Christo

Regional News Roundup

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Gardner Wants to Delay Sage- Grouse Listing Freshman Colorado Senator Cory Gardner has introduced an act to delay the endangered species designation of the Gunnison Sage-grouse. His act would allow states at least six more years to implement conservation and management plans to protect the grouse without the need for federal protection. Once numbering in …

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Regional News Roundup

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Browns Canyon Declared a National Monument Employing the Antiquities Act, President Obama named Browns Canyon a national monument on Feb. 19. The designation provides new layers of federal protection to the nearly 21,000 acres east of the Arkansas River in Chaffee County. Legislative attempts to preserve the area failed to advance through Congress, and Obama …

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Regional News Roundup

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Big Changes at the USPS

On Feb. 23, after a five-month study, the U.S. Postal Service announced it would be consolidating 223 centers across the country sometime after May 15

In Colorado, post offices in Salida, Alamosa, Durango and Colorado Springs will be affected by the decision. What this means for Colorado Central subscribers is that the magazine (and all other mail sent from Salida for that matter) will first be re-routed to Denver for sorting and then delivered back to Salida (sounds more efficient to us, right?). Normally, locals get the magazine the next day but the new rules will add several more days to the delivery time. Our Front Range subscribers may see their copies sooner but we‘re not holding our breath.

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Just Say No? Opponents of ‘Over the River’ Speak Out

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By Greg Felt and Ellen Bauder

In 1992, Christo Javacheff had a vision. In it, he saw translucent polypropylene fabric panels suspended above a river as it flowed through a spectacular Western landscape. Studying maps, he considered several potential locations before settling on the Bighorn Sheep Canyon of the Arkansas. There he found soaring canyon walls and a well-watered river, a corridor with highway access on one side and a railroad on the other, towns at both ends that embraced a future in the arts, and a proximity to population centers and airports. With the wide following and notoriety generated by his previous projects, Mr. Javacheff took his vision to the street, sharing it with politicians and bureaucrats, art world luminaries, local boosters … anyone who would listen. He painted a picture of a “whimsical” and “temporary” work of art, an exhibition that would connect people with nature. And when asked by the curious about impacts to the environment, he denied that there would be any. “We leave our sites in better condition than we found them” became the project’s mantra. For those who’ve only heard the vision, it sounds great. But where the vision ends and reality begins, it’s a whole different story.

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REGIONAL NEWS ROUNDUP (and other items of interest)

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Over the River EIS Scheduled for May

CANON CITY – The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has indicated that the environmental impact statement for the proposed Christo and Jeanne-Claude art project, “Over the River,” will most likely be released in May. The EIS is required for any project that “significantly affecting the quality of the human environment,” by the National Environmental Policy Act.

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Down on the Ground Loving What I Shouldn’t

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by George Sibley

Our Colorado Central stablemaster, Mike Rosso, suggested that this month we might try to write about love – any kind of love – in honor of the St. Valentine’s festival. Because his email arrived just after I’d read an online article from The Los Angeles Times about Christo’s awning project over the Arkansas River, I thought, great: I’ll write about my love of things I love that make me wonder about myself. About my sanity, or morals, or something equally ambiguous. These are things that, on the surface, seem totally foolish, or unnecessary, or extravagant, or environmentally irresponsible, or any combination of those qualities – but I love them, which means rationality somehow got short-circuited out of the consideration.

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How Christo’s critics can change your mind

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by Ed Quillen

The first time I heard of “Over the River” was about the time Martha and I started this magazine, circa 1994. Christo and Jeanne Claude held a meeting in Salida, which I didn’t attend because I didn’t care.

So what if some loopy artist proposed to suspend fabric panels across the Arkansas River for a few days? It’s not as though the valley between Salida and Cañon City is a pristine wilderness or immaculate wildlife refuge.

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REGIONAL NEWS ROUNDUP (and other items of interest)

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Leadville Women Murdered by Stalker

LEADVILLE -A Leadville woman was shot to death in front of her home by a man against whom she had a restraining order.

Yvonne Flores, 58, who worked as a teaching assistant in Leadville, was shot twice on July 7 by Anthony Medina, 58, who then took his own life, according to the Herald-Democrat.

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Q & A with artist Christo about the proposed “Over the River” project

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Since its conception in 1992, artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s proposal to hang fabric panels over 5.9 miles of the Arkansas River through Bighorn Canyon, between Salida and Cañon City, Over the River, has brought controversy, passionate opposition, philosophical questions about the nature of art, and studies – many studies – by various state and federal agencies, over the suitability of such a large-scale project in the chosen setting, scheduled to be exhibited for two weeks in the summer of 2013.

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The Art of Christo and Jeanne-Claude: An Overview

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by Keith Howard

Editors note: Christo’s proposed project for the Arkansas River, Over the River, has generated passionate discussion since its conception and much has been written for and against the project.

We decided to take a look at the career of the controversial artist, his works, and the challenges of displaying public art on such a vast scale.

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Christo in Washington

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Letter from Steve Hart

Christo – November 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

To the editor:

That the long article on page 16E of the October 5 Sunday Denver Post on Christo’s “Over the River” project was by a young reporter for the Associated Press and not a Denver Post reporter or columnist was interesting. It was also interesting that the article included discussion of an exhibit to celebrate the project called “Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Over the River, a Work in Progress” to be held at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. It appears that there is more interest outside Colorado in covering six miles of the Arkansas River between Salida and Canon City with fabric than there is in Colorado.

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In defense of a canopy over the Arkansas

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Letter from Frank Snively

Christo – August 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Judging from the bumper stickers and slogans which have been cropping up around the Arkansas Valley recently, the proposal by Christo and Jeanne-Claude to put some cloth covering over the River — for TWO WHOLE WEEKS! — is the worst thing that has happened in quite a while. Personally, I happen to disagree with the notion that it is evil, and I will try to explain why.

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Over the River in Texas

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Article by Ray James

Christo – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Don’t call them ephemeral.

Sure the major art works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude last only a few weeks but it takes years, sometimes decades, of designing, planning, gaining permission, and constructing to implement their artistic visions. Just such a vision is the “Over the River Project for the Arkansas River, State of Colorado,” the working title for a project that — if it happens — would fling sheets of fabric along stretches of the Arkansas River between Salida and Cañon City. There’s substance, too, in the millions of dollars the project has cost already and the millions more it will cost if it’s to become a reality.

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Christo will seek full EIA for OTR from BLM

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Brief by Central Staff

Christo – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s “Over the River” project may be delayed, revised, or even denied, as the artists pursue a more thorough environmental review of their proposal to stretch draped cables across the Arkansas River between Salida and Canon City.

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Becoming part of the art

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Letter from Kenneth Jessen

Christo – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Doris Dembosky’s article (September, 2005, edition) about the “Over the River” project by Christo and his wife, Jeanne-Claude, begs the question what is art? After having completed 55 interviews with Loveland- area artists for my weekly column in the local newspaper, I have learned that the definition of art is as murky as the water in the Arkansas River after a rainstorm.

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