Category Archives: Eco-systems provide art inspiration

Observing Darkness and Light

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“Every moment of dark and light is a miracle.” ~ Walt Whitman 

A Christmas tree gives rise to thoughts of darkness and light. Have you ever noticed how people’s interpretation of what makes a pretty tree is so opinionated and individual?

Many families argue while putting up a Christmas tree. Some like it simple, some more ornate. A modest nativity scene indicates to some that, indeed, Christmas is here. Others like their homes, properties and trees lit up like the night time neon lights of the Las Vegas strip. Some families like simple homemade strings of popcorn, and cranberries or perhaps pine cones sprayed with gold paint will do. An evergreen wreath hung on a door and lit by a single spot light is beauty at it’s best for some individuals. It is interesting how a certain holiday decorating style can be fulfilling to one, atrocious to another. It is all a matter of personal opinion. How about you? What is your idea of good taste? 

As we all know, a good way to tell whether the lights and ornaments are well-placed on a tree is to step back and take a look. You can find the spaces that are empty and fill them with shimmery light. 

It is like life. In order to move away from the darkness, we have to discover the light. In this upcoming holiday, find it – seek it! Stop and listen to the carolers, spend a day or evening walking Main Street. Join in the energy of the shoppers. Listen to beautiful holiday music. Bake a batch of Christmas cookies for an elderly person or a military veteran who has no family at all. It will lighten your spirit and brighten your day along with some one else’s, too. 

Watch out! You might just get caught up in the spirit and feel the swish of a magic stick over your world. What a fulfilling thought that is!

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Art Appearing on Boughs

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‘The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands.’  ~Robert M. Pirsig 

It is surely nearing Christmas time! When the Kiwanis Club of Steamboat begins selling their annual ornament at places around town, the holidays are drawing close. Beginning this weekend, the ornament will be available for buying. 

Our club’s major fundraising campaign is selling ornaments. From the proceeds we buy gifts for needy children at Christmas time, provide funding to send children to science camp, provide “Where to Worship” brochures for people visiting the area. We can be proud of our other random acts of service in our home town, too. 

This year, a talented and nationally known artist, Jean Perry helped us in fulfilling our interest in decorating the ornaments a little differently this year. Jean gave permission to Kiwanis to use an image of her painting “Fish Creek Falls” to embellish the bauble. 

It is a fair trade! Many visitors to the area purchase the ornaments in commemoration of their trip to Steamboat. They will take them as gifts to family and friends in other States, too. The ornaments will hang on boughs of Christmas trees far beyond Steamboat Springs,Colorado and people will become acquainted with the artist’s work. Good deal! 

Kiwanis of Steamboat is grateful to painter Jean Perry for her generosity in sharing her art, so that as a Club, we can “serve children of the world.” For more information on the artist, please visit www.JeanPerryStudio.com.

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Historic Setting Filled with Jewels

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 “Art is something that has real value. It deepens each person’s respect for life.”         ~Dana Levin 

On the corner of 9th Street andLincoln Avenue, sits an historic building that has always been filled with riches. The building bequeathed to the city of Steamboat Springs,Colorado in 2006, now houses the Steamboat Art Museum. It is a gift from the estate of a long time artist and rancher, Helen Rehder.  The building no longer contains currency of the First National Bank. To fulfill the donor’s request, the building is now filled with wealth of another kind – top quality art exhibits. The community of Steamboat is so very fortunate to have this substantial acquisition. The museum attracts top-notch artists who wish to share their craft with area artists and tourists, alike. As each new exhibit is brought to town, emerging artists can learn from the master’s work through observation, painting workshops and demonstrations. 

On December 2nd, the historic setting of the Steamboat Art Museum will be installed with gemstone paintings of another of the country’s top master painters, Quang Ho. This artist, of Vietnamese heritage, immigrated to the United States in 1975. He became a U.S. Citizen and began wowing this country with his art five years later at the age of 16. Two years later, he earned a National Scholarship award at the Colorado Institute of Art, the same year his mother was tragically killed. He then began the responsibility of rebuilding his life and raising four younger brothers and a sister, too. 

