Denver Artist Mai Wyn Schantz at CMU and DDA Art Gallery

New CMU art gallery and DDA's new office host grand openings

Grand Junction – Colorado Mesa University's art gallery and the Grand Junction Downtown Development Authority (DDA) are sharing a building and, on Oct. 3, will also share the official openings of each of their facilities.

The CMU art gallery will host its inaugural exhibit from Oct. 3 to Nov. 30. A ribbon-cutting for the gallery will be held at 5pm on Friday, Oct. 3. The exhibit will be oil paintings on stainless steel by Denver artist Mai Wyn Schantz. The DDA will host an open house from 5:30 to 8pm on Friday, Oct. 3.

CMU's art gallery/studio and the DDA are sharing space at 437 Colorado Ave.

"The community has been asking for us to have a presence downtown for a long time and by working with the DDA, we were able to make that happen. We are very pleased to add the CMU art gallery to the downtown art scene," said CMU President Tim Foster.

"For some time CMU and the DDA have been looking for an opportunity to collaborate on our common interests in Downtown. The co-location of University art gallery and the DDA's offices provides a perfect alignment of needs and resources for a greater impact," said Harry Weiss, DDA Executive Director.

The gallery exhibit and the DDA open house will be part of the First Friday activities for October in Downtown Grand Junction. First Friday is a community-wide event in which art galleries remain open late on the first Friday each month for art, food, drink, and fun. Attendees typically "gallery hop" to take in new exhibits on display around town. Other Downtown art galleries taking part in First Friday include Oakley Gallery, Colorado Canyons Gallery & Gifts, Aspen Photo Art Gallery and The Raw Canvas.

Schantz has been painting on metal – first aluminum and now stainless steel – for more than 15 years. She said she was first drawn to metal because of its slickness as a painting surface and recognized it as a means to capture nature in a contemporary context.

Schantz' work is included in many private and corporate collections including Northwestern Mutual, Kaiser Permanente and Chevron. She graduated with a BFA in 1999 from Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design in Denver and has her own combined studio-gallery space in Denver.

Though Schantz will not be on hand for the Oct. 3 opening, she will be at the gallery on Friday, November 7, for an artist's talk at 6:30pm and a First Friday reception from 7:00-9:00pm.