gallery opening

“forces of nature” by lynn rushton reed

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Join us on August 13, 5 – 7 pm to celebrate Lynn at her opening gallery reception. Her gallery show will run August 11 to September 2.

Artist Bio:

Lynn Noelle Rushton brings the Texas native’s bravado and love of the West to her work. Focusing on work-a-day scenes from daily life, in oil, water media, and the ancient hot wax medium of encaustic. She describes her work as ‘painted stories.’ Drawing on the rich cultural history of the west, she combines the techniques of European post impressionism with subject matter that resonates with the monumental scene painters of the WPA and the 30’s and 40’s. She has taught numerous master’s painting classes on the University level. She has studied Art History at Tulane University has earned a Masters in Art from Texas Tech University a BFA in painting from Vanderbilt University and won numerous awards nationally. She has painted plein air in Europe, Asia and South America. She lives and paints in Dallas, Texas.

Karen Hill’s “Just Add Water” gallery reception

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Join us to celebrate Karen Hill’s opening reception on June 17, 5 – 7 pm in the Kinder Padon Gallery. Can’t make it in person? Check out our Gallery Catalog to purchase artwork online!

Karen’s show runs June 13 – June 24.

Artist Biography

Karen was born and raised in a small community north of Salt Lake City, Utah. She began her study of art early in life and still enjoys attending classes and workshops taught by fellow artists. She has studied under the direction of such well-known Utah artists as the late Anton J. Rasmussen and Willamarie Huelskamp. Her works have been displayed in the Park City Kimball Art Center, the University of Utah, the Bountiful /Davis County Arts Center, the Denver Teller Street Gallery & Studios, at Utah and Colorado Watercolor Society exhibits, at the Gunnison Arts Center and in retail and private collections in Utah, Colorado, Arizona and California. Karen has taught watercolor painting for over thirty years; most recently at the Gunnison Arts Center and the Center for the Arts Crested Butte. Her classes range from beginning to advanced instruction. She has served on the board of the Colorado Watercolor Society (CWS) and has achieved Signature Status with the CWS. Karen has also served as President of the Western Slope Chapter of the CWS. Before beginning a painting or drawing, she will spend a considerable amount of time visualizing what she wants to capture and convey to the viewer. The focus is not always on the literal accuracy of producing an image but rather on her own interpretation and, at times, she incorporates abstract lines and vibrant colors. She enjoys experimenting and exploring new techniques by painting on canvas, rice paper and YUPO. Karen states, “Because of the inexhaustible opportunities and challenges of expression, I’m continually trying to develop, refine and reinvent my drawing and painting techniques.”

“Just Add Water” by Karen Hill

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Join us to celebrate Karen’s opening reception on June 17, 5 – 7 pm in the Kinder Padon Gallery. Can’t make it in person? Check out our Gallery Catalog to purchase artwork online!

Karen’s show runs June 13 – June 24.

artist biography

Karen was born and raised in a small community north of Salt Lake City, Utah. She began her study of art early in life and still enjoys attending classes and workshops taught by fellow artists. She has studied under the direction of such well-known Utah artists as the late Anton J. Rasmussen and Willamarie Huelskamp. Her works have been displayed in the Park City Kimball Art Center, the University of Utah, the Bountiful /Davis County Arts Center, the Denver Teller Street Gallery & Studios, at Utah and Colorado Watercolor Society exhibits, at the Gunnison Arts Center and in retail and private collections in Utah, Colorado, Arizona and California. Karen has taught watercolor painting for over thirty years; most recently at the Gunnison Arts Center and the Center for the Arts Crested Butte. Her classes range from beginning to advanced instruction. She has served on the board of the Colorado Watercolor Society (CWS) and has achieved Signature Status with the CWS. Karen has also served as President of the Western Slope Chapter of the CWS. Before beginning a painting or drawing, she will spend a considerable amount of time visualizing what she wants to capture and convey to the viewer. The focus is not always on the literal accuracy of producing an image but rather on her own interpretation and, at times, she incorporates abstract lines and vibrant colors. She enjoys experimenting and exploring new techniques by painting on canvas, rice paper and YUPO. Karen states, “Because of the inexhaustible opportunities and challenges of expression, I’m continually trying to develop, refine and reinvent my drawing and painting techniques.”

