Our Artists
Gina Rosato
Gina is the owner of the Creative Crackerjack, a graphic design studio that has served Silverton and other regional businesses for nearly two decades. She is also one of the artists behind the Silverton Creative District’s marketing design. In 2011, she established Route 550 Gifts, a gift company where she designs collectable and wearable souvenir art inspired by her love affair with Silverton.
She recently jumped back into her gallery work after a long hiatus and has created a series of historical integrated digital art wildscapes that celebrate the history, and the people of the San Juan Mountains.
Ken Webb
Ken received his welding degree at New Mexico State University in 1984, and began working as an ironworker and steel fabricator. His artistic talents, combined with his abilities to work with steel, soon lead him down the road of creativity. He belongs to the Arizona Artist Blacksmith Association (AABA) and the Rocky Mountain Blacksmith Association.
Ken has become well known for his unique sculptures and fine metal art. He has been commissioned to do numerous pieces, from small tabletop and wall artwork to larger outdoor sculptures. Many of his originals are included in private collections throughout the world. You can find his art at his gallery in Silverton, Quiet Bear Art at 1130 Greene St.
Sarah Umles
Sarah Umles is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and the founder-director of The Residency Project—an artist residency and community arts platform. Sarah holds an MA in Arts Administration & Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in Creative Writing from UC Riverside. She has curated exhibitions in venues across Chicago and Los Angeles, and her own work has been shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, California Museum of Photography, BoldPas, and CalArts. She was born in Germany and splits her time between California and Colorado, where she has deep family roots.
More information on Sarah can be found on her website.
Ouray International Film Festival
The Ouray International Film Festival was founded in 2020 by actor Terry Kiser and filmmakers Jared LaCroix and Jake Abell. After shooting a pair of short films in the San Juans, the trio was convinced that Ouray was a place where leaders in cinema, film studies, and audiences could come together for a vibrant weekend of movies and conversations. The festival also provides opportunities for Western Slope students to engage the work of the fest through project-based and scholarship opportunities. Now in its third year and based in the Wright Opera House, the Ouray International Film Festival is dedicated to bringing the best films and artists to Ouray, Colorado so that our region can benefit from global stories and that our communities can positively impact the globe.
Robert (Bob) Boeder
Bob has written four novels set in Silverton. He sells them plus Colorado Art at the Train Store on Greene Street.
Website: www.silvertontrainstore.com
Email: trainstore3@gmail.com
Phone: (970) 387-5580
Or find the Silverton Train Store on Facebook
Hillary Cable
Hillary is a multi-media artist specalizing in building craft and resin art. Born and raises Colorado native. www.etsy.com/shop/SkiPolePlunger
Marya Lehman
Art Hawk Studio is an artist owned studio/gallery including fine art by Marya Lehman, unique “Made in Silverton” gifts, feather art, jewelry, porcelain paintings, and stunning wildlife photography. Gallery focused on local landscapes and wildlife, birds of prey, native crafts and falconry education. A must see! Instagram: @arthawkstudio
Anne Chase
Anne is a landscape artist working both physically and digitally. She works closely with mountains and experiments with colors, shapes and perspectives - bending the line between realistic and abstract. Her style is charismatic, neutral colors, and sometimes humorous. She creates art to hang on the wall, send to a friend in a greeting card, or to wear on apparel. Her pieces have a whimsical character influenced by the fun that mountainous landscapes inspire.
Anne grew up in the San Juan Mountains, and once she started painting landscapes, her perception and relationship with them deepened. Each piece is a challenge; each is a unique puzzle trying to transmute the complex relationship between landscape and light with reverence. www.annechaseart.com
Abigail Armistead
Abigail Armistead is a painter and visual media artist originally from the state of Maine, living in Silverton since 2020.
Abigail’s work is a visual exploration of the interconnectivity between human psyche and the natural environment; and how that relationship is influenced by an innate desire to stay tied to the land in spite of modern society’s often tenuous union with nature.
From the ghost towns of the San Juans to the ancestral heritage sites of Mesa Verde and beyond, the Four Corners region is a perfect visual representation of the wide spectrum of changing circumstances in our world.
