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Steamboat Springs Arts Council presents 7th annual All Arts Festival next week

Audrey Dwyer
Steve Boynton performed as part of the Steve Boynton Trio at the Yampa River Botanic Park as part of the Strings Music Festival’s Music on the Green. Concerts similar to this will be offered during this year's 7th annual All Arts Festival.
John F. Russell

New All Arts Festival events

Cruiser Gallery Tour happy hour and brunch

When: 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 13 and 10 a.m., Friday, Aug. 14

Where: Depot Art Center, 1001 13th St.

Open Air Studios

When: 5 to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday

Where: Steamboat Floral, Ciao Gelato, Steamboat Smokehouse, Steamboat Art Company and the Jewelry & Fossil Shop Of Steamboat

Creative Mixology

When: 5:30 to 7 p.m., Friday, Aug. 14

Where: Depot Art Center, 1001 13th St





Steve Boynton performed as part of the Steve Boynton Trio at the Yampa River Botanic Park as part of the Strings Music Festival’s Music on the Green. Concerts similar to this will be offered during this year’s 7th annual All Arts Festival.
John F. Russell

— A wildly creative and intriguing force is about to commence in Steamboat Springs next week.

Blending the arts in all forms, the seventh annual All Arts Fest will begin Monday and continue throughout the week until Sunday. Not only will the festival encompass the visual arts, it will engage all of the senses with live music, theater performances, workshops and events.

Under new leadership from the Steamboat Springs Arts Council, the festival will include new events this year.



One of those is the Cruiser Gallery Tour that will offer a guided tour of six downtown galleries led by the All Arts Festival’s distinguished visiting artist, Nancy Friese. Working with outdoor landscapes for over three decades, Friese has been invited to reputable locations to paint on-site including the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, Long Island, and Monet’s gardens in Giverny, France.

“Students are so interesting because they have a whole different take on things,” Friese said. “I still learn a lot just by conversing with them when they share what they know and think. In Steamboat, I think we will have a good time no matter what because we will all be meeting new people who want to paint and look at art.”



The happy hour tour will take place at 5:30 p.m. Thursday starting at the Depot Art Center, and the brunch tour will start at 10 a.m. Friday at the same location. Friese, who is a working artist and teacher of 25 years at the distinguished Rhode Island School of Design, will also lead painting workshops and lectures throughout the week.

Each day of the week, artists of different mediums will set up an “open air studio” in front of five downtown businesses that include Steamboat Floral, Ciao Gelato, Steamboat Smokehouse, Steamboat Art Company and the Jewelry & Fossil Shop Of Steamboat. The local artists will represent the literary arts, performance arts, music, visual and culinary arts.

Then at 5:30 p.m. Friday, each of those art genres will bring a sampling of their work to Depot Art Center for the newly added Creative Mixology event, which will offer something a little extra and unexpected to the week’s festivities with performances, music, culinary demonstations, craft cocktails and a display of visual art.

“It is a very different event,” SSAC Executive Director Kim Keith said. “One of the things we are about as an organization is representing all art forms, and this All Arts Festival is who we are. What we do everyday represents all of these different art forms, so we thought we should bring it all together as a celebration of all the different genres of art under the SSAC who represents those arts.”

Keith said the All Arts Festival gives artists opportunity to create without restrictions and allows the community to watch all the art forms blend together and see what happens.

The Yampa River Art Stroll, which will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15 and Sunday, Aug. 16, will be in a new location this year on Yampa Street downtown. The stroll is a juried display of art vendor,s and this year will feature Blue-Chip Artists.

This particular group of artists is known for their high-caliber talent in creating fine art in many forms like sculptures, glass blowing and jewelry made with precious stones. Standing next to these artists, Keith said, will be a representatives of Steamboat’s art community with local artists “coming out of the woodwork” to showcase their craft.

“People have been creating in barns and cabins, and it hasn’t been celebrated,” Keith said. “This All Arts Festival gives us a chance to say ‘look at what people are doing here.’ This allows us to really celebrate all art forms that are being produced here in our little rural town. It’s so exciting.”

Be on the lookout for…

• Chris Botti: Award-winning trumpet player. Botti will be headlining the Strings Music Festival show on Wednesday, Aug. 12.

• Literary Bulk: Off the Beaten Path will have a Local Author Showcase where authors will share excerpts from their new books and will discuss their inspirations from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12.

• Stumble Upon: Open air studios will be set up at five different locations throughout the week from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.

• Nancy Friese: This distinguished visiting artist will share her knowledge and experience at gallery tours and workshops she is leading.

• Emerald City Opera events: Steamboat’s local opera group will offer master classes with professionals in addition to performances of Maurice Ravel’s “Child and the Spells” and Leonard Berstein’s “Candide.”

• “Evening with Mozart”: This event is presented by the SSAC and John Sant’Ambrosio and is based on the composer’s life and told through a theater and musical performance directed by Stuart Handloff and written by Bonnie McGee.

To reach Audrey Dwyer, call 970-871-4229, email adwyer@ExploreSteamboat.com or follow her on Twitter @Audrey_Dwyer1


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