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BIFA: ‘Trail Mix’ features art and music along paths, trails, open spaces

For Trail Mix, artist Amy Scofield went entirely native, using only organic and biodegradable materials to build a giant “nest” within an existing conical landform, an old glory hole. Using downed lodgepole trunks to neatly line the inside of the cone, she draws attention to the disharmony of man’s influence on nature.
Courtesy of Breckenridge Creative Arts |

Trail Mix schedule

Thursday, Aug. 13

3-3:30 p.m. — Illinois Creek Trail

Friday, Aug. 14

9:30-10 a.m. — Iowa Hill Trail

2:30-3 p.m. — Moonstone Trail

4-4:30 p.m. — Illinois Creek Trail

Saturday, Aug. 15

9:30-10 a.m. — Iowa Hill Trail

2:30-3 p.m. — Moonstone Trail

4-4:30 p.m. — Illinois Creek Trail

4-4:30 p.m. — Iowa Hill Trail

Sunday, Aug. 16

9:30-10 a.m. — Iowa Hill Trail

2:30-3 p.m. — Moonstone Trail

4-4:30 p.m. — Illinois Creek Trail

Tuesday, Aug. 18

9:30-10 a.m. — Iowa Hill Trail

2:30-3 p.m. — Moonstone Trail

4-4:30 p.m. — Illinois Creek Trail

Wednesday, Aug. 19

9:30-10 a.m. —Iowa Hill Trail

2:30-3 p.m. — Moonstone Trail

4-4:30 p.m. — Illinois Creek Trail

Saturday, Aug. 22

9:30-10 a.m. — Iowa Hill Trail

2:30-3 p.m. — Moonstone Trail

4-4:30 p.m. — Illinois Creek Trail

4-4:30 p.m. — Iowa Hill Trail

Sunday, Aug. 23

9:30-10 a.m. — Iowa Hill Trail

2:30-3 p.m. — Moonstone Trail

4-4:30 p.m. — Illinois Creek Trail

In addition to the headlining concerts, performances and exhibitions that are being showcased at the inaugural Breckenridge International Festival of Arts, from Friday, Aug. 14, through Sunday, Aug. 23, the festival will also present a subseries titled Trail Mix, which combines art, music, hiking and biking along the trails of Breckenridge. With free outdoor concerts and environmental installations on the Illinois Creek, Iowa Hill and Moonstone trails, the series features 24 pop-up performances over the 10-day festival.

A variety of regional and national artists will be participating in Trail Mix, including a number of local musicians and guest artists with the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra. The series’ musical component features 20- to 30-minute mini concerts performed by soloists, duos and small acoustic ensembles on the trails, ranging in styles from classical, folk and jazz to world music.

Featured musicians include Michael Ward-Bergeman, Paul Clifford, John Clinghammer, Kevin Danzig, Jon Gamache, Miika Gregg, Dru Griffin, Dave Halchak, Steve Haefner, Tim McFadden, Dean Misantoni, Rajesh Prasad, Cory Seznec, Russick Smith and Hannah Yim. In addition, site-specific installations by environmental sculptors Steuart Bremner, Terry Talty and Amy Scofield will be displayed on the trails near the musicians.



“Since BIFA is a celebration of environment and mountain culture, we wanted to highlight the beautiful open space in Breckenridge in a unique and creative way,” said Robb Woulfe, president and CEO of Breckenridge Creative Arts, the festival’s producer. “The trails provide us with the perfect venue for alternative programming and also promise to surprise bikers and hikers with an unexpected arts experience.”

Trail mix is presented in partnership with the Breckenridge Music Festival. All outdoor BIFA events, including Trail Mix, are subject to weather cancellations and other delays.



Featured visual artists

• Steuart Bremner amd Terry Talty (Iowa Hill and Moonstone Trails) — Bremner is a visual artist working in Denver, where he draws, paints and makes sculpture, both tangible and ephemeral. Often a collaborator of Bremner, Talty is a conceptual artist also based in Denver. For Trail Mix, Bremner and Talty will explore form and spatial relations in land art created for the Iowa Hill site and specifically choose to work at the former Iowa Hill mine site because of its amphitheater-like space. This year, their work has begun to incorporate sound and how it can be developed with wind. Wind is complex and unpredictable at this site and may be a byproduct of their environmental sculpture.

For their second Trail Mix installation, Bremner and Talty, who previously worked on an installation for Moonstone Trail in 2012, understand the audience who will see an environmental work there. It is heavily trafficked by bike riders and walkers, and it is steep. For their second Trail Mix installation, they again worked with the repetitive pattern of the switchbacks on this trail, incorporating the abundant lodgepole pines that blanket the forest floor.

• Amy Scofield (Illinois Creek Trail) — Scofield lives in Austin, Texas, but grew up in the mountains of Colorado, so her heart belongs to the wilderness, and her art is informed by her love of nature. Her installation work incorporates recycled materials for many reasons: to support her personal obligation to minimize waste, to demonstrate beauty and utility in what we think of as trash and to foster conversation about conservation.

For Trail Mix, she went entirely native, using only organic and biodegradable materials to build a giant “nest” within an existing conical landform, an old glory hole. Using downed lodgepole trunks to neatly line the inside of the cone, she draws attention to the disharmony of man’s influence on nature.

Presented by Breckenridge Creative Arts, the Breckenridge International Festival of Arts is a celebration of adventure, play and creativity that runs Friday, Aug. 14, through Sunday, Aug. 23. Find more information and a full schedule at breckcreate.org/bifa, or search “BIFA” at http://www.summitdaily.com.


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