Durango is known as an art-friendly town, and it’s getting even friendlier with the establishment of the Art Guild, headquartered at Create Art and Tea on Main Avenue.
Caprice Fox, owner of Create Art and Tea and president of the Art Guild, said she got the idea for the guild after seeing the success of The ArtRoom Collective at the Smiley Building, which opened in 2021. The ArtRoom offers individual work spaces for artists while also allowing for collaboration.
For more information
To join and for more information about the Art Guild, visit https://tinyurl.com/2s43vxf2.
“I just love the Smiley and what’s happening there,” Fox said, adding that artists from the ArtRoom have been instrumental in helping to get the Art Guild off the ground.
The guild currently boasts about 40 members, she said, and there’s always room for more people to join, as artists, members and sponsors. There are different price tiers for members and sponsors, including general memberships, which cost $25 to $100; sponsorships; and for artists, the Play A Part, which costs $25 a year. That membership, according to Create’s website, allows artists to:
- Participate in one Juried Members Art Show.
- One chat and doodle meeting monthly to network with artists and share ideas and experience.
- Opportunity to teach skills.
- Volunteer at Create Art & Tea to start to lend experience to the needs of the guild.
- Pop-up shows at a discounted rate.
- Possible opportunity to be an artist represented in the Create Art & Tea art gallery.
“We’ve got membership,” Fox said. “And now we’re just trying to rally the avenues that people can find access and be a part of the guild. So it’s an early development stage, but we have the art education, which is going, and we have the artists residencies now.”
And as well as representing artists with getting their work in front of as many eyes as possible, the guild also has other goals. According to its website, it aims to:
- Build recognition for each artist’s work, highlighting their methods and their individuality.
- Provide artists with the opportunity to help shape and participate in the art of Durango.
- Become a viable part of the Durango community, with events, workshops and festivals.
- Seek funding that allows the Guild to keep these events in action and provides support systems for our artists through promoting the Guild.
- Elevate market opportunities as the Art Guild of Create Durango.
Create Art and Tea began as a space in Durango Arts Center. Fox moved it in 2021 to 1015 Main Ave., which for years housed Animas Trading Co. Create is no stranger to helping artists: Fox has represented many people working in many mediums, spanning fiber arts, ceramics, jewelry and more. So, the evolution of Create into a nonprofit feels natural, she said, and the building is the perfect hub for it. In fact, artists already have individual spaces at Create, and have the opportunity to give demonstrations and meet with each other – the collaborative spirit of a guild.
“The gallery is such a beautiful space, so I thought, why not use this space to develop everybody getting an opportunity to develop their business,” she said. “It was like that before, but now to meet the pressures of the economy. It gives everybody an opportunity to get seen and to build their small businesses.”
Because the Art Guild will be a nonprofit, there are opportunities to apply for grants, further helping artists with their projects, Fox said.
The guild is also making progress thanks to the help of donors, including Velinda Gibbs, who has donated some of her land called Butterfly Ranch for the guild to use for artist residencies. The group also has the support of the building’s landlord, Fox said.
And the support goes both ways: It’s the goal of the guild to not only promote artists’ work, but for artists in turn to get out into the community and promote art, Fox said.
“It’s really an outreach into the community, but it’s just still getting known,” she said.
katie@durangoherald.com