crested butte community school ap art showcase

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Please join us for the opening reception of “Together APart” the Crested Butte Community Schools Advanced Placement Art & Design Final Exhibition. The show features 10 incredibly talented high school art students who have created robust portfolios of unique work to be shown in the Center’s Kinder Padon Gallery and submitted to the College Board. The reception will be held this Thursday from 4 – 6 pm at the Center for the Arts. The show will run April 28 – May 5.

Participating Students:
Hayes Freeman, Katie O’Neill, Keeley Eymere, Khai Christy-Stadlbauer, Lia Walker, Nola Hadley, Piper O’Neill, Wren Robinson, Zoe Hegeman

Western Colorado University Arts Showcase | Juried Exhibition

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The opening reception for the showcase will be April 8th, 2022 at 4 – 8 pm. The showcase will run through April 15.

In continuation of the previous Crested Butte Student Gallery Showcase in 2021, the Western Art League has made a return to continue their annual juried art show in the CFTA with new artworks and a multitude of other events including live music, poetry readings, film displays, theater performances, and more!

Provided will be charcuterie, food, and one complimentary drink! So grab a drink and peruse the Kinder-Padon Gallery which will feature 27 works created by students of Western Colorado University. The body of work chosen is courtesy of the art juror Benjamin Cowan, a renowned artist living and working in New York as a background designer for Netflix.

Stay tuned for the awards ceremonies to celebrate the winning artists as well as the scholarship winners for Western’s Pathfinder Magazine who will also be releasing the 2022 edition of their magazine!

Jessica Marie Leak’s Repeat Until Dead Gallery Reception

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Repeat Until Dead by Jessica Marie Leak

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Connor Scalbom Gallery Opening

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Join us on February 18th 5 -7 pm for Connor’s “Nature’s Moments” gallery show opening. Celebrate with complimentary CBD cocktails and adventure-landscape photography.

Artist Statement

How I got into photography always cracks me up. For as long as I can remember, I always loved taking pictures. However, the true moment that put me here was the summer of 2017. I graduated high school, my girlfriend at the time and I were planning a road trip to the West. I had always wanted an actual camera, but I also wanted to lift my car for the road trip. For weeks, I was back and forth on what I wanted to do. I don’t remember exactly what made me decide to go with the camera side of the coin, but whatever it was, I’m glad it did. Oh how my life could be so completely different if I went with the other option.

Hobby turned career, photography has led me down so many amazing paths. I moved to this valley to go to college, and begin that chapter in my life. It turned out, I was taking the first steps on an unexpected journey of my life. The Gunnison Valley could not have been a better place for me to chase my passion, and tune my skills into what is now my full time job. I bounced around from portrait photography, to events, thinking this was the only way to make a career out of this form of art. Or at least the easiest way.

Landscape and nature were always what I loved to photograph the most. I was always drawn to it, even before I always had a camera in my hands. The textures, movements of the planet, and how the conditions and weather can make any landscape look so completely different. I loved to the ability to go explore and capture everything from the smallest details to the greatest views. I quickly was sucked into photography, and going out to capture scenes almost daily. I fell in love with it, and was able to share these places I had been with so many other people. Being able to share a nice photo for others to look at, give them a smile, or even give them a dream of “I want to be there one day for myself” is a feeling I love to have. It feels like we’re surrounded by so much negativity today, having the opportunity to bring even a tiny bit of positivity to others makes me so happy.

About 

Connor Scalbom is a local photographer living in Crested Butte, Colorado. He grew up in Centennial Colorado, originally wanting to begin a path down the culinary arts. That desire quickly shifted to a different form of art. Connor is a full-time photographer at the age of 23. The support from his family, friends, and colleagues is what has allowed him to make this his career. Finding a way to combine a love of traveling, and a passion of creating brought him to this very point where he’s able to do so for work.

