Through art and events, Aspenite Skye Weinglass aims to up downtown’s energy level.
Artist Spencer Hansen creates life-size creatures as pieces of art, so when gallery owner Skye Weinglass accompanied him to install one of the sculptures in a local art collector’s home, the fact that it was sandwiched between 12 Warhols wasn’t lost on either of them. Hansen’s show at Skye Gallery was his first fine-art exhibition—ever. “Aspen gives you that opportunity to bridge art worlds,” says Weinglass.
She’s done that, and much more. Since it opened in 2018, in addition to being a place for emerging artists to show works, Skye Gallery has become a community hub. The gallery hosts four to six events each month, from workshops to cocktail parties. During STS9’s three-night concert run in March, Weinglass collaborated with members of the band to hang four exclusive pieces they’d made (multitalented guys). One already sold and three are on hold.
“Growing up here, I’m fighting to keep local businesses in Aspen and provide a fun community space,” she says. She has a role model to follow, since her father, Lenny “Boogie” Weinglass, owned and operated Boogie’s retail and restaurant in a space across the street for almost 30 years.
The younger Weinglass wants to support up-and-coming artists—specifically women. Her entire staff is female, from gallery manager to art installer. “It’s great girl power,” she says. This summer exhibitions are exclusively women, featuring Gemma Danielle, This Is Beautiful Because You Are Beautiful, running July 20 to Sept. 1.
She started the first iteration of the gallery, a pop-up over a three-day weekend, in 2016, as a way to show her own work; she’s a painter and printmaker with a specialty in intaglio etching and woodglass. But after that stellar response, it’s morphed into Skye Gallery. Now, she doesn’t have time to focus on her own art-making, with her energy directed toward the success of the gallery, which will remain open at least through May 2020. (“Rich landlords are the biggest challenge we have in making business work here,” she says.)
“Aspen is thirsty for a place for people to hang out and foster creativity,” says the gallery owner. And, for now, she’s quenching some of that. 10am-8pm, 535 E. Cooper Ave.
Photography by: Olive & West Photography
