This year, the Wheat Ridge Art League (WRAL) celebrates its 50th anniversary. According to the league’s former librarian Shirley Nakamoto, a member since the late 1970’s, the art show was created decades ago as an attraction for the Carnation Festival. The City of Wheat Ridge has sponsored the art show since that time.
The league began in 1974 with a small group of artists wanting to share and discuss their art, with emphasis on creating original art—no copies of other artists’ works. Eventually the League formed membership guidelines—bylaws, standing rules and exhibit rules—to assure professional-looking presentations.
“The August show has always been in the [Anderson Park] gym, as far as I know,” said Nakamoto. “When I first started, there were no rules; we’d just gather our art and easels, show up, find a spot on the floor and set up wherever we wanted. There were ribbons but no cash prizes. At that time, there were awards for Best of Show, Judge’s Award, and—I didn’t understand this—there were two First Place, two Second Place, two Third Place and four Honorable Mention awards, so almost everybody got an award.”
At the 2017 art show, Nakamoto created a tribute for Hank Stites and Charlotte Talbert, to commemorate their contributions to the league. “Charlotte was chairperson for the art show for more than 30 years,” Nakamoto said. Stites, a former Wheat Ridge mayor for a total of 10 years and a founder of the Carnation Festival, was a president of the art league. To help draw the community to the festival in its early years, he brought the league’s yearly art show into the Carnation Festival.
Denver-area artist Michael Gadlin juried this year’s show, an offering of 538 paintings by 32 WRAL members. Last year, Gadlin was one of the jurors for the Cherry Creek Arts Festival. Two years ago, he juried the Summer Art Market at the Denver Art Students League.
“I’m known for my mixed media painting—acrylics, collage, ink and charcoal—large-scale, very figuratively abstract—my own style I’ve developed over a couple of decades,” Gadlin said. “I also do some public art installations. My latest one is an entrance way at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. “
Jurors for the show—a different juror is selected every year—typically spend three to four hours alone, as they walk up and down the aisles of displays in the Anderson Park gymnasium, to evaluate artwork.
“When I walk through a show, I don’t have any preconceived notions of what I should see,” Gadlin says. “I let the art come to me, I really let the art speak. Why does it speak to me? Does it follow any fundamentals? Is there something I’m feeling? Not that this show is categorized, I start thinking about whether there are a lot of landscapes, or animals, or whatever. Then I ask, ‘What is the best example that I could teach a whole session around?’
“A lot of art to me is looking into the eye of the art and seeing its spirit. What does the art provoke? Is it asking as many questions as it’s answering. What are you gaining from it besides it being what it is. To me, that’s art, if it continues to speak.”
WRAL artists paint with oils, acrylics, colored pencils, and pastels. Guidelines recently added photography and 3-D art.
Winners of the August 2024 Carnation Festival Fine Art Show:
Best of Show: Chad Harr “Grandpa’s Train” Oil
1st Place: Bob Lechterman “Cavern” Kiln-Formed Glass
2nd Place: Dave Jordan “Setting Suns of the Total Eclipse” Digital Photography
3rd Place: Sandra Davis “Street Musician in Verna” Colored Pencil
Honorary Mention: Ken Lutes “Deserted” Pastel
Honorary Mention: Paula Weisz “Aerial Crops” Acrylic
League members displayed more than 500 pieces. PHOTO BY KEN LUTES
painting with Wheat Ridge Art League member Scott Roberts. PHOTO BY KEN LUTES
That casual gathering of amateur painters in 1974 has grown over the years. WRAL is presently comprised of more than 50 members who meet monthly at the Wheat Ridge Center for Music and Arts (United Methodist church at 38th Ave and Vance St). In addition to the yearly Carnation Festival, League members display their art at a variety of venues, including coffee shops, recreation centers, churches and even a Department of Motor Vehicles, throughout Wheat Ridge, Denver, and Arvada.
Several WRAL members have participated in Art on the Farm, a summertime event held at 38th Ave and Ward Rd, on the last Saturday of the month. This month’s event is September 28, 1-4 pm. Park at Kullerstrand Elementary on 38th and walk across the street to the event.
