WaMa Art Asylum

Todays guest is artist Gayle Crites. She is a mixed media artist who uses the ancient mediums of pounded bark and natural dyes to create captivating abstract images. Her most recent work reflects the theme of water and our complex relationship with it, including the concepts of flow, drought, pollution, and preservation. Her dealers and collectors describe her work as an invitation to question our relationship to the land we live on and rely on, yet which existed long before we arrived.

She is currently represented by Chiaroscuro Gallery in Santa Fe, NM. To see her work, please visit the gallery's website at: https://chiaroscurosantafe.com/artists/34/

Sue Gibbons is a fine artist residing and working in the Denver Metro area. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions regionally but also internationally with the "Book About Death" at the Brazilian Museum of Sculpture (MUBE) in San Paulo, Brazil. Her work has been included in publications such as Fusion IV, Christianity and the Arts, Mars Hill Review, and First Fruits – A Compilation of Art.

Sue believes her abstract work is guided by the Spirit and she hopes it will console the viewer, who may need to find some peace amidst the inner chaos residing in all of us. "As an artist, I seek to reveal the messiness of the human condition at the moment we call on our faith to deliver us from it. The paintings and drawings then, become a sacred place of being, of seeing, and of experiencing that which makes us human." Excerpt from Sue's Artist Statement.

David L’Hommedieu was trained as an opera singer, attending The American Boychoir School in Princeton, NJ, which many consider the pre-eminent professional boychoir school in the United States. As a member of the choir, David regularly performed at the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. As an adult, David continued performing with Opera Companies in major venues in the United States and Europe.

But after receiving a Masters in Music and Voice Performance, David left the touring life of Professional Opera in order to become the Director of Worship and the Arts at Pine Street Church in historic downtown Boulder, CO. I wanted to explore the "Why" of such a decision, as well as his strong belief that the arts, and in particular music, is essential to a vital spiritual life. 

I also explore David’s most recent project as the co-creator, along with the Pastor of Pine Street Church, Andrew Dougherty, of the Hyphenated Life Podcast, which will officially launch in October of this year.

Carlene Frances holds a BFA in painting and drawing from Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. She attended Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan before moving to Colorado in 1974 where she currently resides.

She paints with oil and her work is inspired by Asian design elements and eastern philosophy. She applies the Buddhist principle of Shunyata–dwelling in emptiness, to her canvases by eliminating the unnecessary so the necessary may speak.

Frances has been exhibiting professionally since 1997; her work has been featured in major national and international exhibitions too numerous to list here, and her presence in corporate collections is also too numerous to list, but you can find this information on her website Carlenefrances.com

With us today is Spanish-American abstract artist and art teacher Lola Montejo. Lola spent her early childhood in Madrid Spain, where her grandmother, also an artist, would take her to the famed Prado Museum. It was a Summer long residency in France that turned Lola into an abstract painter.

Lola majored in art and art history in college and went on to get a Masters of Fine Art in Studio arts. She is adjunct professor of art at Front Range Community College.

Lola has been in Numerous major exhibits in Colorado, including Colorado Abstract +10 at the Arvada Center for the Arts in 2019.

Lola is Represented by the WILLIAM HAVU GALLERY in DENVER, CO. Her latest exhibit is Pink Progression, currently up at the Arvada Center for the Arts through November.

Michael Hamers is owner of the graphic design company, Lightspeed Commercial Arts, which has served such distinguished clients as Harley Davidson and Ball Aerospace. Michael has won over 30 national and international awards for his design work.

Michael is also a photographer, a fine artist, an author, a curator of several significant art exhibits in the Boulder, CO community, in particular curator of the Fresh AIR - Artists in Recovery exhibit “Art as Medicine”.

Here is an introduction to the content and purpose of Wama Art Asylum. I also give you the story of my journey toward creating the podcast in the first place. So many of us desire meaning in life and are looking for a mission. We want to make an impact, to feel our lives mattered. I feel the same. This podcast provides me with meaning and mission in life. I hope my guests and some of my own exploration and the discoveries I will share will do the same for you.