APRIL 2008 ONLINE EDITORIALS
Art Trek: Poudre River Arts Center Rocks!
By Maggie Kunze
I think it is great when business people find that it makes sense to not only support the arts, but to embrace arts as a major draw to the feeling and substance of our community. One example: Mike Jensen has been a major mover and shaker downtown – he is the owner of the local real estate firm “Fort Collins Real Estate”. He bought the Poudre River Arts Center at the corner of Cherry and College Ave several years ago. His vision was to make the arts the ‘crowning jewel’ of Downtown Fort Collins. With the help of many very talented local artists, the idea of an art center was born. It has not come without its ups and downs. Many artists have come and gone, but as Rachel Herrera, director of Arts Alive, which is housed at PRAC says, it has finally turned into a true arts center.
The variety at the Center is quite incredible…it speaks well for Jensen’s vision of diversity by displaying a great mix of incredible artists and art groups. The original idea was to have inexpensive art studios available for artists to work in and show their work: PRAC has 15 studios with 21 artists who actively work or show in their studios. The talented artists form the consortium expressing a range of styles and extremely different mediums. One of my favorite artists is someone of whom I have always said that I was joined with at the hip at birth. William Pilch describes himself on his website pearlsandmustardseeds.com with the following artist statement: “My work is a pocket watch, a trinket, a gumball machine toy. And I am an eclectic, eccentric art genius with a passion to bring joy, happiness, and a smile to everybody that views or buys my art!” You gotta love that! He comes from the same school of art I do – the School of Encrustation – or as my son so aptly puts it: ‘gluing shit on stuff’. He is fun and his work does make you smile.
PRAC also houses traditional artists such as Barbara Moore and Jan Allen, glass artists Kathi Dougherty and Laurie Case Waren, a great mosaic artist Kat Peters-Midland, one of my favorite pet portrait artists Amber Lovelace, superb jewelry artists Jody Deschenes and L.E. Smith, fabulous abstracts by Carol Schinkel, amazing visionary or ‘whoo whoo’ art by Katherine Skaggs as well as many others.
Christine Webb, is the director of PRAC and also runs the Artist’s Nook, an artsy supply shop and purveyor of extraordinary art classes. She says: “Each of the artist studios is rented individually. It’s really a grassroots effort to bring the arts to the north end of town. The main gallery is rented out to artists who want to have shows.” The studios are open every first Friday of the month in conjunction with the Downtown Gallery Walk and they have new extended hours: Wed - Sat 10 am - 5 pm.
Other tenants at the Center include Arts Alive – the city-wide umbrella arts organization that strives to build awareness for the arts in Fort Collins by providing support services for artists and arts groups. They have a marvelous community arts event calendar that gives information about current shows and events at artsalivefc.org. Rachel Herrera, Executive Director of Arts Alive, is very excited about the new additions to PRAC.
Recently the CoCOA group has moved their gallery space to the ever-growing walls of PRAC. CoCOA is a non-profit organization that is also in the business to provide art education and support for local artists.
One more great organization to move into the building is the Center for Fine Art Photography. The Center for Fine Art Photography is a non-profit organization with the mission and passion to promote the education and art of photography. Their hours are 10 am - 5 pm Tue - Fri and 10 am - 3 pm Sat. Please visit the Center’s website for upcoming shows and events at c4fap.org or call 970-224-1010.
Another wonderful addition is the F/Stop Café – a new and hip place to sit, relax and enjoy fine art. The F/Stop Café will also host music and poetry events in the near future. Hours for the F/Stop are 7:30 am - 3: 30 pm Tue - Fri and 9 am - 3 pm Sat.
Finally, OpenStage Theatre Co’s administrative office is also located in the Center. OpenStage is celebrating its 35th year of bringing masterful, brilliant, cutting edge theatre to Fort Collins.
All this art and talent in one place? Yes, we are so lucky to have this wonderful Mecca housed in one extraordinary place. GOT CULTURE? Check out Poudre River Arts Center at 400 N. College Ave.