Heritage Park Public Art Project Johnson County is Seeking Community Feedback thru June 30!
EVERYONE is welcome to participate and share your thoughts! ​

We are a semi-finalist in this important commemorative monument and ask that you please take a moment and be part of the public art process.

Johnson County is seeking community feedback on the three design proposals for the Heritage Park Public Art Project, commemorating the Potawatomi Trail of Death. One design will be selected for installation in spring 2025. Please give your honest feedback, even if it isn't ours.

The National Sculptors' Guild is saddened to hear that former Guild member, Sharles, passed away on Sunday, he was 83. Flora and Fauna were his subject matter, he explored it for decades in every media and method. As collectors of the eccentric artist know, his love for nature lives on in each one of his sculptures, paintings and textiles. Some favorites were his earthy Ikebana Series and the vibrant Classical Vases formed of Iris and daffodils; frogs, lizards and dragonflies often found their way into a composition.

We represented Sharles from 1994-2008, showing his art in our galleries in Colorado and New Mexico. We placed hundreds of his vessels and smaller works, as well as a number of large-scale bas-reliefs. Our largest placement through the Guild came in 2001 when we installed "The Amaryllis Fountain" in the Civic Plaza of the City of Cerritos, California. Images show various points in the creation of the multifaceted sculpture that featured a central 9ft tall bronze Amaryllis surrounded by Four vignettes of a Swan, Frog, Koi and Turtle accompanied by sculpted water lilies, and shorter stemmed amaryllis, plus natural aquatic plants. Water streams from the center of each flower in the 16-ft diameter composition. All finished in his signature vibrant colors; Sharles never shied away from a bold stroke of color. Click here to see more of this project. We are pleased that people will continue to enjoy his unique vision of the world through his art.