Karla Pendleton
Karla Pendleton is a decorative porcelain artist whose interest lies in combining functionality with the creation of heirloom quality art. Her professional background as both engineer and artist reflects a desire to add value to objects which are useful while “making the eyes happy”. She enjoys creating objects which can be preserved from generation to generation, commemorating important events in the life of a family.
Ms Pendleton’s interest in the kiln-fired arts began early as she trained with both her mother and grandmother, learning the basics of firing and technique. Her inclination to experiment also inspires originality of design. Most recently Ms Pendleton has begun to broaden her one-fire technique into landscape painting. Her establishment of a studio in Silverton, Colorado has inspired her to focus on painting mountain landscapes, and inhabitants.
To order, visit Karla Pendleton Studio’s online gallery sites at bonanza.com or etsy.com or call (970) 799-1788 to commission a special hand-painted piece. Or find demonstrations of her work on YouTube.
Miranda Peralta
I crochet beanie hats, scarves, baby blankets, ear warmers and other things.
For more information, contact me at Mandiekandie23@gmail.com
John Crue
John is a multimedia artist, but primarily illustrates with ink and paint. The chaotic nature of his work is NOT free-form-stream-of-consciousness, but rather, an incredibly specific image granted via divine inspiration that must be accurately portrayed as close as possible to the initial vision.
Topics of inspiration include: The Fermi paradox, The Technological Singularity, Fractal Geometry & The Golden Ratio, and the paradoxical nature of Dualism within Taoism.
John Crue is also a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, but also enjoys graphic design and video editing. Other fields of experience include poetry, body-building, edible pretzel art, and modern dance; specifically contact-improv.
He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology & philosophy from the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana, and currently resides as a part-time ceramicist and stone mason in Silverton, Colorado.
Learn more at www.johncrue.com or @jdcrue on Instagram.
Evin Harris
About the artist: Evin Harris ella/her was born and raised in Denver, CO. She lived in Breckenridge for almost 7 years before moving to Silverton in 2022. She enjoys crafting, pickling, eating and shredding the patriarchy. When she isn't hustling and sewing fabric you can find her in the backcountry splitboarding, backpacking, biking, climbing and picking up trash.
About the art: I love to repurpose materials. I think that creativity and earth stewardship can go hand in hand. The first hat I ever made was in an effort to spice up an old hat. From there I began spicing up friends' hats with old fabric. It grew into a full business. I still make ALL of my patches from repurposed fabrics. I cut and design all my patches before sewing them and cutting them for the final product. Every patch is unique, you will see fabrics carried over from patch to patch, but no two patches are the same.
Visit my shop, Eviday Things, at 1148 Blair St in Silverton or online at Etsy or Instagram.
Contact Evin at ebharris27@gmail.com or (303) 990-0879
Lisa Branner
Lisa Branner is a movement artist and the director of Caldera Dance Company. She has performed and taught FatChance® Style – a uniquely American form of group improvisational dance – for more than a decade, both nationally and internationally. Lisa is also the organizer of the Summer Sounds Music Series, a co-founder of craft manufacturer Venture Snowboards, and has a background in photography, graphic design, and writing. When not dancing, you can find Lisa hiking or snowboarding in the backcountry around Silverton.
Carol Wilkins
Carol Wilkins Designs understands your need to express yourself. My jewelry celebrates the strength and confidence in you, as well as your own unique, artistic statement. I invite you to find that piece that makes you feel special and empowered.
You can find Carol Wilkins Designs at ‘Quiet Bear Art’ at 1130 Greene St in Silverton, as well as a few other places around SW Colorado.
Email: carol@carolwilkinsdesigns.com
You can also find Carol Wilkins Designs on Facebook and Instagram.
Wesley Berg
Wesley lives in Silverton, Colorado and spends a lot of his time out with his camera looking for wildlife as well as skiing, biking, hiking, and climbing in the San Juan Mountains. He grew up in Colorado and developed a love for the mountains at an early age, climbing several of the 14 thousand foot peaks long before it became a popular pastime. He often carried a camera to take pictures of the fantastic scenery viewed from the top of mountains, and subsequently gained an interest in photographing the wildlife he saw while outdoors.
