ALAMOSA — The San Luis Valley Health Regional Medical Center in Alamosa is continuing its long history of supporting the arts with its most recent exhibition on the second floor Artrium. Local artists Susan McCullough Rogers, Coni Grant and David Montgomery are displaying around two dozen paintings and are inviting the public to a reception from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 23, in the Artrium. Easy access to the Artrium is from the hospital south entrance and up to the second floor.

Rogers, Grant and Montgomery have been part of the SLV art scene for decades and have painted together outdoors (also known as plein air) periodically. They exhibited together in Estes Park, Taos, Salida, Durango and throughout the SLV. The trio has also shown in the hospital several times and have artwork in the SLV Medical Center permanent collection which is on the walls throughout the hospital.

Rogers grew up in Colorado. In her younger years, she lived in Sterling and in her mid-teens moved to the San Luis Valley. She now lives beside the Rio Grande outside of Monte Vista.

Rogers has the passion and determination to paint outdoors in all seasons and conditions. She uses her plein air landscapes to embark on a studio painting adventure, using inspiration from the small paintings to push color and design into large studio paintings.

She belongs to New Mexico Plein Air Painters-Signature Member, Plein Air Artists Colorado, Oil Painters of America and American Impressionist Society. Roger’s artwork is featured at Wilder Nightingale Fine Arts in Taos and by appointment at her home studio. Her website is SusanMcCullough.com.

Grant is a life-long artist and has painted and taught painting in the San Luis Valley for over 20 years. Plein air painting has been her greatest source of inspiration. After a career in advertising and graphic design, primarily in San Francisco, she devoted herself to painting full-time and in 2006 earned a M.A. in Painting from Adams State University in Alamosa.

She works out of the Plein View Studio in Alamosa, paints full time and teaches painting classes through the Alamosa Rec Center. She also travels to teach workshops and classes in Colorado, New Mexico and California. Art associations include Plein Air Artists Colorado, Plein Air Painters New Mexico, Spanish Peaks Arts Council and is a founding member of San Luis Valley Painters.

Grant's work can be seen in Colorado at Earthwood Gallery in Estes Park, at Jacales Fine Art in San Luis, Greenstone Artworks in Westcliffe Colorado, and in Taos at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art. See more work at her website www.ConiGrant.com or on Instagram @Conigrant.

Montgomery has been a fixture in the Alamosa art scene, beginning in 1976, when he opened the first fine art gallery in Alamosa with Stephen Crawford. He is an Alamosa High School graduate, received a BFA in painting from CSU and enrolled in post-graduate studies at Adams State University.

Montgomery was commissioned by the City of Alamosa in 2022 and created a mural in Centennial Park which is on State Avenue between Main and 6th Street, downtown Alamosa. He continues to celebrate, by painting the stupendous scenery in and around the SLV.

Montgomery’s paintings can be seen in Creede at the Rare Things Too Gallery, at Two Old Crows Gallery in Pagosa Springs, Firedworks Gallery in Alamosa and currently at the Roast also in Alamosa. He continues to create out of his downtown Alamosa studio in the historic Masonic Building.

Montgomery is a member of Plein Air Artists of Colorado and Plein Air Painters of New Mexico. His website is DavidMontgomeryPaintings.com.