CRESTONE — From 12-5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, September 22nd and 23rd, 15 Crestone artists will invite the public to share and experience their art for the seventh annual free CrestoneArtists.com Open Studio Tour. 

Before the tour, a free preview reception will take place at Bob’s Place, Friday, September 21st, from 5 to 7 p.m.  Further information and a full tour catalog with downloadable map and images of the artists’ work is accessible at  http://www.crestoneartists.com/crestone-studio-tour-2018.html or as free catalogs at Crestone businesses and many locations throughout the San Luis Valley and Arkansas Valley regions. 

Crestone artists work in a glorious setting of majestic mountains, moody skies, dazzling sunsets and quaking aspen that will just be turning gold.  Theirs is a landscape that startles, unsettles and captivates and can’t fail to inform the work of the artists who live here and refresh those who visit. 

This year’s tour includes the magical tones of found-art artist Rose Burek’s “wind art;” the visionary questing and otherworldly work of painters Blue Starseed, Dom? and Donald Calledare; the expressive and mythic paintings and works on paper of Noah Baen and Jandi Namba that explore and celebrate the human soul as much as the soul of color and paint; the explorations in the texture of grace and mystery in the works of Allison Wonderland and Jane Kwan; the sensuous use of materials in the whimsical and playful works of David Nelson, Stephen “Ish” Futral, Al Sutherland and the late Julie Reinhart-Sutherland; the engagement with nature and mystery in the landscapes of Emmy Savage; the beautifully composed and colorful quilts of Pat Tullos; the ethereal water and ink imagery of Leigha Nicole; and the traditional sculptures of Jeff Beard. The offerings of these artists are sophisticated and exceptional and promise to both deepen and expand their viewers’ perceptions.

The CrestoneArtists.com Open Studio Tour lasts two days, offering visitors a chance to step out of their daily lives and experience art and hospitality at its best and savor the natural world at its most exquisite.  Crestone lodgings that support this year’s tour are: Mystic Mountain Retreat, the Crestone Inn, Lili Zohar’s Creekside Crestone, and the Silver Star Lodge.  Further listings for lodgings may be found at www.crestoneeagle.com. 

Caption: Members of Crestoneartists.com. /Courtesy photo by S.D. Youngwolf