A film about wolf reintroduction, a one-on-one creative coaching program for youth and a coffee table book highlighting Carbondale are among the projects made possible by this year’s Carbondale Arts Artist Fellowship Program.

This year, Carbondale Arts, supported by the Wolfpack Foundation and anonymous donors, awarded $12,000 in fellowships to help the passion projects of six local creatives — Anders Carlson, Gabriela Mejia, Andrea Orrego, Zuleika Pevec, Jill Scher and Sweet Jessup and the Dirty Buckets — come to life. 

Their projects range from films to textile art and books. Orrego plans to create a coffee table book that puts Carbondale creatives in the spotlight, while Pevec will use the funds to support her creative writing. Fiber artist Scher will create a clothing line and submit it to the Carbondale Arts Fashion Show and local band Sweet Jessup and the Dirty Buckets will record its first full-length album. 

Each maker will share updates throughout the year, culminating in a final presentation in the summer of 2026, according to a news release from Carbondale Arts. 

Through a compelling creative film, Carbondale-based filmmaker Anders Carlson plans to explore the human relationship with fear and change while sparking community dialogue about a contentious state-wide issue — Colorado’s reintroduction of gray wolves. 

Inspired by a conversation with John Hughes from the Sacred Wolf Foundation, Carlson’s vision of the project shifted from a documentary-style piece exploring how wolves are being reintegrated into the Colorado wilderness to what the predators represent. 

“This project is going to be more of an artistic creation that is looking to investigate this opportunity for us to learn about the wolf and investigate how the wolf came to be portrayed more as an adversary — something to be afraid of,” Carlson said. “From my research and what I’m understanding…the stories of the wolf emerged from eastern Russian folklore and the wolf used to be a helper of the hero, of the people, a guide, if you will, rather than something to be afraid of. That’s what I hope to do with this story.”

The Carbondale Arts fellowship will pay for actors for Carlson’s film, as well as camera equipment and a week of filming around the valley. Currently in the writing and research phase, Carlson has yet to solidify his entire budget, but hopes he will have enough funding to also create a wolf costume for the film.

For his final presentation, Carlson plans to host film screenings throughout the valley followed by guided discussions led by diverse community members.

“Any chance we have to engage in a real dialogue and conversation with those who have a different worldview and story and history than ourselves is super valuable,” Carlson said. “I think that the wolf presents us with that opportunity here in our local community, so that’s why I think it’s important.

“The reality of having those dialogues is — because I feel like I’m an optimist and I’m a visionary and I want to see into a future where multiple different ideologies and political spectrums are all welcomed — that there can be some kind of harmony,” he added. “That’s why I think it’s important to have these community dialogues.”

Another fellowship recipient, Gabriela Mejia, a resident artist at the youth program Stepping Stones of the Roaring Fork Valley, plans to use her grant in a very different, but equally compelling fashion — to expand her one-on-one creative coaching program. 

A multidisciplinary creative who also resides in Carbondale, Mejia’s coaching program intertwines her passion for teaching with her diverse artistic and musical skills.

“I want to provide (my students) with everything that I’ve been taught and all the education that I’ve had in the art world,” Mejia said. “I want to share that, and provide the skills that I have developed as an artist, so that they have that opportunity to grow faster than in this school environment.”

Through one or two hour-long weekly lessons, Mejia’s students delve back into the basics of art, rebuilding their skills from the foundation up and improving their portfolios. 

 “We get really focused on the fundamentals of art, and we basically focus on shading, on perspective, on life drawing, and still life drawing as well,” Mejia said. “The focus is really the skeletal system of art and being able to make things look 3D, make them look real and understanding that art is mainly about observation — when we can advance our eye when we’re looking at something, it can help us to translate that onto paper.”

Particularly focused on attracting students from immigrant and other underserved communities, Mejia offers her program in Spanish as well as English and teaches all ages, not just youths.

“​It’s an opportunity for them to gain confidence, especially in the art field,” Mejia said. “Because Carbondale is a creative district, I really want to inspire the bilingual community to feel that they have opportunities for them to expand their creative endeavors and dreams. 

“Especially as the youth are here, I would love to provide them with inspiration for them to really think that an art career is definitely possible and with the right skills and the right mentorship, they’ll be able to be successful in that,” she added.

Mejia plans to use her grant money to expand her program’s marketing and offer scholarships that will cover half of her program’s tuition. 

“It brings me joy to be able to share the knowledge that I carry. I feel it as a mission and a purpose to be able to pass down everything that I’ve been taught,” Mejia said. “I’m just so grateful to be able to work with the youth, because they are so malleable, that to inspire them through art and through creative pursuits can help them to expand into more of a confident person and a creative individual, so that they can also see that being in the art field can be fun and lucrative.”
Those interested in one-on-one creative coaching with Mejia should contact her at artistgema@gmail.com