August 5, 2024
Artists

PHOTOS: Paepcke Park showcases over 100 artists for 21st Annual Downtown Aspen Art Festival


People view artwork in different tents at Paepcke Park on Sunday, July 21, 2024, in Aspen.
Regan Mertz/The Aspen Times

The city of Aspen held the final day of its 21st Annual Downtown Aspen Art Festival on Sunday, July 21, at Paepcke Park.

Beginning on Friday, July 19, artists from all over the country — including Utah, Arizona, California, and Wyoming — showcased their creations. Art at the fair consisted of sculptures, jewelry, photography, paintings, and more. 

Heather Bamberg, an Arizona-based artist, speaks to customers at her stall in Paepcke Park on Sunday, July 21, 2024, in Aspen.
Regan Mertz/The Aspen Times

“Look at this location,” Santa Fe-based sculptor Fredrick Prescott said. He was referring to the park: a green grassy square off of Aspen’s Main Street, surrounded by mountains.



“Yeah, it’s amazing,” he said. “And (Howard Alan) brings all these artists out here from all over the country. They get a great turnout, and I’ve hooked up with a lot of my old clients that have bought sculptures 30 years ago. They really support the arts here.”

Festival-goers look at Fredrick Prescott’s sculptures at Paepcke Park on Sunday, July 21, 2024, in Aspen.
Regan Mertz/The Aspen Times

He first came out to Aspen right after he graduated high school in 1967. He began showing at some of the city’s galleries, including Cooper Street with Joanne Lyons, in the ’70s and continued into the 2000s.



After taking an almost decade-long break from showing in aspen, he returned for the art festival this year.  

“I used to come here all the time to ski,” he said. “I’d come here in the summer and bring sculptures. I always love coming. Because it’s just a special place.”

Prescott’s dad was a mechanical engineer, and he grew up in his dad’s machine shop. Eventually, he began taking painting classes, and through this, he began putting his two interests together to create sculptures.

Fredrick Prescott’s sculptures are displayed at Paepcke Park on Sunday, July 21, 2024, in Aspen.
Regan Mertz/The Aspen Times

The sculptures he brought from Santa Fe included a moose and a bear bobbing their heads, as well as a dog, a cactus, and a flamingo, among others.

“Then I put the painting and the metal in the sculpture, and the kinetic part of the sculpture is all moving in the wind,” he said. “When the wind blows, the sculpture moves, so, you know, animals usually are moving. They’re not stationary. It’s kind of fun to do the animals.”

Another artist, based over 900 miles away in Missouri, brought her leather creations to the valley, which she calls, “one of a kind.”

Kelly Brown, from Sunrise Beach, makes her art pieces out of leather and other animal skins, like cows, buffalo, stingrays, and elephants. She said all of her materials are ethically-sourced.

Kelly Brown holds up materials she uses in her art at Paepcke Park on Sunday, July 21, 2024, in Aspen.
Regan Mertz/The Aspen Times

For an elephant, it is not poached. Its skin is used for leather goods, and the meat feeds families.

Using leathers and other animal skins, hair, and feathers, she creates scenes within picture frames: mountains, horses, palapas, and the American flag. The materials she uses are treated with acid wash, dyeing, and other techniques to create the desired effect.

“Elephant hides: They make great rocks and mountains and different things like that,” she said.

She encourages all onlookers and customers to touch her art pieces because the oil from their fingers actually conditions the leather.

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Brown began experimenting with this type of art around 20 years ago, but life and children put it on hold until about ten years ago. Throughout the last decade, a lot of mistakes took place to get her to where she is today. 

“It depends on the picture, depends on if I’ve done the process before,” she said. “A lot of it is trial and error and things like that to see what works, how the glue works, sticks out, activates with the leather. Sometimes it takes the color off the dye. It just depends on the details.”

Andrew Libecki, a Caliornia-based artist, stands with his glasswork creations at Paepcke Park on Sunday, July 21, 2024, in Aspen.
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This is her first show in Aspen, and she’s looking to come back next year.

There is another showing in Beaver Creek from Friday, Aug. 2, to Sunday, Aug. 4.

Leo Atkinson poses with a piece he made with his son, Dusty Atkinson, during the Downtown Aspen Art Festival on Friday. The amethyst was sourced from Uruguay and is about as large as they grow.
Beau Toepfer/The Aspen Times
A rock climber statue by Liliana Mendez scales a cable during the Downtown Aspen Art Festival on Friday.
Beau Toepfer/The Aspen Times
A miniature titled “Who Cut The Cheese” by JJ Johansen is on display during the Downtown Aspen Art Festival on Friday.
Beau Toepfer/The Aspen Times
One of Yves Goyatton’s sculptures seen through the cross-section of another of his bronze sculptures during the Downtown Aspen Art Festival on Friday.
Beau Toepfer/The Aspen Times
A piece by Neil Russel made of recycled glass, acrylic paints, gel mediums, metallic pigment hangs in his tent during the Downtown Aspen Art Festival on Friday.
Beau Toepfer/The Aspen Times
A kinetic dog sculpture wags its head at Paepcke Park during the Downtown Aspen Art Festival on Friday. The show ran through 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Beau Toepfer/The Aspen Times
A bull statue by Liliana Mendez stands with other similar sculptures in her tent during the Downtown Aspen Art Festival on Friday.
Beau Toepfer/The Aspen Times





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