Meet the Members of Zip 37
Zoa Ace came to Colorado to create art but her initial success sprang from the many trips back to her native Illinois. Those visits led to exhibits across the country including Chicago, Santa Fe, Seattle, San Francisco, and New York. Ace’s oil paintings involve elements from pop culture, art history, the animal kingdom and nostalgic memories. “I regard these paintings as visual poetry and hope viewers are able to create their own interpretations and narratives about the work,” she says. Her mixed media collages are a hit in ZIP’s famous “Back Room.” Ace studied art at Western Illinois University and has work in the Denver Art Museum. She is a ZIP founder. Learn more about Zoa at www.zoaace.com.
Kym Bloom adores spending long, blissful hours with her jewelry and art card supplies spilling across the living room table of her Capitol Hill home. But soon enough she’s on the road scouting images for her latest ‘shiny little mental postcards.’ As Bloom pursued a Master’s in Humanities (concentration in Communications and Digital Media) from CU Boulder, her interest in photography blossomed. “I love digital because I can return to one of the thousands of images I’ve snapped and see something new in what was hidden when I originally shot the photo. But her images are rarely Photoshopped. “The images are always true to life.” Bloom transfers photos onto panels then seals them with resin which gives the colors a distinct pop. Originally from Fruita, Colorado she hit both the east and west coasts before returning to the mountains she so missed. Learn more about Kym at www.kymbloom.com.
Danyl Cook grew up near a wildlife refuge in western New York and then became a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. The combination of those environments find way into his expressionist drawings and paintings. Cook studied art at SUNY College, Buffalo and holds a Master’s degree in Painting & Art Marketing from Regis University. The tug of urban life brought him to Denver, but those rural roots are always close at hand. ”My soul must be nature’s making,” says Cook. “But I’m hopeful that there’s at least a little metropolitan snap to my work.” A former writer and photographer, Cook often adds stories to his website. His house series is a favorite with patrons. He has his own gallery space open for visits just up the street from ZIP in the West Highlands neighborhood. Learn more about Danyl at www.danylcook.com.
Consider ceramist Pat Cronin career a recipe. Start with a BFA in Printmaking from the University of Colorado. Add a Master’s in Art History from DU. Become administrator of an old school turned artists’ studios and gallery (the Grant Street Art Center, now Art Students League of Denver.) Explore clay and become deft enough to start a ceramics studio in Five Points. Stir well. Cronin’s 3-D works mix clay with found objects. “I like to work with things that are old – that are rusted and broken – and give them a new life,” says the Denver native who teaches at the Naropa University. Animal and fish motifs speak to the artist’s vegetarian and animal defense sensibilities. Cronin also founded AHA, Artists Helping Artists, an “adhocracy” whose mission is to raise funds from local artists for local artists who are medically under- or uninsured.
Leo Franco received a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Arizona, but always heeded the call to art. This began in his teen years at the Bemis School in Colorado Springs with a particularly memorable mentor. “Ah, Mrs. Oiler,” says Franco fondly. “She taught me how to paint; she taught me how to hang my work; she taught me how to look at art!” Using wood, plexi-glass and found objects, Colorado native Franco describes his art as “abstract assemblages” that he “composes” in his West Highlands studio. These intimate works reflect the influences of the recognizable Swiss, Piet Mondrian, and American, Louis Nevelson, but also Russian Constructivists such as Gabo, Lissitzky and Malevich. His drawings often accompany the 3-D works during his front room showings.
Joe Higgins likes the word simple when describing his monotypes and prints. “I go up to Wyoming quite a bit as that landscape is pretty inspirational,” he says. “It’s open and raw and very minimal, and I like that elemental appeal.” A native of Upstate New York, Higgins landed in Laramie to finish his BFA at the University of Wyoming. He came to Denver for the art scene and to Open Press Ltd in particular where his painting gave way to printmaking. His simple color schemes, landscapes and interiors speak to the human condition. “I like a landscape for telling a story and interiors are good as a metaphor for human identities – for the inner person,” he says. When not making work, Higgins teaches at the Art Students League of Denver.
Katie Hoffman’s days always include time in her Wheat Ridge studio. “I don’t wait for inspiration, I treat this like a job,” she says, “but of course a job I love!” Hoffman received her BFA in Drawing from Metro State but may be better known for her mystical, dreamy oil paintings. Her interests lie in stories, myths, and allegories that explore the unconscious. Daily life finds way into her work and even though the intent may be abstraction, the human – the figure – always come through. Hoffman is an avid art carder – swapping small scale works with other artists. “No one equivocating over sales or bartering or rating whose work is better than whose. It’s very Dada and simply art for art’s sake,” she says. Learn more about Katie at www.katiehoffman.com.
