Artist Paul Milosevich will return to his home town for a reception and art show opening on August 24 at the President’s Office at Trinidad State College in Trinidad with his Fishers Peak Series. Milosevich, now 82 years old, will travel from Santa Fe, New Mexico to talk about the paintings on display, which all feature Fishers Peak.
Milosevich was born to Yugoslavian immigrant parents in Trinidad. He studied at Trinidad State College and took art classes from A.R. Mitchell, graduating in 1959. He then earned a bachelor’s degree in art, then a master’s degree at Long Beach State in California.
He taught art at various colleges until 1975, when he began devoting all his time to personal art and private workshops. He helped establish the A.R. Mitchell Museum in Trinidad in 1980.
His works have been displayed all over the world. He has painted landscapes, album covers, book illustrations, billboards and murals. He has done portraits of many famous people including Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Dolly Parton and Chuck Berry. A golfer in college, he has also done portraits of famous golfers including Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino.
The featured works show Trinidad in various seasons, all with the unmistakable outline of Fishers Peak in the background.
In the book Out of the Ordinary, the Art of Paul Milosevich by Elizabeth Skidmore Sasser, Milosevich explains how his hometown impacted his art. “Dramatic lighting, the four distinct seasons, and a small-town way of life…have influenced my work. Walking around Trinidad [was] like taking a course in art appreciation. There [was] variety in line, shape, texture, color, value and space; [in] trees, rocks, creeks, hills, mountains [and] clouds. In the town itself there [was] an interesting mix of Hispanic, Anglo and European types, all bathed in Colorado sunlight, and each one aware that looming above was Fishers Peak.”
The free reception will run from 4 to 5 p.m. in the office of Trinidad State President Dr. Carmen Simone, in the Berg Building, Room 218. Light refreshments will be served. The paintings will be on display through December 21 during normal office hours, 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.