{"id":45125,"date":"2021-08-19T16:28:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T22:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/catch-durango-artists-paintings-in-the-dolores-public-library\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:23:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:23:39","slug":"catch-durango-artists-paintings-in-the-dolores-public-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/catch-durango-artists-paintings-in-the-dolores-public-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Catch Durango artist\u2019s paintings in the Dolores Public Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Michael
Michael Pruett's paintings line a wall in the Dolores Public Library. (Kala Parkinson\/The Journal)<\/span>Kala Parkinson\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Creativity has been running through Michael Pruett\u2019s veins for as long as he can remember.<\/p>\n

One moment in his childhood stood out above the rest in inspiring him \u2014 seeing a Claude Monet painting at the Denver Art Museum.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really struck a chord with me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His dad and uncle were both hobbyist painters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always drawn to drawing,\u201d he said. \u201cPainting was a segue.\u201d<\/p>\n

In high school, he painted frequently. He loaded his schedule with as many art credits as he could take.<\/p>\n

Most of his paintings go unnamed, and that\u2019s because his art is largely based on his instincts at the time of creation.<\/p>\n

His painting \u201cFire & Ice\u201d is the exception, because it involved more planning and layering.<\/p>\n

\"Michael
Michael Pruett's \u201cFire & Ice\u201d on display at the Dolores Public Library. (Kala Parkinson\/The Journal)<\/span>Kala Parkinson\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Pruett starts by selecting colors, implementing color wash techniques and then gradually building up a kaleidoscope of hues.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy painting is very intuitive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For him, painting is a free-flowing, natural practice. He describes it like this: \u201cI drive around until I find what I want.\u201d<\/p>\n

When fashioning another art form, like a sculpture, however; Pruett plans ahead.<\/p>\n

His artwork will be on view through August at the Dolores Public Library.<\/p>\n

His goal isn\u2019t to make spectators feel any one emotion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want an individual to engage with the art and find their own meaning in it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bryan Kyle, library assistant and art exhibit organizer at the Dolores Public Library, has big dreams for the future of the library\u2019s art showcase.<\/p>\n

In December, he decided to hang up a new mounting system, purchased by adjunct nonprofit Friends of the Library, to create a gallery feel.<\/p>\n

\u201cDolores doesn\u2019t really have a public art space,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s frustrating. A lot of different galleries have tried to set up shop here.\u201d<\/p>\n

He wanted to change that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just hoping it becomes a thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The room is lined with a glass wall, making it the perfect place to reflect on the space\u2019s art features with the landscape of nature in the background.<\/p>\n

\u201cMichael\u2019s show is really unique in that nobody has brought in modern art yet,\u201d Kyle said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had anything non-objective yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kyle thought it would be a challenge to find artists at first. He started with his inner circle, contacting people he knew to be artists.<\/p>\n

But then, people started reaching out to him about displaying their artwork in the library.<\/p>\n

Artists are now booked for exhibits into early next year, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many talented artists hiding in the woodwork,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He wants to build sculpture stands, fashioned out of old encyclopedias, to be able to house more diverse forms of art.<\/p>\n

Kyle also hopes to explore the possibility of one day hosting formal receptions for exhibit grand openings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Pruett\u2019s paintings on display through August <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[363,44,28,638,167,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-45125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arts","tag-dolores","tag-headlines","tag-library-and-museum","tag-local-news-lead","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86361,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45125\/revisions\/86361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45125"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=45125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}