Loveland Museum to host exhibits with Loveland and Steamboat Springs artists – Loveland Reporter-Herald

Monsters are often tagged as grotesque creatures with a cruel intent to wreak havoc on the status quo.

(Kind of like coronavirus.)

Loveland artist Kerri Sewolt has many monsters. But her monsters lurk in her vibrantly active mind, wriggling their colorful way onto canvases and gallery walls. Theyre far from doom and gloom. Its a yeti in tube socks. A bee in a Positive T-shirt. A bathing octopus donning sock puppets on two arms. A waving cyclops. Or Uncle Yeti, a take on National Lampoons Uncle Eddie, complete with a beer, cigar, trooper hat and sewage hose.

Theyre happy monsters and theyre only there for the smiles.

Jenny Sparks / Loveland Reporter-Herald

On June 12, step into Sewolts Fantastical Worlds as she hosts an exhibit at Loveland Museum, 503 N. Lincoln Ave., with an opening reception 6-8 p.m. The rescheduled exhibit, that was originally slated for May, runs through Sept. 6.

In my art I create a lot of skeletons, bugs and anything creepy and crawly, said Sewolt, who calls herself a grown-up weird kid. Creepy things need love, too. Mom always feared when Christmas came around because I always asked for weird things.

She even nurtured her own pet cemetery when she was young as she grew up with tons of animals from lizards and frogs to turtles and goats.

Many of these influences played a part in shaping her artistic style.

My artwork is not going to match your couch, Sewolt said. People buy my stuff because it makes them happy. Im fortunate theres a lot of other weird kids out there who love my work.

Sewolt works in many mediums with a simple goal: make people smile. From chalk art on the sidewalk, to putting googly eyes on inanimate objects (like bell peppers) and signs boosting positivity. As soon as Gov. Jared Polis mandated facemasks to curb the spread of coronavirus, she said she created a big yellow canvas that read Smiles are contagious too.

Its a weird time to have an opening, Sewolt said. I have a good following with my artwork, and thats a great problem to have, so I like to see people, to talk to people. These are bizarre times.

On her social media (@kerrichuckles) Sewolt often posts Night Owl Confessions and on a sleepless night a year ago in April, she had a late-night text conversation with her dad about how scary the world is. They talked about how sock puppets would be a good avenue to cheering people up. So she painted one. And it cheered her right up.

It also inspired the whimsy and joyfulness of her Fantastical Worlds exhibit.

I miss seeing people, Sewolt said. Her dad lives in Arvada, but the coronavirus crapola has hindered her spending time with loved ones. Having those little special moments with parents is what keeps me going.

Sewolt, who has been honored by BizWest for her work in the Loveland art community, said the beginning of quarantine was rough as she got laid off from her job.

I thought, well, now I have all this time for creativity, she said. But then the depression set in, and I spent a week on the couch. I had to think of ways to reinvent myself during this time.

Sewolt is represented by Independence Gallery in Loveland where she works a couple days a week. And when shes not creating her quirky creatures, shes hanging out with her goats, dogs and cats. She co-founded the Colorado State Snow Sculpture Competition in Berthoud, which she no longer does, but in December, she helped create Keystone Kidtopia Snow Fort as a snow and ice carver, incorporating her little monsters into the snow playground that was packed with slides and tunnels.

All of my monsters are happy, she said. After times like these people are going to want to see something positive in our news feeds.

Courtesy photo

Steamboat Springs artist Joel Allen hasnt had a day off since August. But hes OK with that. He chose art as a career path later in life, and much like his previous laborious jobs of construction, working on a drill rig or as a scientific researcher and many more, he toils away on his creations with pure precision and accuracy.

Ever since he was hand-picked by the president and curator of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, to display his hanging sculptures in 2014, hes hardly been able to catch his breath. People want his art in their spaces.

I must be a sadomasochist or something because I develop these labor-intensive processes to create my works, Allen said. I dont know why, Im still trying to figure that out.

His upcoming exhibit at Loveland Museum aptly titled work. opens June 6 and will run through Sept. 13.

Allens hand-wrapped fiber sculptures are like earthy flowers, upside-down dandelions, colorful feather dusters hanging from rafters, vibrant cocoons methodically wrapped in well-researched yarn. The installation at the museum will include dozens of sculptures created with everything from twine to copper to paper.The exhibit will also feature one of his signature slotted cardboard sculptures, a room-sized piece that uses the repurposed fortune cookie boxes from a 2017 exhibit at the museum by Hung Liu. Allen said the structure is designed to look like the wave created by wind in wheat fields.

Ive used all different kinds of materials, Allen said. I bring them into this weird mix of things that seems to call back on every job Ive ever had. A lot of times Im not aware of the artistic impact a job has had on me.

Allen also cited childhood fishing, with the handiwork of making flies and tying leaders, as an inspiration to his trade.

Allen went to college for geology when he was in his mid-30s and ended up taking an art class. Now he has art hanging in the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros, Mexico, and has exhibited his work in galleries across the country. He also teaches part time art classes from sculpting and painting to land art at Colorado Mountain College.

The work. exhibit will fill the gallery with some massive pieces hanging from its 23-foot ceiling. Allen said visitors will be confronted with 6-foot tall massive towers and museum-goers can step underneath one of the pieces in the installation to look at the internal structure of the sculpture.

Allen invented a process called precision wrapping where the entire sculpture is wrapped in solid yarn or tweed.

In the Embassy, I used 40 miles of yarn for 10 pieces, Allen said. Hes become quite the yarnie, too, a connoisseur of fabric that he researches extensively online for their sheens, textures and colors. He said hes also been working with steel rebar lately.

All this handiwork puts carpal tunnel at the forefront of his mind, so he layers his work and moves on when one motion starts to aggravate his tendons. Pandemic or not, as an artist who is extremely diligent at work, he said hes still in awe of the path his life took.

Its been unreal. I still pinch myself every day, Allen said. Every time its been like, are you kidding me? Ive been so lucky.

Courtesy photo

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Loveland Museum to host exhibits with Loveland and Steamboat Springs artists - Loveland Reporter-Herald