On Location With The Art Garage
A Sneak Preview of the 2nd Annual Park Hill Open Studio Tour
By Patricia Barr Clarke
The Art Garage invites you to enter the working studios, display venues and homes of more than 20 local artists on Friday, Oct. 17 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The 2nd annual self-guided Open Studio Tour continues on Saturday, Oct. 18 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Sunday, Oct. 19 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Pick up the free maps with examples of the artists’ work at the Art Garage, 6100 East 23rd Ave., and enjoy refreshments and a look at the repurposed service station that is now a nonprofit art center, bringing people together through the arts with classes, exhibitions and outdoor events plus community outreach programs.
Embark on the self-guided tour following the numbered locations on the map to meet artists in their unique locations in Park Hill and enjoy their artwork. Each location will be marked with a yard sign with tour location number that corresponds to the map. This event is a fundraiser, and each artist will donate a percentage of their sales to the Art Garage.
For more information, contact Katie Moran, Director or Marissa Isch, Administrative Assistant, at 303-377-2353 or www.artgaragedenver.com.
Art Garage
The tour begins at the Art Garage, on the southeast corner of Kearney St. and East 23rd Avenue, where local artists and Board members will be available to answer questions about the tour, fall classes and events. Observe the installation of a mosaic mural designed by artist Melinda Stewart and fabricated by many community members. Stewart and Barb McKee, artist founder of the Art Garage, will explain the mural and may even ask for your help in completing the installation.
Cake Crumbs
Longtime Park Hill artist Jack Price will exhibit his masterful pastels at Cake Crumbs, 2216 Kearney St. (Friday , Oct. 17 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 18 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 19 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.). Working as a self-taught artist in pastel for over 40 years, Price creates exciting new work in charcoal, oil, acrylic and pastel. He has won first place awards at the Capitol Hill People’s Fair, the Black Arts Festival and the Boulder Creek Festival, and has been accepted in many juried exhibitions. He has designed posters for the Golden Arts Festival and Graland Country School. Price has artwork in corporate and educational institutions, including the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and Kaiser Permanente. Artist Quote: “I see my creations as expressions of profound respect for the dignity and values of others and the struggles of African Americans.”
Art on Monaco
Evelyn Valdez Martinez paints and teaches art classes in her new studio gallery, Art on Monaco, 6450 E. Colfax, Suite 2A, at the southwest corner of Monaco and Colfax. Her striking oil and pastel paintings are featured on many publication covers and music CDs. She worked as a commercial designer of book covers and promotional art for Dell and Zebra. Evelyn’s paintings of the Great Sand Dunes National Monument are in an exhibit at the Great Sand Dunes Visitor Center and Denver International Airport. The International Museum of Contemporary Art Masters selected her work for the International Salon of 2003 and 2008. Artist Quote: “Painting the beauty of nature and of the human spirit is what I strive for.”
Frances Mackey Studio
Frances Mackey, 1430 Birch St., graduated from the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore and was ceramic instructor at Rutgers Preparatory School in New Jersey. In Denver since 1970, she concentrates on making functional porcelain objects and stoneware houses as memory boxes or to stand in a garden. Her work is exhibited at the Pottery Studio Gallery in Littleton, Zip37, Show of Hands and the Grand Lake Gallery. Artist Quote: “In my studio, I am exploring new shapes and glazes for functional pieces, the firing and the potential for growth.”
Janice McDonald Studio
Janice McDonald, 2212 Ash St., makes elegant, abstract collages with repurposed papers. She holds a BFA from Oregon State University. McDonald is a signature member of the National Collage Society and moderates an online international collage site. Her work is in the collection of corporations and individual collectors. She is co-director of Spark Gallery in Denver. Artist quote:” My collage work is created with fragments of paper and recycled imagery collected from my daily life and wanderings. I am especially intrigued with the overlooked backgrounds, colors, textures and negative spaces in everyday printed materials.”
Karrie McBryde Studio
Karrie McBryde, 2044 Elm St., grew up in Park Hill and studied at the Corning Museum of Glass in upstate New York. She exhibits at Caboodle Gifts, Spirit Ways, Gnomes Nook and the Colorado Symphony Gift Shop in Denver. Karrie creates beautiful but practical glass objects and derives great pleasure in making affordable pieces. Artist quote:” In my studio, when the glass is taken from the 2100-degree furnace, it is very fluid. Throughout the process of working, it becomes malleable. I learn to coax rather that force the glass into what my head and heart envision.”
Barbara Hoffman’s Studio
Entering Barbara Hoffman’s studio at 4933 East 22nd Ave., you will find comfort and an understanding of clay. Hoffman received a BFA from Carnegie Mellon and has worked professionally for 35 years. Her work is exhibited at Studio Colfax 2418 in Denver and the Boulder Arts and Crafts Cooperative Gallery. She has won many awards, including “Best of Show for a Tea Pot” in Strictly Functional, a national juried show. Her work is in the permanent collection of Yixing Ceramic Museum in China. Hoffman is hosting the work of three other artists in her studio, including:
Peg Malloy makes honest, simple, functional pots. She has taught at the Anderson
Ranch, Carbondale Clay Center, the Arvada Center and the Peters Valley Craft Education Center.
Esther Rumaner is a 90 years young artist who creates incredibly detailed line drawings in pen and ink.
Katie Archambault is an emerging artist who makes soft fabric sculptures.
Patricia Barr Clark Studio
Patricia Barr Clarke, 2505 Elm St., paints plein air watercolors and teaches art classes at the Art Garage and the Park Hill Art Club, as well as workshops in Colorado and New Mexico. She has won top awards in Colorado Watercolor Society and Golden Fine Arts Festival shows. She is an invited artist/teacher at Plein Air Curacao Art Festival (2011-1015) and is known for her transparent watercolors painted in Spain, Italy, Egypt and Mexico. Artist’s quote: “ I enjoy the spontaneity of painting on location as the light changes.”
Ben Clarke, 2505 Elm St., studied painting at the University of Kansas and graduated from Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design after winning the Phillip J. Steel Scholarship in 1997. Clarke illustrates articles, books and movie and television projects for Interweave Press, The University of Michigan Press and One Floor Up in Denver. He recently illustrated a children’s book “The House Who Found Its Home” and has produced and directed several films. He also climbs the Colorado Fourteeners and paints from the trail. Artist quote: “I am interested in painting from life and my imagination, using pastel, oil and watercolor.”
Eis Gelato
Eis Gelato, 2895 Fairfax Stt, (open in afternoon and evening) a local favorite for cool homemade treats, will feature the varied work of artists who teach and/or study art at the Art Garage, including director Katie Moran, Marissa Isch, Administrative Assistant, and Lucy Sroka, Assistant and student at Denver School of the Arts.
Castle Clay Artists Inc.
Castle Clay Artists Inc., 5333 E. 38th Ave., is one of Denver’s most vibrant co-ops, providing a working environment for members. The facility has separate studio spaces, areas for bisque firing and glazing and a kiln yard. The members work together celebrating diversity, unity and growth. Members Bil Buhler, Lyn Hull, Shane Porter and others will be exhibiting at the co-op.
Peg Meagher (at Castle Clay) studied art in high school. At the age of 50, after many years as a clinical nurse specialist, she returned to painting. She has studied with teachers in the USA, Ireland and Italy and has shown her vibrant watercolors in many solo exhibitions. Meagher has a refreshing style and a free use of color. She paints on location in Colorado and the West and on frequent trips to Germany. She is a longtime Park Hill resident and activist.