Exhibits
Through September, the American Mountaineering Museum will exhibit five breathtaking mountaintop paintings by Wyoming artist Joe Arnold. Spanning over 6 feet wide, these large-scale pastel and oil panoramas portray the grandeur of each scene, several of which were inspired by Wyoming’s Teton Range. Arnold’s “Upper Saddle View, the Grand Teton” (pictured below) and “Above Middle Teton Glacier” paintings, both measuring 4.5 feet by 6 feet, will frame the Museum’s mezzanine entrance.
As an avid rock and mountain climber, Arnold has used his passion for heights to capture some of the most unique and dramatic landscapes. His many high altitude paintings have earned him a reputation as the "plein air artist of thin air." Arnold uses pastel studies and photographs from his trips as a reference for the larger oils, which are completed in his studio.
The artwork will be on display six days a week during regular Museum hours. Admission is $5 for adults, $1 for children under 12 and $3 for all American Alpine Club and Colorado Mountain Club members.
PAST EXHIBITS
COLORADO'S FORESTS IN FOCUS
The Colorado’s Forests in Focus exhibit features photographs of Colorado’s threatened Roadless Areas in our National Forests.
Colorado is home to seven National Forests and contains some of the best truly unspoiled roadless lands in the country. They offer a diversity of critical habitats to wildlife. They protect the headwaters that provide clean drinking water throughout the state and beyond. And they offer opportunities for unsurpassed outdoor recreation.
Colorado's roadless areas are treasured by hikers, mountain bikers, hunters, anglers, climbers and other outdoor enthusiasts. Colorado's tourism and recreation-based economies, its residents' quality of life, and a range of outstanding backcountry opportunities rely on the preservation of roadless areas in our National Forests.
Colorado has approximately 11.3 million acres of national forests, roughly 4.4 million acres of which are Inventoried Roadless Areas as identified by the U.S. Forest Service. These undeveloped forestlands serve as prime watersheds, important fish and wildlife habitat and havens for outdoor recreation.
Because of their value, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule was issued in 2001 to protect the nation’s national forest roadless areas. Millions of Americans have expressed their support for this popular conservation policy, including President Barack Obama.
The state of Colorado has also proposed its own plan, currently being considered by the U.S. Forest Service. If adopted as proposed, the Colorado rule would manage these lands to a different standard, with fewer protections, than roadless national forests in other states, and open up some of Colorado’s best backcountry to road-building for coal mining, oil and gas drilling, and other industrial development.
With more than one-half of America’s national forests already open to industrial interests, the 2001 Rule was intended to preserve the last third of undeveloped forest lands as a home for wildlife, a haven for recreation, and a heritage for future generations.
The Forest Service is expected to release a draft evaluation of Colorado’s proposed rule early this year, and will hold a public comment period to gather input on how best to manage these important public lands. The Colorado Forests in Focus photography exhibit illustrates the critical assets that national forest roadless areas provide, and gives citizens an opportunity to voice their support for protecting these areas.
JESSE CROCK | THE COLORADO EXPERIENCE: An exhibit of vibrant and bold acrylic paintings that encompass the outdoor lifestyle.
Jesse is a Colorado based artist with a love for climbing and the outdoors. His acrylic paintings encompass the lifestyles of the outdoor community with the use of strong, vibrant colors and bold lines. Jesse is an art teacher and finds that he often connects his work with the playfulness of his students and is inspired by the energy they bring to the classroom.
As an outdoor enthusiast, he loves to bring the viewer's eye to places that are not often painted. He attempts to abstract the subject and background so that they become interwoven together and reflect the bond the subject and environment share.
His work has been commissioned for the Ouray Ice Climbing Festival and for the Moonlight Classic Bike Festival in Denver. You can also find his art featured in Rock and Ice Magazine for the Festival, Mountain Flyer Magazine, and Climbing Magazine for their 2009 Gear Guide. (www.jessecrockart.com)
ALPINE STYLES is an exhibition showcasing art that is about climbing, mountaineering and the mountain world. Works include illustrations that have appeared in climbing magazines and publications, and personal work being shown for the first time in public.
Alpine Styles Website
Opening night is November 18th, 6PM, at the American Mountaineering Museum in Golden, CO.
Sponsored by First Ascent
From the Archives
June 2010 - August 2010
Please come in and check out some unique art, photos and items from the AAC archive now on display.
THIN AIR: An Exhibit on Altitude and Oxygen
November 2009 – May 2010
MOUNTAINEERING takes grit. It takes tenacity. It takes energy.
And, it also takes another fuel - OXYGEN.
