Show Preview | Durango Autumn Arts Festival

Durango, CO
Downtown Durango, September 17-18

JanyRae Seda, The Old Mine Shaft, oil, 72 x 32.

This story was featured in the September 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art September 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

Durango is said to be where the Old West meets the Southwest, and it has a storied past as a 19th-century mining, railroad, and commerce hub. Its iconic western heritage and picturesque setting on the southern edge of the San Juan Mountains present a fitting venue for the 22nd annual Durango Autumn Arts Festival. This juried art show and sale features the creative wares of 90 fine artists and craftspeople from 17 states, many of whom depict western and southwestern subject matter and themes in their works.

“Most of the fine art is focused on nature and the landscape in the Southwest and West, so it gives people an opportunity to soak up what’s so beautiful around here,” says festival director Jules Masterjohn. The show features a diverse collection of paintings, sculpture, photography, and mixed media, as well as ceramics, weavings, glass, woodwork, wearables, and jewelry. “Generally we select about half returning artists and half new artists, so that keeps it fresh,” adds Masterjohn. “It’s a good balance.”

Oil painter JanyRae Seda, of Boise, ID, is participating in the show for the first time this year. “I love landscapes, wildlife, the West, and structures, and as I paint, more and more I find I am combining all of these into western works,” says Seda. Influenced by a background in interior architectural design, the self-taught artist says she is particularly drawn to painting structures. THE OLD MINE SHAFT was inspired by a recent commission she did for a mining engineer. “This oil on canvas represents the West, my father’s influences from years of work in silver mines in Idaho, and summers spent in Silver City,” says Seda.

Other works at the show include wildlife sculptures carved from wood by Bruce Taylor, Native American scenes by Wayne Beyale, colorful monoprints by Patty Castellini, and oil paintings of Utah’s deserts and mountains by Terry Willis. The festival takes place along East Second Avenue from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on September 17 and 18. Free rides are provided each day on the Durango Trolley along Main Avenue. —Kim Agricola

contact information
970.422.8566
http://durangoarts.org/daaf