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Artists of all ages and styles featured in Carbondale’s First Friday event

Staff Report

Carbondale continues its monthly First Friday events today with art openings, shopping, food and music along Main Street.The Carbondale Clay Center dinnerware show opens from 6-8 p.m. today, featuring 18 valley artists with a variety of styles. The gallery is also open on Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.The Floral Boutique is hosting a reception for Marta Parker and her creative art form, “Wall Words.””Marta can decorate the walls in any room with witty or meaningful sayings, either your own or from a vast repository,” Floral Boutique owner Lori Haroutunian said.Other shops and galleries along Main Street will feature later hours as part of the First Fridays celebration.Also, four emerging artists – all recent high school graduates and Roaring Fork valley natives – will be featured at the Carbondale Council on Arts and Humanities gallery, with an opening reception from 6-8 p.m. today. Works by Jesse Gilmer, Leo Johnson and Will Laemmel from Yampah Mountain High School, and Crystal Wanner, of Roaring Fork High, will be displayed throughout the month.Gilmer was born and raised in the Roaring Fork Valley. His art centers on religious idolatry and quasi-macabre anatomy works using multiple mediums including pencil, pen, oil pastel, oil paints and paper maché. Along with visual art, Gilmer was involved in the dramatic productions at Yampah.Johnson, of Glenwood Springs, is studying at Colorado Mountain College and works at Paradise Art Glass with glass artist Shannon Muse. He has also worked with valley artists Bill Morrow and Mike Lindsay. His artistic goal is to create something that leaves the viewer with a vivid mental image without using any literal metaphors.”Works of art should ask many questions but supply none of the answers,” he said. “That’s the responsibility of the viewer.” Laemmel, who said he has been creating art since he can remember, is a valley native who lives in Carbondale. Art not only allows him to create his personal representation of the world, but keeps him sane, he said. Laemmel is also a musician, skateboarder, snowboarder and enjoys creating what he calls “grotesque political propaganda.” He plans to attend art school next year.A self-described demanding student, Wanner came to Carbondale at the age of two months. During her senior year at Roaring Fork High, she was able to spend an “absurd” amount of time in the art room, thanks to Cathleen McCourt, her art teacher, she said. Wanner attends the University of Colorado, majoring in art. She is a CCAH scholarship recipient, along with two additional scholarships.Refreshments and libations will be served at the three art opening receptions. Call 963-1680 for information.


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