Writer. Author. Contributor. Critic. Essayist. Journalist. Novelist. Poet. Reporter. Storyteller. Scribe. Wordsmith.

Clarissa Hudson was 29 years old when she met the grand master of Alaskan Chilkat weaving, Jennie Thlunaut, at a weaving workshop. Thlunaut was 95 years old and the last of the Chilkat weavers. After a six-week apprenticeship, and two complete weavings, Thlunaut exclaimed, “You are it! You’re the one. My work is finished. Now…

“Bust of a Man,” 1996 collage by Kelsey Hauck; “Chris, R. I. P.,” 1986 pastel by Karl Isberg; “Untitled,” 2000 oil by Doug Pedersen Special to The PREVIEW “Mind’s Material: Sensation, Cognition & Knowledge” at Shy Rabbit Contemporary Arts features the master works of Doug Pedersen, Kelsey Hauck and Karl Isberg. The exhibit, which runs…

Between 2004 and 2005, artist employment increased by 36,000 to a total of 2.1 million workers. Over the same period, the artist unemployment rate declined from 5.1 percent in 2004 to 4.4 percent in 2005. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the artist labor force is made up of architects; art directors, fine artists…

My friend Shanan Campbell Wells owns Sorrel Sky Gallery in Durango. We talked recently about the gallery business and her new venture SCW Art Consulting. “The art business is a really tricky, tricky business because you do what you love and what your passionate about and what you believe in and what your behind and…

Review “On the River,” Sharon Abshagen’s oil of a rowboat. “Ready Made #4,” a sculpture by Bryan Saren. “Beauty and the Beast,” a steel sculpture by Bryan Saren in the foreground, eagle photograph by Claude Steelman, canyon photograph by Marv Poulson and an oil painting by Sharon Abshagen are part of the “Image, Technique, Form”…

Tell your story. Make it a good one with a beginning that draws the reader or listener in, weave in some characters overcoming challenges and give us a splashy or simple ending. Now put it all down on paper and call it a press release. Getting your story in the paper is easy. Make it…

Photos: These ceramic vessels were fired in an Anagama kiln by artist Terry Inokuma from Philomath, Ore. Wearable sculpture by Mary Darwall from Ivins, Utah. Susan Del Szajer from Silver City, N.M. creates fabric collage. One hundred and four artists. Eight local galleries. I spent Saturday afternoon at the Main Avenue Arts Festival. My goal:…

Pagosa Springs, Colo.—Every 18.6 years the moon stands still at Chimney Rock. On July 22, in the wee hours of the morning, the crescent moon will rise between the spires of companion rock and chimney rock, loiter for a five to fifteen minutes, then disappear behind Chimney Rock, leaving a lingering moon glow. The cycle…

There out to be a more creative phrase, a less conformist way of saying, “out-of-the-box.” Isn’t it interesting that a phrase, meaning original and different, is so overwrought and overused? I read a quote in Bliss magazine recently from George Steiner. In his book, Grammars of Creation, he says post-structural theorists have argued convincingly “that…

Photo: Shanan Campbell Wells relaxes at her Sorrel Sky Gallery on Main Avenue in Durango. When she was 12 years old, Shanan Campbell Wells met a woman who glittered, and she knew she wanted to grow up and be just like her. That woman wasn’t a movie star; she was a gallery manager in Santa…