“Just Between Us” art exhibit

Artists W. Max Thomason & Walter Barton at the Washington Hall Gallery

by Michele Roussel

The Gilpin County Arts Association brings artists Walter Barton and W. Max Thomason with their life size sculptures and oil works to Central City. The title of the showing is, “Just Between Us.” Both artists are formerly trained and have established themselves as influential creatives in Colorado. Opening reception is February 23rd, from 5 pm to 8 pm and running through May 3rd 2019, at Washington Hall.
W. Max Thomason is a Denver based visual artist best known for his large scale canvases, working in both the natural-realism and abstract, and sometimes in pop genres. “I have long been intrigued by color, depth of perception, and things moving in and out of focus, both literally and figuratively in society; and the effect, in both the literal and figurative sense, they have on a person and the psyche,” explains Thomason. Studying at Community College of Denver/ Metropolitan State University/ University of Colorado Denver from 1990 to 1997 under Amy Métier and Robert Mangold, W. Max currently owns and operates Bitfactory Gallery & Studios, located in the Santa Fe Art District.
“Color and focus are the cornerstones of this exhibition and I hope will be the inspiration for a dialogue of how we as humans interface with each other and our surroundings as we go through the minutiae of daily life,” says W. Max.
Fellow artist Walter Barton, another Denver native, explains his direction further, “In my work I am investigating archetypes of memory and myth. My process is an intuitive response to materials and images in my environment as I engage in a search for identity and meaning,” says Walter, who is an art teacher in the Douglas County School District at the Cherokee Trail Elementary School. “Conceptually, I am attracted to the sediment of the human psyche, the heritage of ancestral motifs and perceptions filtered through modern society, while situated in the geology and history of the American West.”
Walter began at Parsons School of Design in NY. After a year, he then served a bronze casting apprenticeship with David McGary in Ruidoso, NM for a year, where afterwards getting a BFA at Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore. He later received a Master’s in Humanities from CU Denver. Continuing to teach after 26 years, the last eight of those he has been a member with the Pirate Contemporary Art Gallery located in Lakewood.
Please join us for an evening of the arts in Central City at Washington Hall. The Gilpin County Arts Association was established in 1947, and serves the Rocky Mountain arts community through its 501 (c)(3) non-profit gallery located in Washington Hall in historical Central City, CO. GCAA is a financial supporter of the RE-1 Gilpin County School Arts program.
Public Invited