Despite adversity and challenges, Quang Ho has become a well-respected top national artist who is accomplished at figurative painting, landscapes and still life. He has invested his time and energy in learning how to paint in oils and watercolor. He teaches emerging artists at the Denver Students Artist League and also through his publications of art books and DVDs on how to paint. 

Quang Ho’s paintings will be shown for a four month period, beginning December 2. An opening reception for members of the Museum will be held from 4pm to 5 pm. The general public is invited to attend during the Friday Art Walk hours from 5 to 8 pm on December 2nd. Quang Ho will be giving a painting demonstration the following day (December 3rd). Purchase tickets early! The demonstration is guaranteed to sell out. There are also tickets available to have dinner with the artist. For more details, please visit www.steamboatartmuseum.org. 

This exhibit is not to be missed, and it will hang until the closing on April 14th. Both locals and tourists will find a fulfilling range of compositions that this extraordinarily talented artist has allowed the Steamboat Art  Museum to bring to this town.

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Stones Bring Fulfilling Thoughts

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“Art must unquestionably have a social value; that is as a potential means of communication it must be addressed, and in comprehensible terms, to the understanding of mankind.” ~ Rockwell Kent 

My travels over the Thanksgiving holiday led me to Albuquerque, New Mexico.  I visited the site of some of the earliest forms of writing here in the United States at Petroglyph National Park. Approximately 24,000 images pecked into stones by the Utes, Apaches and Navajo people have been discovered in the park. 

As my husband, son and I wandered among the desert canyon lands and discovered stone after stone etched with symbols, we discussed what we thought the Indians may have been trying to convey. Some communication seemed to be through single, independent pictures. Trying to decipher and translate words associated with groupings of  symbols on individual rocks, was more difficult. Some etchings were clearly of plant life, animals and birds; others perplexing and more mysterious. On many boulders, we found iconic Native American designs that are found in books about Indian lore and legend.   

Although the images pecked into the volcanic rock are hundreds of years old, they are hardly the earliest fossils indicating written communication on earth. Mesopotamian pictographs dating back five thousand years are the earliest known forms of writing. Symbols carved into clay tablets communicate information about crops, taxes and life during the years before Christ (B.C). Conservators of these early tablets, often found in broken form, work at piecing them together to come to an understanding of the early messages that were left behind. 

One primitive etching, the three of us agreed, was of an Indian with bow and arrow in hand. It was not surprising to find such an image since hunting, fishing and finding indigenous food sources consumed the daily lives of the Indians. The hunter with his weapon made us realize how grateful we were for the food we had eaten the day before.  For us, obtaining the ingredients for a fulfilling turkey day dinner was only as far away as the grocery store. Amen!

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Praise for Creation

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“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.”  ~Cynthia Ozick 

I’ve been drawn back into the church as an adult, in part, by the memories of the beautiful hymns that I sang as a child. Around Thanksgiving time, many of the spiritual songs have words of gratefulness and gratitude for the harvest and for the impending season of darkness. For without winter gloom, there would not be a fulfilling sense of renewal of spirit in spring. 

Composers of yester year have created some of the most eloquent stories, through song, about the change of the seasons and the bounty of the Universe. Many hymns of blessings and praise, written decades ago, are still sung in sanctuaries today, such as – 

  • For the Fruits of the Garden ~  verses by Fred Pratt Green
  • Oh Food to Pilgrims Given ~  words by Maintzich Gesangbuch
  • Come, Ye Thankful People, Come ~ verses by Henry Alford
  • America the Beautiful ~ verses by Katharine Lee Bates
  • For the Beauty of the Earth ~ words by Elliot S Pierpoint
  • In the Bleak Midwinter ~ words by Christina G Rossetti 

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the most beautiful time of the year to step inside the doors of a church. Listen to the vocal choirs, tune into the musical instruments, experience the peace and be grateful for the cozy warmth of the shelter for the body and soul. 

A few weeks from now, at the United Methodist Church http://bit.ly/lAT08q  in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and in other places of worship everywhere, choirs will be magnificently singing Handel’s The Messiah. Don’t miss out!

