What’s hers is, well, mine.
Literally.
Inspired by a visit to Telluride’s decommissioned limestone mine known as Deep Creek, now a subterranean site for art, Beverly Crilly created a new body of work aptly titled “Making Meaning Mine.” Her paintings and drawings are on display at Telluride’s premiere gallery, Slate Gray, through October 20.
One of those works, “Evoke,” morphed into the poster for David Holbrooke’s Original Thinkers, October 3 – October 6.
“Beverly Crilly has been a friend for a long time, so it has been exciting to see her art just continue to elevate. I was particularly pleased that these latests works were inspired by our local art treasure, the Deep Creek Mine, so it seems just right that they are exhibited here in Telluride at the stellar Slate Gray Gallery,” said David.
“Making Meaning Mine” makes abundantly clear that what and who touched the walls of the mine, touched Beverly deeply:
“Often it feels I find my work in the world around me, the aged, chipped paint on a factory door, the lichen on a boulder, textured stones, shaped rocks, the play of shadows and light. That summer day, exiting the mine and seeing that treasure was an affirmation that the beauty exists and it is ours to see. In this show, I am holding onto and sharing the beauty and meaning found as I emerged into the sun from the impossibly dark, vast, softness of the mine. Acknowledging the beauty and meaning that is always there when we can attune to feel it.”
“Making Meaning Mine” highlights Beverly’s cold wax process on canvas, as well as some of her smaller images on paper. The work, these soulscapes, are largely outward expressions of inner emotions revealed in highly textured surfaces, the yang energy, and a restrained palette, the yin energy, ranging from darks to neon (a tribute to a display of lights that once enhanced the space).
Like one of her mentors, Slate Gray artist Rebecca Crowell, “Making Mean Mine” is a tip of the hat to Abstract Expressionism, an aesthetic that dominated the second decade of the 20th century, when the center of gravity of the art world shifted from Paris to New York (after World War II) and abstraction became the “ism” du jour and Holy Grail of modern art.
And, like her legendary antecedents, these powerful images reflect what Beverly felt, rather than simply what she saw, representing “a journey built in layers, full of contradictions, mistakes, clean slates, experiments, memories, scars, truths, pain, stories, ideas, and need.”
All meant to mine nuggets from the viewers’ imaginations.
Stand
Swath
Evoke
Span
Sector
Sweep
For more, check out Telluride Inside…and Out’s interview with the artist:
TIO: Your Slate Gray/Original Thinkers show is titled “Making Meaning Mine,” a pun on the fact your muse was a visit to Telluride’s decommissioned Deep Creek Mine back in 2020. Why the visit?
BC: David Holbrooke invited our family to explore Deep Creek Experimental — a place we’d long heard about but never seen. David’s a longtime friend and his recommendations hold a lot of sway. We were all surprised and amazed in different ways. Without a doubt, I took the most photos.
TIO: Please think back on your impressions of the hushed mine and how those emotions, those memories, morphed into your latest cold wax images?
B.C. The immediate, full body sensory shift — from warm, bright sunshine and crisp air to the dim, cool stillness of the interior — primed me, much like the way your eyes adjust to the dark. But just as I became settled in the vastness, the sounds of the Chromasonic installation could be heard; soon after, lights and color came into view. Together, the sound, light and color of the installation subtly exploded the quiet and bathed me in a new awareness, its juxtaposition sharpening my senses, challenging my expectations and activating my thinking.
After experiencing the possibilities of the mine, we emerged back into the sunshine where I saw, heard and felt the thousands of pieces of stone in high definition. I picked up countless rocks and imagined my paintings. The layers, organic shapes, translucency, texture and line — all key elements of my work reflected back.
Today, I love the way the paintings feel. They capture the properties of the stones I photographed, but are much more expansive. They sometimes feel enormous like images of the universe; they also sometimes feel incredibly small, like something viewed under a microscope.
TIO: Let’s pull back to your personal history and how that informed you as an artist. Did you grow up in a family of artists or are you an anomaly? You hold a degree in elementary education. At some point in your life did teaching come first, making art second?
BC: My sister Ally, a longtime local, is an artist and my mother has started painting regularly in the last few years. I had careers in both publishing and classroom teaching and only started making art after my kids were born.
TIO: Your primary home is Brooklyn, NY. So when and why a second home in Telluride?
BC: I lived in Telluride in the nineties and met my husband there. Our love of these mountains and this community has kept us coming back ever since — and as often as possible.
TIO: In what ways has Telluride informed your work?
BC: Telluride, and more specifically AhHaa, is where I took my first art classes as an adult. The accessibility and ease of working in an intimate setting with fantastic instructors encouraged me to get “brave” with my art-making.
TIO: Please talk about your creative process.
BC: Making art started primarily as an act of self- care. When my kids were little, finding space to allow for quiet and open-ended exploration was good for my brain/mental health.
Working in layers with cold wax was an incredible discovery. The process, for me, is one of meditation, motion and exploration. It is a playful and intuitive to start — there are so many layers in each painting that the foundation is ultimately largely obscured— leaving me free to experiment with large marks, discordant colors, shapes and writing. I work several paintings at a time (you need the paint to set up a bit between layers) and this also keeps my work loose and gestural. Only once the layers have built enough texture and contrast do I work more carefully and specifically, but always aiming to keep the ease of those initial layers.
TIO: Please talk briefly about your mentors: Rebecca Crowell, Robert Weatherford and Jerry McLaughlin. How and in what significant ways do you channel each of them in your art?
BC: Robert, my first teacher, was fantastic at pushing you past the pretty to the interesting. Rebecca, who introduced me to oil and cold wax, is great at liberating you from your own expectations. Jerry, my most recent instructor, is amazing at challenging your intention with each painting. I am grateful for each of them and use their teachings in every painting I create.
TIO: As stated above, you are the poster girl for this year’s Original Thinkers. How much direction did you receive from festival founder David Holbrooke?
BC: The poster features one of my paintings, “Evoke.” I’m thrilled that it announces Original Thinkers and I am so excited for folks to see the original 60”x48” painting at Slate Gray.
TIO: What do you hope your viewers will take away from “Make Meaning Mine?”
BC: I hope viewers take away a moment of quiet and a shift in thinking. I know what I seek to create in a painting and am fascinated by what people take away from them. The relationship between artist and viewer is a true partnership and a lesson in letting go and listening — for both parties.
Beverly Crilly, more:
Beverly Crilly works and lives in Brooklyn and Telluride with her husband and three children.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree from SUNY Binghamton and a Master’s degree in Elementary Education from City College.
Beverly thanks her numerous teachers including Rebecca Crowell and Robert Weatherford at the Ah Haa School for the Arts in Telluride.
She has also taken classes at SVA, Pratt Institute, and the New York Academy of Art.
Beverly’s solo shows include “Place” at Adler Gallery in Port Washington, NY; “Sediment” at the recently closed “On Main” in Telluride; and “Internal Landscapes” at Curtis Gallery in New Canaan CT.
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