Wesley’s work can be found at The 9318 Collective (1212 Greene St) in Silverton; or visit his website.
Beth Anderson
I’m Beth Anderson… eco-artist and imperfectionist on a mission to live a simple life. I make pictures out of old shipping pallets and other roadside finds. In other words, I make something out of nothing. I believe…
Simplicity is bliss – I combine simple materials with simple designs to produce uncommon results.
Beauty lies in the imperfections – Knotholes, cracks and rust are three of my favorite elements of reclaimed wood. Shall we consider these flaws? In my world, they are the root of character! ‘Imperfections’ add an element of surprise to an otherwise ordinary piece of art.
Happiness is the success – My passion for what I do pours into every piece that I create. This feeling that radiates from my being as I work gives each piece of my artwork a bit of a soul, if you ask me. Website: The 9318 Collective
Bob Schmidt
Since 1977, Bob Schmidt has hand crafted furniture, cabinets and doors in the Craftsman style. Bob’s working studio and gallery are housed in an award winning timber frame building he designed and built in 2000 at the terminus of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. www.SignatureFurnitureInc.com
Dale Malmedal
Growing up in Colorado, Dale quickly developed a love for the mountains. That love was transformed into capturing that beauty on film. Dale fell in love with the San Juan Mountains in 1973 on a camping trip with his parents to the Silverton area. He has backpacked the Weminuche, Rawah, Flat Tops and Mount Zirkel Wilderness areas of Colorado, the Wind Rivers of Wyoming and the Beartooth, Anaconda-Pintlar, and Spanish Peaks Wilderness areas of Montana.
Photographing the San Juan Mountains since 1994, Dale started his professional career on the juried art festival circuit. In 1998 Dale opened his own gallery in Telluride and presented his art work there for 15 years. After closing the Telluride gallery in 2014 he and his wife moved to South Dakota to do missionary work on two Native American reservations. After moving back to Colorado in 2020 Dale reopened his gallery in Silverton.
Dale’s gallery is located on 12th Street between Greene Street and Blair Street in Silverton. He features his work on dye-sublimation metal prints, canvas gallery wraps, fine art prints and direct printing to various substrates. Look for the Colorado Landscape Photography sign on 12th Street.
Visit his website at www.naturescapesgallery.com
White Eyes Gallery
Located in the historic Teller House in downtown Silverton at 1250 Greene Street, White Eyes Gallery specializes in unique Southwestern fine-art pieces, including Mata Ortiz pottery, photography, sand paintings, sculpture, jewelry, folk art, and Kachina dolls. The gallery shows many regional Navajo and Hopi one-of-a-kind artistic creations that emphasize their culture and fine craftsmanship.
Julian Hood
Retro style Silverton shirts. Notorious Tees is a homegrown Silverton t-shirt company that looks for wiley mountain town stories and tries to make shirts that would have been worn by the characters in those stories.
Notorious Tees is located at 8a Mears Avenue
Brook Reynolds
My work is best described as home décor and garden art. All product is hand plasma cut and/or welded. Though not all pieces are made from scrap or recycled metal, I prefer to create with material that has already served a purpose.
Some of my work can be seen locally at The 9318 Collective (1212 Greene Street). Or visit my online business, Artistic Fabrications. Also on Facebook and Instagram.
Tara Golden
I am an artist but people are the elements and places are my game board. I host a new creative Silverton Scavenger Hunt!
Tara, your scavenger hunt game show host, will curate a unique adventure for you! This is not your typical scavenger hunt; it's a creative & immersive departure from the ordinary. Unleash your inner detective as you delve into the heart of Silverton. Engage with friendly locals, discover intriguing tales of Silverton, and capture the essence of the town through photos, videos, and audio files. Let your imagination run wild, as you team up to unravel the missions & solve clues . It's a co-creation between you and your interactive host, Silverton itself and you, the hunters, making the experience truly unique. Immerse yourself in the beauty of this beautiful mountain town & experience this captivating way to explore a new place. The hunt is on & adventure awaits you! Connect with us online at Creative Soul Scavenger Hunts.
Janice Reich
SHAPE - COLORS - TEXTURE - Characteristics of the gourd that fascinates, inspires and challenges me as an artist.
