[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]ROCK SPRINGS — The Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting in celebration of the new art installations in the Art Underground walkway in downtown Rock Springs yesterday evening.

Second Installation

This is the second round of art to be installed in the gallery, after two years featuring the first set. The galley now contains 22 brand new pieces by local artists ranging all ages, from novice to experienced artists. The artists had about a month to submit their paintings before yesterday’s gallery ribbon cutting.

“They all tracked the number of hours they put into their paintings; There are over 450 hours of work from the painters to create those pieces, which we’re incredibly appreciative for,” Chad Banks, Director of the Rock Springs Urban Renewal Agency said.

“This is our second round doing the underpass art gallery, so we hope it becomes an annual event where we can change out the artwork. And it just brings something new to the underpass and hopefully it will bring a little more pride to this area,” he said.

Local Artists

“I’ve never really had my artwork hung anywhere before so it’s kind of surreal,” artist Tasha Seppie said. “I draw all the time and paint a lot, but I’ve never really taken on something this big.”

Tasha Seppie is a freshman at the Rock Springs High School. He piece titled The Sadness of Day and Night took her 28 hours to complete.

“It is up for interpretation,” she said. “There’s some people out there that could look at it and know exactly what I mean by it. And then there’s some people that can be like ‘Oh, that’s cool.”

The paintings in the gallery range from various of genres and inspirations. Some are abstract, some are images of scenery scenery, and there are even some depictions of cartoon characters.

Eighth grade student Tyson Leckie painted his own version of his favorite Winnie The Poo character, Eeyore. 

“I just wanted to do a different take on Eeyore,” he said. “I was in a weights class while thinking of my painting.

His painting took him 8 hours to complete. This was his first painting, he usually sketches, he said.

Tyson’s mom Heather Montoya also submitted a painting to the art gallery. She also painted a cartoon character, a depiction of Dumbo.

“I always loved that song Baby Mine and the scene from it. It’s always been one of my favorites,” Montoya said.

“I had started painting rocks for the 307 Rocks and I got into the cartoons for it. One of them I hadn’t done yet on the rocks was Dumbo.”

The Art Underground art gallery is open to the public for anyone to view. The Art Underground underpass walkway is located 603 South Main Street, Rock Springs.

Learn more about the Art Underground Gallery and view all 22 paintings here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery interval=”3″ images=”195678,195679,195680,195681,195682,195683,195684,195685,195686,195687,195688,195689,195690,195691,195692″ img_size=”full” onclick=”” title=”Ribbon Cutting”][/vc_column][/vc_row]