place at Ah Haa School for the Arts, 300 South Townsend. “Ah Haa Photography Prize: Telluride Portraits” is a juried exhibition of 23 photographs in the Daniel Tucker Gallery. (Go here for related story with details.) In the East Gallery, “Painting From Within,” works by students of Robert Weatherford.

Lisa Dawn Gold at Headwater/Arroyo

Be sure to stop is Headwater Contemporary at Arroyo. The exhibition features contemporary rising art stars: painter Melinda Stickney Gibson;photographer Lee Friedman; print artist DJ Spooky – Paul Miller; painter Leah Durner; painter Kim Uchiyama; painter-sculptor Lisa Dawn Gold and glass artist Liz Wolf. Headwater offers access to leading creators in the international contemporary art world. True to form, these works are current, fresh, new and original. Friedman for example pays homage in his black-and-white photographs to Alfred Stieglitz. Stickney-Gibson, Durner, Uchiyama and Gold remind us that painting is vibrantly alive and better than ever and moving further into the 21st century, while honoring the art historical continuum that are the underpinnings of their creative impulses.

Gallery 81435 features Contemporary Telluride. This is the summer of the roundabout. Flair Robinson’s new works are a convergence of thoughts and visions related to the idea of “roundabout.” The roundabout represents transition, a merging of who Robinson is right now with where she wants to be down the road and also, how she would like to see the world as she travel through it. The solo show is also emerging of her work and mediums. Robinson combines her love of traditional mosaic with mixed media, including paper and canvas mosaics. The opening will hold many surprises and colorful experiences for all.

Lustre, ring from Masriera collection by Marcos Morales

Lustre Gallery, 171 South Pine, hosts two trunk shows for Art Walk that will extend through the weekend, featuring art for home and self. Representatives from the Barcelona jeweler Masriera will be on hand to present expanded collections of art nouveau and art deco jewelry. They will also showcase a Victorian jewelry collection from San Francisco. This wearable art for self is created with the original period dies, molds, tools and processes that continue to be used today. Art for Home highlights the Rainforest Basket Collection Trunk Show.  Lustre is showcasing a wealth of baskets with botanical designs and Pre-Columbian cultural motifs. Hand-woven by the Wounaan Indians of the Darien Rain Forest in Central America, these exceptional and museum quality baskets sustain a high quality of life for the weavers, their families and communities. All components of the baskets are sustainably harvested within the bounty of the rain forest.

Melange, 109 West Colorado, hosts Body Image, an exhibit by Joslyn Doerge. Drawing on her background as a trained scientific illustrator, Joslyn Doerge explores erotic attraction, conceptions of beauty and the physical body’s fleshy meat, by literally pulling the the skin off her subjects and taking a peek at what lies underneath. But rather than falling into butcher house imagery, Doerge’s subjects firmly stake claim to the bubblegum innocence of mid-century pin-up models.

Bryan Mark Taylor “Water Music”

Oh-Be-Joyful Gallery, 333 West Colorado Avenue, celebrates summer in the high mountains by enjoying new summer paintings by several talented plein air painters. Representing established mid-career artists and younger promising artists alike, the paintings capture the beauty of Colorado and Telluride. (Hors d’oeuvres and wine.)

The Wilkinson Public Library, 100 West Pacific Avenue. Telluride Arts and the Wilkinson Public Library 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.) Geoffrey Alexander photographs above the music area behind the desk on the main floor, 2.) Youth Art Projects in the youth room, 3.) Lawrence Giles, Paintings in the stairwell, 4.) Molly Redecki, Photographs on the exterior walls surrounding the stacks on the second floor and in the Palmyra Room.

For more, go to Telluride Arts.