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Around Telluride

[click "Play" to hear Kent Harris speak about his work]


Kent Harris pottery in Ah Haa auction, July 24 in Telluride

Kent_jar Kent Harris mines the history of ceramics to create his signature functional vessels covered in earthy glazes. One of his pots is among the 16 works of art featured in the live auction at the Ah Haa's 17th annual fundraiser, always a community party. The event takes place on Friday, July 24, 300 South Townsend (the old Depot), starting at 5 p.m. for the silent auction.

Though Kent Harris is a regular teacher at Ah Haa, his home base is Amarillo, Texas. There he and his wife Megan Easley, a painter, own and operate the Blue Sage Pottery & Art Gallery located on West Sixth Avenue, part of the historic Route 66.

21 July, 2009 /

Lana_photo Say the words "quick draw" in a Western town like Telluride and images of smoking guns pop into mind.

Quick Draw has a whole other meaning, however, in the context of the Sheridan Arts Foundation's annual Telluride Plein Air event, an art show that has become an integral part of Telluride's Fourth of July celebration.

The Quick Draw is a 90-minute, on-site painting demonstration and competition held on Main Street, this year on July 2, 10:30 – noon. The contest is open only to the 30 top plein air artists in town for a week to paint Telluride's urbanscapes and landscapes. The Ah Haa School for the Arts supplies  the judges. This year,
Lana Rak took home the blue ribbon for her image, "Bon Appetit."

20 July, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Eileen's conversation with Jen Santry about Summit County's participation]


by Eileen Burns

IMG_7864 Summer is in full swing and so is the CAST Challenge.  The Colorado Association of Ski Towns (or CAST) has been holding a plastic bag challenge since March 1st, with more than 30 ski towns participating, including the Summit County towns of Breckenridge, Frisco, Dillon and Silverthorn.  The concept behind this friendly competition between ski towns, is to reduce consumption of single-use, disposable shopping bags by using your own shopping bag and to educate the public on the environmental and social costs associated with single-use plastic bags.  

Assistant Director, Jen Santry, of High Country Conservation Center (HC3) explains that Summit County has been participating in a BYOB (bring you own bag) program for years and when they were invited to participate in the CAST Challenge they eagerly accepted.  Summit county has around 30,000 year round residents and up to 100,000 people in the area during the peak ski season.  That could add up to a lot of plastic bag consumption, but the programs are working and people are getting more in the habit of bringing their own bags when they shop.  "It is not about winning the challenge, although that would be great.  These programs help educate the public and effect change," explains Santry.  HC3 provides programs, services, and advocacy in the areas of waste reduction, energy conservation, green building, and even climate change.

19 July, 2009 /

Meredith Nemirov is among the more than 100 artists featured in the silent auction at Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts' 17th annual fundraiser, Friday, July 24, 5 p.m., 300 South Townsend. Meredith Nemirov has inspired Ah Haa students for years, teaching them...

18 July, 2009 /
[click to hear Dan James on cheese and more]

DSC_4596 Telluride's annual Farmers' Market, now in its seventh year, features almost 40 vendors, all of whom come from within a 100-mile radius to bring their sustainably raised fruits, veggies, flowers, meats, fish, crafts and cheeses to town every Friday, 10:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., June – October. The market is the place every weekend for the greater Telluride community to gather and feed a growing appetite for quality food and town talk, the spicier the better.

One of the many smiling faces we look forward to seeing each week belongs to Dan James of the James Ranch, located ten miles north of Durango in the Animas River Valley.

17 July, 2009 /

Are you overwhelmed with papers you would like to get rid of?  Do you have old tax documents, bank statements, credit card solicitations, medical records, and other personal documents needing to be destroyed?  Then, join Alpine Bank and Colorado Document Security for the 1st Annual...

15 July, 2009 /

Last Saturday, July 11, Kimberly and John Kirkendoll hosted a party to support Sparky Productions' Telluride Playwrights' Festival. Jennie Franks' event is in its third year, and the quality of the theatre is getting better with each year. There is one more evening to...

14 July, 2009 /

IMG_3529 Nick Day, internationally known actor, sometime Telluride near-local, friend, has been in Telluride for about two weeks this time around. Nick is a key element in Jennie Franks' Telluride Playwrights' Festival, on- going, hosting actors' workshops, participating in readings. It goes on.

Nick was on hand for the 4th of July in Telluride, and has consented to let TIO publish the column he wrote for folks back home in England. Read it and ask yourself: "Am I/ are we really doing all we could to preserve this place we call home, Telluride, the wider world?"

Thanks, Nick.

Greenwich Time


by Nicholas Day

I’ve just had the privilege of spending Independence Day in small town America. It was an exciting and – unexpectedly – moving day. It celebrates the astonishing courage and determination of a people in defence of their rights, and brought the community together in a proud demonstration of what they are and what they stand for.

13 July, 2009 /