AwA Giving Hearts

GIVING HEARTS

by AwA

Al Reiner

THERE ARE SOME people in the world who spend their lives giving. Al Reiner is one of those people. Currently a member of the Riverwalk Collective at the Depot Art Center, Al never hesitates to volunteer his time or energy to help. He distributes Artwalk brochures, fills in when the Depot needs a gallery sitter, and makes the rounds dropping off Art with Altitude magazines around town. But even more generously, he gifts his photography to those who can’t afford to purchase a piece. One day, a young boy and his dad came into the Depot. The boy was immediately attracted to Al’s work. He couldn’t afford a piece, so Al gave him a print to take with him. He gifts his friends pictures for their birthdays or during transition times in their lives. For each friend, he chooses a picture he knows they have loved.

Al’s focus on photography comes after a career working at the New York Daily News as a journalist. When he retired from that job, he started a syndicated Consumer Tech column. In Steamboat

Springs he became involved in the art scene as a founding member of the Center for Visual Arts (now closed). He has sold work nationally and has work in the permanent collections of the Yampa Valley Medical Center and in the Old South Park City Museum in Fairplay, Colorado. His huge heart comes through in his works, which are often inspired by nature or historical artifacts and ways of life. Some of his most famous works are of trains that he photographed on the Durango & Silverton line and while capturing the past in Old South Park City. They serve as reminders of ways of life gone by and the strength and fragility of humanity.

ELEVATE THE ARTS: Visit the Depot Art Center Gallery and buy one of Al’s photographs. Check out his website at https://www.steamboatspringsphotosalireiner.com. Stop by the gallery for a chat and thank him for all he does for the community. See Al’s ad on page 72. AwA