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The magic and lore of the Southwest, history, and a
desire to return to small town living moved Gary and Joanie Hessling to settle
in Trinidad. A love of old buildings resulted in the purchase of a church, and a
passion for the arts led to the opening of Leaping Lizard Gallery. “We never
thought when we moved here we would be opening an art gallery in an old church,”
quips Joanie. “Although Gary is a sculptor our intentions were to build Gary’s
studio first and then a house on our property in Longs Canyon.
As fate would have it, we discovered the former Presbyterian
Church on Commercial Street and fell in love with the building, so the house got
put on hold and we leaped feet first into the gallery.” |
Trinidad, although rich in history and smack dab between Denver
and Santa Fe with Taos a mere 100 miles away, is not known as an arts
destination, or at least not as that term might be understood or applied to
places like Santa Fe, Taos, New York, etc.; but with the overwhelming amount of
talent in the area and an influx of new people the gallery became a foregone
conclusion for Gary and Joanie. “Our goal,” says Gary, “is to have the
finest gallery in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico which will hopefully
attract other galleries and patrons of the arts, vaulting Trinidad into the
rarefied world of ‘arts destination’. Although we continue to fine tune our
presentation, we are proud of the caliber of the art we have in the gallery.
With work from the serious and studied to the sublime and scandalous, we are
fortunate in that we represent artists from around the country, not only
nationally known, but emerging as well; and we are always on the lookout for new
talent.”
The arts encompass many styles, mediums and forms. Joanie notes,
“Looking to the future we want to utilize this great space for more of the
performing arts... acoustic music, small plays and perhaps even a night of
comedy. Just imagine dueling cellos surrounded by the finest art in a
spectacular building reminiscent of an intimate theater. Delicious!”
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