Annie first fell in love with the Roaring Fork Valley while teaching Children’s Summer Workshops at the Anderson Ranch.  She made a permanent move to the valley in 2011 to work at the Aspen Art Museum, where she developed her practice as an art museum educator and manager, and a Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion asset.

In addition, Annie has contributed to the wellbeing of many art organizations and schools across Colorado, including the Telluride Academy, The Ah Haa School for the Arts, Alpine Elementary I.B. World School, and the Glenwood Springs Community Art Center.

With a passion for art education and bringing people together, she hopes to make the world a better place by providing opportunities for all to experience the power of art by tapping into their own creativity. In the words of the artist Keith Haring, “Art is for Everybody.”

In her free time, Annie loves to draw and paint, camp and hike, and go on gravel biking adventures with her partner Keith.

Holly Hoffman Gressett excitedly returns to the Art Base. She is a fifth-generation Roaring Fork Valley resident and has worked in arts administration for organizations such as Anderson Ranch Arts Center and Carbondale Arts, as well as several galleries, including the Michael Fatali gallery in Southern Utah.  Her degree is in Business Administration from Arizona State University.

Dana Higbie has spent her life surrounded by art, design, and beauty. A native of Michigan, and later Aspen, Dana received her design degree from Colorado Institute of Art an her BFA from California College of Art. For many years, Dana was a principal in the Denver-based Partners in Design, an award-winning graphic design studio. For 15 years after that, Dana lived and traveled with her family in Mexico and Central America, sourcing native artwork and artisan wares for her retail business, La Tiende (The Store), with locations in Mexico and Honduras. Dana currently resides in Basalt.

Mike De La Rosa (b. 1994, Caracas, Venezuela) is a painter and educator based in Glenwood Springs. He earned his BFA from Hunter College and his MFA from Kent State University and has shown work nationally, with features in The Wall Street Journal, PBS, and MSN. With over a decade of experience teaching, Mike is passionate about connecting artists with opportunities to grow and exhibit as well as building a creative community.

Charlotte is from Carbondale, Colorado. She has a BA in Political Science from Arizona State University and started working in administration in early 2025 as a Legal Administrative Assistant/Paralegal in Fort Collins, Colorado. In late 2025, Charlotte moved back home to the Roaring Fork Valley and is thrilled to work at the Art Base, as art has always been extremely important to her and played a crucial role in her life.

Alyssa has been an artist since she was very young & able to draw. Her high school art teacher, Mrs. Neilson, inspired & encouraged her to study art & photography at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, there she took the opportunity to study fine art at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany for a summer abroad. She obtained her BFA in Photography in 2009.

She worked at the Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center as Social Media Manager exploring & thriving with design, marketing, promoting arts educations programs, & cultural events. She has also worked in galleries, photography studios, and as an independent contractor from Boulder to Seattle.

Kathy, originally from El Salvador, has proudly called the Roaring Fork Valley home since 2008. With a profound passion for art and culture, she is committed to fostering connections among individuals from diverse backgrounds, abilities, and ages. She believes deeply in art’s transformative power to break barriers and strengthen community ties. 

Kathy brings a wealth of skills in community outreach, program development, and collaborative engagement, which she has honed through her current role as the Community Programs Manager at the Aspen Art Museum. Kathy creates inclusive opportunities for artistic expression and cultural engagement by working closely with various community groups to emphasize the importance of accessibility in the arts.

In addition to her professional work, Kathy enjoys painting, dancing, and exploring the outdoors.

Since she was a young child, Megan has loved the arts. When asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she always chose “artist.” However, over the years, her life has taken a winding path, exploring many other aspects of life. She has lived in many places, both domestic and abroad, and has worked for many types of organizations – non-profits, start-ups, and small businesses. This path eventually led her to earn her MBA in the Pacific Northwest.

When living abroad in Ecuador, she discovered textile art and worked with a mentor for weaving, felting, and natural dying, which rekindled her passion for the arts. She now feels passionate about creating opportunities for others to find their artistic outlet.

