Page 38 - AreaNewsletters "Jan'20" issue
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is in our community arts and culture. If you want to make the world a better place, start with your own local community and expand from there. Castle Rock has been our home as a family for 14 years, and as a company for 10 years. There is no better place to live, and that is evidenced by our vibrant community culture and involvement.”
In thriving downtown communities all over the world, art and culture is typically found. Studies have shown that people enjoy being in places that are interesting and engaging, and art brings that to a place. With the recent creation of the Castle Rock Art Cooperative, there is a growing excitement from the Castle Rock art community, and the downtown businesses, art community, and studies have shown that people like to hang out in places that are interesting and engaging and public art strengthens that. People are more likely to walk further when their walk is interesting. For these and many other reasons, the Castle Rock DDA encourages public and private art installations in Downtown. With the recent creation of the Castle Rock Art Cooperative, there is a growing excitement from the Castle Rock art community. Click here to see more about CRAC in this issue.
Even before this e ort got underway, the
owners of Castle Rock Bike and Ski,
Mark and K.C. Neel, commissioned an artist
to paint a fun/vibrant mural on the East
side of their building. The artist who was
commissioned to create the mural on the
side of their building is Christine Rose Curry.
She is a professional muralist and artist who
lives in Louviers, Colorado. She studied art
at Metropolitan State University, Denver.
To see more of her work, click > www.christinerosecurry.com/murals.
I interviewed K.C. Neel about this project and here are her thoughts about the importance of art in community such as Castle Rock:
“First, I think public art is an invaluable asset for communities. It creates a sense of comity (not to be confused with comedy, which art sometimes does as well) by bringing people together. You don’t have to like a piece of art to feel connected to it. Look at Blucifer, the blue mustang at DIA. A lot of people don’t like that piece of art but everyone in Colorado feels connected to it in one way or another. Public art also brings places alive. That is one of the reasons we wanted to do a mural on the east side of our building. We wanted to bring some joy, color and vibrance to our little overlooked corner of town. It makes us feel good when we come to work. It makes our customers feel good when they see it. Every time a high school student gets his/her graduation photos in front of it or couples have their engagement photos in front of our mural, we soar with pride and joy! We feel connected to them and they feel connected to us. People are coming downtown and they are  nding art. Some are searching it out. They are appreciating art and they are participating in it. This is good for the town and for the local businesses. We did not receive public funds or grants for our mural. However, we did receive permission from our landlords and the town. Both were very supportive. We hope that other businesses and property owners take on similar projects. We think it’s an opportunity to make Castle Rock fun, inviting and enticing. Public art and murals in particular are certainly not unique. Plenty of communities have extensive public art displays and murals (Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, Longmont, Denver and Pueblo).
January 2020 • Castle Rock “AreaNewsletters” 38
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