ArtShare Gallery show honors longtime CMC photography employee
Scot Gerdes is a familiar face to many students who have enrolled in Colorado Mountain College’s professional photography program. For the past 14 years, Gerdes has worked at the Spring Valley campus near Glenwood Springs as the photo lab technician and has many fond recollections of working with students.
“I especially like it when they walk in the door for the first time,” he said. “Everything is new. They aren’t afraid to experiment and do things that you wouldn’t normally do.”
Gerdes will be retiring this spring, and to honor his 17 years of service at the college, the ArtShare Gallery in Glenwood Springs will show some of his personal work, starting March 8.
The exhibit, titled “Crossroads,” features three different bodies of his work: images of Mt. Sopris, photo illustrations of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and photographs of Japan.
“It’s an intersection of three different places,” Gerdes said, “and it’s appropriate for this time in my life.”
‘Generalist’ photographer captures landscapes, architecture
Gerdes moved to the Roaring Fork Valley in 1993 to attend CMC’s photography program and ended up not leaving after graduating in 1995. He started working for the college when he was a student and eventually became the photo lab technician.
“My title is affectionately known as ‘photo daycare,’” he said. “It’s a little bit of everything.”
Between maintaining digital and analog cameras, printers and the darkroom and assisting in the photography courses and labs, Gerdes has continued to pursue his own work on the side.
He calls himself a “generalist” photographer; his pictures are of sweeping landscapes, architecture and historical buildings. The images in the exhibit have been collected from projects he’s worked on for most of his time in the valley.
“You get out of it what you put into it,” he said.
Locals will certainly recognize the subject of some his work: Mt. Sopris. For many years, he lived in Spring Valley and worked on a collection of images of the distinctive mountain. The panoramic photos will be shown at the exhibit as canvas gallery wraps.
Lifetime commitment through the lens
He is also including images of delicate swans and architecture from his travels to Japan, and photo illustrations of motorcyclists at the famous Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, S. D.
Gerdes isn’t sure what his next project will be, but one thing he’s certain of is his commitment to photography.
“To make a body of work takes a long time,” he said. “It doesn’t stop. It’s a lifetime commitment.”
The images will be on display from March 8 to April 29 at the CMC ArtShare Gallery at 802 Grand Ave. in Glenwood Springs. An opening reception is set for Friday, March 8, from 6 to 8 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.
The ArtShare Gallery is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 947-8367 or visit cmcartshare.com.