Events

by Tracy Shaffer

What do you do when you discover royalty has just taken up residence in the neighborhood? Throw a party of course! It was all feathers and fringe as the Flappers and Pharaohs funder took hold of the Denver Art Museum Friday to honor the arrival of Tutankhamun.The band played The Duke, festive femmes, legs akimbo, danced the Charleston, (candy) cigarette girls and bare-chested Nubian slaves roamed while Roaring 20s clad guests raised a glass to the Boy King in Denver's own angular wonder, the Hamilton Building.

After a welcome by DAM Director, Christoph Heinrich,  world-renowned archeologist and Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities,  Zahi Hawass, engaged the crowd with tales of Tut and rhapsody on a life of constant discovery. Now, onward to the gallery as we 550 were the first to preview the pithy exhibit.

[To hear Paul Dujardin's conversation with Susan, click "Play"]

BIT fire, fixing hose
Volunteer Firemen, BIT fire

In a matter of speaking, President John Adams may be the man responsible for Telluride's Fourth of July celebration. In a letter to his wife Abigail written July 3, 1776, Adams wrote:

  “The second day of July 1776 will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, funs, bells, bonfires, and illumination from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”
Honnold Telluride, CO – June 29, 2010. Mountainfilm in Telluride will host a cocktail and hors d’oeuvres reception at the Historic Sheridan Opera House from 6 to 7 pm on July 5 followed by a program of award-winning short films. The selected films include: Making the Crooked Straight, about Dr. Rick Hodes’s inspiring work with victims of spinal tuberculosis in Ethiopia (2009 Moving Mountains Prize); Alone on the Wall, about big-wall free-climber Alex Honnold (2010 Charlie Fowler Award); and, Fish Out of Water, about fly fishing as therapy for US veterans of war suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (Moving Mountains Prize 2010).  Alex Honnold and combat vets Christian Ellis and Joe Garcia will be special guests.

The aim of the evening is to raise $5,000 for each of three Mountainfilm initiatives: 
[click "Play" for Greg LaRock's interview with Susan]

LaRock, Greg - Eight O'Clock Alley - 8 bit The Sheridan Arts Foundation's Telluride Plein Air is a robust weekend of fine art and music, culminating over the Fourth of July weekend starting July 2 with a Quick Draw and Sale, 10:30 am – 12 p.m.; the Oak Street Park gala premiere and silent auction,  5 – 8 p.m. and  gala concert featuring Janis Joplin's original band, Big Brother & the Holding Company, 8 p.m. (The sale of works by Telluride Plein Air artists continues throughout the weekend, interrupted only by the Fourth of July parade, 11 –  noon.)

Telluride Plein Air traces its lineage across the pond to the end of the 19th century.
[click "Play" for Susan's podcast with David Brankley]

The BeanMountainfilm Telluride celebrates the First Thursday of every month with the Telluride Council's for the Arts & Humanities' ArtWalk, a meet-and-greet on the street to experience the town's fine art and retail scene. (Stores stay open late until 8 p.m.) All participating venues are on or within walking distance of Main Street. For a list of what's going on where, go to www.telluridearts.org.


For the July ArtWalk, the spotlight is on artist David Brankley, whose concise, compelling paintings are on display at The Telluride Council for the Arts & Humanities'  Stronghouse Studios, 283 South Fir (one block south of the Village Market). The artist's reception is from 5 – 8 p.m.
[click "Play" for Lucy Boody's conversation with Susan]

Lucyboody Amy Jean Boebel is on a roll. All summer long the owner of Sapsucker Studios, 299 Sputh Spruce, is displaying the work of remarkable women like herself. In June, it was Ally Crilly's elephants. In July, it is Lucy Boody's scarf art, the artist's first one-woman show.

Lucy Boody was once upon a time the Town of Telluride's dogcatcher, a job she "co-chaired" with Michael Saftler. But there is a little more to her story than jailing our furry friends.

[to hear BBHC's Sam Andrew talking to Susan, click "Play"]

BBHCoriginalnologos Telluride's Sheridan Opera House welcomes Janis Joplin's original band to town. Big Brother & The Holding Company are performing live concert at the historic venue on Friday, July 2. Show time is 8 p.m. Doors and box office, 7:30 p.m. (Stop by the Sheridan Opera House courtyard from 5-8pm just prior to the show for a free Gala Premiere and Silent Auction, featuring paintings created by artists attending Telluride Plein Air’s 7th Annual Celebration of Outdoor Painting.  Complementary wine sampling and snacks provided.)

Janis Joplin brought her big, bad, bluesy voice from the red dirt of Texas to San Francisco, when "The Haight" was the heart of the drugs, sex and rock 'n roll flower child days of the 1960s. Virtually overnight, thanks to a man named Chet Helms, she went from drifter to a superstar universally described as "the greatest white urban blues and soul singer of her generation." That is, thanks to Helms and the band he managed, Big Brother & The Holding Company, which became Joplin's surrogate family.
[click "Play" to hear Jim Riley's conversation with Susan]

RWBFINAL Over the Fourth of July weekend, any lines in the sand between "uptown," the Mountain Village and "downtown," the Town of Telluride, dissolve in simple addresses with a single purpose: party large in celebration of our nation's independence.

The fun begins in Telluride with the Sheridan Arts Foundation's annual Telluride Plein Air Celebration starting July 2. The fun continues on Saturday July 3,  when the Telluride Mountain Village Owners Association presents a free concert featuring Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers,  a stand-out example of the jump/swing revival performing blues, swing and bop. The concert takes place in Sunset Plaza at the top of Lift 1 starting at 4 p.m., while family activities start at 2 p.m.
 

by Lauren Metzger
Marketing & Exhibitions Manager
Ah Haa School for the Arts

[click "Play" to hear Lauren's conversation with Brooke Ahana]

 

Brooke_tio

Every now and then, if you are lucky, people come into your life who inspire you. Brooke Ahana is one of those people for me. She reminds me to have fun. Fun in life. In my work. In painting.

As a Los Angeles artist, Brooke Ahana has been leaving the big city and spending her last 7 summers in Telluride, CO inspiring kids and adults alike at the Ah Haa School for the Arts. An impassioned visiting artist instructor, Brooke teaches a variety of workshops for kids of all ages. From Portraits with Personality to Abstract Expressionism, Brooke covers the gamut and pushes her students to learn, explore and believe in their creativity (a woman after our own Ah Haa heart).