Staff report
The Chronicle-News

Show combines artists with A.R. Mitchell’s own images

With an opening reception on Friday, Oct. 4, the A.R. Mitchell Museum will welcome “Resonance 2024,” the third annual art invitational that let’s artist select one of the museum’s historic photos, many taken by Mitchell himself, as source material for their own piece.

The show expects to garner original art from over 40 nationwide artist representing multiple disciplines.

Said organizers, “To date, much of Mitchell’s photography remains unseen by the public. Two years ago, literally thousands of images were discovered in an unattended part of the Museum’s storage area, igniting the idea for this show. Mitchell’s photographs that he took from the 1930s through the mid 1950s, were used as research for his own illustrations and paintings. The Museum continues its ambitious mission to archive this massive collection which offers a goldmine of regional history featuring a diverse group of people, places and scenarios.”

Mitchell first found artistic success painting cover art for the many western and weekly magazines during the 1920s-1940s. According to the museum, Mitchell was also a noteworthy fine artist, having studied under Harvey Dunn. Mitchell became a prolific painter and did many oil paintings depicting scenes from his southwestern origins. He was the recipient of several prestigious awards and several of his paintings are part of the Harmsen Collection at the Denver Art Museum.

“The show will display an enlarged print of the chosen photograph together with the artist’s work so that viewers may enjoy a photo-journalistic exhibit of the true Old West next to contemporary interpretations of those times,” said the museum.

The show is a sign of a growing mission for the museum as it expands to “connect regional Western history with the broader contemporary art world through quarterly museum shows and monthly contemporary art openings.”

The opening reception is from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 4 and the show will run through Dec. 31.

For more information about the show, contact the museum at 719-846-4224, or organizer Cody Kuehl at 303-359-9766.