Janice enjoys the freedom of expression and the process of creating art that has a sense of beauty, balance and touch. Creativity in gourds emerged first, and very unexpectedly, from a lifetime of beliefs that she could not draw or paint. Even though my journey into art began later in life it definitely started with a BANG!
Initially self-taught through the use of instructional books and videos, Janice has continually added to her skills and knowledge by seeking out classes from some of the best in the field of both gourd art and other mediums.
My gourd and pine needle art reflects a love of nature and all things natural. I am very proud to offer this unique art form from such natural mediums at The 9318 Collective at 1212 Greene Street in Silverton. You can also find my work at www.artisansofmancos.com
For more information, contact me at reichline@aol.com or (970) 560-1241.
Cassandra Roof
Boutique clothing store, where streetwear meets sustainability. Discover our unique collection of handmade and printed streetwear, crafted with love and care. Explore our upcycled denim pieces that blend style and eco-consciousness. Embrace fashion that tells a story and join the movement!
Arrastra Clothing and Home Goods
1027 Greene St, Silverton CO 81433
Contact Cassandra at: cassandraroof@gmail.com or (970) 769-6357
Deborah Runion
Deborah Runion has slowly migrated to Silverton from Illinois over the last 38 years; first spending summers here to now spending 9-10 months of the year in these gorgeous mountains.
The arts have been a life long interest of hers. She has produced, directed, and acted in stage plays for over 30 years. Deborah has worked in several mediums including paint, clay, wood, wire and most recently the art of needle felting. She currently spends several hours a day handcrafting sculptures out of wool using barbed needles to shape the wool into its final form. Her work is available at The 9318 Collective in Silverton.
Eileen Fjerstad
Eileen has been painting professionally in SW Colorado since 1984. She is a well-known regional artist, making her home in Silverton. Plein Air painting has been Eileen’s passion since the beginning of her art career, first in watercolor and more recently in the wonderfully rich medium of oil.
Eileen endeavors to capture the ever-changing, intriguing, compositions provided by Mother Nature. The clear bright light and stunning landscapes of the San Juan Mountains and the deserts of the Four Corners, which she often visits are her favorite painting environments. You can find her in her gallery - Sand & Snow Studio.
Thomas Livingstone
Growing up in scenic Colorado, Tom developed a keen interest in extreme outdoor adventure sports alongside photography.
“On my tenth birthday, my parents gave me my first Nikon camera. Soon after, my pictures were being published in our neighborhood newsletter.”
After attending college as a business major, he decided photography was the career he truly wished to pursue. In 1994, Tom was accepted to the world-renowned Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. After studying commercial photography, Tom was hired to join an exploration team to film and photograph the deepest cavern in the world in Mexico for the Discovery Channel.
In 2011, Tom opened Kendall Mountain Gallery on Blair Street in Silverton, Colorado and is currently showing his most recent project, “Historical Treasures of the San Juans.”
Click here to learn more on Tom’s website.
Betsy Baier
Betsy Baier is a weaver of fine wool, silk and alpaca shawls, scarves, and other garments. She also hand-spins yarn to create fiber-based bowls and knitted garments. Inspired by the interplay of fiber and color, she creates eclectic, yet useful art. Her work can be found at The 9318 Collective.
Ian Tanner
Ian Tanner is a local potter who throws and fires ALL of his pottery in Silverton. Come see his studio/gallery and purchase his work in the small yellow building down the street from the train tracks (1148 Blair St). Or follow the_silverton_pottery_company on Instagram
Kim Eisner
Kim Eisner is a Silverton/Howardsville Colorado resident since age 8. Artistic in style and fashion, she has focused on painting, jewelry and photography.
My greatest joy is in sharing my enthusiasm for visions of beauty, especially the charm of the San Juan Mountains, seeing nature in all its dramatic splendor, and bringing the minerals to life by translating them to wearable art. Watercolors often include paints from minerals to reflect the San Juan Mountains. Jewelry is designed with rock and mineral themes often giving a bold statement.
Art appreciation was developed with inspiration from my very creative mother and supportive father. Daddy was a Jeeper from way back and I still have the first jeep. He gave me the love of the Silverton area and its history. Mom gave me the artistic vision of translating that love into artwork. My collection is in homes in many US states, Mexico, France and Norway.
