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Fall means Art Festival, football for Arlene Law

April E. Clark
Post Independent Staff
Post Independent / April E. ClarkArlene Law, seen here with one of her award-winning acrylic on tissue mixed media submissions in this year's Fall Art Festival, is a charter member of the Glenwood Springs Art Guild and a die-hard Denver Broncos fan.
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Not many things can distract Arlene Law from her lifelong love of art.

Except maybe a Denver Broncos game.

The Glenwood Springs Art Guild charter member spends approximately 100 hours during the week of the Fall Art Festival coordinating the 43-year-old event. But if a Broncos game takes place on the Sunday of the festival, watch out ” she’ll find a way to catch the game.



“She’s an enormous sports fan. She can tell you all the names of the Broncos and the Rockies,” said Portia Griefenberg, Law’s longtime friend and a fellow member of the Art Guild. ” The only time she gets distracted at the art show is when the Broncos game is on. She’ll walk around with her headphones on. She’ll sit and paint and watch the

games at home.”



From football to hockey, sports of all genres appeal to Law. She is a fan of both professional and college sports, and is well known in the area for supporting Glenwood Springs High School athletics ” even after her five children graduated.

“I love the Broncos, I have season tickets. I’m crazy about them,” said Law, a Minnesota native who came to Glenwood Springs more than 40 years ago when her husband, Doc, established a dental office here. “I love the Rockies, and then there’s the Avalanche and the Nuggets. I’ve been a supporter of Glenwood football and basketball for years.”

Along with sports, Law said she has been a fan of the arts for as long as she can remember. She would draw characters from comic books as a child.

“I have always drawn ” I don’t ever remember not wanting to draw,” said the University of Minnesota art major. “I sat in school and drew, and maybe I did my lessons too. Art is it, it’s all I want to do.”

Since helping start the Art Guild and the Fall Art Festival in the early ’60s, Law has flourished as a successful acrylic painter and mixed media artist. She has won numerous festival honors and graced the fronts of multiple Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association community greeting cards.

“I do oils and watercolors, and I like acrylic on tissue paper. I usually paint at night, working with photographs from the (Frontier) Historical Society. I paint while I watch games,” said Law, who doesn’t do portraits and will refer people to other artists when asked to do so. “I like nostalgic subjects and clowns. I also do a lot of still-life-type work. I hate antiques ” I don’t even have any in my home ” but I do these paintings with antiques and old, classic trucks.”

Law said she and between 15 and 20 other artists created the guild and the festival after a painting class they were taking in the valley.

“There was no artsy-type group in Glenwood Springs. We were fairly naive when we started the Fall Art Festival. Paintings could be wet when entered. I didn’t even enter the first year,” said Law. “I think it’s a great thing for the community. We keep striving for people to be able to show their art. We’ve been known as the best-kept secret in the valley.”

Griefenberg said Law and other charter members have helped the festival grow into a highly regarded event that attracts artists from around the state.

“Arlene has always been the nuts, bolts, glory and doer of all at the art show,” said Griefenberg, registration chair for the Fall Art Festival. “She knows everybody and everything about the show, and she works all year long.”

Not only did participation in the Art Guild spark the close friendship between Griefenberg and Law, but motherhood played a factor as well.

“I would consider her my best friend. I have two best friends in the area and she is one of them,” Griefenberg said. “I found out after we started painting together that she has five children and I have five. Sally Thompson is another Art Guild member who has five children. We kind of laugh because some of the hardest-working members are the ones with the most children.”

While raising a family and painting have always been priorities to Law, the importance of cheering on her favorite teams ” and players ” can never be underestimated.

“I got to see John Elway inducted into the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. I went with my son and my grandson,” she said. “It was better than seeing the ‘Mona Lisa.'”

Contact April E. Clark: 945-8515, ext. 518

aclark@postindependent.com

Name: Arlene Law

Family information: Husband, Doc Law, five children, 17 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren

Home state: Minnesota

How long have you lived in Glenwood: forever

Something interesting about you: I got to see John Elway inducted into the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.


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