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Colorado Photographic Arts Center (CPAC) is celebrating the opening of their new gallery space at 1200 Lincoln Street in Denver. As part of their opening, 30 CPAC members were chosen to exhibit their work at the new gallery. Two of our VVAG photographers, Raj Manickam and Raymond Bleesz, were among the 30 CPAC members selected for this special exhibit which features "the best contemporary photography from Colorado and across the country". The exhibition will be open through August 12, 2023. To learn more about CPAC and to preview images of the exhibition click the button below. Congratulations to Tara Novak, of ARTSPaCE and EagleARTS, who is featured in the July 14-20 Vail Daily edition of ART weekly. You can read the article in the print edition of ART weekly or on the online edition.

The first ever Eagle County Veterans' Art Show is now on display at the Vail Public Library for the entire month of July (during normal library hours). Jacki Allen-Benson, a Vietnam Era Marine, VVAG member, and Assistant Veterans Services Officer for Eagle County, devoted the July Vail Library Exhibit to showcasing Veteran Art. Next time you go to Vail be sure to stop at the library to check out this beautiful show! The following Veterans are on display: Dennis Baniewicz, Jacquie Benson, Raymond Bleesz, Mio Cirkovic, Cecil Frank Clement, Moses Gonzales, Pat Hammon, Steve Hilbert, E. Irene Olive, Allen Peterson, Richard Surette, Norm Vogel & Robert Will. An Artists’ Reception is scheduled for July 16th, from 12pm to 5pm at the Vail Public Library. This show is made possible by the Vail Valley Art Guild in partnership with the Vail Public Library & Eagle County Veterans Services. Vail Public Library July 01 – July 31 292 W Meadow Drive, Vail, CO 81657, USA

Our first workshop of 2023, at ARTSPaCE in Eagle, was amazing! We had so much fun! Christian is a wonderful instructor - funny, encouraging, gracious, talented... We started out the day introducing ourselves. Afterwards, we watched a demonstration on how to sketch shapes, any shape that spoke to the individual. Once we had sketched for about 45 minutes or so, we moved on to filling in a small square with the shapes we had drawn earlier - overlapping them to fill the square and creating new shapes. Then we had another demonstration showing how to fill the various spaces with dark, medium and no shading to create an image with depth and forming more new spaces within the image. After a wonderful lunch from Red Canyon Café (thank you Joann for ordering for all of us), we started painting on our canvases and eventually painting black lines using our sketched shapes. Every step of the way, we had a demonstration and then went back and worked on our own paintings. It is amazing how just using three colors (unbleached titanium white, black and a color of your choice) can produce such an intricate piece of work with different tints and shades to fill in between the painted lines. Lastly, we started painting over our canvases to create a shape over the original, constantly working back and forth, sometimes re-adding our black lines, sometimes covering entire sections. I think I can speak for everyone at the workshop when I say that we had a great time!!!

As written in an email by Raymond Bleesz (06/17/2023) Today, at 9 am, with a slight drizzle & indications of clear weather to the West, we met at CMC—those being Laura Moore, Laurie Brower, Mark who was standing in for Soodi, Ellen and myself. We travelled up 131 to the Colo Rd cutoff, the road being somewhat muddy at that point, and into the Horse Rescue Ranch site where there were a good number of other vehicles—volunteers who came to help out with ranch chores, a good number of younger people as well as kids. After an introduction, those in attendance signed paper work, and one automatically became a future volunteer if one chose to do so. Chores included putting horse manure in buckets from the various stalls and which was then picked up by a ATV/trailer & hauled off to a dumping site. One could, if one desired, drive this combo to the dumping site as a volunteer experience. Enclosed are some pictures of the event and of various sightings this photographer saw. It was an enjoyable event as the weather cleared up and to the West the sun broke out giving a nice “horsey” feeling . Note: There will be other “volunteer” days going into the summer. So if you cancelled perhaps to the inclement weather or had other responsibilities, then there will be another opportunity. Further Note: This would be an opportunity for the Guild to build a “relationship” with this horse rescue organization. It certainly gives one an opportunity to get down to the ranching heritage, where the horse has been the historical animal of the West. Raymond A. Bleesz Photographer/Histographer VVAGP Co Founder CPAC Member Since 1976 To learn more about Mountain Valley Horse Rescue visit https://www.mountainvalleyhorserescue.com/

Several VVAG Members toured the Powers Art Center in Carbondale, Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, and Aspen Art Museum in Aspen, on Thursday, June 8th. The Powers Art Center is a museum dedicated to contemporary art. The views from the museum alone are stunning. Their newest exhibits are Seasons of Change - Works by Jasper Johns exploring the fragility of the passage of time and American Pop Art - Works by Robert Rauschenberg, Tom Wesselmann, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist and Claes Oldenburg. To learn more about these exhibits and the Powers Art Center visit www.powersartcenter.org Members also visited and ate lunch at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center. The Ranch has an outdoor sculpture exhibition, the ArtWorks Store, Gallery and Café. Several of our own VVAG members have painted at the Ranch. The Ranch has lectures and visiting artists through out the year, so to learn more visit www.andersonranch.org Thank you Joann Carhart Levy for taking and sharing photos of the trip!

Thank you to the Eagle Chamber of Commerce Board and members and the VVAG Board and members who came to our Ribbon Cutting Ceremony yesterday afternoon. It was a great event! Thank you to Beth Levine for signing and giving away her posters of Broadway Street-Eagle-Colorado historic buildings to all that were in attendance. Thank you also to Sweet Mustache for the delectable desserts! They were beautiful and delicious.

Pick up your free copy of Vail Valley Magazine at news stands around the valley to read about two of our VVAG members featured in this edition! "Fix Your Gaze for a Journey into the Unknown - Bev Ruiz takes and imparts a fresh adventure with every blank canvas" "Inspired by Mother Nature - Tara Novak finds beauty in geological transformations"

Visit the Gypsum Public Library during the month of June to see the latest VVAG member exhibit by Artist Chris Sena. Visitors will not only be inspired by the many different media that Chris exhibits, but also be educated about how the media differ from each other. Don't miss this opportunity to see this exceptional exhibit! Thank you the Eagle Valley Library District for supporting our mission of "Creating exhibition and gallery opportunities for local visual artists" and "Building awareness of the artistic talent in the Vail Valley"!

We have a new way to share events that are happening in the Guild. Every month we will post Events already on our VVAG website calendar onto the Vail Daily Digital Calendar! Just click on the link below and save it to your favorites/bookmarks so you can always look for upcoming events! Vail Daily Entertainment Calendar link

Check out the article from the Vail Daily about VVAG members - "The Wells Family" and their May Gypsum Public Library Exhibit https://www.vaildaily.com/news/elke-and-brian-wells-showcase-artwork-at-the-gypsum-public-library/

In collaboration with the Gypsum Public Library, Guild member Chris Sena will present her process of creating art using different mediums.

In collaboration with the Gypsum Public Library, Guild members Elke & Brian Wells will present their art & photography.