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ENLARGE
EDWARDS, Colorado — A new gallery representing Colorado artists opens Friday in the Riverwalk shopping center in Edwards.
In launching the shop, part-time Edwards residents Kevin Miles and Wendy Schaefer-Miles will expand their operation.
For the past two years the married couple has been selling their oil paintings on walls they leased inside Alpine Artisans, a gallery next to The Bookworm.
The couple launched their own gallery because they wanted to team up with other artists.
“We needed the freedom to bring in the artists we knew we wanted to work with and we couldn’t do that under our previous lease,” Miles said.
He and his wife are leasing a 20-by-28-foot space next to The Healthy Life, in a space Portofino Jewelry once occupied.
The gallery will serve as a headquarters for the couple’s landscape paintings, along with works from seven other Colorado artists.
“Basically all of the artists that are going to be working with us here started out as friends and we collected their artwork,” Miles said.
Featured artists include portrait painter Susan Westwood from Arvada, stone carver Leo Atkinson from Steamboat Springs, an Edwards bronze sculptor who goes by Felicia, jewelry artists Darren Kensington from Colorado Springs and Linda Lebid from Edwards and photographers Bob Lienemann and Diane Horton Lienemann from Frisco.
Diane Horton Lienemann said she plans to display European travel photos of things like the Dutch gardens and a small seaside town in Italy. She said her close connection with the owners prompted her to get involved with the gallery.
“We’ve been friends for a long time and I always showed at the Beaver Creek show and it’s one of my best shows of the year,” she said. “I really enjoy the market here.”
Miles said the artists will make regular trips to the gallery to discuss and demonstrate their work. He expects at least one artist per week to visit. On Friday, Westwood will demonstrate portrait-making while Miles paints a landscape.
“The artists are their own best salespeople because the clients love to hear the art’s story and what is behind it — and they’re kind of insulated from that at commercial galleries,” Miles said.
The artist, 52, and his wife work together on their paintings. They split their time between their Edwards condo and a farm in Wisconsin. They have been displaying their work at festivals in the Vail Valley for more than a decade, so when they decided to open a gallery, they wanted to stay local.
“It’s always a new adventure every time you’re here,” Miles said. “That’s what I enjoy sharing with people.”
High Life Writer Sarah Mausolf can be reached at 970-748-2938 or smausolf@vaildaily.com.
In launching the shop, part-time Edwards residents Kevin Miles and Wendy Schaefer-Miles will expand their operation.
For the past two years the married couple has been selling their oil paintings on walls they leased inside Alpine Artisans, a gallery next to The Bookworm.
The couple launched their own gallery because they wanted to team up with other artists.
“We needed the freedom to bring in the artists we knew we wanted to work with and we couldn’t do that under our previous lease,” Miles said.
He and his wife are leasing a 20-by-28-foot space next to The Healthy Life, in a space Portofino Jewelry once occupied.
The gallery will serve as a headquarters for the couple’s landscape paintings, along with works from seven other Colorado artists.
“Basically all of the artists that are going to be working with us here started out as friends and we collected their artwork,” Miles said.
Featured artists include portrait painter Susan Westwood from Arvada, stone carver Leo Atkinson from Steamboat Springs, an Edwards bronze sculptor who goes by Felicia, jewelry artists Darren Kensington from Colorado Springs and Linda Lebid from Edwards and photographers Bob Lienemann and Diane Horton Lienemann from Frisco.
Diane Horton Lienemann said she plans to display European travel photos of things like the Dutch gardens and a small seaside town in Italy. She said her close connection with the owners prompted her to get involved with the gallery.
“We’ve been friends for a long time and I always showed at the Beaver Creek show and it’s one of my best shows of the year,” she said. “I really enjoy the market here.”
Miles said the artists will make regular trips to the gallery to discuss and demonstrate their work. He expects at least one artist per week to visit. On Friday, Westwood will demonstrate portrait-making while Miles paints a landscape.
“The artists are their own best salespeople because the clients love to hear the art’s story and what is behind it — and they’re kind of insulated from that at commercial galleries,” Miles said.
The artist, 52, and his wife work together on their paintings. They split their time between their Edwards condo and a farm in Wisconsin. They have been displaying their work at festivals in the Vail Valley for more than a decade, so when they decided to open a gallery, they wanted to stay local.
“It’s always a new adventure every time you’re here,” Miles said. “That’s what I enjoy sharing with people.”
High Life Writer Sarah Mausolf can be reached at 970-748-2938 or smausolf@vaildaily.com.
