I have written little about myself, as the creator of Humanitou, on this site. After I interviewed Yves Sturdevant for Humanitou in June 2019, she said she was curious to know something of my story. She proposed getting together again so she could interview me. I said yes. When Yves Read more…
Humanitou hosted a pop-up event during Arts Month as part of ArtPOP, a local-arts series supported by the Pikes Peak Arts Council and the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region. Participants shared stories and were photographed during 30-minute sessions. The conversation below is one of seven in the Humanitou Read more…
There’s an energetic shift underway in David Gonzales’ art studio. In a small work space with David’s name on the exterior, the artist taps into a dynamic flow of one kind or another. The obvious: painting, nearly an aerobic workout in its rhythms. Most often vibrant in its colors. Always Read more…
Charles H. Rockey died on June 16, at 87 years of age. The news was shared thousands of times via social media in the hours and days that followed, posts marked with teary-eyed emojis, and comments of love and appreciation from near and far. Known affectionately as “Rockey” around the Read more…
Jeff Harms is an artist who deals in words and wit. He sails the world on a stage, regularly performing his family-friendly stylings of observational comedy for audiences from around the globe aboard cruise liners. Among other things. Jeff, 64, is married to the actress Hannah Rockey, whom he has Read more…
Ramón Aguirre’s paintings express his interest in mortality and death as a matter of life. In conversation he’s easy-going and generous, and laughs often. We sat down to talk in Ramón’s above-garage studio, where he paints and otherwise creates, where philosophy books and analog cameras he still uses are within Read more…
Natural light and wafting incense, works of art and elements of nature shape the space of Jasmine Dillavou’s studio in downtown Colorado Springs. Jasmine, 25, works full-tilt within the creative life. As a full-time henna artist at La Henna Boheme in downtown Manitou Springs. As a contemporary artist with an Read more…
Bryant Jones has been playing keyboards for more than 50 years. It’s the connective thread through a life of changes. He started in the late Sixties playing a keyboard his father bought for his 14th birthday. One year later, on his 15th birthday, life took an unconscionable, unalterable turn. Coming Read more…
Large portraits, bright and colorful paintings, hang on the walls of Molly McClure’s house. In her kitchen, hallway, living room and elsewhere. They are hers, her work. Some of them even are her face. Molly, 31, sat down with Humanitou and a cup of tea. She offered thoughtful and unflinching Read more…
Long before Steve Wood founded Concrete Couch in Colorado Springs, Colo., he was a rock-climbing artist, hands-on and heart-centered, an optimist willing to risk failure. He connected the dots of his personal passions. Leading the 15-year-old arts and education organization that is Concrete Couch, Steve brings together the wise and the Read more…
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…
Many weeks ago, my two young sons asked to be part of Humanitou. They often have seen me working on Humanitou conversations at our table, transcribing, editing, preparing photos, publishing. They wanted me to interview them. So I did. In this experiment, I got to test my abilities as an 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…
KJ Becker pours freshly made coffee and we sit down in her home art studio with a view of Manitou Springs. She begins to make art, painting whatever she feels in each moment on vintage Austrian and German vinyl records. “I use a lot of textures and I kind of Read more…
Hannah Rockey’s stage presence is clear, even as we sit in the print shop of her father, artist Charles Rockey (“Rockey”), on Canon Ave. in Manitou Springs. It’s the clarity and strength of her voice, the punctuations and emphases. Rockey sits in on the conversation, listening to his daughter’s stories 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…
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…
I love my Humanitou work. Every conversation is an opportunity to connect with an individual creator/contributor and our community, and with something deeper. I learn. I ask questions that are of self-interest along the way, ones I think others will appreciate and apply in their lives. This is a creative, Read more…
Deborah Thornton’s imagination runs wild. The possibilities. A creative leader in Manitou Springs for 35 years, she grew up in the South. Then, she headed West. There were times she felt the tug to return to the land she loved nearly a thousand miles east. But it couldn’t overpower the Read more…
In a single-car garage on Manitou Avenue, Christine Costa carves out her career break. An architect by trade, she and her husband, Dominic Costa, a welder, moved to Manitou Springs from the Detroit area this past summer. Two motorcycles rest side by side in the garage. At the back wall Read more…