The New Sheridan Hotel: An Artist's Muse

Many use the phrase "blank canvas" metaphorically, but artist Roger Mason selects the New Sheridan Hotel year after year as his literal canvas and Telluride's Main Street as his personal atelier. Mason hails from New York's Hudson Valley and was trained at New York's Pratt Institute.  He found his way to Telluride through music.

In addition to painting, he is also a renowned bass player and played for Peter Rowan at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival back in 1979.  In the 1990s, he toured in a trio with world-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman playing to crowds at places like Wolf Trap and Tanglewood. Mason also played bass with The Band. Painting is very musical to him, and they both intertwine and fuel each other in an artistic way. 

As an an abstractionist in a realist's clothes, Mason uses the New Sheridan and other familiar Telluride vistas to capture light, color and form over and over again.  More than any other building in town, the New Sheridan Hotel is the embodiment of Telluride's charm and history. So it's no surprise it's one of Roger Mason's favorite subjects to paint. As one of Telluride's oldest establishments, the landmark hotel could certainly be characterized as the spiritual epicenter of the town. Mason has had a running show in the lobby for a decade and dubs it his "world headquarters."

Through his extensive travels throughout the United States and Europe, he channels that inspiration as he stands on Main Street, his local studio.  The town's box-canyon setting offers dramatic lighting with heavy shadows that play upon colorful storefronts, lamp posts, cars, street life, and mountains.  Mason typically draws a steady stream of onlookers when he sets up his easel in front of the New Sheridan.

So the next time you're in Telluride and strolling Main Street, make sure to be on the lookout for that man in the paint-splattered shirt.

Visit www.RogerMason.net for more info.