Delta County Independent Back Page Photos from January 1 2014

A Great Start to the New Year

Back Page, Delta County Independent, published on January 1, 2014

Delta: Inspiration for an artist and a community builder

Kami Collins

 

Published on Wednesday, 01 January 2014 16:08

 

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Photo by Kami Collins

Since moving to Delta, Jean has fallen in love with the ‘dobies, and the landscapes dominate her most recent work. Here, she selects several different paintings to hang at the Confluence Gallery booth at the 4th & Main Exchange.Jean Stortz lives by her own personal tagline: Chronicling an ever-changing life through art.

After moving to Delta from Minnesota just over a year ago, Stortz first noticed how the local landscape differed from the spring- and summertime lush green and the blinding winter white she was used to in Minnesota.

Photo by Kami Collins

Though painting is Jean’s main creative outlet, she says she loves to dabble. Another one of her projects is making bracelets, earrings and pendants out of aluminum, like these on display at the 4th & Main Exchange.She never intended to paint the 'dobies here, but then said she realized that to really know her new home, to really become familiar with this landscape, she had to pick up a paintbrush.

That first painting led to another, and to another, and eventually to a show called "Adobe Awakening," showcasing her work of the 'dobies. And she was off, chronicling her own changing life and the changing life of the Western Colorado landscape.

Stortz is an oil painter, and paints whatever moves her in her surroundings. While living in Minnesota, she painted roosters from her farm, barns and outbuildings, animals, vegetables. "I like to point out the things we all miss," she said.

Photo submitted

Jean Stortz has lived in Delta for about a year now. She and her husband Steve met in Colorado but lived in Minnesota for most of their lives. They decided to retire here, where they both spend their days creating: she as an artist in oils, jewelry, mixed media and fabric collage, and Steve in hand-carved, hand-painted basswood and slate turkey calls.Since moving here, she has fallen in love with the 'dobies, and that landscape has dominated her work. "The 'dobies are so unusual, they're so foreign to me," she said. "I'm so in love with them. They are beautiful." She and her husband Steve were in Minnesota over Thanksgiving for just a few days, and when they drove back through town — home, finally — Jean said she was comforted and filled with joy to see once again her beloved 'dobies.

That burning desire to create has always been with Stortz, but not always acted upon. As a young mom, she seldom found the time to create art the way she really wanted to. She has always been a dabbler, has always been interested in creating something. "I've always been moving towards art, but life happens and you can't get there," she said.

She remembers a phone call with her sister many years ago. Her children were running around the kitchen and a bag of kitty litter had been spilled. "I remember complaining to my sister that I never had the time to paint. And my sister told me, 'When you're 60, you'll have the time to do this,'" she said. "And now I'm there and I'm painting. I've been searching for what I really love for a really long time. And I've found it. AndPhoto submitted

This truck reminds Stortz of farm life in Minnesota.now I can say: I am a painter. I do what I do because I have to. I have to create art, or I won't survive." She joked about being "tormented" during her working life when she was stuck in an office.

But now? Now there is no mortgage, no office to go to daily, no spilled kitty litter. "Now I can truly enjoy painting and this environment. I finally have the time," she said. And she's taken to the life of an artist like a fish to water.

Just a few weeks after moving to Delta, she stumbled onto a small group of people who were interested in bringing an art gallery to Delta. After meeting with the group for about a month, Stortz became one of the founding members of the ConfluencePhoto submitted

“I like to paint my surroundings, whatever they may be,” says Stortz. In Minnesota, living on a farm, her paintings were of farm life. Living in Delta now, the ‘dobies and the things she finds there dominate her work, like this oil of a deer skull she found.Gallery: an Artists' Cooperative. With her help, this group has been active at the monthly summer street fairs in town, at which Stortz's work is displayed. The group also rents space at the 4th & Main Exchange in Delta, which is filled with locally-produced arts, crafts, décor and other items. The artists of the Confluence Gallery, Stortz included, have a variety of art on display at their booth.

For Stortz, the most difficult thing about leaving Delano, Minn., was leaving the Three Crows Coffee Shop, a kind of community hub, coffee shop, restaurant, gift shop of locally-made items, and the spot in town to hear local musicians crooning. She has found a similar place in the 4th & Main Exchange.Photo submitted

“I like to paint the things we don’t notice – like a beautiful bunch of asparagus,” Stortz says."We get so many types of people in here, people who may never go to an art gallery," she said. "I know I can walk in here and connect with someone." For her, it was never a question of whether or not Delta needed something like the Confluence Gallery. "If you're an artist, you have to get out there. You need to have your art out all the time," she said.

She has also joined the Creamery Arts Center and has had two shows there.

Her life as an artist has also helped her become an active member of her community. She was very active in the communities she lived in while in Minnesota, so getting involved is nothing new for her. "I was on every committee you could think of. People need to participate in their community," she said emphatically.

In addition to her work with the artists' co-op, she has recently started attending the meetings for downtown revitalization. "I want this town to be successful. I want 4th & Main to be successful. I want the gallery to be successful," she said. "This is the place we chose to retire. We're staying. So why not get involved?" she said. "Delta is a new palette for me, a place where I can spend my energy."

