The 31st annual Durango Autumn Arts Festival began on East Second Street on Saturday morning with 72 artist vendors and – new this year – 12 young artists showing off illustrations, photography, jewelry and other creations.
The weekend festival is known for attracting 7,000-plus visitors over its two-day duration. Artists travel from Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to display and sell their work.
Beth Lamberson Warren, Durango Arts Center executive director, said The Moniker Foundation provided the center funding to rent tents and tables for the young artists, ages 12 to 18 to have their own booths.
Some young artists were shy and others were excited to talk about their art.
Envy Gomez Cruz, 11, featured a mixed display of watercolor and acrylic illustrations depicting various animals.
Karla Gomez, Envy’s mother, said Envy has painted since she was 6 years old, and the opportunity to publicly feature her art, meet professional artists and perhaps make some sales is a great experience.
“A lot of people liked my octopus. They said that the colors were good and it was cool,” Envy said, giggling. “So I feel like there’s been a lot of compliments, and that's really good.”
On slips of paper next to her artwork, Envy wrote short descriptions of what she enjoyed and what she struggled with in creating each piece.
She said it was difficult to capture the form of the octopus’ tentacles, but she enjoyed working with the piece’s colors.
Gomez said feedback from adult artists at the festival has really helped her daughter.
“She was kind of struggling a bit. Should she show a piece? Should she not?” Gomez said. “There’s been some artists that have come through that said, ‘It’s really hard to paint horses. You’re doing a good job. Keep going.”
Envy said it’s “exciting” and a confidence boost to hear feedback from other artists.
Gomez said her daughter enjoys art classes at the DAC, and those classes helped her branch out to different artistic mediums. She said a custom designed mirror lying on the table is a good example – Envy learned how to mold clay, make tiles and paint them to decorate the mirror frame.
The new young artist showcase is called “Young Artists – Huge Impact.”
Outside Public House 701 and Lola’s Place on East Second Avenue, Travis Lemon’s metal sculpture “War Horse and Sky Feathers” towered above other art pieces.
Lemon, owner of Metal Lemon Artistry in Florence, Arizona, said he loves nature and Indian heritage, evident in his work.
He told the story of “War Horse and Sky Feathers, depicted in his sculpture by a man made of gears and chains clutching a spear with an eagle perched upon it.
“War Horse was a Native American Indian trying to hunt for his tribe. As he was hunting, he came across a wounded eagle on the ground. War Horse grabs the eagle, takes it back to the tribe, nurtures it back to health. Sky Feather would never leave War Horse's side ever again,” he said. “Now, War Horse has eyes on the ground and eyes in the sky.”
Other sculptures in his collection on show included long-legged birds with varieties of “hair” styles. One line is named Daryl. Another, Curly.
“When I first started making them, I was naming them, and then I come to find realize that I couldn’t make them fast enough,” he said. “And I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is crazy. I can’t keep naming these birds.”
He said each bird takes about 150 hours to create – 150 hours plus 40 years.
“My father taught me how to weld when I was 8, so he was one of my mentors. And then I also had another mentor who did artistry that was similar to mine,” he said. “But out of high school, I got a job and I worked at that job for 23 years, and just finally said, ‘I can’t do it anymore,’ and started doing this.
He said he “went all-in,” pouring his love of nature, Indian heritage and building into his work.
“Man will make something, and I don’t want whatever man made diminish man. So instead of it going into a landfill, I’m making creating something that was made for something else into something beautiful,” he said.
The Autumn Arts Festival opens on East Second Avenue at 10 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m. this weekend, Saturday and Sunday.
cburney@durangoherald.com
