The Valley Visual Arts Show at Carbondale's Launchpad is celebrating its 46th year running. Artists from across the Valley are invited to submit their pieces, and there is no criteria for medium or theme, making VVA their most varied and unpredictable showcase. Brian Colley is the gallery manager for Carbondale Arts, and for him, this is the most exciting gallery all year.
[We have] a few glass artists, we have printmakers, painters. There's a piece by Kat Rich with textiles and shoes and fabric. We have just one stained glass piece this year. Rachel Menke is a new artist to us, [she] made this beautiful painting on a Cow skull, which is something she's done for a long time. There's a piece by Denise Lopez Aleman. Her piece called Trascender has embroidery. I don't know if you can see it in this picture, but there's some embroidery coming off from the dragonflies."
There are 62 pieces on display, and a showcase of that size is the challenge. For the past several years, the submission process has been first come, first serve.
It fills up fast, even though some artists who may be eligible aren't applying.
"So technically, this show is open to anyone living in a zip code starting with 816. goes all the way out to Meeker, but I think our marketing probably only covers between Aspen and Rifle and Crystal Valley, Frying Pan River Valley. So it mostly is Roaring Fork Valley I would say, but there's some beyond."
For future shows, Colley hopes there could be some local collaboration to provide more opportunity and more space.
"Maybe in the future we could partner with somebody and make it a bigger space. Maybe for the 50th. In the past we used to do kind of a salon style of hanging, which means you're hanging art all over the walls. Like, if you go to a museum in Paris and they have the artwork from floor to ceiling, that's a salon. And maybe someday it'd be fun to just cram the gallery with all the art.
The energy that we have in this valley certainly lends itself to that kind of hanging where you just celebrate everything and anything you can. Especially for this show, it's such a great introduction. I think if you've never shown your work anywhere, this is a great opportunity for that. Yeah, I love this show so much."
The show is free and open to the public during the Launchpad's business hours.
There is also an opportunity to vote on your favorite piece to win the People's Choice Award.
