Get TIO in your Inbox!

Author: Susan Viebrock


A show of new work, her fifth at the Telluride Council for the Arts & Humanities' Stronghouse Studios, by local artist and county commissioner Elaine Fischer opens Thursday, part of the all-day showcase of Telluride's fine art and retail scene, with venues open late until eight. (For further information about what's happening at other locations, go to the TCAH website or call 728-8959 or 728-3930.)

"Mixed Messages" makes it abundantly clear Fischer has come into her own as an artist. A survey of the work, which runs the gamut from abstraction to portraiture to still-lifes, even a landscape and several bowl-like shapes, points to a virtuoso whose through-line is authenticity. Naturalism be damned. Fischer uses shape and color to express her true emotions with a detachment from any conventional notions of beauty: What she feels is what you get. And that is true even for the self portraits. Here is someone who can look in a mirror without squinting. The one in her studio. And the mirror of life.
04 August, 2010 /
[click "Play", Susan speaks with Jim Bedford]

2005-01-178a Thursday, August 5, the Telluride Historical Museum's next Fireside Chat asks the question: "What Came First the KOTO or the Community Radio?" The talk features the two guys with the answer: Jim Bedford and Jerry Greene. Ben Kerr is moderator. The event takes place at the firepit in the Mountain Village and is FREE to the general public.


FM and AM radio dials are crowded with commercial stations, offering not very much worthwhile around the clock, an incessant roar of rock, C & W, lots of “oldies,” inane talk and harsh rap. There are a couple of thousand public radio stations, but only a few like KOTO with no commercials or commercial underwriting whatsoever. KOTO’s history is the history of Telluride, from love child to respectable citizen. It all began with Bedford, at the time, a long-haired visionary. (jThe haircut is different today, a whole lot shorter. The visionary bit still holds true.)
04 August, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Raul Midon's conversation with Susan]

Raul 4 Telluride Jazz Celebration impresario Paul Machado is a champion of diversity. The line-up for the 2010 musical happening, More Than Jazz, may be his most imaginative and wide-ranging to date, moving across the cultural spectrum from Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks to Chuchito Valdez. The Guest of Honor is the 80-yer-old legend, bebop piano/bandleader/arranger Toshiko Akiyoshi, but the 30-year-old pianist Hiromi performs with Stanley Clarke. Another relative youngster in this crowd is also a rising star, singer-songwriter-guitarist Raul Midon.

Midon is on the Telluride Jazz Celebration schedule Friday night at The Nugget, Saturday afternoon on the Toshiko Akiyoshi Town Park Stage and Sunday for a late show at The Nugget again.

03 August, 2010 /


Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts, 300 South Townsend, honors painter Robert Weatherford with a retrospective showcasing 25 years of painting, including florals, landscapes, still-lifes and portraits. The opening of the exhibit in the Daniel Tucker Gallery coincides with the Telluride Council for the Arts & Humanities' First Thursday Art Walk, August 5, 5 - 8 p.m. Across town, a show at the Stronghouse Studios, 283 South Fir Street, features the work of one of Weatherford's students, county commissioner Elaine Fischer. Fischer's work underlines the legacy of her teacher: the triumph of visceral over cerebral.

( For a list of the goings-on around town and a map of all participating venues, go to the TCAH website)
03 August, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's interview with Sally Lake]

PB-382LR The Telluride Council for the Arts & Humanities created the First Thursday Art Walk to support the town's talent pool of fine artists, local galleries and the retail scene. For the Art Walk, stores stay open late until 8 p.m. ( For a list of what's happening around Telluride for the August Art Walk and a map of participating venues, go to the TCAH website.)

One of the stops on the monthly walkabout is the Lustre Gallery, 171 South Pine Street. On Thursday, August 5, Lustre lives up to its name. The artisan's gallery/retail outlet will be ablaze with light radiating from precious gems and metals in four different and distinct collections: Masriera, art nouveau jewelry from Barcelona fashioned from original 19th-century molds; Bagues, contemporary jewelry from Barcelona; Judy Evans bridal jewelry; and the Philip Zahm collection, featuring colored gemstones. The Judy Evans and Philip Zahm collections are showcased at Lustre for three days only, August 5 – August 7.
03 August, 2010 /
[click "Play" to listen to Susan's interview with David Miller]

GreenTeamLogo Since 2d Quarter 2009, Alpine Bank has been powered by 100% renewable “green” electric power at all locations, including Telluride. Also in 2009, Alpine Bank in Telluride was awarded LEED-CI Silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. Alpine Banks in Telluride, Durango, Summit County, Steamboat, Vail/Eagle Valley, and the Roaring Fork Valley participated in the Colorado Association of Ski Towns CAST Plastic Bag Challenge. Alpine Bank donated $5,000 for solar panel installation to a local school that would be chosen in the town of the Challenge winner. In February 2010, Alpine Bank in Ridgway became the third Alpine Bank facility awarded LEED Silver building certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Put the words "green" and "bank" in one sentence and the reference is clear: we are talking about money. Alpine Bank, however, is a leader statewide in championing better stewardship of environmental resources. "Green" and "bank" may rhyme with "sustainability."
03 August, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear an interview with Wendy Brooks and Elain Demas]

ATT00028 The Telluride Academy, shorthand for an aggregate of enrichment activities for young people, celebrates 30 years in business with a series of events, including "The Follies," August 5 @ 7 p.m. for hors d'oeuvres, cash bar and silent auction. Show time is 8 p.m. The event takes place at the Sheridan Opera House.

Among those scheduled to hit the boards Thursday night:  Megan McManemin, Pam Shiffrin, Missy Balthrope, Sue Groner, Marcia Northrup, Mike Apt and Mike Knight, pictured here.

03 August, 2010 /
[click "Play" for Trevor Tice's interview with Susan]

Trevor1 Causes for celebration are few and far between these days, but Telluride has two great reasons to raise a glass.

Reason #1: The 34th annual Telluride Jazz Celebration.

The Telluride Jazz Celebration is a long weekend dedicated to celebrating the only indigenous American musical form to have exerted an influence on musical development throughout the Western world. The event takes place August 5 – August 8 in Town Park and venues throughout town.

Reason #2: Trevor Tice. (And the Telluride Jazz Celebration)

02 August, 2010 /
Fresh off the Bench - New Styles from GURHAN Tuesday, August 3, 1:30– 6 p.m., Telluride's Lustre Gallery, 171 South Pine, hosts a trunk show featuring the newest collection of Gurhan bling, his 4/24K gold line.

4/24K underlines Gurhan's tropism for the past. This time, the craftsman is using an early Ottoman alloy containing four karats of gold and combines it with his signature pure 24 karat gold.
01 August, 2010 /