BCA CURATES
INSTRUCTOR EXHIBITION 2021 CAITLIN TONGISH DREA E. EMILY WAHL HALEY OLSEN JOHN CARTER JULIE TIERNEY KIA NEILL KIMBERLY NICOLETTI MELISSA MICHEL MICAELA RIANNE CADUNGOG PAIGE P. SCHEUERMANN SHARON SPEEDY TRICIA STOKES
Dec 2–Jan 2 Gallery@OMH | Old Masonic Hall FREE Gallery Hours: Tues + Wed 3–8pm, Thurs–Sun 9am–8pm
This exhibition brings together works by the instructors + staff from the Arts District Campus to showcase the incredible wealth of local creativity and talent in Breckenridge, Colorado.
CAITLIN TONGISH Studio Assistant Caitlin Tongish is a painter and thread artist who was born in Colorado and raised in England, where she graduated with a BA in textiles design from Bournemouth Arts University. An avid skier and biker who is constantly inspired to produce work informed by her outdoor pursuits. Art Statement: Tongish used bold, block colors to capture the playful movement of a cacti and their desert surroundings. She has incorporated strong lines and pattern to capture the linear and detailed qualities of canyon walls and rock structures found in the deserts.
DREA E. Arts Education Manager Drea E. is an artist & photographer born, bred and educated in Seattle, Washington. She graduated Cum Laude from Seattle University earning a Bachelors of Fine Arts of Photography. However, Drea’s talents aren’t limited to just photography. She dabbles in many mediums including watercolor painting, print-
making and papercraft, using any and all necessary to successfully achieve her artistic vision. Her work has been exhibited in Washington, Georgia, New York, Texas and Colorado. Art Statement: My mother’s sudden passing in February 2019 threw me into a journey of trying to understand life, death and grief. On this journey, I began researching how other cultures view and handle the passing of loved ones. I found inspiration in the traditions of Dia de los Muertos, and the belief that the migration of monarch butterflies are their loved ones returning to visit them for celebration. Antepasados are 11 large scale monarch butterflies, one for each familial loved one that has passed in my lifetime. They are displayed for the viewers to be surrounded by them. This is a visual representation of the personally comforting belief that my Antepasados, or Ancestors, are still present, in some form or another, surrounding and protecting me.
EMILY WAHL Instructor - Watercolor Emily is inspired by the beauty of the Colorado mountains and the complexity of urban scenes. She has studied watercolor as a passionate pastime and works in all water-based mediums (watercolor, acrylics and oils). She enjoys plein air painting and the study of how light and shadows can dramatically impact the emotion and mood of her paintings. She studied at the Art League of Houston, Glassell School of Art/Fine Arts Museum- Houston and the Watercolor Art Society- Houston. She has also studied with a number of accomplished artists; Alvaro Castagnet, Andy Evansen, Ken Hosmer, Stephen Quiller, Michael Reardon, Charles Reid, John
Salminen, Iain Stewart, Mary Whyte and Eric Wiegardt. Emily teaches at the Breckenridge Arts District. She has had exhibitions in Houston, Texas and throughout Summit County. Her art is exhibited at the Arts Alive Gallery in Frisco, Colorado. Art Statement: The paintings in the exhibit are experimental in nature. “Red Canyon” is painted on yupo paper, a slippery paper that lets the paint have a mind of its own. The technique included using spider webbing to create the fine lines around the green brush and lower rocks. “Winter Light” and “Tucked In” are painted by picking up paint pigments with a credit card, setting on the wet watercolor paper, turning the paper to let the paint move across the painting and then creating the lines (trees, mountains, town) with the corner of the credit card. It is a freeing expression of painting.
HALEY OLSEN Studio Tech – Ceramics Haley Olsen is an artist whose main medium is ceramics. Originally from California, Haley has been making her way east, completing a bachelors of science in Interior Design at NAU in Flagstaff, AZ and continuing on to Colorado where she began her career as an Interior Designer. She has spent time as a ceramics teacher at UCLA conference center and is now a studio tech for Breck Create open studio. Art Statement: Haley is displaying work that combines creative art with functional pottery. Her inspiration came from a piece that she made to resemble the Pirates of the Caribbean character, Davy Jones. Her goal is to exemplify that everyday functional pieces can also be made to look artistic and visually interesting.
JOHN CARTER Studio Tech – Ceramics John is a multi-discipline artist. He received his BFA in painting, printmaking and sculpture from the University of Memphis in Tennessee. He has been involved with the pottery Open Studios for the last four years. Art Statement: John uses “Drive by Photographs’’ for many of his paintings. They are random images that emphasize landscapes along the roads often not seen by other travelers. In his pottery he strives to never lose the beauty of the raw clay which is his medium.
JULIE TIERNEY Instructor – Camping Jackets A fashion designer/designer living in Leadville, CO. Grew up in Colorado, but lived in Oregon, Savannah, GA and NYC. In the News: A garment in the new Thread Studio in The Denver Art Museum: “Coleman Sacks” (Camping Jacket) Art Statement: Inspired by the Colorado high-country & Nomadic Tatars, JMFT Industries is a juxtaposition between outdoor, wild west, high-fashion, with a utilitarian sensibility.
KIA NEILL Instructor – Adult + Youth Classes Kia Neill is a multidisciplinary artist, native to Chicago Illinois. She received her MFA from The University of California San Diego and has taught art for more than 15 years, ranging from universities to non-profit art centers. She first came to the
Breckenridge Arts District 9 years ago, and currently teaches at BreckCreate, The Colorado Photographic Art Center, and for Think 360 Arts. Art Statement: Neill uses abstract photography, mixed media and collage to portray something more about a landscape than the way it literally appears. Her aim is to hint at an ephemeral experience, to suggest multiple points of time, or perhaps imply landscape as a whimsical “beast” constantly in motion.