BIOGRAPHY:
Sharles was born in Italy of American parents on their honeymoon while visiting European relatives. The family was forced to sit out the war in Britain, and when the war ended, traveled home. But the transition to post-war United States was not an easy one. His parents divorced, leaving a 5 year-old Sharles to be raised by various relatives in a sparse ranching/farm environment of Colorado and Wyoming.
This early childhood led Sharles to believe he was born in that rural area for most of his adult life.  His parents wanted to forget, and erase all memories of the war experiences and lacking the long lost Italian birth papers enrolled him in school via borrowed credentials and name of a near cousin. Art collectors, artists, friends, and the world,  only know him today by his signature and professional art name of  “SHARLES”.
At the age of 10, his Boston grandmother removed him from the Midwest, not wanting her grandson to become a cowboy. She was a stylish, sophisticated widow, self-made businesswoman who was a very successful art and antique dealer to wealthy East Coast collectors.
Sharles spent his teens immersed in the totally different world of Boston and foreign travel, art museums, and his grandmother’s art business.  He assisted his grandmother in her antique store, and on buying trips to India, France, Italy, China, and Japan. In addition to his own cultural heritage of English, French, and Italian art,  he  was immersed in  many other cultures and educated about the antiques and decorative arts associated with his grandmother’s business.
His grandmother was a passionate collector of art and loved flowers.  These were common interests shared with her best friend, Grace Wedgwood who was related to the famous English Wedgwood pottery family.  Grace Wedgwood was Sharles’ Godmother. These two loving guardians took an active role in his education, privately tutoring him on trains, ocean liners, and in hotel rooms. Sharles received a rare education in the techniques, forms, and artistic values of the decorative arts that were intrinsic to the famed Wedgwood pottery.  Both his grandmother and godmother were dedicated collectors of Wedgwood, oriental bronzes, porcelains, flower paintings, Italian and French art.  These experiences constituted a rich and enduring art education that in time were major influences in his art.
The daily contact with art and flowers became embedded in Sharles’ psyche, and would later come to his aid and ultimate rescue. In 1982 he suffered a serious car accident in Loveland, Colorado, a small farming community. Left as a semi-invalid with almost total amnesia, Sharles struggled to recover. He was stranded, not knowing his past, home, or friends.
While recovering in Loveland, which had a small bronze foundry, Sharles began observing some of the local sculptors, George Lundeen, Fritz White, Danny Ostermiller, Glenna Goodacre, and Kent Ullberg. He gradually began picking up sculpting techniques and learned the casting process. At first, Sharles created the type of western images that were being produced by the other local artists: Indians, eagles, buffaloes, and other western genre.
But one auspicious day while sculpting, Sharles surrendered to the intense pressures of his unremembered past. His subconscious adoration of flowers, plants and nature, so strongly instilled by his deceased grandmother, became dominant themes. These memories were his inspiration in creating functional and decorative arts as he discarded the local, popular art trends.
Not knowing if it could even be done, Sharles began experimenting with creating iris flowers in soft wax.  He attempted to sculpt delicate flower shapes with wet clay techniques, as the Wedgwood potters had done.  Sharles attached these flowers to functional forms, creating extraordinary floral vases, candlesticks, elaborate candelabras, bowls and other types of vessels.  The inspiration of his sculptural style remained a mystery to Sharles for many years as it had all flowed so effortlessly from his mind through his hands.
The bronzes were finished with patinas that were bright natural colors of greens, golds, pinks, and purples that seemed to surprise and even shocked the art world.  So much so, that major galleries were afraid of the purple, blue green patinas and reluctant to show them, having no sales record by which to judge them. After all, their collectors were buying traditional wildlife and Western art in the customary French-brown patina.
In 1987 Sharles was accepted into the 3rd Annual Loveland Sculpture in the Park Show.  At that time, it was a small event organized by local peer artist, George Lundeen, Dan Ostermiller, George Walbye, Fritz White, and Hollis Wilford. It has since become the most important national sculpture show in the United States.  For 23 years, Sharles has participated in this annual juried show of nationally, celebrated sculptors.
Sharles continued to add to his decorative portfolio, waiting for the right gallery to represent him. Finally, Pam Driscoll, of the Driscoll Gallery, saw this new work at the SCULPTURE IN THE PARK art show.  Famous wildlife sculptor Sandy Scott was instrumental in convincing Pam to show his work in her aspen gallery and with hesitation, agreed to show four or five pieces in her gallery.  She was astonished when all five bronzes sold as they were being unpacked. Women particularly loved the colorful, decorative bronzes. Word spread of the immediate sales in Driscoll Gallery, and Sharles soon had more galleries contacting him for his floral decorative work than he could handle.
In 1990, Sharles was one of the many highly talented sculptors from Loveland invited to participate in the Continental Airline’s Sculpture Showcase; a show that would tour the major international airports across the United States for three years. This event exhibited the top sculptors from Loveland: Kent Ullberg, George Lundeen, Fritz White, Hollis Wilford, Steve Kestrel, and other promising artists; adding sculptors as it progressed through the country. Sharles was delegated with the honor of sculpting a bronze centerpiece for the opening night. With the loosely stated theme of “flight”, the requested sculpture seemed of little significance in light of the high caliber of art being showcased. With only three weeks to complete, it was an inspired rush-job. The centerpiece created was a 5 1/2 foot totem-like structure of turtles, iguanas, and birds, crowned with the head of a Native American. The sculpture symbolized man learning the principles of flight from gliding sea turtles, and birds that had evolved from dinosaurs and reptiles. The piece, “Evolution of Flight,” was so successful opening night that it was given a place in the traveling sculpture show. This showstopper, exotic piece, amazed and awed viewers, but none more so, than the airline that had anticipated seeing a French-brown eagle, or some historical rendition of Kitty Hawk.
Both the “Evolution of Flight” sculpture and the traveling show solidified the career of Sharles as a professional sculptor, almost over night.  He had embarked on both projects as a totally unknown artist and had revealed just a tip of the iceberg. 
Sharles was invited into the National Sculptors' Guild in 1994, helping him to place his artwork publicly in large-scale for the first time in Palm Desert, California later that year. He showed his iris-clad bronze vessels and bas-reliefs and fountains, each full of creatures hidden in the leaves in the Guild's galleries in Loveland, Colorado and Santa Fe, New Mexico and in 1996 the March issue of Southwest Art Magazine published a sizeable article followed by a similar piece in May/June 1998 Art of the West Magazine; further putting Sharles on the map. Sharles is also a member of the Society of Animal Artists at that time.
In 2000, the National Sculptors' Guild's proposal of Sharles' Amaryllis Fountain was selected by the City of  Cerritos; a major public art installation for the civic plaza near their new public library. The final design was a bronze of a giant, red amaryllis flower and purple lotus flowers incorporated into a 16-foot multi-piece water fountain.  This included sculptures of amaryllis flowers, lotus flowers, lilly pads and oversized frog, swan, gold fish and turtle in the completed fountain that was installed near the new library in 2001.
In 2006, Sharles was selected by the City of Loveland, Colorado to place two, circular, 32″ bas-reliefs of California quail, pear cacti, lizards, sunflowers, and birds for placement in the famous Benson Park Sculpture Garden.  In 2008, he was again commissioned by the High Plains Arts Council to sculpt a small 12″ x 12″ bas relief for the 25th anniversary of Sculpture in the Park Show. The sculpture, “The Music of Spring,” is installed in Benson Park as part of the permanent city of Loveland art collection
Despite serious attempts to attend various academic art schools, those intentions never seemed to be a realistic option.  In time, art schools no longer seemed necessary, as Sharles had become a successful, self-taught artist/sculptor, learning skills the hard way, by observation, and trial and error.
He is a self-taught sculptor and oil painter, having drawn in pastels from an early age.  His love of color is evident in his patinas and still lifes of flowers, fruit, parrots, and small wildlife. His paintings and sculptures share similar themes. Sharles inherited his grandmother’s love of flowers, continually creating beautiful art for the sake of beauty. In addition to sculpting & painting, Sharles is a product designer of pillow, stationary, household items, coffee mugs  and a digital artist, nature photographer, in general a computer geek.

