Boulder, CO Museum of Boulder, October 26-November 30
This story was featured in the November 2018 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art November 2018 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
In September of 2013, record-breaking rainfall along Colorado’s Front Range led to a catastrophic, 100-year flood. Many homes, businesses, and roads were severely damaged or wiped away. Boulder, CO, artist Molly Davis lost most of her inventory of paintings and frames in the historic flood, and she was forced to sell a rental property she owned in the area due to a massive sinkhole that formed there. But compared to those whose lives were lost or endangered during the flood, the artist felt lucky. “I had just lost stuff,” Davis says. “I thought that it was important for me to put my positive energy into restoring hope by painting the beauty that was still left.”
And so began a five-year project to document the land’s healing process in watercolors, acrylics, and oils. More than 250 of these works are on view in a show, entitled Open Space Visions, opening at the Museum of Boulder on Friday, October 26, with an artist’s reception at 6 p.m. Many of Davis’ works are 4-by-6-inch watercolor studies of the unique habitats she visited across Boulder’s trail systems, including Flagstaff Mountain, Chautauqua Meadows, South Boulder Creek, and Fowler Trail. There are also larger plein-air works on view. As she hiked, climbed, and revisited the same locations over time, Davis began to spot signs of restoration amid the flood’s destruction. “Almost each time that I went out, more plants appeared, and animals that had left their habitats gradually reappeared,” says Davis, who logged more than 500 miles by the end of her project. “Hydrology resets things after a flood; you get new plants and animals, and in some places, we ended up getting a better ecosystem.”
The show also includes paintings completed by Davis over the 30 years she has spent working on Boulder’s public lands as a volunteer. These pieces, borrowed from private collections, offer visitors a look at the region through the decades. Davis, who served on Boulder’s Board of Trustees for Open Space and Mountain Parks from 2013 to 2018, also signs her new book, titled Preserving a Vision of Open Space, on November 14 at 7 p.m. The book features the artist’s paintings and 60 interviews with the original architects of Boulder’s Open Space vision. —Kim Agricola
contact information303.875.8332www.mollydavisfineart.com
This story was featured in the November 2018 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art November 2018 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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