This month, partly due to Salida’s recent designation as a Creative Arts District, we are celebrating some fine Salida-based artistic talent.
In the first article, we’ve profiled four area sculptors, all working with whimsical themes: monsters, rockets and robots, in many cases made from discarded junk and machinery. The artists interviewed also represent a wide age bracket – from the 30s to the 70s. In addition, we visited with sculptor Chris Byars, an early pioneer of, and influence on, Salida’s arts scene.
So-called art towns in the U.S. are an enigma. Usually the artists arrive, seeking cheap rents and the space to create. Then, more often than not, the town is soon “discovered,” the cost of living skyrockets and the artists have to relocate. Singer-songwriter Greg Brown said it best in his song “Boomtown”:
Here come the artists with their intense faces,
With their need for money and quiet spaces.
They leave New York, they leave L.A.
Here they are – who knows how long they’ll stay
It’s a Boomtown
Got another Boomtown
And it’ll boom
Just as long as boom has room.
The guy from California moves in and relaxes.
The natives have to move – they cannot pay the taxes.
Santa Fe has had it. Sedona has, too.
Maybe you’ll be lucky – maybe your town will be the
new … (Boomtown …)
So far, we’ve avoided an extreme case of the aforementioned dilemma, but it’s never too late.
My only bone of contention with the arts designation is the lack of an actual designated arts center in Salida. A place where artists can work, have classes, display work and host travelling shows. Gunnison’s got one, so does Fremont County. Westcliffe has a performing arts center. We’ve got an events center, but it is not arts exclusive.
Back in January, while visiting Salida expats Mark Emmer and Nancy Vickery at their new home in Pátzcuaro, Mexico, they took us to see a city arts center, Centro Cultural Antiguo Colegio Jesuita. Once a former Jesuit convent, it is now a vibrant community arts center with gallery space, classrooms and workshops, which were very much in use by talented artists, ceramicists and lithographers of all ages. Such a facility in Salida would truly add to its “arts district” designation. – Mike Rosso
