Telluride Gallery of Fine Art: Local’s Loop (through October)!

21 Sep Telluride Gallery of Fine Art: Local’s Loop (through October)!

This year Local’s Loop at the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art features Gordon Brown, Bill Ellzey, Bruce Gomez, Julee Hutchison, Carl Marcus, and Brett Schreckengost. The opening reception takes place Thursday, September 23, 4pm – 7pm. The show is also featured for the Art Walk evening, Thursday, October 7, 5pm – 8pm.

Julee Hutchison, “The Mark of Beauty”

In the past, “local” was not the exception, it was the rule, because going and growing beyond one’s borders was difficult, if not impossible. Today, however, we all can communicate with anyone, anywhere. Still, when the subject is fine art, a local origin story holds great power. Deep ties to the community increases the perceived value of art made in that region, and also underlines the fact collectors area major part of the story.

What’s more being plugged into the local arts scene makes for exciting events – such as the annual group at the Telluride Gallery titled “Local’s Loop.”

This year “Local’s Loop” features Gordon Brown, Bill Ellzey, Bruce Gomez, Julee Hutchison, Carl Marcus, and Brett Schreckengost.

Gordon Brown:

Gordon Brown, “Lifting Clouds.”

“My paintings are all about light and mood,” Colorado native Gordon Brown once explained to Telluride Inside… and Out.

Gordon Brown never tires of the view from his converted barn/studio in Ridgway, a place that allows him to observe firsthand the various moods and palettes associated with changing seasons.

From his earliest years, Brown was rarely found without pencil or paintbrush. Weekend backpacking trips into the Colorado canyons were part of his ritual. The following days would find him assembling his newly found Ute arrowhead collection or painting Indians and their campgrounds.

Teachers and artists strongly encouraged Brown to pursue his artistic talent, not fully realized until years later when the artist became mesmerized by the work of Chinese painter Shang Ding, who became his tutor and mentor. Brown apprenticed under Professor Ding of the Beijing Central Art Academy, accompanying him as they made their way through the landscape, emulating his every brushstroke in a plein air (painting outdoors, not in a studio) style.

Over the years, Brown continues to show his appreciation for the subtleties and drama created by changing light, the through-line of his work. Examples can be found in the permanent collection of the Denver Art Museum and the Forbes Collection to name just two of the many institutions which have acquired his paintings.

Gordon Brown has been represented by the Telluride Gallery for over 18 years.

A native Colorado artist, Gordon has been painting professionally for 30 years. His paintings characteristically highlight his gift for romanticizing atmospheric elements: dawn, twilight, clouds, storms, haze, and fog,” explains the Telluride Gallery.

Bill Ellzey:

Bill Ellzey, “Bear Creek Aerial.”

Decades ago, Bill Ellzey was a cowboy/photographer, but his photography took him a long way from the Western images that were his first love.

Ellzey has traveled from Australia to Egypt, from the Rockies in mid-winter to the jungles of Central America in mid-summer, with stops in Australia, Mexico, India, Ireland, China, Alaska, Japan and Chilean Patagonia. En route, his commitment to his profession led him to explore fine art, black -and-white, portraiture (classic and outdoor), sports action (rodeo to skiing), commercial, industrial, advertising, aerial, editorial assignments and stock photography (National Geographic Image Collection). His simply elegant images can be found in books, magazines, newspapers, catalogs, calendars, galleries, annual reports and private collections.

Ellzey got hold of his first camera in 1965 at age 20, just after completing university where he studied psychology and electrical engineering. He realized his passion for the art during a four-year hitch in the Air Force. Self-taught, he went on to teach others.

Sought for his wide-ranging experience and easy lecturing style, Ellzey mentored students at the world-famous Anderson Ranch Arts Center and Winona International School of Professional Photography. He has also been a respected juror for professional and amateur photographic exhibitions.

A writer as well as a photographer, Ellzey’s articles have appeared in Photo District News, Outdoor Photographer, and Camera & Darkroom, to name a few.

“Bill has been creating images since 1965. His work has been featured in Ski, Climbing, Outside Magazine and National Geographic, among others,” adds the Telluride Gallery.

