SOUTHGLENN LIBRARY
ART COLLECTION
Arapahoe Libraries is proud to display artwork at each of its' locations. Learn about some of the artists on view now at Southglenn Library.
Southglenn Art Collection Carousel
Daryl Thetford
Sonia Noir
Sonia Noir
Nems
Daryl Thetford
Sonia Noir
Sonia Noir
Nems
LAUREN GOMBAS
READING IN THE MOUNTAINS
ARTIST BIO
I'm passionate about work that characterizes a place, a feeling or a connection to nature. My work often depicts an intersection between geographical elements and abstraction, surrealism, or historical or cultural influences. As I'm jumping in, I sort through research on the internet or at the library. Sketches help pour ideas from my head onto a tablet screen, canvas or paper. My work has been featured as public art, turned into kids' books and displayed on canvases.
ARTIST STATEMENT
For this piece, I wanted to connect Colorado animals and scenery with books to encourage visitors at the library to embark on their reading journey. In my surrealistic scene, books become tents and part of a hot air balloon, and animals engage with books as people do.
DOROTHY FAGAN
TOUCHING THE SKY
ARTIST BIO
Dorothy Fagan has been an expressionist painter for 50 years. She uses emotional colors to move creative energy in her viewers, setting the stage with her paintings for them to mix colors in the mind's eye. Fagan works in oils and fiber art. She earned her BFA in 1974 from East Carolina University, where she studied printmaking and painting. Her art is collected in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Touching the Sky is part of my “Earth Sky Water” series (2002-2013). For a decade, I painted en plein air on a strip of marsh between sky and water. Mixing my colors to match Mother Earth felt soothing. Over time I had become the colors of the light, painting in my studio the same light-filled expressions.
JAIME MOLINA
CAMINO BRILLANTE
ARTIST BIO
Jaime Molina is a multidisciplinary artist based in the Denver area. Molina has used a unique blend of folk art and his cultural heritage to create an entire world, which he calls “Cuttytown,” inhabited by the characters of in his artwork.
ARTIST STATEMENT
This piece is meant to serve as an illustration of discovery. There are all sorts of places where one can discover new ideas, places and things, but the library is by far one of the best. This meandering and colorful path of learning can be an unending source of joy and inspiration.
NEMS
DREAMY DIPTYCH
ARTIST BIO
Nems is a Denver artist who specializes in realistic nature-inspired paintings. Often her work incorporates layers of resin and paint to create depth and shadows within the piece. Recently, she has focused on building her mural portfolio by painting whatever walls and furniture she can get her hands on. (Her inner child is very happy about this.) Nems is originally from upstate New York and has lived in Denver since 2016. Creating and connecting with other artists are two of her favorite ways to spend time. She also enjoys reading fiction books, kickboxing with friends and absolutely spoiling her dog, Carmen.
ARTIST STATEMENT
One afternoon after a summer thunderstorm rolled through, I stepped into my backyard and looked up at the sky. It was a saturated blue with some stormy clouds leftover, the sun just starting to shine through. I love when the sky looks like this. I ran back inside to grab my camera and took the reference photo for this piece. I created this diptych after finishing up an extremely detailed landscape I painted of the same size. I realized I enjoyed painting at that scale but craved something that was fast and loose. That's the thing about clouds — they’re always moving, twisting and morphing freely across the sky. It takes a certain patience to capture the colors correctly, but the shapes themselves don't have to be exact.
SONIA NOIR
AQUA BLOOM II & WINGS OF LOVE SERIES
ARTIST BIO
Sonia Noir was born and raised in the city of Los Angeles. She honed her skills using graphic programs and painting in a college art class; she majored in graphic design. For a short time afterward, she worked with a company making manuals and developing digital art. This brought forth her passion for creating digital art and developed her skills as an illustrator. Drawing inspiration from nature, fashion, and architecture, Noir enjoys expressing thoughts and emotions through her work. She especially focuses on color combinations. Her preferred mediums are watercolor, acrylic, colored pencils and digital editing. In her free time, Noir enjoys playing the classical guitar and learning different languages. She relishes immersing herself in the artistic community of Los Angeles to find her next muse.
DARYL THETFORD
TRAIN AT NIGHT
ARTIST BIO
Daryl Thetford’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the United States, including the Ormond Memorial Art Museum & Gardens in Florida; the Art Museum of the University of Memphis, the Hunter Museum of American Art, and the Knoxville Museum of Art in Tennessee; the Alexandria Museum of Art in Louisiana; the Mobile Museum of Art in Alabama; the Coffman Art Gallery at the University of Minnesota; and the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Thetford's work has been described as graphic, modern, pop and contemporary, although what to call the process has been a larger source of debate; it has been called photo collage, digital art and digital mixed media. His process begins with selecting a single, original photographic image followed by digitally layering and combining dozens of additional original photographs. The resulting images range from culturally familiar pieces (bikes, cowboys, guitars, cityscapes) to more esoteric series based on man's inner struggle with modern society, or the human sense of isolation in the noise of the modern world. Thetford then creates a mixed-media piece, using the printed image to create one-of-a-kind paintings.
