ARTS & CULTURE

Cultural and heritage tourism is gaining in importance along the Highway 50 corridor and La Junta is at the forefront of providing a unique and quality experience for its visitors. La Junta is in the process of working with the Colorado Council of the Arts to provide a forum for artists to express themselves and highlight their work as we strive to reconnect the communities along Highway 50 to form a cooperative network that would not only benefit the residents of the communities but the visitors that travel to them.

La Junta supports its artistic community. From special art exhibits and showings, art galleries, community concerts in the Park, Picketwire Playhouse, and Ed Stafford Theater on the OJC Campus, plus a wonderful community theater program, La Junta has it all.

Visual Arts

Otero Fine Arts League

The Otero Fine Arts League, sponsors a National Art Show that showcases local artists. They hold this juried competition each May at the Otero Museum and it is open to all local artists.

Otero Arts Festival

The Otero Arts Festival is sponsored each year by Otero Junior College, Department of the Arts. This popular event is open to all students, grades seven through twelve. The Festival provides incentive and recognition in the expression of the arts in the Arkansas Valley and Southeastern Colorado. The Otero Arts Festival offers many students a venue for their first public exibition of their work.

The 2009 53rd Annual Otero Arts Festival was honored to have two artists that are graduates of La Junta High School to be their jurors for this year, Felix Lucero, who currently lives in New Mexico, and Brenda Daniher, from Higbee.

Local Artists

Felix Lucero, a 1971 graduate of La Junta High School, was a student of former La Junta High School teacher Bonna Hammond. Lucero has continued to be an artist throughout his adult life. Lucero lists as among his most outstanding artistic projects; the hand carved ancient Mexican design inspired benches that are at the Art Gallery in the National Hispanic Cultural Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Cristo Cruificaado, a santos, which is a religious icon, on display at the Albuquerque Museum. A museum spokesperson, hailed Lucero’s work saying, “Felix Lucero is the vanguard of contemporary Santeros.”

International bronze sculptor, Brenda Daniher has bronze sculptures in nine countries and artwork in many more. Daniher has over 30 life-size or larger bronze statues which includes a Heroic-size bronze that is a 14 ft. long x 10 ft. tall Pony Express Rider and Horse for the Ft. Sedgwick Museum in Julesburg, CO. Daniher’s life-size bronze statues include; Two Pronghorn Antelope in La Junta at the Municipal Building (pictured at the top of this page); Single Pronghorn Antelope in Mancos; Wolf at the Colorado State University campus in Pueblo, Three Sheep and a Border Collie Dog at the Courthouse in Meeker; Gyrfalcon at the Courthouse in Ordway and the La Junta Municipal Building; Girl and her Puppy at the libraries in Gunnison, and La Junta; several dog statues located in Pueblo, La Junta, Lamar, Gunnison, and Eads. Daniher’s statues have won many Best of Shows.

Koshare Indian Museum

Many visitors are astounded when they discover that for the past 75 years a group of kids have been collecting artwork created by noted artists from Taos, Sante Fe and the West. The link between the Koshare dancer program and the Museum began when the youth met noted artists during their tenure as Koshare dancers. They gained an appreciation of Native American and Southwestern art and soon began collecting and purchasing works of art for the Koshare collection.

Today the Koshare Indian Museum has one of the premier exhibits of Native American and Western Art in the nation - including the largest collection of Ernesto Zepeda paintings and the second largest collection of Joseph Imhof artwork.

Performing Arts

Picketwire Players

The Picketwire Players have been performing in the Picketwire Theater since 1968. It has become a La Junta community tradition to attend the Fall, Spring and Summer productions of these talented local performers. One of the most popular plays to be produced recently was “Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz” in Spring 2009. What made it extra special is that it was based on Baum's original classic and written and produced by local Picketwire player Chad Evett.

This Summer the Picketwire players will perform “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”. For a schedule of performances and ticket information visit the Picketwire Players web site or call (719) 384-8320.

Otero Players

The Otero Players is an independent project of the Otero Junior College Department of Arts. The Otero Players are a consortium of faculty members, students, college staff, and community volunteers who produce live theatrical events, stage plays, and mediated performances for a variety of venues. The primary mission of the Otero Players is to educate students and audiences through the performing arts, and to enhance the community's understanding of social issues and the human condition.

Los Angeles playwright Malcolm MacDonald visited La Junta to attend Otero Junior College’s fall production of his play "Coyote’s Christmas Carol" (see photo at left). The OJC Department of Arts, the Otero Players, and Carpa Otero presented Malcolm MacDonald’s unique production of the Dickens Christmas classic at the Ed Stafford Theatre in December 2008 as a Christmas gift to the community of La Junta.

The play which is set in Santa Fe, New Mexico, instead of 19th century England, portrays Scrooge as a Mexican American who made his fortune selling real estate. He has no intention of honoring Christmas until a heart attack lands him in the hospital's emergency room, where he encounters the great Native American animal spirit Coyote. Coyote is a character celebrated in hundreds of Native American stories and legends.

Original Productions

Otero Junior College offers students interested in theater arts a unique experience: to be able to write, direct, produce and perform their own original plays!

Students at OJC have the freedom and flexibility to experiment a bit. “This sort of student responsibility, if it occurs at all, is normally not available until the senior year at a four-year school. There is something magic about having a hand in creating, directing, and producing a play from conception to production. These students are making the most of that opportunity,” said Steve Simpson, Theater Director at OJC.

Children's Theater

La Junta Children's Theater is designed to give students a professional theatre experience. This means a professional, personal, and the creative perspective on the crafting of theatre. The La Junta Children's Theater program strives to create an environment where both the creative process and a professional performance experience are spotlighted. This can help promote development of imagination, independent and critical thinking, social growth and ability to work with others, improved communication skills, knowledge of self, and a fun introduction to theatre.

For More Information about La Junta Arts & Culture Contact:

Ron Davis
Director of Economic Development

office: (719) 384-6965
cell: (719) 469-1081
E-mail: La Junta Economic Development