Visualizing is a large part of art, but visualizing a future for the arts in Lakewood was a long process.
The image has been formed, but as the Lakewood Arts Council celebrates its 20th anniversary, members are not ready to call the work a finished product.
Kathy Berls and Barbara Tobiska, who have participated from the start, continue to devote hours volunteering for the organization.
“We’re always looking forward, and we’ve accomplished a lot in 20 years,” Berls said. “We don’t close our door to anything.”
The groundwork for the Lakewood Arts Council was laid nearly a decade before the council actually existed. Charles Stanton bequeathed two acres of land and $10,000 to Lakewood for a cultural center in 1979, but it was not until the early 1980s that an evaluation actually came into existence that would eventually lead to the formation of the Lakewood Cultural Arts Center.
By 1987, former Mayor Linda Shaw appointed Sherry Krasno from Lakewood’s Department of Community Resources and Tobiska to head a task force that researched options for the arts. Bylaws were put in place and the Lakewood Arts Council became Lakewood’s official cultural arts arm in 1988.
“Lakewood was a very young city, so it was important to mayors we put ourselves on the map for arts,” Tobiska said. “It was good if you had arts in the city and public buildings, so public art was becoming the popular thing.”
That led to a decade of close interaction with city staff to organize shows, develop places to showcase art, and incorporate partnerships with performance and visual arts.
There still was not a home for the projects, though, as performances would take place in the council chambers or lunchroom at the old City Hall.
The close partnership between the nonprofit and Lakewood led to an explosion of art around the city, with Lakewood expanding from having one public sculpture to more than 40 today.
Some of the pieces — of which the council is most proud — are four that found homes in Lakewood’s parks. Addenbrooke, Belmar, Morse and Union Square parks all benefited from sculptures that to this day visually mark the accomplishments of the group.
The city devoted space to the arts in 1998 with the completion of the Cultural Center and the formation of the Heritage, Culture and Arts Commission within the city.
With the changes, the arts council found a disquieting change of its own. The city said farewell to the council, and Berls and Tobiska found themselves without staff assistance and scrounging for funding and exhibition space.
“We looked at each other, and we were frightened,” Berls said. “By the time we split, we never thought about not continuing. It was just how we were going to do it, and how we were going to get funding.”
The council operates on a small yearly budget of about $45,000. Organizers plan events more than a year out, meaning the 2008 year-round celebration of the 20th anniversary began in 2006.
The group’s organization led to a yearly $20,000 grant from the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District and other funding for specific projects, totaling $262,000 in 20 years.
Rather than floundering without city support, though, the arts council began to flourish. It has become the arts council for Jefferson County, partnering with more than 40 arts organizations across the state, including the Mountainside Art Guild, Miners Alley Playhouse and the Lakewood Symphony.
Although it has become a regional bastion with 276 members, it keeps the name that came from the early years when there were about 50 members. Those members and others volunteer efforts that Berls has quit trying to count, keep the exhibitions and events going without stretching the budget.
Tobiska, who keeps a sense of humor about the organization, referred to Berls as the “energizer bunny” that keeps the organization and its volunteers invigorated. Both Tobiska and Berls are artists themselves, focusing on painting.
They teach classes, something else the organization offers for many different mediums.
Jim Chamberlain, a retired West Metro firefighter who stays close to the flames by creating Raku and pit-fire pottery, teaches some of those classes and is also a member of the council’s cooperative that allows artists to display and sell work without taking a commission.
“This is such an all-inclusive element of what artists are looking for,” he said. “It’s very difficult to be able to support yourself doing this. It’s good to have other artists who have appreciation for what you do.”
The council is open to artists and also those who simply support and appreciate the arts. By functioning out of its own leased facility at 85 S. Union Blvd., the council creates a space for selling, perusing and learning the arts.
Looking into the upcoming year, the group is also trying to incorporate digital art, poetry and storytelling, a book club and other medias.
“The arts council is not just serving artists, it’s serving the community at large,” Berls said. “I feel privileged to have this group. I don’t think anything exists anywhere else like this. It’s worth the time you put in.”
Celebrating 20 years
The Lakewood Arts Council will celebrate its 20th anniversary with 70 shows and exhibits this year. For more information, call 303-980-0625 or visit lakewoodartscouncil.org.