Connor began his career in photography in the Autumn of 2018 and has only grown from there. He got his first magazine cover this past summer on the “Crested Butte Magazine” summer edition. Aside from photographing nature, Connor has found a passion for photographing architecture and properties. Recently, he just got the cover of “Luxury Home Magazine” for a home he photographed here in Crested Butte. While quite a bit of Connor’s work features scenery found here in Crested Butte, he has a lot of work outside of the Gunnison Valley. Some of his favorites include Iceland, Utah, and Arizona.

Aside from photography, Connor loves to enjoy time on the mountain snowboarding. He and his dog Gracie go on many adventures together just to explore and get outside. His best friend and he love to explore new places, go camping, and meet new people. Gracie love’s it especially.

Learn more about Connor Scalbom: www.connorscalbom.com

Connor Scalbom “Nature’s Moments” Gallery Show

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Join us on February 18th 5 -7 pm for Connor’s gallery opening. Celebrate with complimentary CBD cocktails and adventure-landscape photography.

Artist Statement

How I got into photography always cracks me up. For as long as I can remember, I always loved taking pictures. However, the true moment that put me here was the summer of 2017. I graduated high school, my girlfriend at the time and I were planning a road trip to the West. I had always wanted an actual camera, but I also wanted to lift my car for the road trip. For weeks, I was back and forth on what I wanted to do. I don’t remember exactly what made me decide to go with the camera side of the coin, but whatever it was, I’m glad it did. Oh how my life could be so completely different if I went with the other option.

Hobby turned career, photography has lead me down so many amazing paths. I moved to this valley to go to college, and begin that chapter in my life. It turned out, I was taking the first steps on an unexpected journey of my life. The Gunnison Valley could not have been a better place for me to chase my passion, and tune my skills into what is now my full time job. I bounced around from portrait photography, to events, thinking this was the only way to make a career out of this form of art. Or at least the easiest way.

Landscape and nature were always what I loved to photograph the most. I was always drawn to it, even before I always had a camera in my hands. The textures, movements of the planet, and how the conditions and weather can make any landscape look so completely different. I loved to the ability to go explore and capture everything from the smallest details to the greatest views. I quickly was sucked into photography, and going out to capture scenes almost daily. I fell in love with it, and was able to share these places I had been with so many other people. Being able to share a nice photo for others to look at, give them a smile, or even give them a dream of “I want to be there one day for myself” is a feeling I love to have. It feels like we’re surrounded by so much negativity today, having the opportunity to bring even a tiny bit of positivity to others makes me so happy.

About 

Connor Scalbom is a local photographer living in Crested Butte, Colorado. He grew up in Centennial Colorado, originally wanting to begin a path down the culinary arts. That desire quickly shifted to a different form of art. Connor is a full-time photographer at the age of 23. The support from his family, friends, and colleagues is what has allowed him to make this his career. Finding a way to combine a love of traveling, and a passion of creating brought him to this very point where he’s able to do so for work.

Connor began his career in photography in the Autumn of 2018 and has only grown from there. He got his first magazine cover this past summer on the “Crested Butte Magazine” summer edition. Aside from photographing nature, Connor has found a passion for photographing architecture and properties. Recently, he just got the cover of “Luxury Home Magazine” for a home he photographed here in Crested Butte. While quite a bit of Connor’s work features scenery found here in Crested Butte, he has a lot of work outside of the Gunnison Valley. Some of his favorites include Iceland, Utah, and Arizona.

Aside from photography, Connor loves to enjoy time on the mountain snowboarding. He and his dog Gracie go on many adventures together just to explore and get outside. His best friend and he love to explore new places, go camping, and meet new people. Gracie love’s it especially.