These furry friends are eager to see one of their favorite people, the veterinarian! Yes, it can mean a few pokes and prods, but a visit to the clinic brings a lot of treats and ear rubs too. An introductory offer is now available for Craig Campbell's "Vet Visit" in two sizes, 9" or 26" high.

Pictured here in clay, the cat and dog pair will be cast in limited edition museum-quality bronze.

Know a vet that could use this piece?? customize the label on the cushion in gratitude for a favorite animal care-giver or clinic.

With a little luck, we celebrate St. Patrick's Day by sharing our discovered pot of gold...  over 140 never before shown Lu Haskew paintings.

While cleaning out a storage room, Lu's son, Denny, uncovered 5 boxes filled with Lu's paintings. They were packed away from her studio when she fell ill, then forgotten. Lu was a prolific artist, prioritizing her time to paint 5 days a week, so it is no surprise that so many paintings remained in her studio from her final couple years. Most are unframed, and because her preferred substrate was canvas mounted on gator board, dozens of paintings fit in each box.

​We are making these final paintings available for purchase, exclusively on our online store. Enter code: TreasureTrove at checkout for a special incentive through the end of the month.

We have 40 additional portraits that we are still documenting. If you have interest in these, please contact us and we'll send you notice once they have been uploaded.

A portion of each sale benefits the Lu Haskew Endowment for the Arts, funding art supplies and scholarships in the Thompson School District where she taught.

Columbine Gallery’s Loveland location has served as headquarters and home to the National Sculptors’ Guild and its sculpture garden, featuring some of the country's finest sculptors, since 1992. One of the largest fine art sources in Northern Colorado, the gallery and adjacent NSG Sculpture Garden quickly became a destination spot leading to thousands of art placements, large and small, in collectors’ homes across the nation. The Father/Daughter owners wish to announce a direction shift to the public art side of their business. They are selling the gallery space to provide greater dedication to their large-scale placements than the events and exhibitions that make a gallery shine.
 
