Art @ Your Library

Vail Public Library proudly displays art featuring local artists from the Vail Valley and beyond. The library participates in Vail’s Art in Public Places program and is home to permanent pieces of Vail’s collection. You can learn more about Art in Vail here. Our community room also has a gallery hanging system which accommodates framed pieces and rotates monthly. Additional display space is available for 3D, sculpture, and mixed media in our display space in the Galleria.

Would you like to display your art in Vail Public Library? Please email Libinfo@vail.gov


FEATURED ARTISTS

JANUARY 2025

Theresa Rizzo (located in the display case in the Galleria through January 31, 2025)

Theresa is a native Michigander, but on a childhood Colorado vacation, she instantly fell in love with the mountains and the wildlife.  In 2000 she and her family were blessed to be able to make Colorado their home.
Theresa has no formal arts training, but has always been creative. When trying her hand at mosaics, she found it much easier to use a wet tile saw to cut and carve pieces than using nippers. Repurposing stones, rocks and crystals scavenged from hikes or rescued from stone fabricators’ dumpsters delights her and ignites her imagination. A decade later, Theresa continues to hone her unique technique and expand her talents.Whether it be built-in backsplashes or fine art, she loves bringing out the beauty and energy in the natural materials, using them to give her art life and emotion. 

Jessica Hawkins (located in the community room through January 31, 2025)
After graduating from Battle Mountain High School in Edwards, I was a student of Marist College in Poughkeepsie New York, focusing on fine art and philosophy as my disciplines. Some of the most notable figures that helped shape my perspective include Casteneda, Vonnegut, Nietzsche, Fanon, Freud, de Chirico, and Tooker, all of whom still lend their style and thoughts to my work and life. After college, I returned to the valley to work in the ski industry, and I spend my summers as an outdoor guide in Utah. This is my first public exhibit.

My works shown at Vail Public Library were produced with a heavy influence from popular culture, whether it be from the art of Giorgio de Chirico or Toulouse Lautrec, or the writings of American anthropologist Carlos Casteneda. A good deal of these works is about taking something that is already prevalent or recognizable in the social sphere and putting my own individual twist on it. Each of these paintings and prints is reminiscent of earlier, more well-known works, and it is my hope that if not recognized wholly, then at least my works will stir something deep in the viewer’s mind, the beginnings of a recollection that might never come to fruition.

February 2025

George Lamb

Throughout the years, I have been more or less self-taught through careful observation of both contemporary artists as well as past masters. I’ve learned to paint by painting. I typically will do plain air sketches coupled with some photography to memorialize a time and place and then complete a work in the studio. As my style has evolved, I find that I now present my vision through more simplified landscapes in which I attempt to capture and share with the viewer a specific time and emotion, the movement of light, air, and water.

I savor every opportunity to be alone in a high mountain meadow or beside a slow-flowing brook – feeling the warm mid-day sun or watching the ripples as the stream cascades around boulders and fallen logs – the power of the ocean and the majesty of the lofty peaks.

My goal is to use the brush stroke and the intensity or transparency of the paint to capture the moment and bring the viewer into a quieter place. I am very appreciative of the time you spend with me.

March 2025

Norm Vogel

April 2025

Vail Mountain School Student Art Show

May 2025

Available – Please email libinfo@vail.gov

June 2025

Vail Valley Art Guild Artists

July 2025

Vail Valley Art Guild Veterans Art Show

Paintings, photography, sculpture, and more will be featured at the Veterans Art Show in the community room of the Vail Public Library during the month of July. The exhibit is a collaboration between the Vail Valley Art Guild (VVAG), the Vail Public Library, and Eagle County Veterans Services. The art will be for sale with the proceeds paid directly to the artists.

“Art has always been valued in my family,” said Assistant Veterans Service Officer Jackie Allen-Benson, who conceived of the idea for the art show. “As a veteran, my first art was landscape design for which I attended school on the GI Bill. Like many veterans, art is an incredible coping mechanism for dealing with the stresses of life.”

August 2025

Available – Please email libinfo@vail.gov

September 2025

Available – Please email libinfo@vail.gov

October 2025

Available – Please email libinfo@vail.gov

November 2025

Charmayne Bernhardt

Charmayne Bernhardt works primarily in watercolor but also does charcoal, acrylic and oil paintings.  She does many paintings for the US Forest Service and the Town of Vail with educational illustrations of nature.  These can be seen around Vail, hiking trailheads, Piney Lake, Sylvan Lake, Vail Mountain and Ford Park along Gore Creek and many parks.  These help people understand the importance of taking care of this wonderful place we live.  She also paints labels for Vail Mountain Coffee and Tea, does paintings for cards, and has illustrated children’s and medical books, as well as private commissions.  She was classically trained at an “old masters” art school and is grateful for a strong foundation in drawing and fundamentals.  Charmayne has lived here since the early 70s and never tires of the wonder around her.

December 2025

Vail Valley Art Guild Artists

The Vail Valley Art Guild is dedicated to enriching lives by fostering and promoting artistic growth and building awareness of the visual arts in Eagle County.