Stepping into Floyd Tunson’s work-live loft, the magnitude is overwhelming. Thirteen-foot ceilings cap long walls filled with Floyd’s art. Light washes in from large windows. Dried paint speckles the wood floor. It’s fantastic. It’s tongue-tying. While I try to center my focus for the conversation at hand, I notice the Read more…
When I walk into the light, airy color of Fare Bella Studio & Gallery, owner-artist Patrice Filler is thinking ahead to the next day, when she will lead a wabi-sabi watercolor painting class. I’ve long been interested in wabi-sabi, the Japanese aesthetic that views imperfection as a higher form of Read more…
Returning readers of Humanitou will recognize some currents that run through the conversations. The line I use to describe the site’s purpose is: “Stories of Humanness + Creativity.” In the heart of that tagline is passion, the warm-blooded energy that compels any one of us — all of us — Read more…
Dustin Booth leans back in a chair in the Manitou Art Center, something he rarely gets to do while juggling many hats as manager of the MAC. He uses the word “fortunate” often as he tells his story. He laughs and smiles. He’s easygoing. An artist with a varied background, Read more…
Peggy Dlugos takes me to a back corner of her home, to a just-right cozy and tidy work space. A pair of full-sized windows on both walls let in light, awareness of nature, and views of Garden of the Gods. “This is where I am most of the time, during Read more…
Melanie Audet turns off the rock polisher her young daughters, who now are at school, like to use. “My kids love to collect rocks. They take after their mother, I guess. I don’t know. I always collected a rock from wherever I went, too.” The noise settles to silence in Read more…
When I asked Rockey, several months ago, about a sharing a series of his insights on life, art and Manitou Springs, he liked the idea. He is a man of messages, with love at the center, and giving. “I don’t mind sharing,” Rockey said. “In fact, that’s one of my Read more…
Kat Tudor often is described as the visionary behind SunWellness (SunWater Spa, SunMountain Center, Smokebrush Foundation). But the vision runs so much longer and deeper than these relatively new SunWellness expressions of her vision in Manitou Springs. Having moved to the Colorado Springs area in 1973 to attend Colorado College, Read more…
From the back deck of Brenda Biondo’s house, there’s a sweeping view of Pikes Peak, the Manitou Incline, and the ups and downs of the surrounding terrain. The blue sky that sprawls above calls Brenda. The light, the color. It calls her with camera in hand. A fine art photographer Read more…
Rockey is a retired art teacher. Thirty-five years. There is a lightness to the 85-year-old’s face and voice when he talks about teaching art to junior-high students. He taught in Colorado Springs. The second in this “Words with Rockey” series starts with asking Rockey about his teaching years. It moves Read more…
Chickens wander in the garden behind Nikos Pulos and Melanie Audet’s art studio … once a horse barn. Once a mother-in-law cottage. Now a creative haven he and she share. Nikos shoos the chickens out of the garden. They move to wandering the yard and driveway between the studio and Read more…
Alain Navaratne leans back on the family couch. Relaxed. His paintings hang on the wall behind him, and throughout the room. Alain’s most recently completed work, a bit larger than those on the walls, rests on a sizeable easel. It reflects light from the large, sliding door that is open Read more…