Meet Artists: Suzanne Frazier, Lydia Riegle & Jean Smith at D'art Gallery

“Meet the Artists” at D’art Contemporary Art Gallery, in Denver’s Santa Fe Art District, for Two Exhibitions: “Shaken, Stirred, Savored”, Solo Exhibitions by Lydia Riegle and Jean Smith in the Main Gallery

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“Suzanne Frazier Retrospective: 5 Decades of Art”, Solo Exhibitions by Suzanne Frazier” in Gallery East.

D’art Gallery, located at 900 Santa Fe Drive, hosts two exhibitions by D’art Gallery Members Lydia Riegle, Jean Smith and Suzanne Frazier for “Shaken, Stirred, Savored”,Solo Exhibitions by Lydia Riegle and Jean Smith in the Main Gallery and “Suzanne Frazier Retrospective: 5 Decades of Art”, Solo Exhibitions by Suzanne Frazier” in Gallery East.

On Sunday, September 19 from 1 – 4 pm, the artists offer a “Meet the Artists” opportunity.

The exhibitions run from Thursday, August 26 through Sunday, September 19, 2021.

“Shaken, Stirred, Savored”  

With a new twist on “Modernity at Play”, Riegle and Smith view their exhibition as a recipe for personal expression:  Combine equal parts: Creativity, Color, Iconic Form and Timelessness. 

Seasoned art makers Jean B Smith and Lydia Riegle give the elements of creativity, color, iconic form and timelessness a shake, a stir and an interpretation guided by current day thinking to create new, intriguing and relevant artwork.

Descriptors of the widely recognized and well established Mid-Century Modern Design lean towards a bias of clean, simple line; smooth and flowing contour. Smith and Riegle take these qualities and employ different materials and different points of focus to go beyond the design of the well regarded modern style to arrive at new interpretations on some of the best from the past with a dash of playfulness. The artists create a rich and present day visual mix of ceramic sculptures, paintings and monotypes. The exhibition invites the art appreciator to experience the classic time period through the unique lens of each artist.

“Suzanne Frazier Retrospective: 5 Decades of Art”

One of the 18 founding members of D’art Gallery, Suzanne Frazier, hosts an exhibition in Gallery East featuring five decades of her art. At the age of 74, Suzanne Frazier decided to give herself a retrospective featuring work from the 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s, 2010’s & 2020’s. As an older woman artist, she realizes that no one else is going to acknowledge her years of painting and teaching. And, as most women, who grew up in the 1960’s, she knows she has to do it herself. 

After searching for a definition for Contemplative Art and not finding any, she formulated her own definition: "Contemplative Art is the product of creative expression rising from the pure joy of creating, grounded in a meditative connection to the radiance and perfection of spirit known only through one’s experience of being fully human.”

Suzanne explains her process, "During a contemplative experience one does not observe anything specific but rather a feeling emerges from the meditation. Likewise, I choose to create work that does not refer to any specific location or time. I choose instead to invite the viewer into my meditation of my collected emotional responses from residing in Colorado since 1972.”

She looks forward to sharing her 32 years of art making and exhibiting the development of her personal artistic expression from the 1980’s through 2021. 

Gallery Hours: Thursday, Noon to 5pm, Friday, Noon to 9 pm, Saturday, Noon to 5 pm, and Sunday, 1 pm to 4 pm. “Sundays on Santa Fe”, the last Sunday of each month, 11 am to 4 pm.