Home is where the Art is: Boulder Art Association turns a century old

Dec. 28—In 1923, Boulder was forever changed when Jean Sherwood, a prominent art patron, and FBR Hellems, the Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado, took a good, hard look at the city's cultural landscape. The pair envisioned the creation of an art club, to enrich Boulder's cultural life and enhance CU students' education with exposure to the arts.

Thus, the Boulder Art Association (BAA) was born, creating an artistic haven by providing an art gallery and lecture hall for community use. Its mission was to foster appreciation and comprehension of the arts and to offer educational opportunities in art for gifted children during the summer.

Roughly a year later, the Boulder Artists Guild was founded and organized to assemble workers in the creative arts, aimed to advance and encourage the artistic expression of its members.

Rapidly growing to 200 members, BAA introduced a series of traveling art exhibits in collaboration with CU President George Norlin. These exhibits, hosted in the old CU library's north balcony, showcased not only college and high school art but also works from members of the guild.

However, BAA's impact was not limited to exhibits. The organization organized Sunday afternoon talks, art classes for the community, and a Children's Summer Art Institute, catering to diverse groups like business professionals and women. By 1933, however, the Guild became a transient organization after the CU Library needed its space for its own operations.

In a bold move, BAA opened the Sherwood Gallery in 1937, named after the organization's founder, which offered a permanent space for art displays, workshops, and community gatherings. The gallery, located where Arapahoe crosses Boulder Creek, became a cultural hub, attracting 5,000 visitors annually. Despite these successes, financial struggles coupled with Sherwood's death led to the gallery's closure and the organization's disbandment in 1939.

For the next two decades, Boulder lacked a formal art organization. Artists continued to meet informally as the Creative Interest Group, supported by CU's Fine Arts faculty, and this period of quiet persistence paved the way for the rebirth of the Boulder Art Association in 1958. The BAA celebrated its revival with a Beaux Arts Ball at the Boulder Country Club, signaling a new era of artistic engagement.

Since its reformation, the BAA has adapted to the evolving art landscape. With the Denver Art Museum filling the role of providing traveling art shows, BAA shifted its focus to community outreach and fostering local artistic talents. In 2023, more than 120 members make up the Boulder Art Association — They are painters, printmakers, sculptors, ceramicists, jewelry makers and photographers. The group includes all levels, including amateurs, professionals, doodlers and maestros.

And where many art institutions and co-ops in Boulder County have failed, BAA has managed to not only stick around throughout the decades but help other art groups in Boulder take flight. Most notably, BAA played a crucial role in establishing the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and The Dairy Center for the Arts.

Longtime BAA member Gretchen Acharya recalls her involvement in kick-starting the Dairy Center back in the 90's.

"BAA's mission was, and still is, trying to find a home. We were forever trying to find a permanent place for us to gather, showcase local artists and provide inexpensive studio space," Acharya said. "We organized an art show in 1990, called Jump Start the Arts, and it was held at the proposed Flatirons Center for the Arts site — aka the Dairy Center."

According to Acharya, the purpose of the show was to expose the community to the artwork of emerging and established artists in the area, and to stimulate sales for what was to — hopefully — become BAA's forever home.

"I remember getting the Dairy building ready for that show, and the building was really, really nasty. The walls inside the refrigeration room were all rusty, and to work there, we had to run an electrical extension cord from the garage. I was trying to paint one of the rusted steel walls, and when I stood back to admire my work, all of the paint just kind of slid off into one big, gooey pile."

And though the show managed to raise a good chunk of startup money, it was just shy of enough.

"We had to come up with enough money to buy the entire building, and somehow BAA got squeezed out. We just didn't have enough. The main thing was that performing arts brought in money, and unfortunately, visual arts did not," Acharya said. "But we were still happy to support our fellow performing artists."

Despite the lack of a physical and permanent home, Acharya says that BAA's magic lies not in the material, but in the sense of camaraderie and community that BAA provides.

"BAA has always managed to come through whatever challenge and continues to provide a much-needed resource for local artists. As an artist, you tend to work in isolation; But the BAA, what they've provided, is to help you get out of that isolation. It's more than just a physical location. It's intangible, really," Acharya said.

BAA's current president, Jeanne Kipke, says that she joined BAA years ago for that very same reason — to create art in fellowship.

"When I first joined, I just needed to get out in the world. I was a very reclusive artist, and I didn't share my art. I hardly ever finished paintings, and I felt shy about my work," Kipke said.

A retired elementary school teacher, Kipke became president in 2018 and successfully steered BAA through one of the organization's most challenging periods — the pandemic.

"Seeing how shy I used to be about my art, it's funny that now, here I am years later, the president of BAA. But I really just wanted people to feel that same sense of belonging that I felt when I first joined, and I wanted them to feel that, especially during the pandemic when so many of us were so isolated."

In its lengthy history, BAA has lasted through the stock market crash, World War II, the Watergate scandal, and 9/11. "I wasn't about to steer us the wrong way during COVID," Kipke joked.

One of Kipke's first moves during the pandemic was to re-invent BAA's decades-old tradition of Sunday afternoon art talks — to be held on Saturdays, instead.

"We started doing the critique group on Zoom, and we had people from, not just Boulder, but all over the United States, join in. And it became this really fun, cathartic experience that anyone from anywhere could join. We would just talk about art, and it was so laid back, and exactly what I think a lot of people needed during the pandemic," Kipke said. "It was kind of like a perfect reflection of what BAA is — a place for artists or people curious about art to meet up, to be themselves, to feel supported, in whatever space that presents itself."

And though BAA has adjusted fairly well to years of transience, Kipke says that hopefully, the organization can find a permanent home sometime soon.

"We've looked at several places, but we just couldn't justify the cost or the expense of renting a space. We've been working with R Gallery, which has lent us a good chunk of space for exhibitions and meetings, but I would really love for us to find somewhere that's all ours. We're currently working on a long-term solution because we need our own spot. We need to have workshops and classes and have studio space, like we used to, long ago," Kipke said.

To celebrate 100 years of BAA, a special exhibition is on display at the Meadows Branch, open now until Jan. 29, 2024. The exhibition displays a compilation of artifacts, photographs, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, art pieces, and more that highlights the rich history of BAA. For more information, visit https://boulderlibrary.org/exhibitions/; And for more information (or to become a member!) of Boulder Art Association, visit https://boulderartassociation.org/.