The 53nd annual Otero Arts Festival is set for March 31 through April 2 at McDivitt Center on the Otero Junior College campus. The Otero Arts Festival is sponsored each year by Otero Junior College, Department of the Arts. For fifty-three years, it has been open to all students, grades seven through twelve. The Festival provides incentive and recognition in the expression of the arts in the Arkansas Valley and South-Eastern Colorado.
Meet the 2009 Otero Arts Festival Judges
The 53rd Annual Otero Arts Festival is honored to have two artists that are graduates of La Junta High School to be their jurors for this year (both pictured at left), Felix Lucero, who currently lives in New Mexico, and Brenda Daniher, from Higbee.
Felix Lucero, a 1971 graduate of La Junta High School, will return to La Junta to juror the 53rd Annual Otero Arts Festival. Lucero was a student of former La Junta High School teacher Bonna Hammond. Lucero has continued to be an artist throughout his adult life. Lucero lists as among his most outstanding artistic projects; the hand carved ancient Mexican design inspired benches that are at the Art Gallery in the National Hispanic Cultural Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Cristo Cruificaado, a santos, which is a religious icon, on display at the Albuquerque Museum. A museum spokesperson, hailed Lucero’s work saying, “Felix Lucero is the vanguard of contemporary Santeros.”
International bronze sculptor, Brenda Daniher has bronze sculptures in nine countries and artwork in many more. Daniher has over 30 life-size or larger bronze statues which includes a Heroic-size bronze that is a 14 ft. long x 10 ft. tall Pony Express Rider and Horse for the Ft. Sedgwick Museum in Julesburg, CO. Daniher’s life-size bronze statues include; Two Pronghorn Antelope in La Junta at the Municipal Building; Single Pronghorn Antelope in Mancos; Wolf at the Colorado State University campus in Pueblo, Three Sheep and a Border Collie Dog at the Courthouse in Meeker; Gyrfalcon at the Courthouse in Ordway and the La Junta Municipal Building; Girl and her Puppy at the libraries in Gunnison, and La Junta; several dog statues located in Pueblo, La Junta, Lamar, Gunnison, and Eads. Daniher’s statues have won many Best of Shows.
2009 Otero Arts Festival Gallery
Public Viewing March 31 through April 2, 2009
8:00 AM ~ 4:00 PM & 6:30 ~ 8:00 PM
McDivitt Center Gym
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