“We will continue to sell artwork online, which has become a popular choice among art collectors. This is particularly ideal when a collector is familiar with an artist or has worked with us in the past; they know the quality and take comfort in our 30 plus years of experience. This trust has been built over time, and we intend to care for our artists and collectors in the same manner we have from the start.” -Alyson Kinkade, co-owner and Project Manager for the National Sculptors’ Guild.
 
“We have thoroughly enjoyed working with art appreciators of all levels, but the true passion has always been in the design team approach it takes to place great public art.” – John Kinkade, Executive Director of the National Sculptors’ Guild. “Many Lovelanders may be unaware that we have a full-scale public art business, placing over 500 significant monuments across the nation. But that was how we started, and we are feeling it is time to devote ourselves to the Guild once again.”
 
This transition to less show space also allows the Kinkade’s to pursue more of their own interests. Alyson plans to spend more time on her own artwork; and John will continue to work on special projects like serving as Co-Chair for the Colorado Governors’ Art Show, as well as other philanthropic projects that combine the arts and helping community.
 
“It has been a privilege to serve the community of Loveland, Colorado, and our amazing stable of artists over the years. We look forward to continuing to do so in a different capacity.” states John.
 
“Loveland will remain our home base, and we intend to be part of the art world for a long time to come.” Alyson adds. “We are thrilled to see someone new take the space with new energy and ideas to make their mark on this special art-filled city.” The gallery and garden at 2683 N. Taft Avenue will continue to showcase art as the new owner of the property has plans to open par-a-dox fine arts this summer. You’ll see changes already taking shape.
 
John continues, “We hope people reflect fondly of their experiences at Columbine Gallery, we will remember well the dinner parties we threw for hundreds of our patrons under tents in the garden, and special events like weddings; unique exhibitions; charity fundraiser receptions; afternoon meetings with artists on the balconies, and watching the fireworks being set off across Taft Avenue. We express gratitude to all who have been a part of making this beautiful space so special to our family and artists.”
 
Now is the time to redeem any gift certificates, or “Circle of Giving” coupon codes you may be holding onto. Columbine Gallery will remain open through May 31st with hopes to find homes for the amazing artwork that is on display. Shop online: columbinegallery.com/store or stop by the gallery through May 31st.
 
Learn more about our 500+ Public Art projects here: jk-designs-inc.com/project-feed
 
**Representing some of the nation’s leading sculptors, painters and fine artisans, Columbine Gallery and the National Sculptors’ Guild have consulted private and public collectors in the placement of fine art for the interior and exterior since 1992. The National Sculptors' Guild [NSG] is an association made up of its design team and nationally recognized sculptors chosen for their outstanding artistic abilities and varied style with the primary objective to conceive and seek out monumental placements for members' work. Artist Driven, Client Minded.
 
Proudly Representing Renowned Local and National Artists:
Sculptors: Gary Alsum, Craig Campbell, Tim Cherry, Dee Clements, Darrell Davis, Jane DeDecker, Clay Enoch, Edward Fleming, Daniel Glanz, Carol Gold Estate, Denny Haskew, Mark Leichliter, Joe Norman, Leo E. Osborne, Don Rambadt, Wayne Salge, Sandy Scott, Stephen Shachtman, Michael Warrick, and C.T. Whitehouse.
 
Painters and Artisans: Carolyn Barlock, James Biggers, Amelia Caruso, George Coll, Bob Coonts, Cathy Goodale, Don Hamilton, Lu Haskew Estate, Alyson Kinkade, Gary Miller, Jean Perry, Tony Pridham, Teresa Vito, Tal Walton, and the Roy Wilce Estate.

