As we near the end of February, visit the Durango Arts Center and see new works by the late Stanton Englehart.

Stanton’s family uncovered these never-before-seen works after his passing. This exhibit also features the art of Mary Ellen Long and the Ballantine Family Collection. Co-curated by Jeannie Berger and Diane Becket, it is part of our Sweethearts of the Arts Celebration. On Feb. 11, we were honored to recognize Gemma Kavanagh, Linda Mack, Rochelle Mann and Mona Wood Patterson. These women are internationally recognized in their respective fields and have given so much to this community. A hearty thank you to Julia Dodd, who chaired the Sweethearts committee.

As part of our goal to collaborate with other organizations and people who support the arts, the Durango Friends of the Arts are again partnering with DAC docents to offer workshops Tuesdays in March. The subjects are, beginning March 6, Friday Kahlo, Jacob Lawrence, Stanton Englehart and Pablo Picasso will wrap it up March 27. The Friends of the Arts has been a major arts funding source in our community, especially because the city had to drop the block grants for the arts. We are fortunate to have this hardworking group.

The volunteer Friends of the Arts Library will feature Joyce Majiski in March and April. FOAL is dedicated to bringing local, regional and national artists to display their work and adding Majiski is a genuine coup for our region. Her nomadic life has taken her from the jungles of Borneo to the houseboats of Kashmir and from the Great Barrier Reef to the Beaufort Sea. Since 1984, she’s lived in the Yukon Territory. In her biography, Majiski said, “I feel a strong connection to wild places and my work as a wilderness guide and biologist has provided me the opportunity to spend time in these environments. Print and papermaking have been a constant interest since 1986.”

There’s still more. In March, we’ll have the Four Corners Commission in the Barbara Conrad Gallery. This year’s juror will be Verne Stanford. A current gallery director, he has served on faculties at the Leicester College of Art and Design, Universities of Oregon and Alaska and others. Special thanks to Mary Puller, exhibits director, for overseeing this and all exhibits. Opening receptions for both March exhibits will be held March 2.

The spring arts education workshops and classes schedule is set. Enrollment is growing in these diverse classes for children, teens and adults. A few of the class offerings include Mixed Media Experimental Class, Intermediate Figure Drawing, Intermediate Stained Glass and Ceramics. Sandra Butler, our education coordinator, deserves our kudos for raising the bar for art education offerings at DAC.

I leave you with a quote by Stanton that perfectly states why art is important to us: “To this day I need to be near the edge. I seek it daily in the mountains surrounding Durango, and in the desert country near here and in Utah where I can get away. Here, I find inspiration for my work, renewal for my mind and body and a sense of hopefulness about the Earth and my interpersonal relationships.”

Sheri Rochford Figgs is the executive director of the Durango Arts Center. Reach her at sheri@durangoarts.org. A full schedule of classes and exhibits is available at www.durangoarts.org.