Art at FirstBank — in conversation with local artists
By Myki Jones - January 24, 2024
Local artists Mila Rossi and Kazumichi Nakahara’s artwork is on display and available for purchase at Carbondale’s FirstBank location, in collaboration with Carbondale Arts. This installation opened on Oct. 3, 2023, and will run until the last week of March 2024. Carbondale Arts began collaborating with FirstBank in the fall of 2019 to provide additional spaces for original art to be displayed. Since the program’s inception, nearly 20 artists have participated.
When discussing how artists are selected, Brian Colley, Carbondale Arts gallery manager, stated, “We have an open call for artists who want to learn more about showing their art at FirstBank. If an artist is interested, we send them information about recommended sizes to display, an artist agreement with general guidelines for preparing their work for installation, and images of what the space looks like inside the FirstBank building.”
Rossi and Nakahara reached out around the same time. After reviewing their works and seeing how well they played together, Colley suggested both artists collaborate.
“Since there are always two artists on display, we ask for a few sample images to pair up artists with similar styles,” he explained. “Since both artists are residents at SAW, we thought it would be a fun pairing to host them simultaneously. They have different styles, but both work fairly abstractly and playfully,” Colley continued.
All exhibiting artists receive 70% of the sales made on their art, with another portion benefitting Carbondale Arts. Colley said, “We understand FirstBank isn’t your typical space to view art, but, like our rotating art exhibition partnership with Bonfire Coffee, we love giving local artists a place to showcase their work.”
Rossi incorporates photography of textures in nature — specifically lichen and moss — laid upon canvas and layered with paint and other materials to capture their essence. She has a total of 10 pieces on display at FirstBank.
“It’s a cool collaboration for our community to have our art up,” Rossi stated. “I decided to include my bigger pieces [at FirstBank] because it is a big space. This was an incredible opportunity to have a bigger scale for my work.”
One of Rossi’s pieces on display is “Blue,” a collage made with subtle shades of gold, yellow and blue, colors found in the Ukrainian flag and paying homage to Rossi’s heritage. The piece was a way for her to work through the grief of losing her Ukrainian grandparents and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
“Sometimes through art — and I think this is true for many artists — creating is a language of expressing and processing,” Rossi explained. “This piece was a way for me to process all those heavy feelings through a visual language. It was pretty cathartic and very special.”
Kazumichi Nakahara carries his paintings to display in Carbondale’s FirstBank. Courtesy photo
Nakahara was born in Japan, raised in Seattle, Washington, and has lived in the Valley for about three years. When not painting, he works as a chef at Bosq restaurant in Aspen, which recently received a Michelin star. Nakahara also owns his clothing brand, KYODAI. He has three large canvases on display at the bank.
Nakahara uses acrylic and alcohol-based paints, does graphic illustration and also screen prints. Discussing his process and the inspiration behind his works, he stated, “During the off-season, I focus on my art, and during the [tourist] season, I focus on food art. Much of the plating we do at Bosq inspires me to paint what I do.”
He explained that he draws additional inspiration from street art, aka graffiti, and comics and manga, which played a significant role in his childhood. For the pieces at FirstBank, he was inspired by Ben-Day dots, an art style used for shadowing in comic books.
“Most of my pieces take me roughly three to four months to finish. I did a collage [for this installment] of Akira manga as a background, went over with the dots, and then played around to create these pieces. I just go with the flow when I am painting, and it turned out how it turned out,” Nakahara said.
For the latest artist opportunities via Carbondale Arts, visit www.carbondalecreativedistrict.com/artist-opportunities
To see more from the displaying artists, follow Kazumichi on Instagram @official_kazumichi and Mila on Instagram @artbymilarossi or visit her website at artbymilarossi.com
