craigdailypress.com

Bill Hering

Lynette “Sis” Pell

Ann Root

Jerry Gray

Kirstie McPherson

Brittani Bailey

Barbara Johnson

Ryan Otis

Robin Bremner

Vicky White

Nancy Dunsmuir

Downtown Craig will host the 16th annual Art Walk and fifth annual Taste of Chocolate from 5 to 8 p.m. tonight.

Art Walk, a free event, will include more than 10 artists showing off and selling their wares inside various businesses.

Displays will span numerous mediums, including jewelry, oil and watercolor paintings, wood, photographs and quilts.

The artists presenting come from a variety of backgrounds and age groups ranging from students to seniors.

Below are brief bios on participating artists:

Name: Bill Hering

Age: 50

Hometown: Unincorporated Moffat County, north of Hamilton

Day job: Plan operator at Colowyo Coal Co.

Medium: Wooden boxes

Years in Art Walk: 2

Quotable: “For me, the real joy is when I set (a box) up at a display and I tell people, ‘This is a sage brush box,’ and ‘This is a different kind of wood box.’ I call it the ‘wow’. People come up and look at it and go ‘wow.’”

Name: Lynette “Sis” Pell

Age: 67

Hometown: Craig

Day job: Part-time art instructor at Colorado Northwestern Community College

Medium: Watercolors and acrylics

Years in Art Walk: 16

Quotable: “I think art is good therapy for people. You get into your right brain and the rest of the world just goes by.”

Name: Debra Liljedahl

Age: 58

Hometown: Craig

Day job: None

Medium: Oil on canvas

Years in Art Walk: 2

Quotable: “My schooling is actually just life itself — observing and living around the people, places and wildlife of the American West.”

Name: Ann Root

Age: 60

Hometown: Craig

Day job: Certified optician at Eyecare Specialties of Northwest Colorado.

Medium: Mixed media

Years in Art Walk: 3

Quotable: “I found doing (art) just one way with just acrylics or just oil was stuffy, so I broke the rules and try to make it fresh.”

Name: Jerry Gray

Age: 30

Hometown: Craig

Day job: Owner of Colorworks Painting

Medium: Wood

Years in Art Walk: 2

Quotable: “(I enjoy) all the different types of wood and all the stuff you can do with it — make it into furniture and other projects. I can make just about anything.”

Name: Kirstie McPherson

Age: 17

Hometown: Craig

Day job: Student

Medium: Jewelry

Years in Art Walk: 3

Quotable: “I am a big procrastinator, so I usually use the motto KISS — Keep It Simple, Stupid. If I know stuff needs to be done, I’m going to do it.”

Name: Brittani Bailey

Age: 24

Hometown: Craig

Day job: None

Medium: Acrylic/pencil

Years in Art Walk: first year

Quotable: “It’s one of my favorite things to do, and I’ve been doing it since I was little. I learned it from my mom and I’ve painted peoples’ animals and friends’ pets for a long time. I just like doing it for people.”

Name: Barbara Johnson

Age: 61

Hometown: Tempe, Ariz.

Day job: Homemaker

Medium: Print on canvas, matted print

Years in Art Walk: first year

Quotable: “Until they get good (most painters will) have paintings that they throw away or won’t be happy with. I’ve never thrown away a painting. I’ve never had a painting since I began that I feel is a failure that I didn’t want to show anybody.”

Name: Yampa Valley Piecemakers Quilt Guild

Age: 3 years old

Medium: Quilting

Years in Art Walk: 2

Will have contributions in some form from all 30 members.

Quotable: “For a while (quilting) was becoming a lost art. Women used to quilt out of necessity and now it’s more of an art form.” —Tina Smith, guild board president

Name: Ryan Otis

Age: 33

Hometown: Craig

Day job: Plumber at Masterworks Mechanical

Medium: Mixed media

Years in Art Walk: first year

Quotable: “Where your location’s at definitely dictates your art. Like my sculptures, the stuff I do is all really stuff I think that influences me around here.”

Name: Robin Bremner

Age: 57

Hometown: Craig

Day job: Part-time art instructor at CNCC

Medium: Watercolors and screen-printing

Years in Art Walk: first year

Quotable: “(It’s) amazing what has been created for us to view and to look at. For me to capture that in a moment of time, that’s the challenge. It’s like owning up to who owns you and who made what you’re looking at. Trying to recapture that is a challenge, but it’s a real spiritual thing.”

Name: Vicky White

Age: 55

Hometown: Craig

Day job: Manager at Downtown Books

Medium: Jewelry and crochet

Years in Art Walk: 3

Quotable: “When you finally (get a piece) done and you see what it looks like, there’s just a feeling of, ‘Yes, I’ve done this thing. It’s pretty and it’s nice.’”

Name: Nancy Dunsmuir

Age: 54

Hometown: Craig

Day job: None

Medium: Oil animal portraits

Years in Art Walk: 3

Quotable: “The winters are so long you’ve got to find something to do. I almost never paint in the summertime because I work in the yard and the garden. In the wintertime it’s too cold to get out and do much of anything else, so I paint.”

Note: Artist Janele Husband, 53, of Craig, is scheduled to participate but could not be reached for comment.

Click here to have the print version of the Craig Daily Press delivered to your home.