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A Parallel Universe in Film

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“The exquisite order displayed by our scientific understanding of the physical world calls for the divine.”

~ Vera Kistiakowsky (MIT Physicist) 

Happy Film Friday, everyone! There is an independent film that I am itching to see. It is called Another Earth. This film won the Alfred P. Sloan prize at the Sundance Film Festival, in the category of science and technology. It is a film about fragility and forgiveness, discovery, exploration and possibility all wrapped up unto a dramatic film.

The movie, directed by Mike Cahill and co-authored by Mike Cahill and Brit Marling, is sure to be a subject for discussion among those who study and discuss astro-physics. Blog writers pondering the field of science http://bit.ly/np0LKS are writing about this film. 

If  Another Earth does not appeal to your whims of wanting to see a movie this weekend, the IMDB (Independent Movie Database) has released it’s list of favorite independent films for the year 2011. Follow this link, http://bit.ly/im3unr and find another film of your choosing.

The independent film industry provides us with intelligent, thought-provoking entertainment, equally as fulfilling as the movies featured on the big screen. Don’t  discount what the independent filmmakers have to offer!

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The Design of the Universe

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“Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.  ~ Kent Nerburn

I like living in a place where I can fully experience the change of the seasons. I get the opportunity to see our natural environment from different perspectives. In winter, mother nature dons her white winter coat, in summer she shows off her brightest attire, camouflage coveralls of earthy colors are strewn all over the ground in late autumn and in springtime a fresh new green wardrobe dresses the soil. Each season has a different set of inherent wonders that appear year after year. It never ceases to amaze me how the earth knows when to bow its head and slumber, and when it is time to wake up and come alive. In is all in the grand and splendid design of God’s created Universe. 

It is autumn and I look forward, with great anticipation, to fulfilling my seasonal cravings for:

  • Sitting at the fireside with a good book
  • The taste of homemade pumpkin pie with a large dollop of whipped cream
  • The aroma of cinnamon and spice candles
  • Hearing the crunch of the fallen, dried leaves under my feet
  • Knitting a warm winter wrap.
  • Mugs of hot mulled cider and hot cocoa
  • Seeing still life and landscape paintings representative of the season
  • Sitting on the deck wrapped in a cozy blanket, with cuppa hot tea in hand, deeply breathing in the smells of the rotting leaves.
  • A big turkey dinner with all the fixings with family or friends
  • Soaking in the tub with warm vanilla scented bubble bath
  • Creating a seasonal table top arrangement of gourds, pumpkins and Indian corn.
  • The warm, yeasty flavors of a hearty fresh baked bread 

Soon our outdoors time will be reduced by the very nature of the season – bitterly cold days, icy roads, impassable highways and byways.  Before this fall season passes us by, find fulfillment in the season. Get outdoors in the brisk air – paint one last landscape in plein air, ride your bike, take a fall hike, seek out a fall harvest festival. Have fun! The earth was put here for us to enjoy!

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Views from Different Generations

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 The past few blogs have been focused on “raising up” the next generation. Elders often feel the responsibility to share and teach younger generations wisdom they have gained throughout a long life. The condition of human existence guarantees that our life experiences will range from triumph to tragedy.  Depending on our own attitudes, we all form our own personal perspectives about life and how fulfilling we see it. 

When we compare the work of two artists translating the same scene onto a painted canvas,  we often find perfect examples interpreting things through a different set of values and thoughts.

 Last month, I went on the Great Falls Studio Tour inVirginia. I stopped by the home and studio of artist Linda Jones. As we walked around her work space, she shared her life as an artist. She explained how being an artist can be a solitary existence and by teaching painting to others in her studio, it allows for fellowship with other artists and a chance to share her knowledge with new generations of painters. It was fascinating to see the different styles of her student’s unfinished paintings left on the easels to dry. 

Some of the paintings in the studio were those of her daughter.  Although she shared her knowledge of painting with her offspring, mother and daughter each have their own unique and definite style. 

