Home is where the art is/Exhibit offers chance to see works by the

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Aug 27, 2000 | by Mark Arnest

For Manitou Springs photographer Andrea Modica, an exhibit opening this week at the Business of Art Center is a chance to say hello to the town that's been her home for almost two years.

For Verna Jean Versa, it's a chance to showcase her work in the region that's been her home for more than half a century.

Modica and Versa are two of the 51 artists represented in "Artesia," a major exhibit at the Business of Art Center that shines the spotlight on, quite simply, the Pikes Peak region's best artists. The show opens with a public reception Wednesday night.

The idea behind "Artesia" is simple, says Business of Art Center director Rodney Wood. "I got tired of hearing about the good ol' days."

"The good ol' days are today, except there's no place for people to exhibit."

So Wood joined forces with two more of the area's leading arts authorities: Fine Arts Center director David Turner and CU-Springs Gallery of Contemporary Art curator Gerry Riggs.

Each man made a list of those who, in his opinion, were the area's most accomplished or most significant artists.

Then they compared notes. "Whenever the lists overlapped at least once, that person was in," says Riggs.

The result: An exhibit that serves as the perfect guide to the best artists in the region (though every area art lover will have some favorites who are absent). Each artist is represented with one work.

Wood may have invented the word "Artesia," but it's an appropriate coinage. Like the underground waters it refers to, the area's artistic strength is not always easy to find.

The region certainly has its advantages - and its challenges. In a questionnaire Wood provided to the artists, he asked them to comment on the area's positive aspects and its challenges for artists.

Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of artists said one of the area's best features is its natural beauty.

Many also singled out a close-knit, supportive arts community, and noted that such organizations as the Business of Art Center and the Fine Arts Center support living, working area artists, and are not fixated on works by dead artists or only out-of-town artists.

Another plus: Although many artists complain about a provincial attitude in the city, the more cosmopolitan Denver scene is close enough to inspire them and far enough not to overwhelm.

And without a lot of inherent distractions, a focused artist can get a lot done here.

But area artists also face many challenges, most of which relate to the fact that, artistically, Colorado Springs is still a small city.

There is not a large art-buying public - the single most-cited challenge - which translates into few galleries willing to show original works beyond the mundane landscapes and Southwestern images that tourists are fond of. In large cities, artists are often urban renewal's shock troops, setting up in slightly blighted areas that commercial enterprises shun. But here, studio space is at a premium.

Area artists feel ignored by the larger community

Even the natural beauty can be a hindrance, wrote painter Steve Morath, encouraging "a literal feeling or picturesque quality that can be detrimental to good art."

And Colorado Springs is more politically conservative than most cities its size, which many artists say translates into a less-than- congenial environment for contemporary, abstract art.

Versa believes the city isn't congenial enough to good traditional art, much less abstract work. "Art is largely ignored," she says. "Even judges and jurors don't recognize good drawing."

She would know. Versa first came to Colorado Springs as a 17- year-old in 1943 with a scholarship to study with Boardman Robinson at the Fine Arts Center, and returned for good a few years later.

In her youth, Versa seemed destined for a national career, winning a national student award at age 14 and first prize for prints at the Detroit Institute of the Arts at 19.

But, she says, "suddenly, everything was abstract." With no demand for her drawing skills, she took refuge in teaching.

Versa is one area artist who's continually been inspired by the scenery. For instance, one of her favorite subjects is Silver Plume Falls, which she has been painting since the 1940s.

But Versa's strength is figure drawing. She says empathy is the secret of her powerfully expressive portraits.

"I go into the model's mood," she says. "Inside, I try to take on the person's expression."

Photographer makes first local showing

Versa's name, and those of many others on the "Artesia" roster, will be familiar to area art lovers.

Some, such as sculptor Don Green and muralist Steve Wood, are among the area's most visible artists.

But the Pikes Peak region also is home to nationally known artists who rarely if ever exhibit here.

For instance, "Artesia" will be local residents' first chance to see work by Modica, whose internationally exhibited work is represented by a Fifth Avenue gallery in New York City.

Modica is best known for her "Treadwell, New York" photographs, an ongoing series - many of the same girl - that she began in 1985.