Art Guild exhibit opens Saturday

Last month, the Glenwood Springs Art Guild announced that 2015 would not see a Fall Art Festival, which would have appeared for its 53rd year.

The group is trying to bring some of the scale, quality and variety of the Fall Art Festival to its annual spring exhibition, which opens Saturday at the Glenwood Springs Center for the Arts.

“Since we’re not doing the Fall Art Festival, this is it,” said Art Guild President Alice Davenport. “So we invited everybody to come. We’re glad so many people showed up.”

The spring show will feature 110 pieces by 48 artists, a huge increase over the 18 artists in the show just last year. Davenport said she received submissions from the Front Range as well as from members of the guild and others.

“This year has been a little different,” said Christina Brusig, executive director of the Center for the Arts. “It was our goal to take the quality of art that was seen at the Fall Art Festival, and the number of pieces, and show at the art center in the spring.”

The artwork is almost exclusively paintings, but there is some photography and a set of wooden bowls, Davenport said.

“I’ve seen a lot of really vibrant colors,” Brusig said. “It’s a lot more than I’ve ever seen in any other Art Guild show. We’ve almost filled the walls already, and we’re still not done accepting art.”

The money raised from selling artwork in this show will go toward the Art Guild’s scholarship program. The organization typically awards two scholarships per year to graduating high school seniors who plan to pursue art in college. If they raise enough money from the show, they will provide art supplies to local schools.

The Art Guild has housed its spring show at the Center for the Arts for as long as both Brusig and Davenport can remember.

“I’ve been with the Art Guild for over 12 years, and it was going on since I first started,” Davenport said.

The partnership is important to both organizations because they each serve a different purpose in Glenwood Springs’ vibrant art scene.

“We have worked to maintain this relationship with the Art Guild because they meet a demographic we don’t typically satisfy,” Brusig said. “Our mission is to provide opportunities to enjoy the arts, and we only reach students, typically, so we really like being able to reach this audience.”

The partnership allows the art center to present professional work to the community, and it allows the Art Guild to reach a wider audience.

“They have a different focus,” Davenport said. “They do dance and other arts as well. It gives us another opportunity to show our art in town. And this way, they get a nice show, so they benefit from it as well.”