{"id":801370,"date":"2019-11-14T12:06:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T19:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=374496"},"modified":"2019-11-14T12:06:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T19:06:00","slug":"out-on-her-own-alyssa-serpentinis-1st-solo-art-show-opens-in-denver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/out-on-her-own-alyssa-serpentinis-1st-solo-art-show-opens-in-denver\/","title":{"rendered":"Out on her own: Alyssa Serpentini\u2019s 1st solo art show opens in Denver"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Visual artist Alyssa Serpentini works on paintings in her home studio Oct. 30 in Fairplay in preparation for her upcoming solo show at Spectra in Denver.<\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

DENVER \u2014 For more than 20 years, Alyssa Serpentini has supported herself in the High Country with her artistic abilities. Whether upholstering a dining room table, crafting large bas-relief murals or painting textured images of cannabis plants, the Park County resident<\/a> has continually picked up the tools in her artistic arsenal, even during hard times such as the Great Recession.<\/p>\n

Now her hard work has paid off. After winning best in show at the Colorado Vibes Vol. 3 exhibition at Denver\u2019s Spectra Art Space this past spring, Serpentini returns to the gallery Saturday, Nov. 16, for her first solo show. On display will be the cannabis creations she\u2019s known for<\/a> in addition to new landscapes not seen before.<\/p>\n

The award was a surprise for the self-taught Serpentini. As she left the venue to grab dinner, she regretted not hanging up some of her non-cannabis pieces. When she returned, she was shocked that patrons liked her work the best among about 30 other artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think I had a chance,\u201d Serpentini said. \u201cI was like, \u2018No way.\u2019 But it was great. I probably would have been a nervous wreck anyway if I stayed and had to talk to everyone in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dyed in the wool<\/strong><\/p>\n

Serpentini was raised in the fashion world. She grew up in her mother\u2019s dress store in Ohio, and her grandmother and millinery-owning great-aunts worked in New York City as beaders for the Valentino design company. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would work the pedal of my grandmother\u2019s sewing machine, and I was always kind of around it,\u201d Serpentini said.<\/p>\n

It was then natural that she studied fashion merchandising and fashion design at Kent State University. Though Serpentini was skilled in drawing and dabbled with fine art in college, she chose fashion because she was taught that art was a dead end.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seemed like that unattainable career, right?\u201d Serpentini said. \u201cEveryone is like, \u2018Don\u2019t be an artist. You\u2019ll never make money; you\u2019ll never be able to support yourself.\u2019 So it wasn\u2019t something I ever thought was viable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspired by a summer working in Yosemite National Park and yearning to be back out West, the passion for fashion brought her to Colorado with a college roommate in 1996.<\/p>\n

Dreams into reality<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though the friend stayed in the industry and has worked for 686 and Under Armour, Serpentini fell into construction painting the following year. That gig eventually led to faux finishing \u2014 the art of making one material look like another \u2014 and upholstery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI instantly loved being hands on with the brushes,\u201d Serpentini said. \u201cIt was totally different to me than all of the marker work or computer work with the fashion design stuff that I had done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Self-employed since 1999, her career has taken her into large commercial and residential spaces like hotels and condos in Frisco, Keystone, Copper, Breckenridge and even to Vail and Beaver Creek. Serpentini started traditionally working with elements like drywall and caulking to sculpt the three-dimensional relief walls but has recently experimented with other materials such as stone and gold leaf.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just now have endless possibilities,\u201d Serpentini said. \u201cThere\u2019s so many different textural things like glazes and other options now. In the past 15 years, I\u2019ve watched it come from a few small lines of products to just this huge industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Visual artist Alyssa Serpentini works on paintings in her home studio Oct. 30 in Fairplay in preparation for her upcoming solo show at Spectra in Denver.<\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Two of her inspirations are Joe and Bonnie Wakeman, a local couple known for their relief work of aspen trees and other natural environments. Though they work independently, the three have put their talents together for larger jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll forever look to them as mentors and friends and family,\u201d Serpentini said. \u201cI love those people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if Serpentini is content to leave fashion behind, she doesn\u2019t ignore it outright. According to her, the haute couture styles found on runways will often trickle down to luxury homes. Another trend she\u2019s keeping an eye on is using the powdered forms of hemp and lime \u2014 that is then turned into a substance called hempcrete \u2014 to shape her handmade designs.<\/p>\n

Literally adding the plant into her work, commercial or otherwise, is just another step in blending her two worlds. At first, due to the public perception of marijuana, Serpentini kept the businesses entirely separate, going so far as to have two websites. Now, as some of her faux finishing clients ask for her relief paintings and a dispensary that purchased a painting inquires about faux finishing, she\u2019s not afraid to show every piece of her portfolio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very leery to have my faux finishing clients, or any of my designers, know what I was doing with the cannabis art even though I\u2019ve always been pro cannabis, and I\u2019ve been voting pro since we\u2019ve had the chance to vote pro,\u201d Serpentini said. \u201cIt just was a huge stigma at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Visual artist Alyssa Serpentini works on paintings in her home studio Oct. 30 in Fairplay in preparation for her upcoming solo show at Spectra in Denver.<\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

By combining the two, she hopes to elevate cannabis and have people simply appreciate the inherent charm of the plant. Serpentini doesn\u2019t actively market to the marijuana industry, and she avoids the sacred geometry and vibrant psychedelic themes commonly found there. Her paintings instead focus on the more muted and natural colors found occurring in the plant. She considers it a welcoming conversation starter and a win in her book if someone wants a painting without entirely realizing what it depicts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the flowers, they\u2019re beautiful,\u201d Serpentini said. \u201cThe varieties are amazing. I\u2019ve always loved to paint and draw flowers. Always. If I look at my old notebooks, I\u2019ve been drawing flowers since I was 19.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serpentini has begun to grow her work beyond cannabis with painted reliefs of landscapes, yet her art still has a slight political aspect. Most of the almost-impressionistic landscapes show her favorite areas around Fairplay and Alma that are being altered by development and mining. Though she understands it\u2019s a symptom of population growth that can\u2019t easily be mitigated, she hopes people pause and reflect on what is possibly going away for good.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so saddened by it, and I think about my daughter, and I\u2019m like, \u2018She\u2019ll never know what it\u2019s like to hike around here when there\u2019s no one here on a Wednesday,\u2019\u201d Serpentini said. \u201cThat breaks my heart. \u2026 My whole point of doing them is so that someday we can look back and remember what it felt like to be in those magical places when they\u2019re blowing up with flowers and glowing with beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her love of Park County lends itself to another piece that will be on display. Up for auction in December \u2014 with details to be announced at the opening reception \u2014 is a painting of a horse barn. Proceeds from the auction will go to Park Count charity The Middle Way, an equine therapy group that helps people from all walks of life. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m most excited about being able to bring my two worlds together,\u201d Serpentini said about the upcoming exhibition. \u201cThat\u2019s what winning this show has done for me, making me feel like the artwork I\u2019m doing is legitimate and there is a place for it and I can have it go along with my faux finishing. These two worlds do not have to butt heads and can meld together perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Visual artist Alyssa Serpentini works on paintings in her home studio Oct. 30 in Fairplay in preparation for her upcoming solo show at Spectra in Denver.Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com DENVER \u2014 For more than 20 years, Alyssa Serpentini has supported herself in the High Country with her artistic abilities. Whether upholstering a dining room table, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-801370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 15:36:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801370\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}