Beaver Creek Galleries
”Powder Puff" - Stephen Boren, Paderewski Fine Art
After five days straight of skiing, I opted for a rest day to explore Beaver Creek.
I had a coffee and a croissant at Vail Mountain Coffee & Tea Co. and FaceTimed my friend Leyla who was on a trip in Mexico City with my ex and his new girlfriend. Update: he’s just as moody and obnoxious as when we broke up (find me a man that doesn’t need therapy - I dare you).
As you may know, I love art, museums, and galleries. My goal for the day was to hit all the ski shops and galleries in town.
I used to hate walking into galleries - I know I can’t afford anything - but now I view them as museums featuring local artists with free tour guides.
First, I stopped in Horton Fine Art. I was drawn to David Riley’s paintings - he uses oil paints and applies brush cleaner in between layers to achieve that spotted look.
After inquiring about David Riley’s technique, I was able to talk to the man working there about his life living in Eagle for the past 17 years. He grew up in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin (we bonded because I went to camp there when I was growing up) and fell into managing his friend’s art business. He and his wife subsequently moved to Colorado, bought a house in Eagle after the 2008 housing crash, and we discussed the inflamed housing prices and school options for his children (ages 11 and 13).
Next door was Tony Newlin’s photography art gallery, and I absolutely loved the color and subjects of his pieces. He also has a gallery in Telluride, has lived and shot subjects in Hawaii, and currently lives in San Diego with his wife after she got a job there as a doctor.
“Beach Bum”
“Fox Triptych”
“Sea Otter Surprise”
I learned that the woman working there was married to the guy next door in Horton’s gallery - small art world!
She went on to share how much Beaver Creek has changed since they had moved there and had kids - Vail owns BC and has been steadily buying real estate from local shopkeepers and putting in large retail stores such as Patagonia and The North Face. She told me to stop into Base Mountain Sports as it was still locally owned, which I did as a palate cleanser before the next gallery.
Once I entered the next store I chatted up the girl working there (don’t judge me, I’m extroverted and everyone claimed they loved talking to me). She was a college student from Argentina working in BC for the winter season.
“This may be a weird question,” I started, “but I’m curious where you live? There are so many people working in Vail and Beaver Creek but I don’t see a lot of housing.”
“Oh my GOD,” she exclaimed. “Okay - so my first month we were 14 people in a two bedroom, the next month we were 11 people in a smaller airbnb, and now we’re in another place but our lease ends at the end of the month so we don’t know where we’re going to be for February. Vail has some employee housing but it’s not enough, so most of us have to figure it out when we get here. It’s annoying because it takes so much of our income, but the US dollar is still strong compared to Argentina.”
She motioned to another guy coming up the stairs.
“There are a lot of us Argentinians, I didn’t know anyone coming up here but I’ve made friends.”
She also let me know that all of the Argentinians working in the resorts were college students, as the resorts typically only give work visas out to those that they know will return to their countries for their studies. (The visa is called “J1” and is apparently a common term in ski resorts.) Besides the currency exchange, the main bonus was that she and all of her colleagues received free lift tickets and rentals for the season.
Next I went into Paderewski Fine Art. I fell in LOVE with Andrew Bolam’s paintings - I adored his wildlife studies in black and white. The girl working there pulled out a previous piece called Nebulous representing a Chief, and explained that the green coloring and large size was hard to find a home for.
She was young - she had recently moved from South Carolina with her boyfriend who worked as an accountant for a real estate firm in town. She had a dual degree in Art History and Business and was thrilled with her job offering, but still babysat for rich people in the area on the side.
“It’s crazy - they’ll pay you $300 a day to watch their kids. One couple I know owns a yacht company so I’m trying to get a gig there next.”
My final stop was C. Anthony Gallery. The woman working there was not as open to conversation at first as the others had been, but I got her to warm up to me.
The first artist I loved was Estella Fransbergen - a sculptor born in South Africa who studied art in the Netherlands. The pieces in the gallery reflected the female form, with sculpted torsos dressed with ballet skirts of wire and gemstones and other natural elements.
The next artist I was mesmerized by was Hamilton Aguiar, a Brazilian-born artist residing in the US. He created these mixed media opticals with his custom-made brush, and also had a fun series of Warhol-esque poppies.
My final obsession was the late sculptor Gib Singleton (1935 - 2014). I was initially drawn by his Giacometti-like style, and the woman working at the gallery was excited to tell me more about him once she realized I had taste.
Considered a modern master, he was humbly raised on a farm in Missouri where his family encouraged to follow his artistic passion. At age 16, he became interested in bronze and built his own foundry using salvaged materials: a steel 55 gallon drum as a furnace and an old vacuum as a blower.
He received his BA from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SUIE), earned a full scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago (!!), went on to earn a Fulbright Scholarship, and used that to study the Renaissance masters at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, Italy.
While he was in Italy, Jackie Kennedy (!!) requested that he assist with the restoration of flood damaged art in Florence.
After being recruited by and working in the Vatican Workshop (!!) where he assisted in the restoration of Michelangelo’s Pieta, Singleton returned to the U.S. He sold his work on the streets of NYC, slept on beaches in Connecticut, and developed his own style termed "Emotional Realism".
"I got the idea of Emotional Realism when I was visiting a museum… I saw art that touched me deeply, and I realized that the emotions I felt were just as real as that piece I saw hanging on the wall. I think the ability to connect with the viewer on that emotional level determines the success of art, or music or literature." (Singleton)
His Western and Biblical sculptures have been shown in major museums including (but not limited to) MoMA in New York, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., Yad Vashem in Israel, and the Vatican Museum in Rome.
Fun fact about the Adam and Eve on the far right, she’s holding the infamous apple behind her back and that’s what Adam is gazing at.
If anyone wants to buy me his book “Opening the Heart: The Life and Art of Gib Singleton” I’ll love you forever and know that you made it to the end.
Thanks for reading!