Meg Ingraham was first in her Grand Junction family to attend college (Western State-Gunnison) and the expectation was to study hard. “It’s difficult to be distracted when it’s 40 below zero,” she laughs. “So my focus went right into the art.” After receiving her BA, she became a Master Printer via the Tamarind Institute of the University of New Mexico. But soon enough, Ingraham turned to the intimacy of painting. Animal-themed oils and acrylics were borne of children demanding constant production from their creative mom. She also paints figures in order to keep her drawing chops and says her work is: “Wacko, because that seems friendly and inviting.” Ingraham creates in the Blue Silo in the RiNo Art District. Learn more about Meg at www.megingraham.com
Lisa M. Kerns’ fascination with the past makes her art thrive today. The Denver artist mixes loss and remembrance, animal, and ornate Victorian themes to create her mixed media works. “I had a personal loss of my own when I was young and that colored my life ever since,” she says, relating to Victorians who lived in an intense time of loss, but pushed against that sadness with oversized dresses, exotic stuffed animals and objects of desire they coveted from birth to death. Kerns earned a BFA in printmaking from Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota, Florida (her home state) and an MFA in printmaking from Arizona State University before moving to Denver in 2008. She creates in a studio in the Santa Fe Art District and teaches at Red Delicious Press in Aurora. Learn more about Lisa at www.lisamkerns-fineart.com
Jennifer Melton loves garish things. That’s what the Arkansas native will tell you. “Cheerful” and “Carnival-Like,” are words that spill from the self-taught artist in describing her work. “Any given piece is usually a loose notion of where I’m going – pretty primitive stuff,” she says. Others may see a more ardent art-soul as she is a founding member of ZIP (1995) and also a founder of the famously bohemian Pirate (1980) right across the street. Melton is more likely to scout out materials at Home Depot or a thrift store than a traditional art shop. But don’t ever look for the color brown in her work. It may be garish, but it’s just not happy enough.
Barbara O’Connell is one educated Zipper. She loves to learn and enjoys playing off others – getting stimulation and feedback from fellow artists. Constant learning also feeds her interest in various mediums. “I have rolling favorites,” she says. “I find myself in moments of wanting to draw, and then moments of wanting to do photography. And then I’m always seeking ways to combine them.” O’Connell has undergraduate degrees from Metro State in Art and Colorado State in Textiles and Clothing as well as an MFA from the University of Denver concentrating in Drawing, Photography and Fiber. A Sterling native, O’Connell’s attraction to art is not so much the end product but the process. “Sometimes I wish there were no end product,” she smiles. “It’s a ritual to me and that’s what I find intriguing.”
Louis Recchia’s work is in the Denver Art Museum, the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center, the Loveland Art Museum and other respected venues. But that hasn’t changed his humble, nice-guy persona. Recchia’s recognizable found-object works have given way to a more recent focus on oil painting. The Chicago native, who received his BFA from Western Illinois University, will tell you he “reshuffles history” to his own “post, post-modern” liking. “So much of my life is lived vicariously through books and the media,” says Recchia. “It’s interesting to me how cartoons reflect our human emotions – the human condition.” His backward signature tells the viewer to imagine a mirror and see a sense of self in all art. Recchia is married to fellow Zipper Zoa Ace. They live and create in Berthoud, CO. Learn more about Louis at www.louisrecchia.com.
Kinship pushed Valerie Savarie away from art, but friendship brought her back. As her sister pursued a BFA, Savarie sought an Interior Design degree from Colorado State University to avoid sibling rivalry. After years of enjoying colors, shapes, textures, and the calculations of her chosen profession, a friend’s mannerisms inspired her to create the signature Schmay character who fits right in with ZIP’s aura of whimsy. “When my friend was at a loss for words he would say “schmay” and in my mind it evoked an image of someone restricted by exaggerated sleeves and mouth-covering sweaters which keep him from emoting.” Savarie also creates mixed media portraits in abstract settings and cut out book art. Raised in Madison, WI, she now calls southwest Denver home. Learn more about Valerie at www.valeriesavarie.com.
Jean Smith has a most singular style. Her clay florals are as much a part of her as her fun, vintage eyewear. Growing up outside Chicago, she received a BA in Art and Education at Milton College (Wisconsin.) After years of teaching, she got a boost when a friend helped turn her living room into an art show which impressed a well-heeled gallerist into offering a show. Smith’s low-fire flowers and “trophy shrines” (ceramic containers capped with kitchy metal prize toppers) hark to a love affair with nostalgia and memorabilia. “I think of myself as a modified pop artist,” says Smith. “My approach is bubbly and bigger than life and sometimes cartoonish. Using vintage or Americana-type themes is how I integrate what I like with ‘now’ time.” Smith has a ceramics studio ready for visits in the Dry Ice Factory in the RiNo Art District. Learn more about Jean at www.jeanbsmith.com.
Susan Vaho’s career in community development helped shape her artist persona. Her work with the Denver Housing Authority, CHFA and The Gathering Place paralleled a love for film and printmaking she can trace back to elective classes taken while getting her degree in Landscape Architecture at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. Using photography and traditional printmaking techniques, she creates ambiguity-filled works wrapped in social context. “I try to make a movie without really making a movie,” says Vaho.” It’s more about still shots with the viewer then filling in the gaps.” Vaho grew up outside Chicago, but now lives and creates in Denver’s Sunnyside neighborhood.
Karrie York had an ulterior motive to becoming creative: wooing a guy. He was an artist. She asked for painting lessons. Today they remain friends, but art-making has taken a real meaningful place in life. Her half animal/half child acrylic paintings cross the boundaries of realism and whimsy and came about as she struggled to paint them separately. “I couldn’t get a child sitting atop a lamb to work,” she says. “So I cut them apart, put them back together and that seemed to gel!” Her first show came to an abrupt halt when space owners deemed the art too disturbing. York just laughs. “I never thought that at all!” Working from her Denver home, (she’s a native) York uses the Internet to search desirable images of children and animals to meld. She then devises her own backdrops. Learn more about Karrie at www.zip37.com