The city of Cortez has sponsored a retrospective of poster art by Dolores artist Chris Vest, who has produced art for the last six years for area events that include the Birding Festival and the Parade of Lights. The show appears along the entry wall at the Cortez Recreation Center, 425 Roger Smith Ave., and will hang through the month of February. Contact Ami Fair, City Special Events Coordinator for details at 564-4080.
Chris Vest is a graphic designer and artist with a 25-year background in pen and ink drawing, oil painting, photography and screen printing. In the 1990s he embraced the computer revolution and developed a way to merge painting and photography in the digital medium. In this medium, photographic images are transformed by digital dark room techniques and intense painterly manipulation to create textures and effects that attempt to bridge the unique properties of photography and painting, a process he has dubbed the painted photo montage. Using these techniques, he has recently illustrated a field guide to bird conservation published by the American Bird Conservancy. A selection of Vests fine art and bird art can be seen at Fusion Studios Gallery in Dolores (419 Central Ave).
Chris lives with his partner Cathy and 25 animals on a six-acre farm near Dolores. Together they operate a small animal shelter, the Running Dog Ranch, where they rescue and foster animals from across the four corners area. Sales of Vests prints help to support the shelter. To learn more about Chris Vests work, check out rchristophervest.imagekind.com.