Bruce Gomez:

Bruce Gomez, Alta Lakes #1

Bruce Gomez is, at first glance, a realist: what you see is generally what you get, signature shimmering surfaces always pleasing to the eye. However, squint and Gomez’s lush, layered pastels become a complex tapestry of abstract passages – parts of the sky, sections of mountains and water – with an Abstract Expressionist feel that, in the end, amount to gorgeous studies of color and light.

Entirely self-taught in the medium, Gomez has worked with pastels for decades. The creative process for the artist begins with a photograph. Next he plots the principle elements of the composition from photograph to paper, which he treats with sandpaper to create his velour surfaces. Gomez’ subject matter comes primarily from his travels throughout the western U.S., France, Italy, and England. He tends to feature Telluride, but also Moab, the Grand Canyon, Wyoming, Paris, Provence, and Tuscany.

Bruce Gomez paints and teaches out of his Denver studio, however, he has regularly led led classes at Telluride’s Ah Haa School for the Arts.

“Bruce seeks to capture one unique and spectacular moment of life again and again, whether in the mountains, in an urban setting, snowshoeing in -10°F, or painting plein air in 101°F,” notes the Gallery.

Julie Hutichison:

Julee Hutchison, “Telluride Winter.”

For Julee Hutchison, the outdoors is a place of spiritual revery. Her paintings, however, do not tremble and quake with religiosity, rather, they speak volumes about the complex nature of art about Nature in a very quiet, but very direct way: some images are playful; others, more introspective.

Hudson River master George Inness famously said, “You must suggest to me reality. You can never show me reality.”

Hutchison to a “T.”

Hutchinson’s impressionistic landscapes are postcards from the interior, reflecting not a landscape per se, but her attitude towards a particular place. The artist’s gift lies in an unerring ability to mold her passion for her surroundings into a reflection of private feelings and sensations, at their best – and her new images qualify – a synthesis of direct observation, memory and fantasy, with a growing impulse towards abstraction.

The Telluride Gallery has shown Hutchison’s work for over 17 years.

“Julie paints plein air life studies using the temperature of the natural light and combines figures seamlessly into her landscapes. And her portraits of animals never fail to capture their loving spirits,” explains the Gallery.

Carl Marcus

Carl Marcus, “Telluride Alpenglow.”

Carl Marcus is a pioneering modernist, who explores his photographic art with authenticity and an easy lyricism. His riffs on Mother Nature become jumping off points for a dialogue about the spiritual and the magical, the sublime and the romantic.

Marcus moved with his wife to Telluride during the summer of 1978 and raised his son Caleb, also an outstanding photographer, in a cabin on Wilson Mesa. He began taking photographs on the long backpacking trips with his son.

“Our commonality may be that we attempt to communicate, beyond the content of the image, the space that may open a doorway to what we do not know,”  Marcus told Telluride Inside. And Out in an interview a few years ago.

Every year, Carl  Marcus spends at least six months alone in nature: “When I look at a rock, or a flower, or a cloud, it seems to have an immensity, a power to it that stops time.”

“Carl possesses the resolve to wait for the right shot, to recognize it when it presents itself, and the skill to transform it into an image of brilliant color and extraordinary grandeur,” says the Gallery.

Brett Schreckengost:

Brett Schreckengost, “Ajax Avalanche.”

Brett Schreckengost is a filmmaker and photographer based in Ophir, a small alpine community at 9600′ in elevation near Telluride.

Schreckengost claims to have started out pretty “old-school,” learning the craft of photography in the darkroom for many years before coming into the light and embracing the digital age of image creation. After a brief stint soul-searching and a hasty move to Los Angeles to work in the film industry on commercials and a feature film, he decided to move back to Colorado to start a small footprint production company that could deliver high-production value imagery without all the burdens of typical production crews.

“My favorite subjects move fast and demand an intuitive, journalistic approach. My small production team thrives in the most challenging environments and difficult to reach locations.”

Schreckengost is an FAA remote pilot certificate holder and does a lot of work shooting locations near and far from his mountain home – his primary muse.

“I embrace all forms of image creation, but seen to lean towards short-form narrative storytelling and commercial work.”

“Brett’s favorite subjects move fast and demand an intuitive, journalistic approach. As the official photographer of the Telluride Ski Resort, his images span the ski industry, travel industry and more. His work captures the risk-taking spirit of the San Juans,” concludes the Telluride Gallery.