West Jefferson Middle School’s art teacher has a painting in a show at Center for the Arts Evergreen.
This is Sarah Dignan’s first time in this show, which opened Sept. 21, and the honor couldn’t be much more prestigious. Her painting is one of 57 displayed in the 50th annual Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Exhibition.
More than 500 paintings were submitted by artists from all over the country, and Dignan’s painting called “Rikki Tikki Tavi a la Mucha,” along with paintings by eight foothills artists, were selected to hang on the gallery’s walls. In total, 26 Colorado artists and artists representing 23 states have works in the show, which will be on display until Oct. 28.
Sara Miller, Center for the Arts Evergreen’s senior director of exhibitions, said people who visit the gallery will see art of the highest caliber, and foothills artists fit in that category.
“This show provides our audience a way to experience the caliber of artwork that they may not have seen before,” she said.
The show’s jurors were Ken and Stephanie Goldman of San Diego, and they said via a Zoom critique of the show that it was fun to see the high quality of the artwork.
“We were impressed with the diversity, quality and quantity of entries, which made the judging process very difficult,” they said in their statement in the exhibition booklet. “The work included in this exhibition demonstrates a sensitivity to the medium, an awareness of the moment, as well as artistic invention and originality. We both feel that this collection of works represents an exceptional range of outstanding techniques in a wide variety of watermedia genres.”
Center for the Arts Evergreen has hosted this show since 2017 when the gallery in Bergen Park opened. The show started at the Foothills Art Center.
Artist Carol Hunsaker of Evergreen had a collage painting called “Propensity” in the show. She called art a hobby, especially enjoying creating abstract art, and this is her second time in the Rocky Mountain National Watermedia show.
Artist Linda Renaud of Drake, Colorado, explained her watercolor wax batik process to attendees, using wax to determine where colors go, which takes a lot of planning. This is her fourth time in the show, and she said she loves CAE’s gallery so much that she is a CAE member.
For Dignan of Pine, being in the show is exciting, especially since teaching and working on a master’s degree in illustration leaves little time for creating her own art. She said she hasn’t told her West Jeff Middle School students yet that she’s in this prestigious show.
Katie Clements, a Realtor with LIV Sotheby’s, a show sponsor, told attendees and artists how important the show was, adding: “Art connects us, art speaks to us, and art reminds us of our shared humanity.”