Suprises in Florence, CO
The first stop on my trip was Florence, Colorado. It was a very pretty little community filled with many wonderful antique stores and art galleries.
Spirit Riders
My first stop in Florence was at 115 E Main Street. The store is called Spirit Rider owned by Barry Brierley. The Antique store/art gallery is chock full of very unique western wear, books, boots, antiques, art and custom jewelry. Barry was actually working on a painting in the studio portion of the store. Barry is a published author, artist and screen writer. Some of his painting has to do with the book covers and characters from his books. Most of his painting are of western themes and wildlife. Amazing stuff, truly worth a look if you get by there.
Thank you Barry for your time and unique look at the west.
The Main St. Gallery
The Main St. Gallery was my next stop. A large store with multiple sections of art from photography, painting from local artists, sculptures, and estate and hand crafted fine jewelry using diamonds and gem stones. Owners Vinny Woods and Jeff Oberly were crafting a marketing campaign when I went in. I had a great talk with them. I discovered that these men are not only talented themselves, but are instrumental in sharing art of many disciplines with the public. A great stop, thank you guys.
Ann’s Art Annex
Ann Sears is an award-winning jewelry designer. Her introduction to making jewelry began in high school when she was awarded a scholarship to an art camp. Upon taking jewelry, she became addicted and arrived home with the announcement that she would pursue that in college. She received her BFA degree in Jewelry and Silver-smithing from the University of Kansas. She has been designing and making jewelry for over forty years. She opened her own art gallery in Colorado fifteen years ago. Husband Bob has another part of the store dedicated to some really great Colorado Photography and another part for hand crafted instruments. I saw many dulcimers.
Touch of Grace Gallery
Touch of Grace, A Gallery of Antiques and Fine art owned by Jonny and Freita McGinnis is a huge building with two floors of superb antiques with walls covered in paintings of all kinds. I guess I had never looked at antiques as art, but the way the art enhanced the antiques or in some cases the other way around was truly worthy of inspection. Don’t miss this one if you are ever in Florence CO.
Raindrops Art Gallery
Wow this was a great little studio. Svetlana was painting a new painting when I went in. She has awesome artwork on her walls and some fine jewelry to boot. Svetlana knows how to stylize and simplify her subjects into whimsical, abstract acrylic paintings. A bonus for anyone stopping by Florence. Thank you Svetlana for taking the time to show me around.
The Mezzanine
The Mezzanine is a two-story treasure trove of antiques and art. Probably the largest store so far with everything and anything you could want. Owned by Morrie and Laurie Aves the store is loving filled with about anything you could want for your home. They have 14 artists and dealers who show and sell their artwork on the walls. Wonderful. Don’t miss this one.
Blue Spruce Gallery is a little cottage on main street that is like stepping back in time. They have fine arts and crafts, select antiques in a Victorian house next to the Rialto Theatre.
The house was wall to wall art and antiques. Unique and special sculptures, paintings galore from obviously very talented arts from around the area. It was so unique and eclectic I ended up spending a fair amount of my time there. A must see.
Thank you to all of the galleries for their wonderful hospitality! It was a wonderful experience!
