WALSENBURG- With the September 5th opening of its new Diorbhail Cameron exhibit and Ms. Cameron’s personal appearance scheduled later this month, Walsenburg’s new Museum of Friends (MOF) is expanding the scope of the 2008 Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival.
As in years past, the Festival, to be held September 25-28, will be presenting a wide variety of Celtic musical events. This year, the MOF has elected to broaden the celebration of Celtic culture by presenting “Celtic Reflections (Smaoin NaGaidheil Na H-Albann The Light Boxes of Diorbhail Cameron,” an exhibition of a Celtic Mystic Artist.
The museum will also host an art performance by Cameron and her daughter Mairi Cameron Gearey at the Museum on Sept. 27 at 5 pm. According to Maria Berger, co-founder of the MOF, this performance will combine the Celtic past of Cameron and Geary with the philosophy of Cameron’s life’s work as an artist using sound, light, ritual and movement to engage all of the audience’s senses while offering a complete experience. Currently, the MOF has five pieces of Cameron’s unique light boxes on display.
One of the pieces, titled “Searching” combines images of the land surrounding the Western Highlands of Scotland with a self-portrait of the artist in profile. In another work, titled “Crone” Ms. Cameron projects herself into the future, as an old woman with no care for cosmetic beauty but with inner strength.
According to Berger, the exhibit shows what the MOF hopes to achieve. “Dorothy Cameron has been a friend of mine for more than 25 years and has had an influence on my work as an artist working within community. We have also collaborated on several projects. She is an internationally recognized artist who has devoted her life’s work to encouraging self- development and growth through the arts. We brought her art to Walsenburg at the time of the Festival to show how a renowned artist celebrates her Celtic past.”
When describing the Sept. 27 event, Brendt Berger, president and co- founder of MOF said “Cameron will provide an experience for our visitors that will be MOF’s first contemporary performance art piece.
The MOF, located at 109 East 6th in Walsenburg was opened by the Bergers in 2007 as a home for their 500 piece collection of contemporary art and to introduce Southeastern Colorado to the enjoyment and educational value of art.