View Kim’s work at The 9318 Collective.
Kat Ochabova
Kat has worked in the creative industry for over 17 years. She grew up in the Pacific Northwest and now calls Silverton home. Locally, she does work for Silverton Avalanche School and the Chamber of Commerce.
As a contractor, Kat strives to create purpose-driven work by bringing awareness to wild places and helping outdoor communities thrive. When she’s not busy putting together pretty pictures, she loves to travel, hike, climb, backpack, ski, and bike in the desert. She also enjoys learning and practicing sustainable living. www.kitkatcreative.com
KSJC Silverton Community Radio
Tune in to KSJC 92.5 FM for music, news, weather updates and avalanche conditions.
Cindy Coleman
Artist Cindy Coleman has lived in Durango, CO since 2006. An illustration graduate of Ringling College of Art & Design, Cindy has worked in various media, including acrylics, colored pencils, watercolors, and currently, soft pastels.
Cindy is an outdoor enthusiast and spends her free time camping, hiking, and exploring this beautiful country that we live in. She captures this beauty with her paintings, attempting to bring the viewer into the landscape – and explore it for themselves. “I use soft pastels to create landscape paintings of the Four Corners region and National Parks. I love the outdoors and painting is a chance for me to try and capture that moment – the mood I was in, the smells, the wind, the sounds, my thoughts – and try to wrap it into a painting that’s a piece of my soul.”
Cindy’s work can be seen locally at The 9318 Collective (1212 Greene Street).
Duck Girl Art is also on Facebook and Instagram.
Commissions accepted.
Judy Graham
My work is about the look and feel of the mountains and objects related to being in the mountains – pyramidal shapes, areas of blue, dogs, the elk, maps, etc. How the mountains, skies and these other things look is important. That these images are of very specific places which I have sometimes pinpointed on the maps in diptychs, makes it clear that specificity of place is of utmost importance to me. Of more significance is that the landscape itself and paintings thereof can suggest what is beyond. In a compressed and metaphorical form, whether it is the land or a land substitute (a painting), we have a glimpse of something beyond ourselves. The detail of place and thing holds the purpose of suggesting something other than itself. How or when the local implies the universal is interesting to us. A place or a thing can veil what we yearn to understand; can be a portal. The science of place and thing is, in itself, mysteriously wondrous but the essence is infinite.
Visit my website at www.judithgraham.com
Christine Perigen-Fonner
Christine Fonner has over 20 years of leadership career experience across the non-profit, corporate, and educational industry sectors. She is the founder of Roam Your Soul, a women’s leadership and adventure community where she creates and facilitates transformational learning experiences that incorporate dance, music, poetry, writing, and nature-based education experiences in the outdoors.
Christine holds a Bachelors in Elementary Education and Bilingual/ESL K-12 and a Masters of Education in Transformational Leadership and Change Management. Christine is a PhD candidate in Organizational Leadership focusing on the impacts of toxic leadership on women in leadership and the responsibility that leaders have to cultivate what she calls, "radical care" in the workplace.
Contact information for The Perigen Project, LLC / Roam Your Soul:
Phone: (866) 774-9445
Email: hello@roamlife.com
https://www.facebook.com/RoamYourSoul
https://www.instagram.com/roamyoursoul/
David Swanson
This Biography is different. Individuals reading this may experience laughter. David Swanson is eccentric: A humorous writer/novelist who lives in the Southwest Colorado mountain town of Silverton. He writes non-fiction and fiction, with the only requirement being that the piece has to be comedic/humorous.. He’s just that passionate about it.
David did not obtain his Bachelor degree in creative writing from C.U.-Boulder, instead earning a Biology B.A. This is a good thing for his writing, because the environmental science degree opened many doors in the area of outdoor, blue-collar, type jobs. This has also dispelled the assertion that you can’t find a job with only a biology B.A. Got him into Peace Corps-Kenya.
Find information about David’s work (including his latest novel, Air-Conditioned Bus Tours) at www.humorouswriter.com
Contact David Swanson (CEO for Life of Davo Productions) at DSHumorguy@gmail.com or (970) 317-0044.