KIMBERLY NICOLETTI Instructor – Youth Classes + Jewelry Kimberly Nicoletti has been a journalist, writer, editor and writing coach/instructor for over 20 years. In addition to her BA in Creative Writing, she holds a master’s degree in Somatic Psychology and Dance Therapy and is a certified Energy Healer. Her creative spirit has led her to make jewelry, photography and other mixed media art pieces. She teaches writing and wire wrapping at BreckCreate. In addition to being creative and seeking adventure, she loves to play outside, especially on a deep powder day. Art Statement: I love working with the earth’s natural stones and metals in my jewelry because I find that wearing natural stones next to your skin sets up a healing intention. I love how words can dance off a page, and I love being the choreographer of those words. For this piece, I reached back to my time as a competitive figure skater. The competitive sport is uplifting, graceful and beautiful, but it can also have a painful, “cutting” edge at high
levels. This piece depicts both the soft, pure and floating feeling on the ice (feathers), as well as some of the more painful aspects (shattered glass).
MELISSA MICHEL Instructor + Head Studio Tech – Ceramics Melissa Michel was born and raised in the California Mojave Desert. She received her BFA focusing in ceramics at the University of Tennessee in 2013. Melissa has been creating clay works since 2003 but became a full time traveling potter and ceramics instructor in 2016. She teaches ceramics classes at BreckCreate and is also a BreckCreate Co-Op artist with her studio on campus where she produces work for her pottery business Scumugs. Art Statement: In this piece Melissa uses flat pieces of white clay, that she painted black and carved illustrated gestured hands. These hands represent the delicate gears that help organize our thoughts in our head. The messy, intertwined string are the jumbled, unorganized thoughts, ideas and emotions that out subconscious and conscious run through daily.
MICAELA RIANNE CADUNGOG Studio Assistant Micaela Rianne Cadungog is a multidisciplinary artist originally from Houston, Texas where she predominantly exhibited her work in Houston institutions such as Art League Houston, Project Row Houses, and Alief Art House. She received her BFA in Photography from the University of Houston in 2019, and she relocated to Colorado in 2021. Art Statement: Cadungog combines photographic techniques and fiber arts while dissecting the dualities of the female body and persona: body shaming versus sexualization and the disconnect between the physical and emotional self. Focusing on the bed as a space of vulnerability, intimacy, and performance, she attempts to regain comfort and sanctuary in this space in order to harmonize these dualities.
PAIGE P. SCHEUERMANN Instructor – Children’s Art Paige P. has pursued a career in the arts starting out in the country roads of West Virginia University as a newspaper photographer and writer where she received her B.A. in English. She continued to travel west to find herself in Park City, Utah as a Kimball Art Center Gallery Assistant and then onto the Meyer Gallery as an Assistant Art Director. During an art retreat in the mountains of Breckenridge, CO she found her next calling as a teacher and currently a children’s art instructor at Breckenridge Creative Arts. She continues to create interactive art pieces to engage the audience to connect with having a positive experience.
Art Statement: The Harbor Hat Project’s focus is about giving from a living entity that will eventually die. It is to metaphorically showcase the circle of life.
SHARON SPEEDY Instructor – Metalsmithing Sharon Jacobson-Speedy has been an educator in Summit County for the past 13 years. She has taught all different levels of art and with many different mediums throughout her career. Sharon values the creative process and always has to have the creative time in her life to explore and try new ideas. Her passions have been centered around functional ceramics and wearable metal/found object metal and bead work. Art Statement: Sharon loves to explore and try new techniques and materials. This series explores enamel on copper in three dimensional flower forms.
TRICIA STOKES Instructor – Glassblowing + Jewelry Making Tricia has been making art since early childhood in many mediums, including painting, drawing, sewing, ceramics, hanging art, and sculptural art. She began glassblowing and making jewelry in 1997. With this new found love of glass, she began teaching in 2002 at several studios in the Philadelphia area. She has led glassblowing trips to Corning Museum of Glass, Murano, Italy, and Wheaton Village. Tricia has a published instructional article with the Lapidary Journal, and has shown her art at many fine art shows and events including
the GAS Conference Glass Fashion Show, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology, and Tyler Park Center for the Arts. She began teaching at BreckCreate in 2019, and continues to teach glassblowing in the Philadelphia area. Tricia finds inspiration in embellishing people, homes, offices, and more with her creations. Art Statement: Tricia uses her handmade glass to adorn the works of her jewelry and sculptural art. She has been working with driftwood for the last few years to create a new collection of art designed to embellish the home. This driftwood has been gathered from Lake Dillon while Tricia has handblown the glass beads. During this year that seemed so restrictive and harsh, she found great peace in creating this art.
RELATED EVENTS HANDMADE HOLIDAY Dec 4 | 12–8pm Arts District Campus | FREE Find the perfect gift and come experience the Arts District as it hosts a holiday open house. BCA’s instructors will be showcasing their artwork made on the Arts District campus including books, candles, ceramics, jewelry, paintings, prints and more. Come enjoy free creative activities and holiday music with a cash bar and local artist displays during the Lighting of Breckenridge festivities. Do you want to build a snowman? Enter our snowman building competition to win a $50 gift certificate to BreckCreate!
Front cover, image credit: Sharon Speedy