Late Southwest Colorado artist Stanton Englehart is remembered by many of his students as an inspiration that made a lasting impact on their lives and art, even after the years have gone by.
Englehart’s upcoming solo exhibition “Portals” will open Friday at Sundog Gallery, 107 Grand Ave. in Mancos, showcasing his oil paintings of the American Southwest. A free public reception will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at the gallery.
Ahead of Englehart’s upcoming exhibition at Sundog Gallery, Englehart’s daughter, former students and artists told The Journal how heavily he influenced them.
Englehart was born on a farm in Cortez in 1931 and died in 2009. He earned his master’s degree in fine arts at the University of Colorado and founded Fort Lewis College’s art department after moving to Durango in 1957, where he taught for 30 years.
He inspired countless students to pursue their own passion for art, something former student and artist Gary DeVore emphasized.
DeVore said Englehart prioritized personal expression and a creative spark over technical instruction.
He highlighted what he said Englehart called the “wee bit,” a kind of magic that elevates a work of art beyond materials or subject matter.
“You just don’t know what it is,” DeVore said. “It just strikes you when you see a good piece. It’s not ink, it’s not subject matter. It’s the little piece of magic that the artist captures.”
Englehart retired in 1991 to paint full-time and was married to his wife, Pat Englehart, for 63 years.
Stanton Englehart’s daughter, Sharon Englehart, spoke of her mother’s support for Stanton’s art.
“He was very supported by my mom,” Sharon said. “She is a very creative person in her own right. I think that there was that partnership of just somebody looking and appreciating what he was doing.”
Sharon and her brother are also artists. She was an art and English teacher, and her brother earned an art degree.
“I love teaching, and I know my dad really did too,” Sharon said. “I think teaching was a very important part of his life.”
DeVore said Englehart would arrange desks in a circle and play vinyl records on an old player while students worked on their pieces.
“He was just a warm and generous person. Everyone who came in contact with him felt seen,” said David Schwindt, artist, former student and Albuquerque art teacher.
Englehart made it his practice to know all of his students’ names and get to know them, Schwindt added.
Sharon said her father painted consistently for over 50 years, continuously experimenting and refining his approach into his 70s. He was best known for large-scale oil paintings of the Four Corners landscape, particularly the canyon country around Lake Powell.
Though he was most well known for his oil paintings, he worked in multiple mediums early in his career, including drawing, collage, mixed media and acrylics.
“He was always trying to reinvent himself, and he didn’t just stick with one thing,” Sharon said, “He was happier being in motion. We used to joke that he had two speeds. He was either full speed ahead or he was asleep. There wasn’t a lot in between.”
Schwindt said Englehart painted from memory, and while his paintings are fairly abstract, they also have a quality of realism.
“Stanton made a choice; he didn’t go along with the abstract expressionists of his time, and he didn’t paint a traditional landscape like a lot of people did at that time,” Schwindt said.
Former house painter Joe Schafer said Englehart inspired him to pursue art full-time. Though he didn’t study as a student of Englehart’s like his wife Rebecca Rodman did, Schafer said the times he met Englehart left an impression on him.
It was Englehart’s emphasis on following one’s passion and finding happiness that helped Schafer commit to becoming a full-time artist.
“He had an energy that was really awesome, and what I loved about him was that he would always say things like, ‘Follow your bliss, do what you want to do, be happy.’ Those things are really cliche, but I really took it to heart,” Schafer said. “It took me a long time to figure it out, but ultimately, I think his encouragement led me to throw myself into my art and see where it would go.”
Now, one of Schafer’s pieces will be featured in a Sundog exhibition alongside works of Englehart’s. Schafer said it will be the first time that his work will hang in the same room as the late artist and mentor.
“There will be times when people will come to my studio and they will look at pieces I have around, and they’ll say, ‘Wow, it reminds me of a Stanton,’” Schafer said. “There’s not much of a better compliment I can get.”
That kind of support and encouragement was what Englehart received from his family as a young man interested in art. His mother played the piano and was also creative.
From then on, art was a constant part of his and his family’s lives.
“Even as a child, I can remember when we lived in Boulder. We lived in married student housing, and there would be paintings on the back of a chair,” Sharon said. “There was never a time that we didn't have art materials around us all the time.”
Some of his major works include a series of 12 large calendar paintings that represented the months, solstices and equinoxes, along with some multipaneled pieces that measure up to 40 feet in length.
Other series explored themes like the Garden of Eden, changing seasons, women, animals and other figures. Several of his large oil paintings are featured at the Canyon of the Ancients Museum west of Dolores.
His paintings are also vibrant in color, and that is one facet of his art that continues to stand out to Schwindt. He shared a story of a time he went out with the goal of “painting from life,” when he heard Englehart’s voice.
“I had this voice of Stanton in the back of my head, saying, ‘This would be a really pretty scene if you just exaggerated the colors a little bit,’” Schwindt said.
During his time teaching at FLC, the hallways of the art department were often filled with his works – one of which DeVore was able to purchase thanks to Englehart’s kindness.
“I was working at City Market with a very humble income and raising kids, and I could not afford one,” DeVore said. “I really wanted one, so I asked him how much he wanted. He said, ‘Whatever you can afford.’ I paid $80 for this painting.”
DeVore described the painting, calling attention to the lines and details throughout every portion of the painting. He said Englehart’s depictions of the landscape in the area has continued to influence artists in the Four Corners region.
“He loved horizontal lines,” Englehart shared. “He loved a lot of foreground detail. He just loved creating.”
Ultimately, the key to Englehart’s work was a love of life. Sharon shared a quote by her father that reflects that very thing:
“Art follows life. It is an expression of the joy and frustration of living. The secret of being able to paint is to be alive – fully alive.”
The exhibition at Sundog brings together a selection of his artwork, which will be available for purchase during the show. The last day is Sept. 30. The gallery is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
For more information, visit sundoggallery.com or call 533-4034.
bduran@the-journal.com
