To celebrate Colorado’s sesquicentennial, the Western Colorado Community Foundation unveiled a gallery of art painted by seven artists across seven Western Slope counties Thursday afternoon.
The foundation’s regional art initiative, titled “Colorado 150: Highlighting Western Colorado’s Landscape and Spirit”, tasked one artist each from Mesa, Eagle, Garfield, Montrose, Delta, Ouray and Rio Blanco counties with creating two paintings, with one focused on the philanthropic spirit of their county and the other focused on their county’s natural beauty. The project was developed in partnership with Grand Junction Creates, Carbondale Arts, Ridgway FUSE and the North Fork Creative Coalition.
This gallery was revealed to the public with the Western Colorado Community Foundation’s Toast to Colorado 150 event ahead of the day’s Market on Main. The gallery will be displayed throughout the rest of the year at other events.
“We’ve been looking at 250-150 and we’re a community foundation for the Western Slope, so we wanted to celebrate and elevate that. We’ve been working with History Colorado’s (Zebulon) Miracle trying to get ideas and we had donors as well who were interested in anything that would uplift the fact that we’re 150 years old as a state. Our team started talking about, ‘Should we do a mural, should we do this or that,’ and then we said, ‘Wait, we’re seven counties. Let’s do something that engages each of those seven counties,’” said Western Colorado Community Foundation Outreach Director Tedi Gillespie.
“It sprung from there, the idea of working with artists for pieces that would last longer than one day or a one-time celebration. We’re turning 30 next year as a community foundation, so we also wanted to have these pieces have the longevity going through the fall into next year as a representative of our regionality.”
MESA COUNTY
Monica Esposito, an artist and nurse at Intermountain Health St. Mary’s regional Hospital, chose Rattlesnake Canyon as her inspiration for her landscape painting, highlighting the canyon’s unique beauty and extraordinary geologic features.
Her other painting, “Black Rocks Ruby Horsethief”, reflects the community response during the Snyder Fire as it reached the river and forced the evacuation of campers from the Black Ruby and Horsethief area. The painting was inspired by the coordinated efforts of local businesses, Bureau of Land Management rangers and the railroad, honoring the collaboration and resilience shown in protecting those in harm’s way.
DELTA COUNTY
Both of artist Jill Knutson’s paintings are pastel works, with one depicting the Bill Heddles Recreation Complex in Delta.
“Ben Heddles Recreation Center came to mind because of the philanthropy that took place to make it happen, to make the building be built. One was a $100,000 donation. The rest was from service groups and senior groups,” Knutson said. “I thought it was apropos because Delta’s a small place and yet here’s this beautiful complex. A lot of people use it. The way I went about my painting was showing the differences between this little oasis of the recreation center complex in a desert.”
Her other painting depicts the Verdant Valley, looking east from Hotchkiss toward Paonia and the Ragged Mountains. This painting, Knutson said, simply reflects the green nature of this particular area.
“It’s really an honor to be featured,” Knutson said. “I was quite surprised to be chosen. I really enjoyed the challenge of putting these paintings together. It was a lot of fun.”
MONTROSE COUNTY
One day last October, Barbara Kendrick was driving on Woodgate Road in Montrose during the “golden hour” and was struck by how the sky’s lighting was painting the landscape. This inspired her landscape painting, “The Golden Hour.”
Her other painting, “Lend a Hand, Help a Neighbor”, was inspired by the work of Food Bank of the Rockies and a recent Museum of the Mountain West fundraiser for Sharing Ministries. It depicts volunteers gleefully participating in a community event.
“The composition is something from my imagination, but it was inspired by that,” Kendrick said. “It’s phenomenal to be a part of this gallery. I’m really honored to be a part of this.”
GARFIELD COUNTY
Tammie Lane’s paintings are both watercolor. “Mount Sopris Splendor” captures the grandeur of one of Colorado’s most iconic peaks rising prominently above Carbondale.
Her other painting, “The Joy of the Journey in Glenwood Canyon”, depicts the canyon and represents how time, patience and persistence can create unimaginable beauty.
“It is not quite the absence of obstacles that shape us, but the quiet persistence to keep moving forward that make us who we are,” Lane writes. “The canyon reminds us all that even the hardest rock yields to patience, resilience and time.”
EAGLE COUNTY
Jami Nix Rahm’s two works were made through oil and cold wax on a linen canvas.
“Booth Creek” represents the headwaters of the area, depicting snowmelt, rock and moving waters running down from a high alpine lake, where they plunge over a 60-foot fall before running into the Eagle River and, ultimately, the Colorado River.
“Shared Waters”, depicting a young boy fishing in the Eagle River, represents the ways the community benefits from the river while also carrying the responsibility to care for it.
OURAY COUNTY
Emma Kalff’s first painting, “View From Ridgway” was inspired by the Gold Mountain Fire in Ouray County, with a small white house overshadowed by smoke in the distance representing the eerie contrast between everyday life and the powerful, unpredictable force of nature.
Her other painting, “Catching Up”, depicts a truck stopped in the middle of the road while a neighbor leans into the front window to catch up and talk. The painting celebrates the simple moments that reflect the character and closeness of the community.
RIO BLANCO COUNTY
Pat Sheeran Daggett’s landscape painting, “Homestead Beneath the Hills”, was painted from Rio Blanco County Road 8 looking back toward Meeker, with old sandstone outcrops stretching from one end of the county to the other.
Her other painting, “Happiness is a Wet Sheepdog”, depicts two happy dogs in the Meeker Classic Sheepdog Trial, which inspired its volunteers to found and fund other charitable organizations like the HopeWest Hospice Foundation, the Pioneers Healthcare Foundation, the Meeker Mustang Makeover, the White River Alliance and the Rio Blanco County Historical Society.