One sure sign of spring in the Roaring Fork Valley is the exhibition of artwork by participants in The Art Base’s Claudette Carter ARTMentors (CCAM) program.
CCAM is sponsored by well-known artist and long-time Valley resident Richard Carter and named in honor of his late wife, Claudette, an innovative entrepreneur, businesswoman and dedicated arts supporter who died in 2007 at the age of 59.
The 2023 mentee and mentor pairs recognized at the program’s April 21 opening reception are Samantha Cervantes and Gail Folwell; Griffin Hartley and Ryan Prince; Sofie Koski and Brian Colley; Jackson Scott and Trey Bloomfield; and Skye Wempe and Linda Loeschen. The night was bubbling with excitement as mentees proudly touted their artistic achievements to family members, friends and art patrons.
Art Base Program Director Gabriela Galíndez explained the CCAM application process begins in late fall. When reviewing applications, the focus is to pair an aspiring youth artist with an experienced artist from the Roaring Fork Valley. Every effort is made to match those who have similar interests or work in the same medium, she said.
Setting program goals can vary by student, Galíndez explained. “Sometimes a mentee already has a concept for a project, and sometimes they’re like, ‘I like art, but I don’t know what I want to do.’” The mentor, with years of experience as a working artist, can offer guidance and support to help bring clarity to the mentee’s artistic vision.
Samantha Cervantes, a Basalt High School junior, was encouraged to apply to the program by her art teacher, Denae Statzer. Her mentor, Gail Folwell, is a sculpture artist who describes her pieces as “big, heavy, Cubist sort of figurative works.”
Cervantes had worked with clay and paint, but in working with Folwell, she discovered a new medium — wire sculpture.
The two worked out of Folwell’s live/work space in the artist community of Willits Bend in Basalt. Cervantes said that viewing Folwell’s works in progress “helped me to understand who she [Folwell] is, because of the type of art she’s doing.”
When Cervantes came to the program, she wanted to explore human emotions through art. Folwell observed, “I think it’s great that she came to the table with a concept instead of a fixed idea of how to express herself.”
That examination led to Cervantes creating wire sculptures of faces that cast shadows onto a nearby wall, adding layers of depth to their expressions. Cervantes wanted to convey the nuances of human emotion, saying, “I think a lot of people decide to shut down their emotions. I used to think you always had to be happy, and I think others feel that way, and we think being sad is a bad thing.”
The 3D wire interpretations, Cervantes said, allow the viewer to delve deeper and “not see just one emotion, but to make their own story out of it and feel their own emotions.”
Mentor Brian Colley, gallery manager at Carbondale Arts, was paired with Sofie Koski, who shares a mutual interest in illustration and comics.
Koski brought her cast of seven digitally-drawn characters together to interact with one another in three larger pieces to present a storytelling narrative.
She admitted, “At times, the program was very stressful, but it was very valuable learning how to deal with the stress and still keep my normal day-to-day life.”
During the process, she found a work rhythm that best suits her. She shared, “I think taking breaks was pretty important, and I found I can’t work on multiple things at once; I have to focus on one thing and get that done.” She added that her parents’ support throughout the program helped her maintain a focus on her artwork.
Colley said The Art Base’s careful and thoughtful consideration when pairing mentors and mentees goes a long way in making for a successful CCAM program each year.
The exhibition runs through May 26 at The Art Base in Basalt. More information can be found at www.theartbase.org