The American Mountaineering Museum, in conjunction with the American Alpine Club Library, is hosting the first-ever exhibition of art depicting climbing and mountaineering. It opens Thursday, November 18 at 6:00pm, with a free event that includes music and refreshments.
Alpine Styles Art Exhibition at the American Mountaineering Museum
Alpine Styles is the first exhibition of its kind. It features works by Jamie Givens, Keith Svihovec, Emilie Lee, Mike Tea, and Renan Ozturk, who share their personal reflections on the climbing life through their paintings and illustrations. Many works are being shown in public for the first time.
The artworks are for sale, and some of the proceeds will go towards supporting the mountaineering museum and Alpine Club library.
Alpine Styles Art Exhibition Brings Mountaineering World to Life
Whether you are an avid mountain hiker or climber yourself, or prefer to admire the peaks from below, the artworks really evoke the atmosphere of alpine adventure. They show climbers laden with winter gear trudging through deep, snow-covered ridges or the drama of a near-vertical rockface ascent.
Artist Jamie Givens had always dreamed of putting together an exhibition of all-climbing art, and he was instrumental in creating the Alpine Styles show. "Mountaineering and climbing have such a great tradition of storytelling and adventure, and there are artists out there who eek out a living bringing this world to life," he said. "This show is an attempt to bring some of that passion into the spotlight.
"Some of the works are illustrations that have appeared in climbing magazines, relegated to a few inches on a printed page, and I think people will be surprised at their scale and construction when seen in person. Some work was created in the open air, on the exposed slopes of mountains, in foreign lands, sometimes in bad weather. They are so much more than paintings, they are infused with our experience. I think anyone with a love for the mountains and climbing will enjoy the show."
The Bradford Washburn American Mountain Museum in Golden, Colorado
The Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum is the only museum in the country dedicated to mountaineering, from the heroic feats of climbers, to the science and technology that enables them, to the spirit and culture of mountain environments around the globe. It opened in 2008 in Golden, Colorado, near Denver.
The museum is named for Henry Bradford Washburn Jr, a passionate climber, photographer and cartographer, who determined a new height for Mt. Everest while in his 80s.
The museum displays a variety of historic artifacts, from equipment used by early mountaineers in Colorado to masks and cultural items from mountain cultures around the world. There is a display on the US Army's 10th Mountain Division, which led daring attacks behind enemy lines in World War II, and a model of Mt. Everest.
Interactive exhibits let you Dress the Climber, or climb inside a portaledge, the hanging tent that climbers sleep in when they are climbing high verticle, multi-pitch routes over several days. The theaters show rotating films and interviews on mountaineering topics.
Visiting the American Mountaineering Museum and Alpine Styles Art Exhibition
The American Mountaineering Museum is located at 710 Tenth Street in Golden, Colorado. It is open Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday 10am-6pm. Adult admission is $6.50, with discounts for seniors and children.
For more information tel: 303-996-2755 or visit the museum website.
Donna Dailey - Donna Dailey is an award-winning travel writer & photographer. Her work appears in newspapers, magazines, websites and guidebooks ...