For centuries, mountaineers have been climbing higher. Beyond the physical endurance that it takes to reach these heights, there is the constant battle against altitude.
Whenever you go higher, you lose more and more of that crucial fuel: oxygen. The relationship between altitude, oxygen, energy, endurance and the climber can mean the difference between success and failure...or life and death!
What is THIN AIR? What happens to our bodies as we go up in elevation? What are scientists learning about the effects of altitude on our bodies and minds, and on those who call the high peaks their home?
When did mountaineers first use oxygen to climb mountains? How have they progressed? Is the use of oxygen considered a climbing aid, a performance-enhancing drug?
The answers are at the American Mountaineering Museum in THIN AIR: An exhibit on Altitude and Oxygen.
Museum Mezzanine, Experiment Stands and hanging Gamow Bag
Come explore oxygen systems, watch NOVA's Everest: The Death Zone, hear high-altitude mountaineers discuss the use of oxygen on the mountain, learn what the Altitude Research Center is finding, explore our timeline of oxygen use in mountaineering, and discover how your body reacts to altitude! See the high-altitude mountaineer discussion intro video below!
Thank you to our exhibit sponsors and supporters: SUUNTO, Alpha Graphics Golden, Echoserve, Altitude Research Center, Eric and Erin Simonson, American Alpine Club, Colorado Mountain Club, First Ascent, Golden Civic Foundation, and SCFD.
Bradford Washburn Photographs : From the Favorites
June 8th – October 26th, 2009
Second round of prints scheduled to be open August 18th.
A selection of Bradford Washburn's photographic prints from his collection of personal favorites will open at the American Mountaineering Museum on June 8th. The show is scheduled to run through October 26th, 2009.
Denali North Face - (c) Bradford Washburn, courtesy Panopticon gallery, Boston, MA
There will be two rounds of 18-20 prints hung in the museum. The first round (June to mid-August) will be a selection of Denali and Alaska-focused prints selected by Gene, Ken and Laura Karstens, the family of Harry Karstens, the namesake of Karstens' Ridge from the first ascent of the South Summit of Denali in 1913.
The second round will run mid-August through October 26th and will include 18-20 additional selected prints from this incredible collection.
The collection is on permanent loan to the American Alpine Club from Cody Smith. Click here to learn more about the American Alpine Club Library.
Bradford Washburn was not only known for his alpine ascents, but for his incredible mountain photography and pioneering aerial photography. To read more about Bradford Washburn click here.
On High: Cartography of Topography
January 23 – May 31, 2009
A remarkable exhibition of rare maps devoted to mountains and mountain regions of the world will open at the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum on January 23, 2009. The show is scheduled to run through May 31, 2009.
The exhibition will explore the ways in which topography has been viewed and mapped throughout history.
Though not a comprehensive history of mountain cartography, On High offers a fascinating glimpse at the ways in which cartographers from different periods and places have chosen to depict places of terrain.
This exhibition will include some of the more important maps in the history of world cartography, as well as
maps from the exploration of the western United States. Highlights of the exhibit include a map from the
Lewis and Clark Expedition, world maps from the 15th-18th centuries, Zebulon Pike’s map of the
exploration of the Southwest, and many more. The exhibition will draw from the collection of Wesley A.
Brown, a prominent map collector from Denver, and from the Henry S. Hall, Jr. American Alpine Club
Library and Colorado Mountain Club Collection.
The historic map is that unique artifact that combines art, culture, history, science, and style, and so attracts
people on a multitude of levels. Some will gaze at a map for the sake of possibility: how do I get from here to
there, and where will I pass through? Indeed, it is a passion for exploration—whether in the field or in the
mind—that attracts so many people to maps. This exhibit will both educate visitors to the complexities and
intricacies of cartography, and inspire us all to explore the mountains out our doors.
Mountain Gifts
June 10, 2008 – December 27, 2008
The items on display in this exhibit represent just some of the items in the deep and diverse collections of the American Alpine Club and Colorado Mountain Club, the two organizations responsible for the creation of the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum.
Items include climbing equipment from the early 1900s, Sherpa cultural garments, as well as an array of lithographs, engravings, and wood block prints from the Alps and Japan.
Though mountains were once considered the home of dragons, a realm to which few would dare travel, for hundreds of years since they have served to inspire—our words, our thoughts, and our creations. And so countless pieces of art have been created with mountain as subject.
Little explanation is needed as to why mountains are so often depicted in etchings, paintings, photographs, lithographs, woodblock prints, pen-and-inks. Ample evidence of their profound effect on man’s imagination can be found in each of the works of art on display.