“My passion for painting stems from the immense benefits it brings to my mental well-being,” says Wheat Ridge painter Liz Burns. “It lets me remain fully present in the moment and immerse myself in a state of pure joy.” A Wheat Ridge resident since 2011, Burns lives with her husband Nathan, son Miller, 11, and
“As soon as you turn east onto 38th Avenue from the business and craziness of Wadsworth, you enter this small town feel of a city doing things that brings a community together,” said Russell Wilbar, owner of Artcentric, a new art gallery and picture fame shop. “To have a community-centered art business here seemed like
“Painting from landscape is another way to express the experience of humanity the only way I can: as a six-foot male walking on land. That is my perspective,” says Wheat Ridge painter Jason McCullough. He captures the people and spaces that inhabit his experience. Working in oil paints and various drawing mediums, the self-represented fine
For the past two years Art on the Farm has been a monthly event on a local urban farm, promoted and supported by the Neighborhood Gazette, the City of Wheat Ridge, Wheat Ridge Creates and the Art League. It is an outdoor place for artists to come and paint, sculpt and share their art with
The orderly and professional atmosphere of a courtroom is the opposite of the make-believe and sometimes off-the-wall approach on stage. But those two worlds intersected for a retired attorney who found a second career as an actor, thanks partly to the Wheat Ridge Theater Company. Jim Hayes began practicing law in California in 1975. His
“As a little girl, I was always drawing. I had a love for crayons,” says Mona Taherynia, an artist who was born and raised in Iran and moved to the United States when she was in her 30s. Taherynia’s Iranian culture informs her paintings, “in terms of form and color,” yet her paintings also bear
A winding road took colored pencil artist Diana Williams through the banking world to doing something “military-based,” then to being a teacher of art history, before eventually discovering her own talent for art. Williams says that through the years she has dabbled in painting with acrylics, but that her current and steady interest in art
“I’m a materialist,” says Wheat Ridge furniture maker Dustin Brucher. “When I’m creating, I give an eye to what might be commercially viable and what might be specified by a commissioned client. But if I’m making something just for me, I’m going to make it the way I think looks fantastic, that captures the right
“I wake up every morning an hour before sunrise, to be outside 15 minutes before sunrise with the Sony,” says photographer Jon Levy. The “Sony” he’s referring to is the Alpha 1, Sony’s flagship camera. “I mainly go to the local parks – Belmar, the Wheat Ridge Greenbelt, Main Reservoir in Lakewood. I find each
“All painting is an abstraction,” says Wheat Ridge artist Lori Ann Levy-Holm, who teaches for the School of Botanical Art and Illustration at the Denver Botanic Gardens. “My interest is not necessarily driven by subject matter but driven by the abstraction of light, color, shape, form and storytelling. I love animals, I love people, I
“Making art is something intrinsic in human nature,” says pastelist Ken Lutes. “Cave drawings tell us that people have always made art. It’s essential to our spiritual makeup to have a way to express how we feel about life.” Lutes says his style is “Impressionistic, leaning toward realism. I look at concrete events affecting my
Art in the Barn was really an extension of the many events and programs meant to highlight artists and increase awareness of art. The Barn event was actually a “gala”-styled evening with only 100 tickets being sold and artists having to qualify their art in order to participate in the silent auction. Set in a
“Colfax Avenue has always been critical to our mission,” says Liz Black, executive director of 40 West Arts District. The move from their old location at 1560 Teller St. to the new building at 6501 West Colfax “is going to be really critical to the next five-to-ten years for the district, and even beyond that.”
Join us for a wonderful evening of music, art, food and community at “Art in the Barn” on Saturday, June 11th at 5 Fridges Farm. Featuring artwork from: Bruce Beck Carolyn Doran Alex Hinst Nancy Johnson Theresa Joyce Mickey LaFave Lori Ann Levy-Holm Sina March Vicki Metz Danny Mey Julie Midyett Michael Morten Shirley Nakamoto
“What draws me is super bright colors – what the eye does not actually see,” says artist Mickey La Fave. “Color is my whole thing. I couldn’t use a brown to save my life.” La Fave’s paintings employ vivid colors to accentuate her subjects. She uses hydrus watercolors that come in a glass bottle because
Every artist can tell you what inspired them to begin drawing or painting, and Wheat Ridge Art League (WRAL) member Shirley Nakamoto is no exception. “When I was little, I liked to draw from Walt Disney comic books,” she says. “I remember drawing Bambi and Dumbo, the Seven Dwarfs, and Lady from ‘Lady and the
The gnomes and creatures that inhabit Tim Tindle’s ceramic sculptures are sparked by his two young daughters’ imaginations. Tindle calls his style “narrative sculpture.” “The pieces are like found objects that make you wonder, ‘What’s behind that door?’ You look at it and your brain starts making up stories. “Like a knot at the bottom
“Whenever I walk into my studio, wherever it might be, I bring all of my past into it,” said Wheat Ridge Art League member Judy Miranda. With photographs and paintings beautifying most of her wall space, that statement comes to life when touring her home. During a recent visit to Miranda’s home studio, this writer
“I’m flexible when I paint because I don’t know what will emerge,” says abstract painter Paula Weisz. “If you always plan, if you don’t go beyond the borders, how do you know what would come out?” Weisz says she’s drawn to the abstract, whether it be interpreted realism or full-blown non-representational. She says her paintings
“I think trying to be perfect often stops people from learning what they could do,” says Wheat Ridge pencil artist Sandra Davis. “I think everybody can learn to draw, but if people don’t think they can draw, they won’t put in the effort to learn how. When you start drawing, it’s important to love the
“I go into my zone when I’m painting,” says artist Julie Midyett. “I call it my happy place.” Midyett has had a talent for art since she was a child, but she stopped painting seriously as a young adult when “life happened.” Marriage, children and a career in accounting and tax preparation kept her busy
Pardon the pun, but when it comes to making guitars and other string instruments, Francois Vadeboncoeur plays it by ear. The Wheat Ridge man is a luthier, the term for someone who builds or repairs string instruments by hand. While some might not have heard the term, Vadeboncoeur said there is “quite a number” of
Don’t ask Tanner Steed if he’s recently — or ever — finished a painting. The Wheat Ridge artist does not consider any of the many oil paintings he’s crafted in his young life as done. Steed, 25 and a native Coloradoan, grew up in Highlands Ranch and graduated from Thunder Ridge High School, where he
“My specialty is creating,” says Wheat Ridge artist Gregory Block. “I paint everything – figures, landscapes, portraits, still life – because inspiration comes in so many different forms.” Block’s most recent inspiration takes form in the collection of his paintings of doughnuts, now showing through Aug. 21 at Gallery 1261 in Denver’s Golden Triangle neighborhood.
