Interlude

Reveille Kennedy
I grew up in Pueblo, Colorado. I have been making art since 4th grade and hoping to bring a sense of place and peace for others. I watch people’s movement and the drape of clothing, hair and skin in sunlight.  I imagine and impressionistically interpret people and animals in settings of my own creation. I feel that their strength, dignity, weakness, or sorrow is evident in my work. Animals have attitude too.  Some are dignified and some are silly or playful. I also love interpreting the majestic Rocky Mountains, lyrical florals, seasonal scenery, wetness, and wildlife.  What is new to painting?  It is that indescribable individual scrawl, stroke, line, or choice of color.  It is the puzzling mix of learned and experimented. Great artists become and become until their hair falls out and their jaws droop.    

For me, it is the most intriguing career anyone could have. Art influences thought and engages senses. Paintings make people wonder and meditate.  I always wanted my paintings to bring a sense of calm and joy.

I was inspired by the word “Interlude”.  What is in between the stroke, the color, the shapes and breathing spaces. What makes someone pause and contemplate a piece of art?

This show began specifically as a water series.  A small voice in my mind said “water”, and I thought “why not”?  So getting the shapes, energy and inconsistencies created with a brush was my challenge.  I have always loved challenges.  Water is a great challenge revealing contradictions that when put together properly look cohesive. I also wanted to showcase other people and other forms of art in this show.  I chose wall art, jewelry, woven hooked wool, metal sculptures, and ceramic art masks.  I am excited and pleased with this show.

I am interested in serenity and solace, but I also love energy, force, atmosphere, texture, and joy.  I love teaching and bringing out the intuitive best in others.

I really love my orange wave because it is refreshing and big!  There, you can engage, get lost in the imperfections, and gaze at the sunset colors just as if you were actually on the beach.  You can long for warmth and wetness, beach balls, umbrellas, and swimsuits. 

 I need the whole ocean to be drenched in!
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My art is featured on
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ReveilleKennedyart
https://www.pinterest.com/r777/boards/
https://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/reveille-kennedy-2428
https://www.saatchiart.com/reveille
instagram.com/reveillekennedy2291/ 
 
 

Margot Ardourel
I have been doing creative work for a very long time—watercolor, acrylic, fabric character dolls, hooking - all self-taught.  In 2012 I went to work for Eric Bransby, well known muralist, and my life changed.  He caught me drawing one day and began to encourage me to pursue the arts.  He has been my mentor and critic ever since in both fiber art and painting.  I have received in-depth training from two very fine local artists—Reveille Kennedy in watercolor and Judy Michael Myers.        

What draws me to painting is the ability to see the world with a different eye—colors, light, details that I didn’t see before—and translate that on paper.  It is an exciting journey and I learn something new each time I paint.  I look forward to going to my studio for a new adventure.

For this show I created a hooked handbag in a geometric design.  My process is to acquire 100% wool in the colors I need. Cut strips to size.  Draw designs on graph paper until I like one.  This took 10 tries.  Then hook the bag on monks cloth, bind it with yarn, line it and make a strap.  It is my favorite as it is the best design I have ever done.
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I am just beginning on Instagram and have posted some work on my personal page.

Tapestry Bag by Margot Ardourel

Anita Dewitt's process

Anita Dewitt
I was born and raised in Colorado. My career began due to a strong fascination with faces and the human figure as early as I can remember… I really only wanted to constantly draw people! I earned a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art with a minor in Psychology from Colorado State University in 2006. I have been a member of the Portrait Society of America for 5 years. In addition to winning multiple awards throughout Southern Colorado, my work has been featured and shown in galleries and many group shows. My large acrylic painting "engaging her intellect" was published in Acrylic Works 3 in 2016, and many pieces are in private collections nationally and internationally. I currently live in Canon City, Colorado, where I create new works and commissions in my home studio. I enjoy teaching workshops and private lessons, as well as art classes focusing on history and technique for middle school and high school students locally.
 
I enjoy the challenges and rewards of creating art! Seeing an idea in my head and taking it into reality is exciting!
 
My goal as a figurative artist is to rouse ideas and responses in my viewers by preserving novel and intimate moments from life. The inspiration for my work is innocence, curiosity, elegance, strength, and vigor. I find a welcome challenge in portraying the human form with idealistic values of integrity, character, and grace.
 
The inspiration for this body of work came from a time in my career when I wanted to create more realistic faces in clay. I am a very curious person, and although I have a formal education, I am largely self-taught when it comes to realism, especially in clay.
 
 
I set out to create as many clay faces as I could in a month! But I got a bit tired of just building a face over and over… My personal creativity got in the way!
 
I called this series “sketches in clay”.
 
I began treating the faces as though I were drawing out ideas in my sketchbooks. I only made 39 faces in that month, but I loved how I was able to build and carve and pierce and paint each work to create different personalities.
 
Each face was a new slab of clay, usually molded over newspaper wrapped in saran wrap. I would build 6 “blanks” at a time. After the clay stiffened up a bit, I would go back in and begin pushing, pulling, adding, and subtracting clay until it became recognizable as “human”. From there I would trust my gut and carve or build more details.
 
(With my “punks”, I would have pre-built circles in many sizes that I put on their faces to see what direction was calling me!)
 
Often, I think that my work can be very serious at times.
 
These masks started as “perfection” project and ended up showing a playful side of my creativity!

I hope the viewers are attracted to the work for its realism and attention to detail and enjoy the “personality” in each mask.
 