Megan has lived off and on in the Roaring Fork Valley for almost 25 years and now she and her husband and two sons permanently call Carbondale home.

Annie Bell is a visual artist and educator based in the Roaring Fork Valley. She works with locally salvaged materials to create mixed media collage, assemblage, bricolage, sculpture, and installation. Recent exhibitions include a solo exhibition “Simplicity” at the ArtBase, Basalt in 11/2025, “Inner Workings” (group invitational) at the Artbase 12/2025-1/2026. Annie exhibited at the Art Gym, Denver (7/2025), The Red Brick Center for the Arts (7/2025), Carbondale Arts Gallery (2/2025), and at the Colorado Mountain College Aspen Gallery (7/2025). She received an Aspen Art Museum Artist Fellowship in 2023-2024.

She currently teaches as adjunct faculty for Colorado Mountain College, with the Aspen Art Museum, through the Creative Space @ Cattle Creek, the ArtGym Denver, the Collective Snowmass, the Art Base Basalt and Anderson Ranch Art Center. Her programs and workshops focus on problem-solving through creative reuse and introduce students to artmaking with non-traditional, recycled materials.

Annie received her BFA in Photography/Film & Animation from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia. She earned certification as an Art Therapy Practitioner in 2025 and is currently earning her MBA through Colorado State University. Annie lives with her husband, Bruce, and two daughters, Frances and Katharine, in Spring Valley, Colorado.

As a self-taught portrait artist, Sophie is a “learn-by-doing” type of instructor, embracing autodidacticism (i.e., the process of self-teaching) over dry and sequential lesson plans. With additional experience in dioramic sculpture-making and a life-long interest in worldbuilding, Sophie seeks to foster compound creativity and self-expression in her students.

Worldbuilding involves creating detailed and immersive fictional universes, a passion Sophie has cultivated since childhood through imaginative play. She enjoys creating characters based on real-life people and blending reality with fantasy in her digital portraits. Sophie believes that each person, particularly children, has the capacity to generate entire worlds within their minds, complete with internal logical systems. In her opinion, this is a criminally overlooked superpower.

Curt Carpenter makes woodblock prints inspired by the dramatic landforms of the Roaring Fork Valley.

The prints start with ink drawings made in the field which are later transferred to the woodblock, then carved, and printed in my studio.

Carpenter has a BS in studio art (1973) and an MA in graphic design and printmaking (1978) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has been a graphic designer, printmaker, and taught printmaking in Aspen since 1979.

This spring he had prints at the 528.0 Regional Juried Printmaking Exhibition at the Arvada Center, Under Pressure 2024, a national juried exhibition at the Lincoln Center Art Gallery in Fort Collins, and Past, Present & Future and TAPAAM (Teaching Artist Program at the Aspen Art Museum) at the Aspen Chapel Gallery in Aspen. His prints can be found at Anderson Ranch Artworks Store and at curtcarpenter.net.

TANIA DIBBS is a technically skilled and accomplished artist whose work examines the intersection of the natural world, human activity, and culture through painting and sculpture.

In her paintings, Dibbs often uses screens, overlays, and layered surfaces that both reveal and interrupt the landscapes beneath them, reflecting the tension between the beauty of the natural environment and the systems and structures imposed upon it. While her work spans a range of styles and materials, it is unified by a consistent focus on exploration, process, and observation. Her sculptural works frequently pair symbols of wealth and cultural power with their opposites, addressing the shifting and often conflicted relationship between humanity and the planet.

Dibbs holds a degree in Biology and Fine Art from the University of Virginia. She has remained an active member of the Roaring Fork Valley art community while exhibiting widely across the United States in both solo and group exhibitions.

She has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a Visual Artist Fellowship from the Colorado Council on the Arts and an Aspen Foundation Grant from Anderson Ranch Arts Center. Dibbs has also participated in residencies at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont, and the Arctic Circle Residency aboard a tall ship in Svalbard.

