Opera House Summer 2020: SHOW Bar, Impressionist Paintings, Virtual Shows+

04 Jul Opera House Summer 2020: SHOW Bar, Impressionist Paintings, Virtual Shows+

Below is a note from Ronnie Palamar, executive director, Telluride’s Sheridan Arts Foundation, about summer happenings at the historic venue,

Want to arrange a private viewing of plein air paintings (show opened July 1) or host a small, private event (think movie night, dinner party etc.) at the Opera House? Contact Ronnie at 970-728-6363 ext. 1 or at ronnie@sheridanoperahouse.com.

THE SHOW Bar opened for the summer season on Thursday, July 2.

Check out www.sheridanoperahouse.com to sign up to watch “The Jungle Book,” a Young People’s Theatre production being performed virtually on You Tube, beginning July 7. ($10 donation per screen gratefully accepted.)

Bottom line: “The Sheridan Arts Foundation’s main priorities are safety, health and service to the Telluride community. We are continuing to provide theater to children, display plein air art in our SHOW bar, and maintain our beautiful historic theater for the day we can once again gather,” explains Palamar.

Dear friends of the Sheridan Opera House,

We hope you are staying healthy and happy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Sheridan Arts Foundation is committed to doing everything we can to keep our community as safe as possible as we look forward to the summer season. We have some exciting plans and can’t wait for you to be a part of them, but rest assured we will be implementing all CDC guidelines in our building to protect our community as well as staff.

Please scroll down more information about the Sheridan Arts Foundation and Opera House plans for the unique summer of 2020.

SHOW Bar & patio – Now open every Thursday-Sunday, 4-10 pm!

The Opera Houses’s lux SHOW Bar is now open for the summer season for long weekends, Thursday-Sunday, 4-10 pm. The outdoor patio is extended so that guests can enjoy cocktails safely. We are also serving home-made pies from the Dolores Market. (A slice with a glass of prosecco is only $12!)

Additionally, 25 plein air artists are going to be featured all summer as the SHOW Bar, which has been converted into a gallery for the season. A generous percentage from the purchase of all paintings will directly benefit the Sheridan Arts Foundation.

Please know that the SAF is enforcing CDC guidelines in the SHOW Bar, including mandatory mask-wearing (unless you are seated with your drink and pie); limited capacity within the premises; and hand-sanitizer dispensers placed throughout the venue.

Telluride Plein Air, all summer, SHOW Bar: (Go here for more.)

Telluride’s Sheridan Arts Foundation (SAF) normally hosts 24 nationally recognized American plein air or Impressionist artists over the Fourth of July weekend for the annual Telluride Plein Air. But that major fundraiser has been postponed until fall, still over two dozen artists have each agreed to send two Telluride paintings each to be displayed and sold in the Sheridan Opera House’s SHOW Bar beginning July 1.

Participating Telluride Plein Air artists were selected through a juried process, in which applicants submitted images and a biography to be reviewed by a panel of artists, gallery owners and educators.

Each year the top-selling artists and our Artist Choice 1st place winner from the previous event are invited back to the event. In 2019, Christine Lashley won the prestigious Artist Choice. Top sellers returning this year are Kirsten Anderson, Jill Banks, David Dallison, Mat Barber Kennedy and Wayne McKenzie. Thirteen artists are new to Telluride, with 11 returning.

The Sheridan Arts Foundation created Telluride Plein Air 16 years ago to benefit community programming and the ongoing upkeep and restoration at Telluride’s historic Sheridan Opera House.

The Sheridan Opera House has provided quality entertainment to Telluride since 1913. Of the two paintings donated by each artist, one is to be sold with 40 percent of the proceeds benefiting the Sheridan Arts Foundation’s community programming and 60 percent to be retained by the artists; sales of the second painting are being donated by the artist to the SAF to help sustain operations during the COVID-19 absence of income from usual programming.

WHEN: Starting July 1, 2020
WHERE: Telluride, Colo.

Telluride Plein Air artists, 2020:

Thomas Adkins, CT
Kirsten Anderson, CA
Marc Anderson, WI
Suzie Baker, TX
Jill Banks, VA
Allen Brockbank, UT
Krystal Brown, TX
David Dallison, IL
Bill Farnsworth, FL
Catherine Hillis, GA
Jody Kauflin, CO
Mat Barber Kennedy, IL
Tammie Lane, CO
Christine Lashley, VA
Wayne McKenzie, CA
Barbara Meikle, NM
Bill Meuser, CO
Chrissy Pahucki, NY
D.K. Palecek, WI
Robert J. Simone, FL

Impressionist or plein air ( or in the open air, not in a studio) painting, more:

What’s it all about? Well, “plein air” is a concept first associated with 19th-century French Impressionists who broke with Academy tradition by leaving stuffy studios behind to capture light and color outdoors. In that context plein air is shorthand for “very spendy, but would look great in your living room if you could afford one at auction.”

Just kidding.

The story actually begins with Eugene Boudin, one of the more adventurous 19th-century painters, known primary for his beach scenes and seascapes of northern France, and luminous skies. When Boudin taught his young student, Claude Monet, the importance of painting a scene directly from nature in the light, in the air, just as it was, painting en plein air was born.

In the stroke of Monet’s agitated brush, the dark palette of Realism (and the Barbizon School) gave way to the brighter highlights of painting directly from nature.

Monet quickly introduced friends such as Renoir, Sisley and Bazille to the core idea of the discipline: record only what is visible at given distances under specific lighting conditions. In December 1873, outdoor painting sessions and heated café discussions among young artists of the day culminated in the Societe Anonyme des Artistes

The group’s first show, April 15, 1874, included an image by Monet of dawn over a foggy harbor entitled “Impression: Sunrise.” A critic wrote a satirical review, sniffing at the Monet,  and in one stroke of a venomous pen, he popularized the term “Impressionism,” now synonymous with plein air painting.

The first important Impressionist work to be shown in America was Manet’s “Execution of the Emperor Maximilian,” banned by Paris censors and politically inflammatory. According to art critic Robert Hughes, in 1879 the image was brought to New York and Boston by an opportunistic singer named Madame Ambre who put on a show to generate publicity for her recitals.

In 1886, a popular French art dealer mounted the first professional show of Impressionist images at the American Art Association’s galleries. Thus began America’s love affair with fine European works of art. In a heartbeat, American artists began to adopt plein air techniques.

Much late 19th- and early 20th-century painting stems from reactions to Impressionism’s basic tenets.

And the beat goes on…

Sheridan Arts Foundation’s Young People’s Theatre, “Jungle Book,” Virtual, July 7 – 9.

Starring 10 local actors in grades 3-5, Disney’s “The Jungle Book” is adapted from Disney’s beloved animated film and the works of Rudyard Kipling. While the original production was set to be performed on the Sheridan Opera House stage May 1-3, 2020, the onset of COVID-19 made rehearsal and performances in the building impossible.

Unwilling to completely cancel the show, Young People’s Theater artistic director Leah Heidenreich pivoted to a virtual production. Patrons will get to watch our young actors performing live on Zoom through YouTube Live, allowing everyone to witness the fun on their TVs or any other devices that support YouTube: July 7th, 8th and 9th, 6 p.m.

“Tickets” are a suggested donation of $10 per screen which you can purchase here. You will receive the YouTube live link to enjoy the show 30 minutes prior to curtain (5:30 pm).

We hope to see you this summer to enjoy cocktails, pie and beautiful art in our SHOW Bar and we can’t wait for you to enjoy our virtual Young People’s Theatre productions virtually.