{"id":2457279,"date":"2020-04-16T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=324426"},"modified":"2020-04-16T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T22:00:00","slug":"aspen-art-museum-to-host-virtual-opening-and-exhibition-with-young-curators-of-the-roaring-fork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-art-museum-to-host-virtual-opening-and-exhibition-with-young-curators-of-the-roaring-fork\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen Art Museum to host virtual opening and exhibition with Young Curators of the Roaring Fork"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"786\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/bycrf-atd-041720-1-786x1024.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/bycrf-atd-041720-1-786x1024.jpg 786w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/bycrf-atd-041720-1-230x300.jpg 230w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/bycrf-atd-041720-1-768x1001.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/bycrf-atd-041720-1-1179x1536.jpg 1179w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/bycrf-atd-041720-1-1572x2048.jpg 1572w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/bycrf-atd-041720-1.jpg 1965w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 786px) 100vw, 786px\"><figcaption><strong>Roaring Fork High School artist Ava Lee&#8217;s &#8220;Kennedy and Luke.&#8221;<\/strong><br \/><em>Courtesy Image<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">After six months of weekly meetings, artistic debates and artwork selections, the Young Curators of the Roaring Fork weren\u2019t going to cancel their annual show at the Aspen Art Museum amid the novel coronavirus shutdown of public life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">It is instead moving online, making the museum\u2019s first virtual opening reception and exhibition. The curators got to work on the virtual version soon after the museum was closed last month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThere was no way that we would give this up,\u201d young curator Annika Bucchin of Glenwood Springs High School said last week as the museum announced a virtual opening and exhibition for 2020. \u201cI believe that everyone can learn from these artists. \u2026 Having a show during this global pandemic is a perfect time to express to our community how teens today are handling issues and that they have a thing or two to learn from us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Canceling would also have violated the mission of this year\u2019s show, titled \u201cWhat We Are Made Of\u201d and \u2014 fittingly for this moment of global crisis \u2014 themed around perseverance and growth. As a group statement from the Young Curators puts it, the show \u201cinvites audiences to consider their own vulnerability and strength and reflect on the questions: where have we come from, what have we overcome, and what has helped us grow?\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/at-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Running since 2005, the museum\u2019s Young Curators program annually brings together students from valleywide high schools to put together an exhibition of work by their peers. This year\u2019s crop of seven curators came from Aspen, Coal Ridge, Glenwood Springs and Rifle High Schools. The show includes 24 artworks by student artists at those schools as well as Colorado Rocky Mountain School. The curators selected the work from 90 submissions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">While the long-running program annually challenges the Young Curators to learn new skills and produce an exhibition, the 2020 edition unexpectedly pushed them to pull off a show with unprecedented challenges in a virtual format no professional Aspen Art Museum curator has done before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt may be an even better experience,\u201d said Rifle High School junior Lily McCann-Klausz, \u201cbecause it\u2019s not just something I\u2019ve never done, but that hardly anybody has ever done. I think we\u2019ll be able to look back and be proud.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The process began in the fall, as the curators brainstormed what they wanted to say in the show and what would be representative of their peers, while also meeting regularly with curators and artists at the museum.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">They made an open call for submissions without a theme in place, but required artist statements with each piece, allowing the curators to identify thematic or stylistic threads. Even before the public health crisis began taking the themes were evident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe were already thinking about themes of perseverance and overcoming obstacles and vulnerability,\u201d said Glenwood High senior Sebastian Arreola. \u201cThe community as a whole can connect to the artwork and these artists and those themes. And coincidentally it happened while we are living through this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Selected artworks are personal and much of it particularly resonant during the mental, emotional and physical strains of quarantine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Ava Lee\u2019s charcoal piece \u201cKennedy and Luke,\u201d for instance, captures a youngster and a dog gazing out a window from inside, reminiscent of a scenes playing out constantly as kids are home during the public health restrictions on gatherings. Eliana Suarez\u2019s \u201cThe Hidden Identity\u201d shows two hands seemingly emerging from an abstracted canvas, recalling all the focus on hand-washing and touch-avoidance that\u2019s become a part of daily life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cRewired\u201d by Celia Anne Scruton, is a bust-like sculpture with the head of clay incorporating wires, nodding to our technology-tethered lifestyles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cA lot of people can relate to that right now,\u201d Arreola said of the piece, \u201cas we are all on Zoom and Facetime and Google Hangouts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Those weren\u2019t the intentions of the work, of course, as they were made before the pandemic took hold. But the viewer can\u2019t help but bring those associations to the show, which in turn challenges the viewer to ask how they might persevere in this crisis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Along with Arreola and Bucchin, the 2020 Young Curators are Aspen High School\u2019s Eryn Brettmann; Coal Ridge High School\u2019s Kiona Carrasco and Logan Cox; Glenwood Springs High School\u2019s Jenna Golden; and Rifle High School\u2019s Lily McCann-Klausz.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The program aims to teach skills like aesthetic and critical thinking, leadership and organization, while giving students a platform to amplify their voices. For Arreola, who has been involved in Young Curators since his sophomore year and is now a senior, it has been transformative.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt helped me to grow both artistically and mentally,\u201d said Arreola, who is hoping to pursue marketing, design and fashion in college, \u201cit allowed me to possess leadership skills and always enter discussions with an open mind. The Young Curators program helped me to know that sometimes, having a conversation, you may not agree but in the end you can reach middle round.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Graduating with the disrupted and displaced class of 2020, Arreola is still grappling with the idea that his class might not walk for graduation or enjoy the other rites of passage of high school\u2019s end. But he\u2019s proud that the Young Curators show is living on online.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe great thing about being virtual is we can still connect with one another and the community can sty connected with the Young Curators,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been challenging, but this is the first time the museum has done an exhibition virtually, so that\u2019s a powerful message that is communicating through the Young Curators.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:atravers@aspentimes.com\">atravers@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/entertainment\/aspen-art-museum-to-host-virtual-opening-and-exhibition-with-young-curators-of-the-roaring-fork\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Roaring Fork High School artist Ava Lee&#8217;s &#8220;Kennedy and Luke.&#8221;Courtesy Image After six months of weekly meetings, artistic debates and artwork selections, the Young Curators of the Roaring Fork weren\u2019t going to cancel their annual show at the Aspen Art Museum amid the novel coronavirus shutdown of public life. It is instead moving online, making [&hellip;]<\/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":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2457279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 03:45:09","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":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2457279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2457279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2457279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2457279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}