While off-season may be a down time for many local businesses, there’s a part of the population who keeps busy: local artists. It’s safe to say that the talented creative types who call the Roaring Fork Valley home don’t often take breaks throughout the year, and, in fact, slower seasons and open galley space means it’s really their time to shine.
Though these show spaces and galleries — Red Brick Center for the Arts, Colorado Mountain College, and Carbondale’s First Friday — foster and provide a home for local artists year-round, when there’s less going on in town, it gives them center stage.
Here’s what’s new to the walls and open spaces this week:
Colorado Mountain College — Aspen Campus: ‘Creative Spaces’
When 13 students are given artistic license over their own blank slate, and an entire semester with which to tackle it, the result is diverse, interesting, and even perplexing.
That’s the case with “Creative Spaces,” featuring the works of just over a dozen students in Christine Anderson’s fall semester studio arts class.
“There are all different mediums and attitudes,” says Gail Holstein, a student in the class who describes her work as cartoon-ish. “This includes landscapes, black-and-white drawings, sculpture, and cartoons, which have a serious side to them too.”
Featuring 48 pieces, the CMC show is an annual exhibit.
Artists include: Evelyn Cabrera, Gail Holstein, Sandy Ives, Lauren Jackson, Cynthia Leuchtenburg, Briana Main, Judy Nordhagen, Joan Palinkas, LaDena Palinkas-Berg, Susan Pietrzak, Quincy Rouson, Mindy Vernon, Ami Zausner.
The opening is at the CMC Aspen Campus art gallery Friday, Nov. 4, 5-7 p.m. The show will hang until Dec. 13. www.coloradomtn.edu.
Red Brick Center for the Arts: The Five Elements
Wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Nope, this isn’t second-grade science and it’s not “Captain Planet.” It’s the combination, and single use, of common elements that are used to make sculpture — all of which are featured in the Red Brick Center for the Arts November exhibit.
“Some of these pieces are quite large,” says Debra Muzikar, the center’s executive director. “For instance, Candance Resnick has ceramic and glass necklaces that stretch 10 feet across the window.”
Most of the artists are from Basalt and Carbondale, and they have joined forces for a sculpture show. There are 50-60 pieces, from 7-8 artists.
“There’s another piece that’s a chess set. Some of the art is so whimsical, and you kinda wonder ‘where do they come up with this?’
The exhibit is organized by Kimberly DeFries. It runs through the end of November at the center, located at 110 E. Hallam St. www.aspenart.org.
Carbondale Center for Arts and Humanities: Dia de los Muertes
A display of shrines, alters, original artwork, luminaries, and puppet and mask performance coincides with Carbondale’s popular First Fridays festival.
The celebration includes performances of a “Gift for Abuelita,” which addresses the importance of Dia de los Muertos through the relationship of a young girl and her grandmother.
“Dia de los Muertos is a three-day Mexican festival in which families pay their respects to loved ones who have died,” said Ro Mead, CCAH program director, in a prepared statement. “This ancient tradition, dating back to Aztec and Meso-American cultures over 3,000 years ago, reflects the traditional beliefs of a life/death/rebirth continuum, and reveres death as a beginning to a new life. It is believed that spirits of deceased loved ones return during this festival.”
Performance times are 5:30, 6:30 and 7:30 p.m., at the Carbondale Center for Arts Humanities at 645 Main St. www.carbondalearts.com.