Alissa Davies is an intuitive, process-oriented painter who creates abstract acrylic and mixed media paintings. She is known for her emotion-filled work that is playful and colorful, as well as deep-felt and honest. First and foremost, Davies’ art-making is a non-verbal expression of her internal landscape, and her paintings go through many layers and iterations before composition, color relationships, and movement considerations come into play to finish a piece.

Her work has been collected across North America, and she has been featured in group and solo shows in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, New York City, and Maine, her beloved home state. Most recently, Davies had solo exhibitions at the Dairy Art Center and the Jewish Community Center, both in Boulder, CO, and at Cynthia Winings Gallery in Blue Hill, Maine. She began 2026 by being represented by Jen Tough Gallery at the L.A. Art Show. Davies lives and works in Carbondale, CO and finds inspiration from the natural world, from watching children make art, and from the tenderness of being human.

I discovered silversmithing when I was 13 years old, I took a class at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, where I grew up. I was hooked. I took jewelry classes all through high school and college, where I majored both in science and art. I then went on to be an environmental geologist and a science teacher. I taught for 20 years.

I planned to go back to silversmithing when I retired, but ten years ago, a serious health issue changed my path. At that point, I knew I had to leave teaching and start the career I had wanted to do years before. I took a sabbatical and attended silversmithing classes at the community college, taking over my teenagers’ TV room and creating a studio. And my business has grown from there, along with my health. It has been an amazing journey. I love what I do and the journey I am on. My jewelry embraces the scientist and artist in me.

At first glance, the work of Megan George seems as if it may be a photograph. But upon closer inspection, the tiny marks made by an X-acto knife open to layers upon layers of complexity and depth. Megan’s pieces are extremely intricate and sophisticated, giving the pieces another level of wonder. She carefully calculates each layer that contributes ultimately to the form and texture that is seen from afar. Megan achieves this complexity with scratchboard; a medium common in primary schools but infrequently found in the fine art realm.  

 Megan grew up on a dairy farm in western New York. She was instructed under the tutelage of a local artist, Mary Wertz. Megan went to college for Veterinary Technology; a career in which has lent countless sources for reference for her work. She currently resides in Silt, Colorado.  

Megan has shown work in both the CALS National Juried Exhibition in Texas, the 36th Annual All-Colorado juried show in Littleton Colorado, and many local and regional exhibitions. She received People’s Choice Award in both the 2023 and 2026 Valley Visual Show in Carbondale CO, and the People’s Choice Award for 2023 and 2024 at the Redstone Art Festival. 

Nicole Nagel-Gogolak holds an MFA in fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA in painting from The University of Michigan. Her work combines traditional and non traditional textile techniques with mixed media materials. 

“My work is inspired by the ornate and colorful imagery found in Buddhist temples and Thangka Paintings. On a recent trip to Nepal and Tibet I had the opportunity to see first hand the collision of ancient art and architecture with the growing influence of contemporary western aesthetics and consumerism. This layering of sacred and commercial is very similar to ideas and imagery found in my work. In the temples and paintings of Nepal and Tibet, richly colored and ornately ordered designs are intended to be both inspirational and meditative. Buddhist artwork manages to arrange an abundance of visual imagery both sacred and mundane into a cohesive whole without feeling chaotic. By assembling seemingly useless material into something greater than itself, my hope is that presumed worthless debris will become an object of organized beauty and meaning.” 

Growing up in the lush Midwest, Tish began drawing and painting very young. Her subjects often drew her inside flowers and trees. Drawing and painting microcosms in her youth was complemented with her study of Agriculture at Purdue University. After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree, Tish expanded her studies and achieved a Master of Art Degree. 

Throughout her career, Tish has enjoyed teaching. She has taught in the public schools, local colleges and at the university level. Always in pursuit of aesthetic moments, Tish’s horizons have expanded to the macro while living in and exploring the heart of the Colorado Rockies. 

