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Wood, steel, stone and bronze jazz up Breckenridge

Kimberly Nicoletti

BRECKENRIDGE – Last winter’s snow sculptures have melted, making room for metal, stone and wood sculptures around the Riverwalk Center.

The first Breckenridge Outdoor Sculpture Show features 18 pieces from local galleries and artists. The show, sponsored by the Summit County Arts Council, begins today and runs through Sept. 9. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, beginning July 5, artists will demonstrate their craft in the Blue River Plaza from 3-6 p.m.

Silverthorne artist Dale Montagne paints the sky with the largest piece in the show, a 20-by-10-foot steel paintbrush laden with glass that sprinkles the ground with color. He began working with dichroic glass, which has a reflective color of gold or silver and a primary color of red, green or blue, five years ago. He’s also displaying his piece, “Spirit Eagle,” made of steel and brass.



He is the creator of “Shield of Harmony” in front of the Breckenridge Justice Center and the tiger mascot for Summit Middle School.

“I function from realism through surrealism,” Montagne said. “I’m especially good at mixing colors, textures and materials. It’s an understated subtlety that leaves the pieces changing at various times of the day.”



Dillon artist Steve Puchek went a little wild in his plate steel rendition of five wolves running, entitled “Boys Night Out.” He creates custom decor using indigenous metals and stone and treasures from the sea.

Blue River artist Steuart Bremner brings his linear drawings to full form with steel rods and rocks in his ninth and 10th pieces in his series, which continue the theme in “The Moving Rock Field” at the County Commons in Frisco.

“I like to reduce things to their essential elements and not have a lot of detail or extra parts,” Bremner said. “I like to keep things as simple as possible.”

He is the only American to participate in the second biennial Sculpture Symposium in Beaufort, Luxembourg. From July 14-24, he will saw, weld and grind 8-foot sheets of steel to create “The Speed of Time,” a human-size sun dial, which he plans to fill with watches. Residents may contribute to his piece by dropping off old watches at any Summit County library through July 10.

Breckenridge resident Michael Adams adds a whimsical mood to the show with “The Lightness of Being,” a joyful, long-legged muse stepping out in bronze.

“My figurative sculpture is a celebration of movement and lightness,” Adams said in his artist’s statement. “I seek to convey the depth of the human spirit and our ever-changing, ever-hopeful nature.”

Adams won “Best of Show – Sculpture” in Meet the Artists in Breckenridge in 2001 and 2000 and is represented locally by Highlands Gallery.

Native Coloradan Robin Laws captures the spirit of animals in “Dee Dee and Libby,” a tribute to a mother burro and a baby burro born on July 4. Laws now lives in Cheyenne, Wyo., with three burros, multiple goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, dogs and cats, and an occasional pig. She has won numerous awards for her work, based on her lifelong experience with animals that she feels are an integral part of life.

Frisco artists Andrew Held and Brian Howard collaborated on “Gaia,” a wood sculpture that begins organically in a planter and morphs into an architectural form.

Artists including Mindagus Buga, Lincoln Fox, Walt Horton, Siri Hollander, Eddie Shorty, Tim Nicola, Mark White, Chaz Della Porta and Todd Buckendahl also are represented in the show.

The opening reception with hors d-oeuvres and wine will be from 6-8 p.m. July 12 at Pierre’s Riverwalk Cafe. Suggested donation, to benefit SCAC, is $10. For information, call (970) 547-1122.

Event: Outdoor Sculpture Show

When: June 28 to Sept. 9

Where: Outside Riverwalk Center


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