SNOWMASS SCENE: Arts open house whirlwind of fun

Follow the yellow lit road to find the wizards of art at Anderson Ranch’s Holiday Open House, from 5 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 16. It’s a combination of an exhibition reception, an art studio tour and a holiday bazaar.

Free and open to the community, this annual event is a holiday party celebrating the 14 artists-in-residence, whose 10-week stay at the Ranch is coming to an end. It also features the talents of the staff artists, who make the arts center the success it is.

Start in the galleries, and with a glass of wine in one hand and a savory snack in the other, walk through the rooms to see paintings, prints, photographs, furniture, sculptures and ceramic wares.

Each one of these works of art is a manifestation of someone’s inner creative process. There will be at least one piece that will give the viewer a visceral reaction from awe and wonder to dislike and confusion.

This reaction can be a starting point for those who want to understand art and the artists who have spent the past two months creating the works that hang and stand in the galleries. After leaving the exhibition, follow the flickering luminaries to the studios and find the artist whose work inspired a reaction and talk to them about their work.

In the printmaking studio, Joel Seah’s work table and walls are filled with his fascination with the gay mystique and the artistic prints by Audubon, Durer and Goya. The theme for his residency is desire and the democratic image.

“I’m into language. It’s very slippery. It converges and diverges and that tells us a lot about who we are. Language provided a past, present and future dialogue,” he said.

Language is what makes his paper tole abs series come alive. Using Durer’s engravings of the crucifixion of Christ as a starting point and specifically the abdomen of the suffering Christ, he created three-dimensional images from duplicates of the original flat print.

Originating in the West in the 16th century, as a way to duplicate oriental tole and lacquer-ware, paper tole is a unique format for the modern printmaker, but it is Seah’s addition of language that makes his work witty and funny while it provokes reactions from the viewer.

“The art of paper tole is very democratic. It was used as a pastime at Marie Antoinette’s court and as a way to reuse old Christmas cards during the Great Depression,” he said.

Originally from Singapore, Seah grew up in New York City when his family moved there to open a bank. He returned to Singapore for high school, junior college and a stint in the Singapore Air Force. He finished undergraduate studies in Alabama and got his MFA. from Syracuse University and is currently Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Southern Maine.

For those who find the cracked, parched appearance of Michael Wein’s pottery interesting, look for him in the ceramics studio. Global warming and the on-going drought in his home nation are a source of inspiration for this potter who comes from Nelson Bay, north of Sidney, Australia.

A coal miner, until the mine closed seven years ago, he took up pottery 25 years ago as a way of dealing with the stress at his job and continued after his early retirement.

“I took up pottery to calm my nerves. Raku is my specialty. It took me 15 years to develop the glazes. My raku is completely unique,” he said as he showed off some pieces of raku that sparkled with a metallic and jeweled effect.

Self-taught through reading books by the Japanese masters, he is looking forward to meeting Takashi Nakazato, a Japanese National Treasure, who is due for his annual winter sojourn to the Ranch as a visiting artist.

“It will be one of the joys of my life to meet Nakazato. Anderson Ranch has given me the pleasure of enjoying my craft and developing new lines of work and to learn soda firing,” he said.

Wein makes ergonomically engineered domestic ware including user friendly cups and no-drip teapots, which allows him to create his artistic passions which are driven by textures.

“I couldn’t believe my luck at being chosen out of 300 applicants to become a resident at the Ranch. I feel very privileged. The air here is fresh and clean, the food is great and the facilities have the best wheels and kilns that I’ve ever seen. All you have to do is create. There is no pressure. That’s the beautiful part of being here,” he added.

Very prolific during his stay in Snowmass Village, Wein’s studio tables are laden with functional pottery and his artistic pieces. Because it’s impractical to ship all that he produced at the Ranch back to Australia, he will be selling his ceramic pieces at reasonable prices.



Art for sale

That’s one of the best parts of the open studios tours of the Holiday Open House at the Ranch. Many of the residents, especially those in ceramics, have a lot of things for sale. It’s the perfect time to buy those last-minute holiday gifts.

In the woodworking studio, Scott Trimble, who studied sculpture at San Jose State as an undergraduate and got his MFA from the University of Washington in Seattle, has been weaving with wood.

“My work is site-specific, physically interactive installation art. Modular components that can be arranged in a variety of ways depending on the site. I came to the Ranch with a vague idea of creating woven boardwalks,” he said.

He is preparing for a show in Seattle after residency and has to ship the pieces back there. This left him with a dilemma of how he could ship his large works back to Seattle.

Since necessity is the mother of invention, he decided that his work had to be modular so that it would be easier to ship. His studio at the Ranch is full of small prototypes and stacks of modular pieces to show the progress of his inspiration.

Printmaker Hi Uan Kang Haaga came to work on her own printmaking skills as a resident, but she also became involved in the Ranch’s outreach program at Yampa Mountain High School in Glenwood Springs.

While teaching printmaking to students there, she also took their photos and has incorporated their images using pronto plates, a form of photo lithography, onto blocks to create the block puzzles from childhood.

Born in Korea, she grew up in Portugal and Spain. She recently received her MFA from Washington University in St. Louis and was interested in finding a residency.

“I thought it would be a good thing to transition from graduate school to the next thing. I’ll be going to the Vermont Studio for a two- to three-week residency after this and then I’ll move to Korea with my husband. It’s been sweet being here. The people and facilities are really amazing,” she said.

Like Joel Seah, she likes to incorporate text into her work. Her undergraduate degree from Houghton College was in Sculpture/Ceramics and English Literature.

She likes to layer her work with words and images.

“I like layering because experiences layer upon each other to create understanding. I always see layers in life. It’s beautiful when you understand the layers,” she said.

Seah, Wein, Trimble and Kang Haaga are only four of the 14 artists who were honored with the privilege of spending two–and–a– half months at Anderson Ranch this fall. All of them are willing to share their own stories and their own inspirations for creating their art.

The Anderson Ranch Holiday Open House is a great way to meet the artists in a festive atmosphere, to check out the studios and to bring home handmade works of art.