Gabriela Mejia is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and creative guide whose work bridges culture, community, and self-expression. Born in Honduras and raised in a vibrant multicultural environment, her artistic journey began at an early age and has evolved into a lifelong devotion to the arts. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the American Academy of Art in Chicago and has since dedicated herself to both creating and teaching across diverse communities.

With over six years of impact in the Roaring Fork Valley, Gabriela has collaborated with organizations such as Carbondale Arts, Voices, and the Roaring Fork Audubon Society, creating murals and leading youth-centered programs. She is passionate about empowering young people through art, having taught mural camps, bilingual creative classes, and mentorship programs that blend storytelling, identity, and artistic skill-building.

In addition to visual arts, Gabriela is a musician, Polynesian dancer, and facilitator of creative and healing experiences. Through her business, GEMART, she offers bilingual education, creative coaching, and immersive workshops that integrate art, movement, and sound. Her work is rooted in the belief that creativity is a powerful tool for connection, healing, and personal transformation.

As a forty-year resident of the Roaring Fork Valley in North Central Colorado, I am a representational artist painting in an impressionist style, specializing in the landscapes of Colorado and the Southwest in pastel and oil.

It is more important than ever to bring beauty and kindness and humor. The thrill of wet on wet watercolor never leaves me, especially when I tune into how magical (is there a better less overused word?) the process is when you trust and surrender. Holding the space for people to discover that for 25 years.

Pam Porter is an artist, teacher, and certified professional life coach based in Carbondale, Colorado. She grew up in Carbondale and Santa Fe, and her deep connection to both places continues to influence her creative life and teaching. Pam has taught locally and in Boulder and Santa Fe, sharing her love of art with a wide range of students.

For many years, Pam worked with children, an experience that deeply shaped her approach to creativity. Through them, she learned the true value of play, curiosity, and making art without fear or judgment—principles that are at the heart of everything she teaches today. She genuinely loves teaching and creating spaces where people feel free to explore.

Pam is known for her playful and intuitive approach to art-making, especially through processes like intuitive printmaking, collage, and watercolor. Her workshops emphasize curiosity, experimentation, and trusting your instincts, inviting students to let go of perfection and enjoy the creative process.

Through her classes, Pam creates a warm, welcoming environment where art becomes a pathway to self-expression, insight, and joy.

Becky Stirling is an artist born in the Roaring Fork Valley, now teaching adult watercolor and myriad children’s classes at The Art Base. She has traveled extensively and is greatly influenced by other cultures and their artistic mediums, styles and cultures, but also by a number of women in this incredible valley. Her first artistic job was with one of her mentors, Mary Matchael, who began the Crystal Glass Studio in Carbondale. Her works are very much inspired by the idea of stained and fused glass, which is reflected in the collage presentations. Barbara Groh, a prolific artist in Aspen since the 1970’s, inspired the use of pencils, pastel and charcoal, along with handmade paper. Her travels in Indonesia and Japan inspired the use of natural silk and indigo dye within compositions. In Hawaii, she worked extensively with pant dyes. Her works intend to show a perspective that we may not otherwise know about.

Jennifer brings a background in theatrical set design to a wide-ranging studio practice. Trained in watercolor, she has since found great joy in fiber arts. Most recently, she is rediscovering her love of quilting and embroidery. Over the years at the Art Base, Jennifer has taught everything from knitting, crochet, weaving, and punch-needle to Introduction to WordPress. 
 
The Roaring Fork Valley offers endless inspiration for this scattered maker. She is drawn to creating objects that bring bright color, comfort, and softness into everyday life. 
 
Jennifer received her BFA in Stage Design from the University of Illinois, where she also met her husband Jeremy. The two moved to the Roaring Fork Valley the day after their wedding in 1999 and never left. After working at Anderson Ranch Arts Center for many years, they launched  their own creative business in photography (that’s Jeremy!) and web design. Their daughter Tilly was born at AVH, grew up here, and recently graduated from MIT. 

