Meet local artist Madison McCaulley on Thursday, Sept. 21

AVON — Local artist Madison McCaulley has followed her passion for painting, and its a craft and talent that brought her back to the mountain valley she calls home.

An exhibition of her most recent work is on display at the Avon Public Library through Saturday, Sept. 30, with an artist reception on Thursday, Sept. 21, from 5:45 to 7:45 p.m.

McCaulley is from Edwards, and after growing up in the valley she moved to Minnesota to college where she pursued Nordic skiing and studied art.

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After returning to Colorado, McCaulley completed master of arts programs from Adams State in Alamosa, where she spent two full years creating art.

“I always think of that time,” McCaulley said. “When you’re in school you don’t have the stress of everyday life. I know if I didn’t have to work a day job, that’s what I’d be doing — I would be in my studio.”

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Painting how nature ‘makes you feel here’

Even while supporting herself outside of her art here in the valley, McCaulley has created the series that’s now on display at the Avon Public Library. She calls the collection Colorful Colorado Abstract Landscape, and the acrylic paintings are an uplifting and dynamic look at the landscapes and nature in this area.

“That’s what I am trying to express,” she said, “how the environment, how living here has made me feel. All the colors and the textures. Just how being out in nature makes you feel here.”

Like anyone working hard to make it in this community, McCaulley juggles with time to create her art and to stay active with running, yoga and Nordic skiing. It’s important for us all to find that balance and to carve out space to follow you passions, she says, and it’s a practice that certainly resonates with most locals.

“When I am creating something like this,” she said, “I’m creating it for self-expression.”

For McCaulley, working on art is like a meditation. She loses the sense of time and falls into a feeling of deep presence in the moment.

“That’s why I do it,” she said. “And when you’re seeing a piece of art and then you actually get to meet the person who creates it, and make the connection of where that person is from and who they are, I think you get a new appreciation and a new way of looking at the work. Because it’s not just a painting on canvas — it came from somebody who for some reason decided to make this image, this style, using this medium.”