2023
Group Exhibition
Aspen City Hall Art Program
Summer 2023 - Spring 2025 at Aspen City Hall in Aspen, CO
I was accepted to show a series of new artworks in a program at Aspen City Hall alongside several other artists (mostly local, a couple regional) which was organized by the Red Brick Center for the Arts. The series I created was to highlight Aspen service workers. These portraits I hope remind the Aspen community of the important work these individuals are doing “behind the scenes” (so to speak), showcasing those who don’t often get enough recognition for the necessary and sometimes thankless effort they do each and every day. Representing Aspen City service workers, AVH nurses, RFTA drivers, janitors “extraordinaires”, librarians and more.
Learn more about the program and artists involved for 2023-2025 here.
Nicole Lebby, Janitor Extraordinaire (watercolor, 18x14in)
Erin Lebby, Janitor Extraordinaire (watercolor, 18x14in)
Martin Mendoza, Electric Lineman (watercolor, 18x14in)
Lisa May Howard, Library Specialist (watercolor, 18x14in)
Michael Gordon, Lead Water Distribution Operator (watercolor, 18x14in)
Max McCowan, Registered Nurse (watercolor, 18x14in)
Trish Savoy, RFTA Driver (watercolor, 18x14in)
Sean Abel, Parks & Open Space Maintenance Supervisor (watercolor, 18x14in)
Group Exhibition
Studio for Arts & Works Show
March 3 - April 7, 2023 at the Carbondale Arts Gallery in Carbondale, CO
Carbondale Arts presented a group exhibition featuring the 25+ artists at SAW (Studio for Arts + Works) at the Carbondale Arts gallery which opened on First Friday, March 3, 2023. Designed as a collaborative space for creative professionals and professional creatives, Studio for Arts + Works (SAW) was remodeled from a auto mechanic shop into artist studios and minimalist, industrial-style offices on a modest budget using non-toxic, salvaged and recycled materials wherever possible.
The tenant mix at SAW (over 25 potters, painters, jewelers, sculptors, service professionals) showcases our commitment to enhancing the vitality of our community through our work.
This painting was originally planned as a series that I started around 2014 or 2015. I had many friends and family going through transitions and was aware that a few were living out of vans or trailers to save money on rent (at least during the summer months). One of those friends was ceramic and visual artist John Cohorst, who, for a time, stayed in this tiny trailer behind the SAW studios. John eventually moved away, and I was sorry to lose his creative presence (we also had similar art subject interests in astronauts).
I remember at one of the holiday SAW open house events, John came over to my studio to say hi and found me working away, and he said something like, “yeah, we out here!”. Not up on my urban slang, he kindly explained “we out here” is from the skateboarding culture, essentially meaning you’re putting in the work to make it happen.
I decided to paint John’s trailer for this 2023 group SAW show to remind me of artists no longer in this community and of a friend whose work I still very much appreciate (check out his website here). I added some astronaut embellishments as an ode to John (the astronaut image comes directly from his work).
Check out the show I had with John and another astronaut-leaning artist Andrew Rice under Fine Art > Themed Exhibitions > 2017 which took place at The Art Base (show was called “Ideas on the Infinite”).
Acrylic on cut panel (approx 30" wide), 2023
Reference photo, 2015