Lindsay Jones — Carbondale Arts

You've been a thriving artist in the RFV for sometime now, can you share some of your highlights, or special accomplishments?

Well first off, thanks for saying thriving artist...I often feel more like a fumbling artist, but I'm pretty sure that's a somewhat normal self-reflection. When I moved here in 2011, I wasn't that interested in staying too long-I prefer a longer and warmer spring/summer/fall, and much less winter, which makes me somewhat of an odd duck here. I'd say one of my favorite accomplishments was actually the show I had in 2017 at the Launchpad. It was the first time since I had moved here that I had finally settled into some sort of art making that I was proud of.

Another great accomplishment has been creating the Roaring Fork Drawing Club with my friend Brian. It's a casual group that gets together every week to draw and hang out. If you want friends, and you want to draw, then it's for you.

The Colorado mountains and landscape have been your muse in several projects, what sort of inspiration(s) do you draw from nature and your surroundings?

It's not always intentional, but nature is definitely a constant influence in my work. I'm particularly attracted to the desert landscapes. They come in so many different forms and are full of life, but at the same time you've got to be prepared if you're going to spend time in them. They are not forgiving places. I'm currently working on some new pieces that I'm excited about. My fine art practice has focused on those desert landscapes, but I also work as a commercial artist and that's where the mountains have jumped into my work.

A few years back I created an illustrated series of each of Colorados' 14ers. You may have seen them for sale at Bonfire, or at the Artique here in town. I've been wanting to expand the series somehow, so just this past spring I created a set of two hike logbooks, which comes with this amazing lick n'stick stamp sheet. Each peak gets its own stamp, and I designed the interior pages with prompts to record your hike, then you place the stamp on the page once you've completed the hike.

Where can we find your work?

You can find my work in a bunch of different places, the most obvious being my Instagram and website. If you want to find me live and in-person though, then please come to the Carbondale Farmers Market this Wednesday (June 21), a Happy Hour Shopping + Workshop at Botany Houseplant Shop (June 22), and finally a Summer PopUp (June 24) at Botany on Saturday morning.

I'm teaming up with my twin sister, Kerry for all of those events. She's bringing her plastic-free soap refill business SUDS Refillery to town as a trial run. It's a business that helps you minimize your household plastic waste by reusing your old containers and filling them with new soap. They have a ton of other stuff besides soap, and sidenote: I'm pretty proud of the branding and illustrations that I've created with them. I'll have my Monte Carlo tees, Box Eleven and SUDS will be hosting the workshop where you make an essential oil room spray + dye a bandana with botanicals, and Botany will be having some sales on in-store items. Whew, that's a full week.

What are the biggest challenges to being an artist here? What problem(s) would you like to see solved?

I'd say one of my biggest challenges has been that I don't have a great space to make the work that I'd like to make. Living here is too expensive and it's taken me time just to be able to afford the luxury of buying art supplies, let alone afford a studio. Not having space has really steered much of my work to being digital, and since I already need the computer for my freelance biz, it also serves as a compact (digital) space for me to make personal art work.

You recently worked with 6 high school students for the Creative Apprentice Project. What were some unexpected highlights that came from that experience? Tell us what we can expect from the work you all made?

The Creative Apprentice Project is a great program that I wish more high schoolers knew about. I would have loved to be involved in something outside of school like this when I was younger. Getting to know the six apprentices was really the highlight. To listen to their perspective on social/cultural issues, and to learn that we're more in-line with each other than our generations are sometimes given credit.

Through the program, we created a zine (short for magazine), which focuses on Carbondale and serves as an untraditional "guide" to our town. We're a couple weeks behind, but you'll see the zine in the Artique Store later in July, and we're hoping to have a launch party with the apprentices to celebrate.