‘Artposium’ to Draw Acclaimed Artists, Writers: Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Bestselling Author Kent Haruf Will Be Among Speakers at May 26-27 Event.
By Tracy Harmon, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.
Jan. 3–SALIDA – Internationally known artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude and nationally acclaimed bestselling author Kent Haruf will be among speakers taking part in the May 26-27 Artposium.
Colorado Art Ranch, a new, nonprofit residency program for artists and writers, will host the Artposium event. A location for the event will be announced this month, said Grant Pound, founder and executive director.
“The idea for Colorado Art Ranch was conceived in the Wet Mountain Valley in fall 2005,” Pound said. “I thought that Colorado’s unique beauty would be the perfect Muse for artists and writers from around the world.”
The two-day Artposium is entitled “A River Runs Through Us,” and will focus on how the arts intersect with life and the land. The theme will explore how rivers inspire the arts and shape history, environment and culture.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude will speak May 26. They will derive no income from the event and the presentation is a gift to the Colorado Art Ranch.
Bulgarian-bo+rn artist Christo and his partner-wife Jeanne-Claude, both 71, are working toward “Over the River,” a proposal to hang about seven miles of translucent fabric panels over eight segments of the Arkansas River between Canon City and Salida. The artwork would hang for 14 days, sometime between mid-July and mid-August probably in 2010.
Fabric panels would be attached to about 1,000 steel cables and anchored before they are stretched across the river, covering the water surface, but not the side slopes. The panels would hang from between 8 and 25 feet above the water.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management currently is overseeing an Environmental Impact Statement to gauge the effects of the proposed artwork. The artists also will be required to get several state and federal permits before the proposal is given the green light.
“Christo and Jeanne-Claude are among the greatest living artists of our time,” Pound said. “In the process of bringing their ideas to life, they encounter enough red tape to wrap the White House.”
Haruf, winner of the 2005 Book Sense Book of the Year award, will be the keynote speaker during the May 26-27 event.
Haruf, 63, is a Pueblo native and a 1941 Canon City High School graduate who now lives in Salida. He penned the national bestselling fiction novel, “Plainsong,” in 1999 and its sequel “Eventide” in 2004 as well as two other critically-acclaimed novels, “Where You Once Belong” and “The Tie That Binds.”
Other speakers will be David Goldes, a photographer and scientist from Minnesota, short-story writer Kent Nelson, poet John Calderazzo and artist Sherrie York.
The Artposium is made possible by a seed grant of $50,000 from the Jeffrey David Talley Foundation.
The Artposium event will raise money for the residency program and encourage rural economic development through the arts and heritage tourism. The residency program is slated for May 24-June 21 and will provide artists and writers with four weeks of living and studio space to work uninterrupted.
Artists from throughout the United States are invited to apply for the residency. Application deadline is Feb. 1.
Cost to attend the Artposium is $199 before Feb. 1 or $249 after that. Registration can be completed online or call Pound at 303-279-5198.
————
ON THE NET:
To register for Artposium: http://www.coloradoartranch.org/arposia.htm
To apply for residency program: http://www.coloradoartranch.org/residences.htm
—–
Copyright (c) 2007, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.