The Vail Valley Art Guild was begun in 2014 in order to fill a perceived need in the Vail Valley for an organization created by and for visual artists. Since its inception, the Vail Valley Art Guild has grown from 10 members to over 150 members, including over 70 photographers, many of whom are professionals. We offer the Vail Valley an opportunity to view the creativity of local oil, watercolor and acrylic painters, charcoal, pen and ink, and pastel artists, photographers, ceramicists, sculptors, jewelers, mixed media and paper artists.
Although artist and active Vail Public Library patron, Charmayne Bernhardt, lost sight in her right eye 7 years ago, she never gave up on her artistic abilities. Rather, she continues to paint and count her blessings everyday. She remains grateful for the ability to share her artwork with the Vail Valley, a place close to her heart.
Growing up in a family of painters and musicians, Patricia Donovan/TA Donovan developed an appreciation for and a devotion to art. However, her passion for the arts percolated for years as she pursued a career in education – first as teacher and then as a principal. While creating- with her faculty - an elementary school for the arts within the Littleton (Colorado) Public Schools, she began pursuing her own creativity. Studying first at the Denver Art Museum and later at the Denver Art Students’ League, she found her way to figurative and landscape painting. In her work, you will find the influences of Ron Hicks, Kim English and Michael Lynch, her teachers, who demonstrate movement, light, and drama in their paintings. Viewers find that stories unfold in TA Donovan’s paintings - as light and shadows drift across the canvases.