Rocky Mountain Postcards...

On the way to Denver to work the Green Girl Studios booth at the Rocky Mountain Bead Society's Bead Bazaar, our plane flew right through a thunderstorm. My neighbor was fairly new to flying. As the plane shook and the flashes of lightning illuminated the sky, she began to cry and pray loudly. Her make-up was running. Her hands clutched the armrests tightly, her nails digging in. I felt bad for her. I'm so used to flying that a little bit of turbulence doesn't phase me at all. Although she was a stranger, I tried to comfort her by saying, "I don't think that they would fly us through the storm if they thought it was too dangerous. Nothing to worry about at all. We'll be on the ground shortly, I'm sure!"

The flight was rocky, but there was nothing to worry about. Above is a shot from my window.

I love Patti Cahill of Dyed in the Fire's work. The colors are so rich and vibrant and are saccharine sweet. Above is a photo of her at her booth.

Above are some snapshots of folks who dropped by the booth. At the far left is Lenka of Raven's Journey who has some of my most favorite Czech Glass ever, Melanie Stafford (the new editor of Creative Jewelry magazine), polymer clay artist and bead store owner Janis Holler of Loco Lobo Designs, and freelance writer extraordinaire, Michelle Mach.

I very rarely get a chance to see Bernadette Fuentes and her lovely lampwork creations, so it was particularly nice to swing by the booth before the show opened for a few moments to catch up. She gave me some helpful advice to combat Denver's high altitude.

Above is a picture of the birthday girl (Kristal Wick), Heidi from Lillypilly Designs and Jamie Hogsett author of Stringing Style: 50+ Fresh Bead Designs for Jewelry at the vendor and volunteer appreciation dinner after the first day of the show. Normally we're all too busy working to socialize too much, so the dinner was a great way for us to interact en masse.

I was amused by the line for the buffet line and took a short video of the line wrapped around the ballroom.

I adore good signage. I was particularly enamored with this bright, big neon Benjamin Moore Paints sign overlooking Denver. So much so that I had to snap a picture of it.

I had a few hours before my plane took off and I wanted to check out the museums in Denver. I've heard lots of amazing things about the fine art scene in Denver, but never had the opportunity to explore until this past weekend. Unfortunately my plan was shot down due to the fact that most of the cultural buildings and museums are closed on Mondays. It wasn't all lost though. Denver sports a huge reputation of being a patron of public art.

Above is a shot of Toxic Schizophrenia (Hyper Version) by artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster. This revolving, light-studded sculpture is outside of the Museum of Contemporary Art: Denver.

The Denver Art Museum's Hamilton Building, designed by Daniel Libeskind, with all its unusual angles juxtaposed to the more traditional surrounding architecture is a work of art itself!

The Yearling is a sculpture of a giant chair topped with a pony outside of the main branch of the Denver Public Library done by Donald Lipski. I was delighted to see the name on the placard. Years ago I did a workshop with him and a group of us even went out to his studio in the Hamptons to see where the works of art originated from. In the center is a picture of the Byers-Evans House. Apparently this used to be the premier home in Denver, built by two of the most influential families in Denver and home to a vast collection of art. It is now a museum and a Ray Tomasso show of new works on paper is now up in the gallery. This is one of the few museums open downtown on Monday. (Be sure to saw hello to Lynne, who was amazingly kind and extremely helpful. She pointed me to the Novo Coffee and Dozens across the way. Yum!) On the right is a snapshot of the large-scale sculpture, "The Big Sweep" by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen outside of the Denver Art Museum.

Another of the large scale public works of art I saw was "Scottish Angus Cow and Calf" by Colorado sculptor Dan Ostermiller, who is represented by Nedra Matteucci Fine Art gallery. I was struck by the sculpture's sheer mass and presence.

I had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back. Next time though I'm going to try to plan to come earlier or stay later to check out all the amazing artwork that Denver has to offer.