​The juxtaposition of styles and subjects in the gallery is one of our favorite parts of the artist's we've curated. We know collectors love all kinds of art, just like we do.
​
Add to your collection: http://www.columbinegallery.com/store/ and enter code Columbine30 through the end of 2022 for a special incentive at checkout

It's National Dog Day! We love our dogs, in art or real life. Here are some of our artist's take on human's best friend.
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Below are links to the pictured artwork:
#GaryAlsum http://www.columbinegallery.com/store/p1689/Vivat_LVII.html
#CraigCampbell http://www.columbinegallery.com/.../Cupcakes_-_Frenchie.html
#BobCoonts http://www.columbinegallery.com/.../Coonts_Pet_Portrait...
#JaneDeDecker http://www.columbinegallery.com/store/p2095/New_Tricks.html
#DanielGlanz http://www.columbinegallery.com/store/p798/Mastiff.html
#CathyGoodale http://www.columbinegallery.com/.../Goodale_Pet_Portrait...
#AlysonKinkade http://www.columbinegallery.com/.../Happiness_Is_Custom...
#WayneSalge http://www.columbinegallery.com/store/p341#waynesalge
#SandyScott http://www.columbinegallery.com/.../First_Season_Brit.html

Art Appreciators, We are celebrating our 30th year of connecting people with art. Thank you for your support and making art a priority in your life. You're our kind of people!

Ready to add more to your collection? Check out what our amazing artists have created in our store.

#ColumbineGallery #FineArt #ThirtiethAnniversary #Celebrating30Years #FeedYourCreativeSpirit #LiveWithART #BuyOriginal #ShopOnline #Painting #Sculpture #HomeDecor #BeautifulSpace

Start a new tradition of giving art in your family this holiday season.

We have a special section in our online store listing fine art under $750. Start shopping here! 

If you're still struggling to find the perfect gift for the art lover in your life, we recommend giving our Circle of Giving token, redeemable at Columbine Gallery online or in-person.

Shop soon so we can ship your presents in time!

#ColumbineGallery #GreatGift #FineArt #ArtMakesAGreatGift #Painting #Sculpture #SmallJewels #ContemporaryArt #StillLife #ShopOnline #AddToYourCollection #NSG #ArtWorthCollecting #CollectorsCorner #LinkInBio #EnhanceYourHome #BuyOriginal #ArtCollectorsAreOurPeople #LiveWithArt #FeedYourCreativeSpirit #ShopSmall #SupportSmallBusiness #SupportLocalArtists

We had a wonderful time hosting lunch for the Booth Western Art Museum Collector’s Tour of Colorado.

The group filled two 40-passenger buses with art appreciators from around the nation. We also had several of our artists meet with the collectors in the National Sculptors’ Guild sculpture garden.

The tour included several Loveland artist studios and gardens. We were happy to give them some nourishment before their next artful stop.

As you can see we lucked out with a beautiful Colorado Fall day. Our chimenea warmed us up as the wind picked up, but the rain stayed off.

#BoothMuseum #boothmuseumofwesternart #BoothMuseumCollectorsTour #SteamboatArtMuseum #ArtTour #ArtCollectorsAreOurPeople #ArtfulFallDay #Colorado #Loveland #ILiveLoveland #NationalSculptorsGuild #NSG #SculptureGarden
#ArtandFlowers #MastiffWithCookies #FeedYourCreativeSpirit #BlueSkyDay #ArtCollectors

 John will receive his 2nd vaccine shot next week, so we are planning to reopen the gallery with limited regular hours beginning in March. Details of those hours will be announced soon.

Gallery visitors must continue to follow CDC guidelines by wearing masks, social distancing and keeping groups to a minimum. Appointments outside regular hours and on weekends are still available.

We continue to encourage online purchases through the secure checkout on our store when at all possible.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon. Thank you for appreciating art and supporting our artists.

​Stay Healthy.

We recently got an order for a sculpture by just a photo of the patron's grandchild. Afterall, a picture is worth a thousand words. The connection was immediate. Jane DeDecker's "Girl on the Ball". This is a fun way to collect art! If you want to send some puzzles for us to solve, we'd love to play along and connect you with art too! Thanks for the creative order Santo! #LivingWithArt #FeedYourCreativeSpirit

Click here to shop Jane DeDecker's small works - cast and ready to ship.