It is a little tricky for me to choose a favorite work. Each face has a part that I think is clever or unique.
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If I have to choose a favorite from the show, I would pick (at this moment) my “owl” punk. She reminds me a little bit of Velma Dinkley from the Scooby-Doo cartoon series… probably the hair style. She was my favorite character when I watched as a kid. I liked how she was intelligent and often times the biggest factor in getting the mystery solved!
 
My work can be found at:
My website…                             www.anitadewitt.com
My Facebook page…                Anita Dewitt@AnitaDewittArtist
My Instagram page…               anitadewittartist
My Etsy page for sculpture…  SculpturalPottery (Anita Dewitt)
My Etsy page for 2D art…        Anita Dewitt

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"Intercession" by Margie Miller

Margie Miller
As a retired registered nurse and former military spouse, there have been many places that have been called home and art has always been a creative outlet over the years. Working in a variety of mediums, I enjoy both studio and plein air opportunities in acrylic. oil, pastel, and watercolor. The spectacular scenery of Colorado is a daily inspiration and traveling with a watercolor sketchbook is a must!
 
Art, for me, is the ideal venue to express one's emotional and spiritual response to a subject. My goal is to connect with the viewer in this digital age by interpreting nature's beauty and the human experience in original art works.
 
The current health challenge of COVID has resulted in an unexpected opportunity to reflect and explore new subjects in a variety of mediums. I delved into abstraction during the initial quarantine period as it relates to our digital age with acrylic and a larger canvas.
 
My process is a general theme of "what if?" I continually explore a variety of mediums as they relate to my observations and what is the best way to communicate to the viewer. Planning and multiple sketches done prior to the actual painting process over several days is essential. This process helps me work out any compositional/design hurdles of the work prior to placing paint on a surface.
 
As the artist Paul Serusier remarked "Art is the communication between two souls". To achieve that connection on an emotional level is vital, regardless of the varied responses by viewers. As a volunteer watercolor instructor with Alzheimer residents and the Memories in the Making (MIM) organization, I find it extremely fulfilling, striving to inspire hope to all viewers. My "Whimsical Animal" series inspired my first grandchild hopes to produce a smile for viewers. 
 
This abstract, titled "Intercession" is a reflection of the variety of crossroads we all encounter during our lifetime. As with any challenge, but especially during COVID, the yellow background color was selected to represent the spiritual presence of faith and hope that surround us all.
 
My work is locally available at Europtics located at the stores of Briargate. 
 
My website: www.m4miller.faso.com
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Suzy Hunt Gardner
The daughter of an artist and in a family of artists, I've drawn, colored, cut, pasted, whittled, sculpted, soldered, molded, knotted, painted, and created from whatever was available for as long as I can remember.  I started making jewelry when I was 10.  A lifelong lover of sparkly things, this is a dangerous pastime for me ;) !
 
I studied Art at Mesa State University in Grand Junction, Colorado, and have continued my studies with different classes; some taught by other artists, some at Bemis School of Art in Colorado Springs and at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico.  I’ve enjoyed classes in Sculpture, Metalsmithing, Drawing, Painting, Human Anatomy, ceramics, & raku, in addition to many others.
 
Art is Life!  Breathing and eating and sleeping, working and relaxing!  It’s love and hate, vexing and flying.  Most artists will tell you that Art never stops.  It’s who and what we are.  It’s always and forever.
 
Reveille [inspired me in my work for this show.]   Lol!  Ish …!  It is so hard with the world the way it is to get inspired!   If Rev hadn’t asked me to do this show, I would probably not have tried to do anything.   With the Sword of Damocles … okay the “Interlude” show hanging over my head – it made me get out of my funk and work on getting my Mojo back.  Once you start, the world goes away and it’s just you and a canvas or a pile of clay or some bits of silver.  Just you and creation.
 
One of my pieces, “End of the Day” is a pendant created, amazingly, … at the end of the day. I was forcing myself to fix a half-finished bracelet that the soldering gods just wouldn’t let happen.  I was tired and frustrated and lost.  I just started melting the darn thing with my torch!  Ha!  That’ll show ‘em!  Don’t mess with me!   And then… in the chaos of frustration … I saw something begin to be …. I saw something I liked!  Something that sparked creativity in my brain!  And I started working from there.  Art is just chaos brought into order.  (Not my quote, but attributed to several artists, and so true!)

"End of the Day" in progress

In the picture, “End of the Day” is on the soldering block.  To the upper right is a bracelet (hidden in the vermiculite –  a hydrous phyllosilicate mineral which undergoes significant expansion when heated … hmmm… for me it just means you can put metal down into the vermiculite and it “sinks” or takes away the heat and doesn’t catch on fire.  Which is a good thing for my purposes 😉.)  The bracelet hidden in the vermiculite is like the bracelet I started “End of The Day” with… except it’s all together, lol.  The round stones to the mid right are chalcedony (wonderful stone bringing peace and calm to the world) that I am going to mount in “End of the Day”.  If you want to see the final product, stop by Commonwheel for the “Interlude” show!
 
My sculpture, “Solace” [is my favorite piece for this show].  I love the peace it makes me feel.  When I was trying to find a name for the sculpture, I realized that when I looked at it, it made me feel solace.  The lady is giving herself a gentle hug and finding peace within herself.  We all need that.   Especially now.

"Solace" by Suzy Gardner

You can find my work at these local stores and galleries:
Kreuser Gallery, Gallery 113, Arati Artists Gallery, Consign and Design, Fratelli’s Italian Restaurante, Thrive Salon and in the gift shop at the Museum of Mining and Industry
My Website:  dreamfollower.net
Etsy store:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/DreamFollowerbySuzy
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/DreamFollowerDesigns
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/dreamfollowerbysuzy
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