Art at the Pond

Art at Willow Pond:
Willow Pond features local artist work at the inn. One of the terrific things about being an innkeeper is all the wonderful and creative people you get to meet.

Peg Oswald, pastels and ceramics

Vera Mulder, Batik
http://www.artyme.org/

Piera Kllanxjha, crystal glaze ceramics, printmaker and photographer
www.artistsregister.com/artists/CO199

http://www.newartcollectors.com/

Dave Lester, photography
http://www.willowpondphoto.com/

Betsy McLoughlin, watercolors

Dawn Sudmeier- Fused glass jewelry

Pat Feinberg- Ceramics

Caroline McDaniel- Mixed Media

Grand Junction Art Community:

The art community is so busy here, sometimes it's hard to schedule an art even because there's so much competition!

Grand Junction recently won a National Arts Council Award for it's support of the arts.

There is a walking tour downtown called "Art on the Corner" that features over one hundred sculptures by Colorado artists.

Grand Junction is also home to The Art Center http://www.gjartcenter.org/

1803 N. 7th Street Grand Junction, CO 81501 970-243-7337

The Art Center features local artists, exhibits, permanent collections, gift shop, summer art camp, year round classes, art fairs and a "collection of nearly 300 historic and contemporary works representing a thorough visual documentary of the art and artists of Western Colorado. Historic Native American artifacts comprise a significant portion of the collection, including numerous exceptional Navajo weavings..."

Planet Earth and the 4 Directions Gallery

524 Colorado Avenue Grand Junction, CO, 81501 970.256.9630

This is a funky vintage clothing, antique store and Art Gallery. Local art, traveling exhibits and seasonal community events are hosted by this very cool gallery.

The Blue Pig Gallery in Palisade http://www.thebluepiggallery.com/

This is a working gallery/coop featuring over 30 local artists. A number of the Willow Pond Artists are featured at the Blue Pig.

There are also a number of galleries downtown on Main St. and many artists are feature at the Thursday Night Farmer's Market on Main St in Downtown Grand Junction:

Working Artists Gallery

520 Main St 970-256-9952

Local seasonal art shows include Palisade Peach Blossom Art Show in April, Art and Jazz Festival in May, Spring Open Studio Tours. See the events page of the Grand Junction Visitor's Center website for details: http://www.visitgrandjunction.com/ .

Support the arts and consider making a purchase during your visit!

Vera Mulder

www.artyme.org

Having been an artist ever since I can remember, there is no need to reiterate the place art occupies in my life.
I remember drawing on whatever had a blank surface. I wanted to design clothes so I drew my own paper dolls and designed some “hum-dinger” outfits.
I only wish I still had some of these.
There were no art classes where I attended school, first through 12th grade. When teachers found out I could draw, Whamo!…
I was kept busy drawing this and that for bulletin boards. I don’t remember painting anything until my high school science teacher talked my parents into
buying a set of oil paints and brushes for me. Then she gave me a colored reprint of a landscape to copy onto a canvas board.
I soon figured out how to use the oils with linseed oil and turpentine. I matched the colors exactly without knowing the fundamentals of
color theory by mixing a tiny bit of this and of that, and comparing my mix to the color on the print.
College art class 101 was my first exposure to art classes of any kind. The big learning curve here was to learn that details don’t always belong in every work of art,
that there is simplicity of design and abstraction.
I attended college at a time I earned a K-12 teaching certificate with minors in art and music. Then I proceeded to amass enough hours in art, art history and
studio art to fulfill a doctorate. Of course, I never used those credits toward an art degree. Yet I have taught art for nearly four decades, writing curriculums,
starting the high school program at a high school, giving workshops locally and throughout the state, displaying my art in various shows and constantly
learning something new every day about some aspect of the arts. And, yes, I aced the art placement test required by State government for teachers a few years ago.
Therefore I have tried every genre, technique that I come in contact with. Because of my tendency to want to explore everything,
I have had a difficult time settling on only a few mediums. These include clay, especially hand building; batik, because this process slow me down and
requires planning; watercolor which is the hardest medium of all, leaving no room for mistakes and of course photography.
With the age of digital, Adobe and Paint Programs allow even more creativity.
In the years to come, I know there will be new things to learn and to try.
Inspiration can be found everywhere if you keep your eyes, ears, and mind open. Creativity is the key.



BATIK
Batik is a technique dating back 2000 some years to the Island of Java where somehow natives discovered how to decorate cloth made of
plant fibers through a resist method. One uses some type of resist, which could have been tree sap back then, applies this to a surface and adds color over the area.
When all has dried, the resist is removed and presto, there remains a design in the color of the original surface.
One may repeat this step as often as he/she has different colors BUT the key is to go from light to dark, being sure all dries in-between steps.
Of course, at each step the artist paints resist over the newly applied and dry color before adding another. He/she must remember as well,
what happens when certain colors are placed over others, for example, blue over yellow will create greens.
This art form can be decorative, used on fibers or used on clay surfaces. It can be an art form creating portraits, scenes, action or other subject matter.
One’s imagination and creative spin are the only limits to this exciting art technique.