We came across a canvas that was in the works. Linda Jones and her daughter have undertaken an experiment of combining both of their styles onto one canvas. They paint as the spirit moves them, each contributing their own creative talents, never altering what the other has done. This painting is real testimony to the respect they have for one another’s work despite their differing styles. It will be fascinating to see the end result. 

For more information on Linda and her art, please visit www.lindajonesart.com. Thank you, Linda for opening your studio to others so that we may better understand all that you do!

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Influences and Inspiration

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“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” ~Winston Churchill

Chula Beauregard http://bit.ly/tTHd8f , muralist and plein air painter, was featured artist of the month at the Wild Horse Gallery  on last Friday’s Art Walk. As I visited with Chula, I quickly became aware of how well-known about town she is. It became evident, from those who began to file in the gallery doors to congratulate her and see her exhibit, that her development as an artist has been admired, by many. 

Chula was a student of artist Richard Galusha. When I asked Shirley Stocks, co-owner of the Wild Horse Gallery, what traits she and Richard saw in Chula that made them want to represent her work, they cited “her potential to be a successful artist and she understands that Art is a lifelong pursuit of knowledge and hard work.” Chula’s dedication to her craft has led her to positions of teaching at the middle school, high school and college level, too. 

Her interest in the Arts began as a child. By the fifth grade Chula began to feel a stirring interest in painting. She would work beside her artist mother, Gigi, who shares her creative spirit.  She related that “when her family took a boat trip to the Bahamas, her interest in plein air painting really began in earnest.” 

On the exterior wall of Steamboat Ski and Bike Kare, Chula’s most recent mural is installed. The mural measuring 10 ft X 16 ft, was painted indoors over a three week period. It is hung in three panels. Millions of recreational tourist dollars are brought to our town year round. The mural is a visual reminder of the value the biking industry plays in contributing to the local economy. Steamboat hopes to become designated as Bike Town USA. 

Although indoor work is required on many of Chula’s largest art installations, she loves painting on location “en plein air” – outside of the studio. Her ability to translate on canvas what she sees is a reflection of her abilities as an artist. The color palettes of her plein air sketches are true to nature.  Her plein air oil paintings capture landscapes in Steamboat and throughout Routt County. 

Finding time to paint has  become more challenging for Chula, as she is now a young mother with two little toddlers. However, she paints almost daily, finding fulfillment in shorter periods of time.  To have her work hang in a top quality gallery among an impressive list of nationally known artists at her relatively young age is what many emerging artists strive for. To view Chula’s plein air paintings on line, please visit the Wild Horse Gallery at http://www.wildhorsegallery.com/.

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Butterflies at Art Award Night in Vermont

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“A novel is not, after all, a historical document, but a way to travel through the human heart.” ~ Julia Alvarez – In the Time of the Butterflies 

Tonight, November 4th,  the Vermont Arts Council http://bit.ly/7Ncf6e  will have their annual awards honoring three outstanding artists. All three are working in their fields to share their talents through their poetry, books and musical compositions. 

Christian Wolff will be receiving the Walter Cerf Award for Outstanding Achievement in the performing arts.  He has recorded over 20 solo CDs and his book Cues, is a collection of his writings on music. For more information on his musical compositions and his life, please visit  http://bit.ly/cJGbcs. 

Julia Alvarez is the writer-in-residence at MiddleburyCollege. She has 5 published novels, a book of essays and many books for young readers. Several of her books have been adapted for film and theatre and are available in many languages and in many countries around the world.  An organic farm-literacy arts center in her homeland of the Dominican Republic holds a special place in her heart, and she shares of herself there, too. For more information on this author and her new book which will be available in the spring of 2012, please visit  http://bit.ly/9WSMSJ. 

Sydney Lea is a poet and prose writer often writing on subjects such as ecology and the natural environment. He has two books of essays, a published novel and has just been named Poet Laureate of Vermont. He makes his home in Newbury, Vermont. To read more about this multi-lingual professor of literature, please go to  http://bit.ly/ofelnu. 

Every year I look forward in great anticipation to receiving my Vermont Arts Gala invitation, whether I am able to attend or not. It is fulfilling to learn about the artists who are being celebrated for their contributions of inspiring others in the creative state of Vermont.

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