Colorado Grandeur, Plein Air Painters of America’s (PAPA) 2025 national exhibit and sale, features roughly 150 paintings inspired by the state’s Rocky Mountains, with a special emphasis on the Crested Butte area. On view for the entire month of August and with a record-breaking 40 participating member artists, the show is PAPA’s most expansive to date.
To accommodate the exhibition, which also includes a new “wet show” component, the event will be hosted by the Shaun Horne Gallery at Center for the Arts Crested Butte. From sweeping views like Aimee Erickson’s The Lights of Home and Kathleen Hudson’s Nightfall Over Crested Butte,to more intimate scenes like Ken DeWaard’s Fun Funky Alleys and a painting of the Gunnison River in winter by Len Chmiel, artists were able to bring their own interpretations to the theme of the show.
Aimee Erickson, The Lights of Home, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 in.
Although Erickson jokes that she has no ties to Colorado beyond the John Denver cassette her family had in the 1970s, and the time she passed through the state on a cross-country bike ride, she jumped at the chance to paint there. “The mountains are so big, and the lights in the houses look so friendly,” she says about her piece The Lights of Home. “There is a moment in twilight where the falling light changes the bright snow of daylight to a softer field, and then darker, darker, until white is a memory and the remaining light in the sky is gathered up, leaving the land in darkness. In the clumps of dark houses, lights start to appear.”
Ralph Oberg, Aspens and Spruce, oil, 12 x 10 in.
Ken DeWaard also found plein air painting around Crested Butte invigorating and inspiring. He stumbled upon the colorful little houses in Fun Funky Alleys while breaking for lunch in town. “What a treat that was!,” says DeWaard. “The town is so charming and visually stimulating…it was a wonderful experience.”
Other prominent PAPA members who will have work in the show include Matt Smith, Jill Carver, Jim Morgan, Ralph Oberg, John Budicin, Mike Hernandez and many others.
Len Chmiel, Cold Feat on the Gunnison, oil on canvas, 12 x 16 in.
“Crested Butte is a unique destination with its dramatic landscape setting and eclectic architecture,” says PAPA president Mitch Baird, “and the brand new art center is a state of the art exhibition space to hang the collection. Our patrons preview offers special personal and buying access to the work before it opens to the public, and many exhibiting members will be there in attendance to share in the creation of their paintings and to interact with the collectors themselves…All I can say is the show will be a stunning collection of the beauty of Colorado and truly by the hands of the most talented outdoor artists in America. It is not to be missed!”
Ken DeWaard, Fun Funky Alleys, oil on linen, 18 x 24 in.
The patron’s preview begins at 3 p.m. on August 1, with the show opening to the public at 9 a.m. Saturday. It will remain on view through August 31. For those who cannot attend Colorado Grandeur in person, the show can be viewed online via the PAPA and Shaun Horne Gallery websites, with Shaun Horne Gallery facilitating sales. —
Colorado Grandeur: Plein Air Painters of America 2025 National Exhibit
August 1-31, 2025
Center for the Arts Crested Butte
606 Sixth Street, Crested Butte, CO 81224
www.pleinairpaintersofamerica.com
www.shaunhornegallery.com
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