Claudia Roulier had been a waitress, a post office worker and a veterinary technician before she became what she says she was really meant to be — an artist.
Roulier, 60, went to college to study art as a widow with two children, but when she graduated, she needed money and left art behind.
Now she is making her way back.
“It started when I knew I had more life behind me than I had in front of me, and I started thinking that I want the list of my ‘not-dones’ to be short, not long,” she said. “Then I had a big push to get back to art.”
So far, Roulier seems to be on the right track.
The Idledale resident was one of 243 artists selected from more than 2100 applicants to exhibit their work in the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, which was held Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the streets of the Cherry Creek shopping district.
More than 390,000 people came to see the works, an increase of 20,000 from last year, despite the torrential rains Friday afternoon, said Terry Adams, the festival’s director.
Using picture frames that a friend finds in Dumpsters, pages from old ledger books and photo transfers of bears, dogs and raccoons, Roulier creates what she calls “circus sideshow” depictions of animals wearing red-and-white-striped caps, sometimes holding pancakes or M&M’s with their red and white claws.
Roulier, never having exhibited her work in any festival, applied to the Cherry Creek Festival’s Emerging Artists Program.
The program is reserved for artists with minimal experience showing their work. Roulier and seven other artists were selected by the same five judges who pick the other 235 exhibitors.
“This is our way of introducing them to this business,” Adams said. “There are more artists leaving at the upper end of the age group than are coming in at the lower end, so this is our way of replenishing this generation.”
Blase Mathern Jr., 51, and Julie Madrid, 58, two of the other emerging artists, are also part of that “replenishment,” coming to art after their original careers had stalled.
Mathern, of Wellington, worked for a wood products company until it closed in 2001. He decided to switch to art because, he said, he “wanted something more challenging than making cabinets.”
He now crafts tables and doors from high-quality wood that sell for more than $7,500.
Madrid’s floor-covering business also closed in 2001, which prompted her to make a change.
“I decided, you know what, now’s the time to start,” she said.
The Centennial resident paints large landscapes that show the Southwestern desert and sky in brightly colored fluid lines.
All three artists said that with the festival’s help, they have shown that age is not a factor in art.
“Georgia O’Keeffe was painting until she was in her 90s,” Madrid said. “Based on that, I think I’ve got tons of time.”
Claire Trageser: 303-954-1638 or ctrageser@denverpost.com
