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Friday’s First Artwalk to feature hope, ice cream at the Depot

Artist Jeanne Schneider’s "'Hope' is the Thing With Feathers" is a tribute to Emily Dickinson’s view of how hope resides in the human soul. Eighteen artists will be represented at the Depot Art Center on Friday, where ice cream will be served with the exhibit "Hope is an Ice Cream Float."
Frances Hohl

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Steamboat Creates is hoping to make First Friday Artwalk a little sweeter than usual. The Depot Art Center on 13th Street across from Bud Werner Memorial Library is the home of Steamboat Creates, which will be serving ice cream at its exhibit, “Hope is an Ice Cream Float.” Steamboat Creates is a nonprofit that promotes the area’s creative sector.

The First Friday Artwalk occurs the first Friday of every month at galleries, cafes and various businesses in downtown Steamboat Springs, as well as a virtual component at steamboatcreates.org/first-friday-artwalk.

This month, Steamboat Creates invited 18 artists to exhibit art that represents hope at a time when the country faces so much uncertainty as it suffers from a pandemic. The show will be held outside to allow social distancing, and people are encouraged to drop by for an ice cream float or sundae.



Art lovers will be able to tell that local artist Jeanne Schneider took her assignment to heart when they see her works at the Depot for the artwalk.

She combined her love of Emily Dickinson’s poem “Hope is the Thing with Feathers” with her love of watercolor and encaustic art, creating a piece with a birds nest surrounded by feathers. It includes layers of colored wax and floss delicately embedded over one of her watercolor paintings.



“When they said the exhibition was about hope, I thought of that poem. …
‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers/ That perches in the soul/ And sings the tune without the words,’” said Schneider.

Indeed, literary scholars say Dickinson wrote the poem to honor the human capacity for hope, portraying it as a bird that lives within the human soul.

“Layers of Hope” mixed media by artist Kim Keith will be part of the First Friday Artwalk Depot Art Center exhibit “Hope is an Ice Cream Float.”
Frances Hohl

Art fans enjoying the “Hope is an Ice Cream Float” exhibit will also be treated to a number of mediums, including photography, oil paintings, wood working and more.

There also will be a Wishing Tree at the Depot.

“If people want to share their stories of hope with us, that would be amazing,” said Steamboat Creates Development Director Dagny McKinley. “We’ll give you a little slip of paper to write on to hang up on the Wishing Tree.”

If you go

What: First Friday Artwalk exhibit “Hope is an Ice Cream Float”
When: 5 to 8 p.m. Friday
Where: The Depot Art Center, 1001 13th St.

Frances Hohl is a contributing writer for Steamboat Pilot & Today.


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