Marcia Weese grew up in downtown Chicago and spent her childhood roller skating between the dense urban landscape and the natural world of crows, lightning bugs, oak trees, and prairie grass. Her deepest inspiration springs from the natural world.

Trained as a sculptor and versed in site-specific project, Weese is attracted to the ephemeral quality of works on paper—in particular, MONOTYPES.

Her approach to the monotype reflects her background. She builds layers of color with printing ink and ‘carves’ into the color field by wiping away pigments to reveal the forms. The prints glow from within.

Her work can be found in private and public collections throughout the US and in Germany, Tokyo, and Moscow. She currently lives in Carbondale.

Kathy grew up being exposed to art in its many forms and mediums. Her mother and grandmother were artists who believed in the importance of an education in the arts, regardless of the direction life might take you. She has continued her artistic life journey as a visual artist as well as an art teacher, collector, curator, and observer. The Wyly Art Center/Art Base has had her support since its inception, where she continues to be a fervent advocate for art education.

Steve Newton is a Managing Director with Russell Reynolds Associates, the global leadership advisory firm, where he leads their Education Practice. He is also a senior member of their Board and CEO Practice and has spent nearly 40 years with the firm, based in New York, Paris and since 1995, Houston. He led the office for Russell Reynolds for 15 years and has held several other leadership roles within the firm.

Steve has served on numerous non-profit boards including the Houston Zoo, the Houston Parks Board and is President-Elect of the Houston Arboretum. He is also a board member of the National Association of Corporate Directors and the French-American Chamber of Commerce.

Steve and his wife Betty split their time between Houston and Snowmass Village. Betty is a fashion designer by background and owns “a bientot” in Houston. They are parents to daughters Elizabeth in Nashville and Camille in NYC.

Art runs deep on both sides of their families, and they both enjoy collecting art.

During much of Kathy’s 40+ year banking career, she led the Healthcare and Not for Profit Group at JPMorganChase and its predecessor banks. Kathy has held volunteer leadership positions with multiple Arts and other not-for-profit organizations, primarily in Houston, Texas. She has been actively involved with The Alley Theatre, University of Texas Health Science Center, Retina Research Foundation, United Way, and Museum of Fine Arts Houston, among others. An avid theatre lover, she has recently joined the National Council at Theatre Aspen and enjoys attending concerts and events at the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Kathy and her husband John, a Real Estate and Banking lawyer, have been part-time residents in Snowmass Village since 1986. Now that they are both retired, they enjoy having more time to travel, ski, and play golf. Spending more time in the Roaring Fork Valley, they want to get more involved with organizations like the Art Base, especially its focus on childhood arts education. They have two grown daughters who still live in Texas but love the Roaring Fork Valley as much as they do.

A Roaring Fork Valley resident since 2001, Chris Dolan has worked in the trades for most of his life and has woven that skill set into a wide range of artistic pursuits, including woodworking, metalwork, textiles, and painting—each serving as a form of creative expression.

Along with his family, Chris was deeply involved with Aspen Community School beginning in the late 1990s and experienced firsthand the joy and impact of the Wyly Art Center at the ACS campus. Deb Jones has been both a friend and an inspiration, and Chris is excited to help carry forward her vision and passion for ensuring access to the arts for all ages and abilities at the Art Base.

He joined the Art Base Board of Trustees in 2024 and has been energized by the organization’s current leadership and staff, with a strong desire to expand its reach and engage a broader community of participants.

A volunteer since his teenage years, Chris believes deeply in contributing to the well-being of one’s community—whether through time, financial support, or simply showing up in solidarity.

Born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Gail Folwell came to the United States to pursue a BFA in art and design at the University of Denver.  A celebrated early career in graphic design and illustration fueled a desire to capture the human spirit in sculpture. Her agility as an artist facilitates a thoughtful interplay of abstraction, figuration and design that ultimately embodies a visceral expression of human experience. The adrenaline and camaraderie of sports that inspired her design career segued into a cubist handling of the figure and a vibrant sculpture practice commencing in 1995.

