He works full time from his home studio in Colorado Springs. He is best known for his expressive portraiture and the ability to capture the beautiful nuance of human form and expression, but does not shy away at all from expertly tackling any subject matter. What he creates from that confidence and talent keeps him regularly commissioned on any number of projects across the country. His work hangs in high profile private, corporate, and institutional collections worldwide.
Steve completed his B.F.A. in Texas, under Charles Field, before studying further in Italy. He has also studied with Jeremy Lipking, whom he considers an inspiration. He owned a gallery and sold work in historic La Valleta and the Texas hill country before returning to the mountains and making his home in Colorado. His fan base continues to grow.
He has been voted a Reader’s Choice favorite in the artist category by The Independent, and in the Gazette’s “Best of” Artist category. He’s been interviewed by ABC and CBS, featured on Denver’s Mile High Living, Comcast’s Rocky Mountain Views, featured in Colorado Springs Style magazine.
Steve made his way into the Colorado history archives when he created the “Ashes to Art” project following the devastating 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire that wiped out his neighborhood, raising the funding for the permanent Waldo Canyon Fire memorial.
“Ashes to Art”
Mountain Shadows in Colorado Springs lost 347 homes and two residents in the Waldo Canyon Fire of June 2012, at that time, the most destructive fire in Colorado history.
The “Ashes to Art” project was created to ultimately show gratitude and help my neighborhood in Colorado Springs.The artwork incorporated charcoal and ash found in our yard and neighborhood, initially were for my own emotional therapy. Then, they became a way that I could use my skills to thank the firefighters and police officers and also to help my neighbors who lost everything.
Many pieces are made on reclaimed doors as a symbol of Mountain Shadows rebuilding and community strength.
Full profits from the auction sales of the series fully funded the Waldo Canyon Fire Memorial in Mountain Shadows Park.
Steve Weed’s “Ashes to Art” Project
The Ashes to Art Auction was a tremendous success and a wholehearted display of community support. Thank you, Colorado Springs, for the large turnout and competitive bids on the twenty-two pieces of artwork donated by Steve Weed from his striking Ashes to Art collection!
Winning bids for the twenty Waldo Canyon Fire pieces totaled over $37,000. 100% of these proceeds will be used for the Waldo Canyon Fire Memorial in Mountain Shadows Park to be unveiled in 2014.
Winning bids for the two Black Forest Fire pieces totaled almost $3,000. 100% of these proceeds will go to Black Forest Together for their restoration efforts already underway.
Steve Weed’s Mountain Shadows home was not destroyed in the Waldo Canyon Fire, but when he returned to the blackened, destroyed landscape, he was filled with a sense of despair for his neighborhood.
Using the ashes and artifacts that Steve found in Mountain Shadows, he began to create pieces of artwork in dedication to the fire. The creations were intended to help his neighbors who lost everything, and were an act of emotional therapy, as well as a demonstration of gratitude to first-responders. Above all, Steve sought to capture, in his own style, the vivid and diverse images from those terrible days at the end of June 2012.
Around Town: Steve Weed Turns The Ashes Of Waldo Canyon Fire Into Keepsake Art
Artist Steve Weed and his wife, Laurie, were part of the more than 32,000 evacuees forced to grab a few precious items and run from their home during the Waldo Canyon fire in June 2012.
Not knowing what, if anything, would be there when they returned, the Weeds saw loss all around them, although firefighters had been able to save their home and Steve’s art studio. The family had an entire roller coaster of emotions, he remembers, ranging “from shock and anger to grief, relief to gratitude, empathy to guilt.”
What was especially heart-wrenching was the charcoal and ashes covering their yard. It was, Steve knew as he gathered it, the perfect medium for his art. He mixed ashes and charcoal into the paint. He painted and painted and painted, working through his emotions and calling it “Weed Art Therapy 101.”
His project became “Ashes to Art,” a collection chronicling the fire and its destruction as well as the heroism of the first responders. The paintings, some done on reclaimed doors and symbolizing rebuilding and community strength, were to be auctioned for recovery efforts spearheaded by Bob Cutter and Colorado Springs Together.
Summer 2013 and the Weeds watched the smoke and flames of the Black Forest fire from their Mountain Shadows home. The art auction was called off.
Knowing about Steve’s project, Ted Robertson gave him ashes from the home he and his wife, Teresa, had just lost in Black Forest. Steve added two Black Forest paintings to “Ashes to Art.”
On Oct. 1, people from Mountain Shadows and Black Forest, first responders, builders and supporters gathered at Garden of the Gods Club for the art auction.
The tearful Weed family was able to share the stories behind each of the 22 works, memories so personal that Steve calls the art “my children,” and by evening’s end, $40,400 was raised for recovery efforts.
Margaret Sabin of Penrose-St. Francis Health Services bought one piece of art from each of the fires. The Waldo Canyon painting was for the emergency department room at Penrose Hospital where the paramedics and firefighters do their reports. The Black Forest fire painting went into the first responder room at St. Francis Medical Center.
Ron and Becky Hehr quietly bid on a piece called “June 26, 2012,” showing the Waldo Canyon fire coming over the mountain and destroying their home.
Henry Yankowski of the Regional Building Department chose a large “thank you” piece honoring first responders. Charlie Shea of C.R. Shea Homes was top bidder for a reclaimed door showing the American flag flying above black devastation. “It’s called ‘We Will Rebuild’ and they are,” he said.
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
American Artist Steve Weed Painting
View Steve Weed Paintings