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Where 'Small' is a big deal: Little wonder this annual art show draws admirers and buyers

The Aspen Chapel Gallery’s “Small Wonders” show features works by about three dozen local artists. The show runs through Jan. 3.
Michael Bonds
/
Aspen Chapel Gallery
The Aspen Chapel Gallery’s “Small Wonders” show features works by about three dozen local artists. The show runs through Jan. 3.

About three dozen local artists are showing their work at the Aspen Chapel Gallery’s 15th annual “Small Wonders” show this winter.

And if you’ve been around the block on the Roaring Fork Valley art scene, you’ll probably recognize a lot of the names on the list for the show, which opens Wednesday night.

You might see some new names, too.

Tom Ward, co-director of the Aspen Chapel Gallery along with Michael Bonds, said that’s part of the point.

“The one thing we try to do with ‘Small Wonders,’ particularly, is to find new people to be in the show,” Ward said. “You're going to see familiar painters, you're going to see some, maybe, painters that are familiar but not familiar to us (at the gallery) yet, and are new this year. And each year, it's that way."

That can open up the opportunity for new artists to appear in another show at the gallery down the road, Ward said.

The show features works that are small in both size and price. Each piece of art is 12 inches square or smaller, and each costs less than $200.

Ward said the gallery only shows local artists — and aims to reach a local audience, too.

“We're targeting locals, you know, the whole valley — that this is the gallery where their friends and painters and artists that they know can show (their work) and where (locals) can buy work from their artists at reasonable prices,” he said.

Ward said the chapel partners with a different nonprofit for every show. This time around, half of the sponsorship and 10% of sales will go to Holiday Baskets, a nonprofit that provides gifts and food cards to families in need.

“Our motto, kind of, is showing local artists and building community,” Ward said.

There’s an opening reception Wednesday from 4 to 7 p.m. The show runs through Jan. 3.

Kaya Williams is the Edlis Neeson Arts and Culture Reporter at Aspen Public Radio, covering the vibrant creative and cultural scene in Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley. She studied journalism and history at Boston University, where she also worked for WBUR, WGBH, The Boston Globe and her beloved college newspaper, The Daily Free Press. Williams joins the team after a stint at The Aspen Times, where she reported on Snowmass Village, education, mental health, food, the ski industry, arts and culture and other general assignment stories.