Go West: ‘Off the Beaten Path’ at Ann Korlogos Gallery

The arts scene in Basalt continues to rival its up and down valley counterparts with several new exhibitions on the horizon and artists opening studio spaces and participating in group shows alongside their peers. One such exhibition is “Off the Beaten Path” at Ann Korologos Gallery on Midland Avenue.

“After watching and participating in the art community of Basalt for over two decades, both as a supporter of the arts and as a gallery owner, I say with confidence that the Basalt art scene has never been as vibrant, diverse and community-oriented in its offerings as it is today — and I think we can say that every day moving forward,” said Ann Korologos, the eponymous gallery owner.

This group exhibition depicting nature through abstraction and mood through the paintings and mixed media art of Michael Kessler, Deborah Paris, Brett Scheifflee, Allison Stewart and Marie Figge Wise opens Aug. 18 and runs through Sept. 14. Works are also on view on the gallery’s website, korologosgallery.com/

“’Off the Beaten Path’ refers to the places these artists have taken their view and experience of the landscape,” Korologos said. “Deeply connected to nature, they explore light, mood, majesty, love, loss and beauty across the range of realism to abstraction.”

Ann Korologos Gallery is known for specializing in contemporary Western art, and this grouping will provide the audience with just what they expect. These artists depict the mood evoked by the landscapes of Colorado, Texas, New Mexico and their imagination across the range of realism to abstraction. Abstract mixed media artists Michael Kessler and Allison Stewart explore the effects of time on the landscapes in the literal sense of erosion or climate change, while the realist and tonalist painters Brett Scheifflee, Deborah Paris and Marie Figge Wise are inspired by their own experience and memory of a particular place.

“What I find most inspiring in my work is the mood and atmosphere of place,” Wise said. “Most of my landscapes are of light and water because they represent life and calm and depict the vulnerability of the artist.”

The group of paintings, featuring bright colors on canvas with greens, blues and oranges, as well as imagery of trees, autumnal foliage and mountains, will seem familiar to anyone who’s spent time hiking, exploring or reveling in the outdoors of the mountainous West. And the reflection of the landscape is something that is important to the gallery as part of the mid-valley and the broader arts ecosystem, Korologos said.

“Basalt is embracing the arts from a broad perspective, drawing in a local and international crowd,” she said, “and we, as a gallery, are happy to have witnessed and participated in this journey and to give a space for these artists to explore.”