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Give back to Ro Mead

Jessica Cabe
jcabe@postindependent.com
Ro Mead, former executive director of CCAH, left, and artist/author Sheri Gaynor were two familiar faces found at Carbondale's Third Street Center when it was new in 2010.
Kelley Cox / Post Independent file |

If You go...

Donations

Drop off donations for the Y’Art Sale from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 29-30

Y’Art Sale

The Y’Art Sale features a Maker Table from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 1-3, where you can find great deals on art supplies and participate in art projects. Proceeds from the sale go to Ro Mead.

24 Hours of Art

The 24 Hours of Art project starts at 6 p.m. on July 2 and features 12 valley artists collaborating to create an installation for Rio Grande Artway.

Celebration of Ro Mead

The 24 Hours of Art event concludes with a celebration of Ro Mead’s contributions to Carbondale at 6 p.m. on July 3.

Ro Mead has been in the Roaring Fork Valley since the ‘70s. She’s taught at Colorado Mountain College and Yampah Mountain High School. She rallied the community behind the First Friday idea in Carbondale. She served as executive director of the Carbondale Council on Arts and Humanities from 2004-2010, and during that time she brought an emphasis on visual arts, opened the CCAH’s gallery and spearheaded the trade that resulted in the Third Street Center. She also left the organization an endowment.

Now, after all Mead has done for the CCAH and the community as a whole, CCAH Director Amy Kimberly decided it’s time to do something for her in return.

Mead was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Although she is currently cancer-free, her pancreas isn’t functioning, putting her in and out of surgery and resulting in mounting medical bills.



So the CCAH is organizing a Y’Art Sale and 24 Hours of Art to raise money for and celebrate the contributions of Ro Mead.

Local artists Olivia Pevec and Rochelle Norwood organized the events.



“When we found out she had this cancer, it turns out she didn’t really want us to do anything,” Pevec said. “But then this idea came up, and it was just perfect. I met with Rochelle to start talking about the idea of having a reclaimed materials community art studio in a prominent space. Then we realized it would be good to it yard sale-style to see if it had legs.”

There, the Y’Art Sale was born. Unwanted supplies can be dropped off at the Launchpad from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 29-30. Those supplies will be sold to benefit Mead July 1-3, and a Maker Table will be set up from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on those days, allowing patrons to get creative on the spot.

Norwood had the idea for the 24 Hours of Art event, which features 13 local artists working on an installation piece in groups and in shifts from 6 p.m. on July 2 until 6 p.m. on July 3. Anyone can stop by the Launchpad to watch them work on the piece, which will exhibit on the Rio Grande Artway. The participating artists are Alpen Badget, Stanley Bell, Staci Dickerson, Chris Erickson, Anne Goldberg, Takeo Hiromitsu, Shannon Muse, Rochelle Norwood, Olivia Pevec, Mike Rand, Kat Rich, Rhonda Roberts and Natasha Seedorf.

The 24 Hours of Art will conclude with a celebration of Ro Mead at 6 p.m. on July 3.

“She is as funny as can be,” Kimberly said of Mead. “She’s definitely a person that is really fun to hang out with. She’s well-read, she has a dry sense of humor, and she’s not afraid to speak her mind. She’s made her mark on many people up and down the valley.”


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