Stortz likes to showcase found art of things she finds in the 'dobies, everything from bones to rusted cans to spent shotgun casings. She also makes beautiful, light-as-air earrings, pendants and bracelets made from aluminum. "I was pounding on metal way before it was cool on Pinterest," she said. She also dabbles in mixed media and fabric collage. Her next venture is to make furniture with her husband Steve.

You can find Jean on Facebook at Jean M. Stortz or on her blog at JeanneStortz.blogspot.com. You can also check out Jean's art in person and meet her at a showing of her work Saturday, Jan. 11, from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., at the 4th & Main Exchange.

Delta: Inspiration for an artist and a community builder

http://www.deltacountyindependent.com/index.php/news/back-page/9499-delta-inspiration-for-an-artist-and-a-community-builder

Found Objects: Old & Discarded

Today I take down the show, Found Objects: Old & Discarded, at the Creamery Arts Center in Hotchkiss, Colorado.

The oil paintings in this show included objects old and discarded, found bones from the Delta County landscape, remains of a bird, a turtle shell, a nest from an old willow tree, from our farm in Minnesota, old cars, artifacts from my Dad, his fish spear and his tackle box & more. I can imagine my Dad using that fish spear, as he carried that heavy artifact and speared, Redhorse Suckers,  or carrying the green, metal tackle box with its lures, weights and hooks, near his childhood farm in Minnesota. He would be in his mid 90's today.  I love the stories behind the paintings.

I love the process of painting.  Searching for the next topic and venue. Living my days and being continuely inspired in the new subject and settling down to paint in my studio.  Painting, Painting, Painting. Then Stevie helps framing and setting up the next show, somewhere! Enjoying the opening and sharing of my new work.  Rest briefly and then take down the show. And then start all over again.

Bones & new paintings

I found my first skull in Eckert, Colorado. Stevie and I were scouting for Sand Hill Cranes this past year.  That first skull started my quest to look for more bones.  As Stevie fly fishes in Delta County, I arrive with my camera/phone for that perfect photo of a landscape or anything that catches my attention, a hat to protect myself from the hot sun, and a bag to hold a bone, a piece of wood, trash or stone.

Discovering new beauty in my environment, bones, lovely organic shapes.  Along with the bones, I discovered it spurred conversations with others and people I met loaned their found bones, skulls and stories for my new project, the painting series, Found Objects: Old and Discarded.

The New Landscape

My new environment on the Western Slope of Colorado is so different from my Minnesota roots. It is not lush green and last winter was seldom white. There is snow on the distant mountains and the Grand Mesa, but little in my immediate, high desert surroundings. My intent was not to paint these unusual formations, the adobe hills, when I first arrived, but then I realized to really know something I need to draw or paint a landscape, object or person. To familiarize myself with my surroundings I needed to wander in, photograph, and paint my new home environ. My paintings previously focused on intense reds, blues and yellows, now the paintings would be in a subdued adobe/brown palette. I was intrigued to create a series now called, Adobe Awakening. This adobe/brown color signifies; stability, reliability, the earth, association with all things natural and organic. This color affects us as a stabilizer, gives us a sense of orderliness, feeling of wholesomeness, and of course provides us a connection with the earth. Adobe hills like these give me awe-some, rooted connections with the earth.

The adobe/clay hills and flats are only one of the distinguishing characteristics of this area. Ancient hills in the most amazing and unusual shapes. Their colors and shapes shift depending on the sunlight and shadows, forever changing and new. The snow transforms them again. Not one adobe hill like another.  They are prehistoric, dinosaur-like, some look like animals, weathered elephant-like skin in appearance.

As unusual as it sounds it was my first trip to the local landfill, Adobe Buttes, and a comment
from a friend, which inspired me to start this series. I sent a photo to my friend Elizabeth, and she remarked, "Ah, must be inspiration for paintings". I did not know then but indeed it was to be in my near future.

Jean Marie Stortz Artist

                                          

New location, new paintings, new life. Stevie and I sold the farm just over a year ago. We have relocated to the western slope of Colorado. In the summer of 2011, we went on a road trip to the Southwest. It was time to let go of the farm and create the next chapter. New Mexico and Colorado were our destinations. Stevie and I met in Breckenridge, Colorado 35 years ago and we had also  visited New Mexico at that time. We landed in Delta, Colorado. We love going on short road trips and decided this would be the perfect home base.  The landscape is varied, the weather moderate, one can grow fruit trees, the entire Southwest is available for discovery. Selling the farm and moving from awesome friends was not the easiest thing to do and we knew a new adventure was in our future.  We live on a sweet piece of property an acre and a half, surrounded by elms, wetland, water rights for irrigation, fenced in yard for Huck and Sawyer, a large garage, studio for Stevie,  pool and secluded considering we live in town.

                                       

Since my last post, on the Farm Fresh Art blog, I have continued to paint.  Packing, moving and settling in took some time. I joined The Creamery Arts Center in the town of Hotchkiss. Managed to be at the right time and place to meet with some other artists and created The Confluence Gallery in Delta.  So I have a few places to show my work. It wasn't until exactly 4 months, almost to the day, after I moved that I felt I landed in Colorado.  I decided that day I was ready to paint and the subject was to be the Adobe Hills of this region.   

Jeanne's Thanksgiving Apple Pie

Jean Marie Stortz loves making pies at Thanksgiving.