Aside from adventure enthusiasts, if there’s a hobby demographic Summit County attracts, it’s artists. The scenery is an obvious draw for photographers and landscape artists, and longtime local artists say Summit’s creative community isn’t one to be pigeonholed into one discipline of art. There’s several creatives who are both jewelry makers and woodworkers, or who are both glass blowers and painters. 

Summit’s art scene is nuanced, and local work is sprinkled throughout the entire county. Everything from classic oil-painted sceneries of aspen leaves turning in the fall to more niche pieces, like a “junk journal,” can be found with ease — you just need to know where to look. 

High Country Artisans, a collective of artists who first started out as the Art Gallery at Keystone Lake in 2010, have a spot in Silverthorne now that features around 20 hyper-local artists alongside work from neighboring communities like Steamboat Springs. 

Artist member Judy Day said they’ve also featured several local students’ art over the years, with one former student, Gabe Duwaick, solidifying a somewhat permanent spot in the gallery. She said Duwaick’s art has been likened to that of Picasso’s by those with a fine art background. Duwaick’s severe autism prognosis limits his ability to speak, but elements of his personality are shown through his unique style of work. His medium of choice? Crayons and markers. Day said he gravitates towards natural scenery like gondolas going up mountains or hummingbirds sitting on a flower. 

Day herself is an artist who works with several mediums including watercolor, mixed media, jewelry, cards, bookmarks and “junk journals.” With her junk journals, she transforms things like college and university catalogs into completely unrecognizable, often whimsical-looking journals. The medium, she said, is her version of recycling and repurposing. She even makes custom junk journals for occasions like weddings.

Aside from High Country Artisans, local artists’ work can also be found at the Art Spot Silverthorne Makerspace. 

“The Maker’s Market at the Art Spot features local art in a variety of mediums, including paintings, stained glass, jewelry, woodworking, ceramics, greeting cards, stickers and so much more,” Silverthorne’s communications director Kristina Nayden said. “It’s the perfect place to pick up handmade gifts, decorations, or mementos from a trip to Silverthorne.”

She said the town also hosts monthly Sunday Maker’s Markets during the summer which are walking art events with pop-up artists and musicians. More information about the Sunday Maker’s Markets can be found at TinyURL.com/uxkzvkem.

In Frisco lives another gallery, the Frisco Art Collective, owned by a Summit County jack-of-all-trades, Erica Nicol. Nicol is a jeweler, a glass blower, muralist and is a part of a local ice carving team behind projects like the Keystone Mountain Top Snow Fort. Frisco Art Collective carries work from around eight local artists including woodcutting boards, jewelry, beeswax creations and more. 

Frisco’s Main Street has a handful of spots outside the Frisco Art Collective where locally made art can be found including Arts Alive Gallery, Stay Sunny Frisco and Wilderness Fine Art Photography.

In the southern end of the county, Breckenridge Gallery, mountainkind art gallery and Little Earth Art Studio are all spots where local art can be found and purchased. 

Beth Smith has dedicated space in her Breckenridge-based pottery business, Ready Paint Fire!, to sell the work of over 20 Colorado-based artists. 

“We’ve got work from a local 12-year-old artist to a 78-year-old artist. I like supporting artists who have to have a second job,” she said.

Silverthorne local Kendal Gray, who is the youngest artist in the gallery inside Ready Paint Fire!, gained her skills in beadwork from her grandmother and makes beaded wire-wrapped utensils and wine glasses.

Smith said the gallery inside the pottery shop often helps inspire people who are there to create their own works and it also helps promote local craftspeople, a group she said is worth highlighting and celebrating.

There’s a few names people can find in galleries across the county who have been deemed local favorites, including Scott Bullock. Bullock’s work can be found in a few different places and is a top seller at numerous galleries, local artists say. 

“He does acrylic paintings of animals in Summit County doing all the things you do in Summit County, bears that are snowboarding, mountain goats who are rock climbing, alpacas doing yoga,” Day said. 

Beth Marcer from Arts Alive gallery in Frisco said her prints fly off the shelves due to their affordability and uniqueness. 

Another is photographer Steve Johnson, whose wildlife photography can be found in numerous spots throughout Summit and occasionally on the front page of the Summit Daily News. Nicol is yet another one of those names that can be found in numerous spots, as are jewelers Alicia Clark-Fulcher, whose business name is Spicyheart, and Kerri Anne, whose business name is Soul Creations.

This story previously published in the summer 2025 edition of Explore Summit magazine.