Mesa County Libraries
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970West Artist in Residence
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Collections from the various Artist-in-Residents at the 970West Studio of the work they created during their residency.
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Art on the Corner
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Art on the Corner (AOTC) is a year-round outdoor sculpture exhibit displayed in Downtown Grand Junction and is one of the first of its kind in the country. The display is free to the public and includes more than 100 sculptures in a variety of mediums and styles. Established in 1984 by local sculptor, Dave Davis, Art on the Corner has become a cultural icon in Downtown Grand Junction. The program has been recognized and mimicked in communities across the world. The collection consists of permanent sculptures and an annual temporary exhibit.
The Art on the Corner collection as featured in the the 970West Digital Archive features art pieces photographed from 2015 to 2017.
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Arts District
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This collection contains videos that Mesa County Library produced for RMPBS Arts District. Arts District, Rocky Mountain PBS' award-winning half-hour arts and culture series, features local and national artists in pursuit of their artistic passions.
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Audissey
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A podcast, no longer in production, created by and about Mesa County Libraries. Local events, library happenings and staff curated topics are discussed!
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Columbine Elementary School Tile Project
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Columbine Elementary School students and employees created the Columbine Elementary School Tile Project during the 1997-98 school year. In 1997, Grand Junction parents, artists and teachers were given the opportunity to learn tile making from artist and ceramicist Margo Bryan-Petersen at the Art Center of Western Colorado (Under the auspices of a Covisions grant, Bryan-Peterson had worked with Wingate Elementary School students to create a tile project in 1996). Bryan-Petersen offered to teach educators who were willing to pass the tile-making skill onto at least thirty other people. Fourth grade Columbine teachers Kim (Renzi) Hamilton and Keesha Davis alerted instructional assistant Karen Severson to this opportunity, and she took the course.
Participants were instructed how to roll out a clay slab, cut tiles, decorate and fire them in an electric kiln, and shown how completed tiles could be sold for school funds, or displayed in order to build school community and pride. Severson taught tile-making skills to Columbine's 5th grade teachers Carol Gross and Karen Marty, and to their students. In turn, they taught other staff and students in the school, making it a whole school project.
The Columbine PTO provided the funds for the school to purchase the necessary equipment, including rolling pins and tile cutters. Under Severson’s leadership and with the help of 5th grade students acting as teachers, every student and employee in the entire school made a tile. This included 5th grade student Jordan Wagner who, although he helped Severson bring the tile making program to the school by teaching younger students, was at first reluctant to make a tile himself. On the last day of school, Wagner changed his mind, and quickly made a tile so that he could be represented along with his classmates.
For the most part, students made tiles of what interested them. The school’s fourth grade teachers had students create tiles inspired by Colorado History and Colorado History standards.
The tiles were fired in the kiln at East Middle School, which was across the street. When the East Middle School kiln broke, Wagner volunteered the assistance of his stepfather, Terry Shephard. Shephard, the Art Center’s ceramics expert, agreed to fire the remaining tiles at the Art Center, but was unable to deliver many of the tiles before the end of the school year. As a result, many fifth-grade students never saw their tiles.
Severson and Wagner set and grouted the tiles into frames over the summer. The tiles were grouped by grade. The frames were displayed inside Columbine Elementary School until its closure in 2007. They were then moved to the school district’s Hawthorne Building (the former Hawthorne School), where former Columbine faculty and students discovered them over the years. After Hawthorne’s closure in 2022, the tiles were moved to the Mesa County Libraries Central Branch. As of Spring 2023, they are now displayed in an East Entrance hallway.
According to Severson (who left Columbine the year after the Tile Project was completed and began as a certified teacher at Clifton Elementary School the following year), the tile project brought the whole Columbine Elementary School together and fostered a sense of community and pride. It is still talked about today among people who attended Columbine or worked there.
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Crossing the Divide
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Crossing the Divide: The Official Podcast counters a media culture fixated on urbanism as a voice for the Intermountain West, a region consisting of predominantly rural communities and defined by open space, sweeping vistas, big skies and natural wonder.
As your guide over the Divide, Gretchen Reist elevates Western voices of the past, present and future who are dedicated to overcoming the unique challenges of life in this boundless stretch of continental In-Between.
This project was part of a grassroots, multimedia collaboration between Roaring Judy Pictures; Rocky Mountain PBS; Mesa County Libraries; and The Daily Sentinel.
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Mesa County Art
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Mesa County Libraries 970West Digital Collection visually captures the unique aspects of life in western Colorado. The pieces presented in this fine are collection are curated, owned and displayed by Mesa County Libraries.
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Mesa County Flies
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Mesa County Libraries 970West Digital Collection visually captures the unique aspects of life in western Colorado. A favorite pastime of many outdoor enthusiasts, from the novice to the expert fisherman, fly fishing involves skill not only in the river, but also the detailed craftsmanship of flies thoughtfully, specifically constructed for particular fish, seasons, and conditions. This collection features the art of the fly, and features the work of seven anglers in Mesa County.
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Mesa County Oral History Project
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The Mesa County Oral History Project began as a joint project of the Museums of Western Colorado and Mesa County Libraries (MCL) in 1975. The Oral History Project collected tape-recorded interviews with pioneers of Mesa County and surrounding areas, and interviews with the children of pioneers. The Central Library housed the duplicate audio cassettes and provided patron access to the histories. The Museum stored the master tapes and kept files and transcripts related to the oral history collection. The Mesa County Historical Society also contributed significantly to the Oral History Project by collaborating with the library and museum to select interviewees, and by providing interviewers and other volunteers.
Mesa County Libraries no longer partner with the Museum in housing duplicate copies of tapes. But the library now works with the Museum to digitize interviews from the Mesa County Oral History Project and to provide online access to the interviews through Pika, the library catalog. The Museum continues to house the original audio cassettes, interview transcripts, and other source material for the project. The Library and the Museums of Western Colorado still record oral histories with residents who have important knowledge of the area’s history.
Please note that some interviews contain language that listeners or readers may consider offensive. Mesa County Libraries does not condone such language, but has included interviews in their entirety in the interest of preserving history.
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More Musings of a Barrio Sack Boy
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Audiobook of More Musings of a Barrio Sack Boy by Dr. L. Luis Lopez, read by the author. L. Luis Lopez's fourth collection of poems returns to the barrio in Albuquerque where the author grew up in the 1940's and 1950's. Each poem is a glimpse into the neighborhood characters who came and went from the small supermarket where he worked as a 'sack boy'. With great simplicity the poems move from remembered description into small but vital illuminations of the important things in life.
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Musings of a Barrio Sack Boy
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Audiobook of Musings of a Barrio Sack Boy by Dr. L. Luis Lopez, read by the author. A book of poetry written primarily in English but with some poems in Spanish and Spanglish. The poems describe people and situations in the author's neighborhood in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Often humorous.
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