The bronco mural restoration is complete. The Cornelius “Connie” Smith Art Exhibit at the Jefferson County Fair was a huge success and the BBQ and line dancing at the street event was so much fun!
So many interesting new bits of information and the location of even more of Smith’s paintings came to light during the exhibit. Best of all, between 250 and 300 visitors viewed the exhibit.
Rilie Zumbrennen did a wonderful job of bringing the mural back to life again. According to her, because of its age and the number of restorations it has had in the past, this is likely the last one that will be able to be done before the paint peels off completely (hopefully, years from now). So enjoy it and the effort taken to keep it.
These events were brought to you through the hard work, research and effort of ReImagining Boulder’s team of wonderful, wonderful volunteers. Please appreciate the work they have done. These folks washed windows and pressed drapes, swept, laid carpet, hauled dividers, tables, plants and paintings from all over town. Signs were made and placed on the roads, fliers were posted, photos taken, cards produced and very large paintings hung from specially installed gallery rails in the Boiler Building at the fairgrounds.
Owners of paintings were contacted, information researched and printed to accompany the paintings whenever a story was known about them and more.
Pictured from left to right (below story and to the right) starting in the back row are the ReImagining Boulder Team: Dee Anna, Jim Heikes, Colleen Llewellyn, Mechele Anderson, Deb Gabse, Connie Grenz, Jan Ziettlow, Tammy Burk, Paul Schmitt, Kathy Schmitt and Leah Lewis. Left to right front row: Kathy Dyer and Pat Lewis. Missing is Theresa Denner.
A special thanks to Terry Minow from the Jefferson County Fair Board for suggesting the use of the Boiler Building and to the fair board for granting us its use. To Pat Anderson for installing the special gallery rails to hang the paintings from and to Ryan Lewis and Leah for actually getting them up on that rail! To Bruce Binkowski and Mariyln McCauley for helping with high signage placement, to Soja Giulio at The Windsor Bar for sponsoring the street BBQ event, to Melissa Morrison and Hollianne Woods for their fabulous sign designs and manufacturing. I’d also like to express gratitude for Renee Mendenhall’s poster and flyer design work.
Thank you Paul and Kathy Schmitt for the loan and installation of the scaffolding that Zumbrennen used to paint from. I’d also like to thank John Bailey for the free repairs he did to the mural.
Of course, the owners of the paintings are to be especially acknowledged for the generous loan of their paintings. Without them, we would have missed the opportunity to enjoy, in one place, Smith’s legacy of Western art for the first time.
To Kathy Dyer, Rusty Giulio, Brud Smith, Rick Strieb, the Heritage Center, Larrey and Gail Lattin, Anne Seliskar and one anonymous donor; a very special thanks.
And to the believers in ReImagining Boulder who donated money to the cause, we thank you sincerely.
