Decorating Steamboat
Bask in the alpenglow at the Old Town Hot Springs
A few of the things you will see as you enter downtown Steamboat Springs: an elk bugling, cranes on takeoff, a handful of vibrant Indian paintbrushes. This is what adorns Steamboat’s newest downtown mural, "Vibrant Valley, Heart of the Springs,” painted by Denver-based artists Melanie Damore and Catie Michel. To gather inspiration for the mural – which adorns an outside wall at the Old Town Hot Springs – Melanie interviewed locals to ask what parts of Steamboat make them feel at home. The answers ranged from the hippie hot springs and wildflowers to the Yampa River and Howelsen Hill, all of which are incorporated in the mural. Cranes flying through the picture signify the migration that happens each year and of course, Melanie says, they had to add in some aspens.
The elk is a reminder of a morning in 1956 when an elk took a swim in the Heart Spring. It’s a little bit of everything Steamboat.
Head to the lawn at the library for a whimsical tribute
The statue of the bear adorned with a crown and wings that you’ll find on the lawn at the library isn’t just a whimsical sculpture – it’s a memorial to one of Steamboat’s great artists who died in 2020. As fellow local artists searched for a way to honor the memory and legacy of Susan Schiesser, they wondered, ‘what would Susan want?’ The answer lies in this piece, by local sculptor Sandy Graves.
Titled “Walks on Water,” it was inspired by a piece of Susan’s with a similar name, “She Walks on Water.” “Her words were about ecology,” Sandy explains. “The bear is the protector of the Yampa Valley, and the crown and the wings have to do with the spiritual element. There is also a regal element – nature is something to be revered, and what was here before we were here.” An influential force in the Steamboat art world, Susan’s memory now lives on through this sculpture. “She was that necessary outside influence that brought in a more modern approach, a more varied approach to what art – public art – could be in our community,” Sandy says. “I think she really broke us out of this sense that all we were was ‘old West;' we could be more than just that. And we can show the vitality and the youthfulness of our community and the creativity of our community by breaking that mold.”
Feel the love at the One Love Steamboat mural
Several years ago, there was a string of hate graffiti that appeared around Steamboat Springs. One target was the wall at the entrance to the tunnel under U.S. 40 from Starbucks to Walgreens. Community leaders planned to paint something to cover it up but didn’t know how to begin. That’s when local teacher Garret Bock stepped in. “I heard about it through the grapevine and said I can do it, and fast,” Garret says. He rallied his students, gathered design input from the school and the students and when they showed up to paint, it was done in two hours. “‘One Love’ felt like an all-encompassing phrase to combat the hate we were seeing,” Garret says. It was a win-win: the hate was erased and the community can enjoy the mural and its message.
The gates to the Yampa River Botanic Park
The Yampa River Botanic Park is filled with floral artistry and pieces of public art – but it all starts at the front gate. Aspens weave their way up the metal, giving an illusion of a river winding through the trunks. It’s an upgrade from the chain link fence that used to be in its place. Impractical for wheelchairs and strollers, not to mention unsightly, in the winter of 2021, a committee made up of Botanic Park board members decided to change that. The committee researched and reviewed gate designs from all over the world and decided that hiring a local artist was important to the project. After several metal workers were interviewed, it was ultimately Mountain Tap Metals that won the selection process. Primary artist Tim Wilson and his team created the individual pieces of the gate, which came together after several months of work, creating a stunning entranceway to the gardens. Jennifer MacNeil, the park’s executive director, has often been told that it could be a contender for the best piece of public art in Steamboat Springs.