Last Friday night was the opening reception for the Fort Collins Studio Tour Preview Exhibition at the Lincoln Center. There are over 60 artists participating in this year’s studio tour which will be happening this coming Sat/Sun June 22 and 23 from 10am-5pm both days, and many of them were in attendance at the opening.
Fort Collins Studio Tour Preview Exhibition Opening Reception
Since the whole idea of the Preview exhibition is to give the public a chance to see the work of participating artists (and to meet many of the artists in person at the opening) while also planning out their route to take to go see all the studios during the weekend tour, I thought it would be fun to share the artists and their art with you, so you can have a virtual preview of the tour:
I snagged photos of as many artists and their work as I could corral during the opening – Heather Matthews (Parsley Art Studio), Jennifer Davey, Nanci Erskine, Bonnie Lebesch, Barbara Gilhooly, Mary Harnett, Gwen Hatchette, Amelia Caruso, Maggie “Queen of Farkle” Kunze, Les Sunde (Swampgas & Gossamer), Sibyl Stork, Shelly Hearne, and Chris Bates – click on their names to visit their websites and check out more of their art.
It was fun seeing familiar faces as well as meeting some new artists during the reception, and equally great to see the range of great work that everyone is doing.
One new artist friend, Les Sunde was exhibiting his “Whimcycle”, a functioning cycle created from many rusty parts. As the story goes, it has a megaphone opening in the back into which people can laugh, the laughter flowing through the metal tubing and being captured and stored in the container on the back of the vehicle. Then Les rides his Whimcycle to an area of town where there is some sadness, he turns the crank handle on the side of the Whimcycle which spins the propeller on top, spreading out all that stored up laughter – sweet, huh? Les and his cabinet of wonder known as “Swampgas and Gossamer” are located at 218 Pine St, down in Old Town Ft Collins – certain to be one of the “must see” stops on the tour.
Artist Les Sunde and his "Whimcycle"
And really, he’s just one example of all the cool artists that will be opening their studios to the public this weekend. If you’re in town, treat your soul to some great art and artists this weekend. It’s a good idea to stop by the Lincoln Center preview show, grab your map and plan your route.
I think Les said it best when we met Friday night, “We (artists) all allowed this work to happen, then we put it in this room all together. And this is really Big!”
He’s right, this is really Big.
It’s what to do this weekend- 2 days, over 40 studios and 60 artists – Enjoy it!
So enjoyed your post, Ayn! Thanks for including me in the mix. I how you and Barbara have a great weekend!
-Heather
Hi Heather, it was great to talk with you at the opening – I really enjoy your work and look forward to seeing more of it. We had a really wonderful weekend and hope you had an equally good time as well.