Gail’s public and private commissioning patrons include the Denver Art Museum, University of Notre Dame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Vail Resorts, public art programs, universities, and private collectors. When not at her studio in Basalt, Colorado, she can be found skiing, mountain biking or hiking.

Barbara Glass has called the Roaring Fork Valley home for 25 years. An accomplished interior designer with a passion for art, design, and all things creative, she earned her degree from Texas Christian University before launching her career at Wilson & Associates in Dallas. In 2002, she moved to Aspen to help establish Poss Interior Design, a division of Poss Architecture and Planning. Four years later, she co-founded the design firm Caroline-Edwards, Inc., and in 2016, she launched her own firm, Barbara Glass, Inc., specializing in high-end, thoughtfully curated interiors.

Her contributions to the industry were recognized in 2018 when she received The Circle of Excellence Award from Colorado Homes & Lifestyles Magazine, honoring her as one of Colorado’s design leaders.

Barbara has been a dedicated board member of The Art Base since 2020. She lives in Carbondale with her partner, Rich Vossler, and their two beloved dogs, Nash and Lando.

Bill Henderson and his wife, Kathryn, reside in Snowmass Village and Florida.

Most recently, Bill was a managing partner at Russell Reynolds Associates, a New York-based executive search firm with 46 offices in 23 countries. He spent twenty years at the firm, where he led its six-person industrial sector for five years.

Prior to joining Russell Reynolds Associates, Bill was an executive officer with Hanson PLC one of Britain’s largest industrial companies. During his 14-year career at Hanson, he held several positions, including President of Durkee Famous Foods and Smith Corona Corporation. He also served as Group Vice President with responsibility for a number of Hanson Industries’ businesses, including Jacuzzi, Ames Tools, kaiser Cement and Weber Aircraft.

Bill holds a B.A. degree from Denison University (where he was a fine arts major) and an M.B.A. degree from The Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business, University of Virginia. He served as Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy – two years as a navigator onboard ship in the South China Sea and two years as an Admirals Aide in Boston.

His interest in The Art Base is the Organization’s focus on children’s art education.

A presence in Aspen real estate for more than 36 years, Krista Klees is the leader of Palladium Group and Market President of the Roaring Fork Valley for Slifer Smith & Frampton. Krista has called Aspen home for as long as she’s been in real estate.

Krista leverages her deep understanding of the community, local relationships, and an extensive network empowered by Forbes Global Properties and Slifer brokers throughout Colorado to garner widespread exposure to her listings and attract discerning buyers. Specializing in white glove representation for Aspen’s most high-profile homes, Krista is experienced in anticipating her clients’ need for privacy, discretion, and selectivity. Her approach prioritizes personal, customized attention to each client and property.

Named Realtor of the Year in 2020 by the Aspen Board of Realtors, Krista is both a former president and board member of the Aspen Board of Realtors. Her experience is unrivaled, but her character is what truly sets her apart. Krista has played an integral role in shaping the careers of brokers in the Roaring Fork region, guiding them towards success that can only be sustained through consistent transparency, kindness, and giving back whenever possible.

Sarah is an art lover, creator, mother, and volunteer. She is a former parks and recreation & trails professional.

Sarah is committed to serving the Art Base and all it has to offer as a centerpiece to our creative community.

Alix is the CFO of Knight Group Investments, a family office in the Roaring Fork Valley. Prior to this, she held leadership roles in both family office management and global financial services. She earned her BA in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara and later her MBA from INSEAD.

Alix and her family have lived in downtown Basalt for a number of years, where they enjoy spending time outdoors and engaging with the vibrant arts community. She is honored to support the Art Base’s mission of fostering creativity expression and hopes she can learn to embrace her creative side.