Learn more about Connor Scalbom: www.connorscalbom.com

charles baughman’s “creating with chaos” closing reception

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Celebrate Charles Baughman’s gallery closing on Friday, January 28th 5 – 7 pm at the Center for the Arts in Crested Butte in the Kinder Padon Gallery. The closing will include affordable and amazing abstract expressionist paintings and complementary drinkable art cocktails.

Find more information on Charles Baughman at www.charlesbaughman.com.

artist statement

Nature has a continuous process of destruction and rebirth.  Nature’s rebirth often happens in unexpected ways; big events like earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes and fire.  This destruction is always followed by new life – fresh yet subtle growth starts among grasses, trees and undergrowth first.  Then as the seasons cycle through more and more regeneration happens.

The process of these paintings brings me closer to nature; the spirit of life happens with the willingness to destroy and re-create something new.  When I create these paintings, I use only my fingers and sticks as a way to loosen up and capture that chaotic energy of nature.  My paintings celebrate nature in all stages and seasons.

It’s important to remind people that the beauty in nature is fragile.  We need to protect it as much as possible. In an effort to further spare our environment from unnecessary waste I frequently use discarded/donated house paint that would otherwise be thrown into the landfill.  I hope my work is loud and makes a statement: we need to celebrate nature and protect this land before it’s too late.

 

about the artist

Charles Baughman is a celebrated artist from Wichita, KS.  His work has been in galleries across the US and England.  Charles has been an artist since he was a small child drawing on homework and in the margins of tests at school.  His parents have always been supportive in his artistic endeavors and that support has enabled him to continue to grow as an artist and business owner.

Charles and his wife, Kate, have four children that are also giftedartists in their own right.  Charles and Kate opened an art studio, The Art Park, almost 20 years ago and have been educating young and old in all ways creative.  Charles enjoys teaching and seeing that light bulb moment when a student understands a new concept and applies it to their work.  Many of his students have been with him for decades and those relationships have inspired his personal work.  As a young man he was focused on drawing and painting realistically, but as he taught and discussed art and the creative process with his students he branched out and his style loosened to what you see today.

You may notice a unique signature of his work – a heart shaped rock in each painting.  Charles and Kate have been collecting these for each other since they first met and now everyone in their circle of people collects them for his paintings as well.  The heart rocks are a symbol of Charles’ love of nature, painting and family.

 

Charles Baughman Art   Charles Baughman Art   

   Charles Baughman Art  Charles Baughman Art

“Outliers” by Teri Havens artist reception

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PLEASE NOTE:  Proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test must be shown for entry into this event at the Center.  See our current COVID policy HERE

Please join us Thursday, December 9th 5 – 7 pm at the Center for the Arts in Crested Butte to celebrate at the gallery reception of Teri Havens’ “Outliers” in the Kinder Padon Gallery. Enjoy a dramatic photography exhibit, live cello, and complimentary drinks and art-inspired cocktails.

For more information about Teri and her work visit terihavens.com

ABOUT THE SERIES

I’ve always had a thing for bars. The more marginal the better. I’m mostly drawn to rural or urban outliers – raw, dilapidated joints that evoke an earlier, grittier era. An authentic down-to-its-rotting-bones refuge where a hard-edged world is numbed and softened by alcohol and dim lighting.

Defiant vestiges of the past, the bar always seems the last to go. After the grocery store, the lumberyard and the barbershop long ago surrendered to the future and shut their doors for the final time, the bar stayed on. Slumped alone on the edge of a discarded town, its neon spills out onto the asphalt and burns through the night. Inside, the beer is cold, and the jukebox stocked with George Jones and dirges from an irretrievable past. Outliers is an homage to the humble bar. Handcrafted palladium prints of simple, solitary structures shrouded in loneliness and isolation, yet miraculously, as if blessed by some divine patron, still open. The images are captured using either moonlight or ambient streetlight. The finished palladium print, a hybrid of modern digital technology and 19th century printmaking techniques, reflects the context of the antiquated buildings – still alive, but barely – within contemporary society.