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Art somehow found Sarah Juschka, not the other way around. While her career as a successful Steamboat-based painter might have been somewhat accidental, it was not entirely unexpected. “My mom and brother were artists, and my sister is an artist, so I came from a family of creative beings,” says Juschka. Her early interest in art and her natural talent was fostered by teachers from the elementary school she attended in Kenosha, Wisconsin; she was awarded art scholarships and took first place in art contests throughout her education. But a career in art was something her mother had steered her away from, encouraging her to go into a more reliable profession instead. “My mom always told me I didn’t want to be a starving artist,’” she says.

Even though she was offered scholarships to art schools, Juschka pursued a career in finance. She worked for a mortgage corporation outside Chicago and then became a real estate appraiser, a field she still works in to this day. She convinced her husband to also become a real estate appraiser to help with her expanding business, opening offices in Fort Collins and Scottsdale, Arizona. The couple also ventured into property development, building 150 homes in Northern Colorado. To sell and manage the homes they had built, she became a property manager and real estate broker.

That’s when creating art somehow managed to make its way back into Juschka’s life, but not because of a desire to change careers. “Through that experience of building homes, I also had to stage them, which meant I had had to look for pieces of art that were going to highlight our houses,” she says. “I couldn’t find anything that worked in homes with high vaulted ceilings, so that’s when I started painting—so I could decorate them myself.”

To her surprise, the paintings sold. “I guess because I had success in selling my pieces as soon as I painted them, I thought, this has got to be my calling. I knew I had to honor it and continue to pursue it,” she says.

When she and her husband moved to Steamboat 10 years ago, she did just that. “I put together a few paintings and had an interview at one of the fine art galleries, and it was unanimous. They wanted me to come in,” she says, almost giddy. “I was so happy and excited to be part of a fine art gallery in Steamboat.” Other artists warned her of the potential challenges ahead, but she ended up doing very well, steadily selling her large-scale paintings that feature Steamboat landscapes like Aspen groves, wildflowers, moose, Steamboat’s iconic downtown and heart-stirring mountains “Realizing my dreams felt great,” she says.

Flash forward 10 years and three kids later, and she’s still running a crazy-busy real estate appraisal business, raising her kids (now ages 15, 12, and 9), producing commissioned art, showing at local galleries, and teaching art classes at Strawberry Park Elementary, which also happens to be the site of her largest installation, a mural of an Aspen grove on the school’s front exterior wall that the entire student body participated in creating. “My daughters attended school there at the time, and they both were able to paint on the mural,” she says.

Juschka’s approach to painting is very deliberate, especially because she prefers to use large canvases and thick paint the consistency of pudding, applying it with a palette knife. “Every paint stroke is a decision. I love to use a palette knife so I can take really large amounts of paint, mix them, and then apply them onto a piece and continue layering. My paintings have a three-dimensional feel because the texture pops.”

She draws her inspiration from the outdoors, which is easy to do in Steamboat, where she says the beauty is unrivaled. “I am inspired by the rich tapestry of art in Steamboat. With so much beauty all around, I wait for my subject to find me. It’s a spiritual process for me. I try to be present and fully open to finding the subject that is calling me at that time,” she says. Ideally, she prefers to paint plein air, setting up an easel on-site to get the best sense of energy, emotion, and light, but will rely on photos once she’s back in the studio. Juschka mostly paints on canvas but will paint on “anything a client wants” from an antique door to the outside wall of Strawberry Park Elementary School.

Like all her work, she approached the iconic Winter Carnival poster with a purposeful and almost philosophical intention. “The feeling I was going for during this unsettling time was to invoke a warm, nostalgic, authentic mountain town vibe. I wanted to create a sense of peace, warmth, and fun old-time Americana, to merge folk art with a cozy feeling.” She says being selected to create this year’s poster was more than an honor. “What an incredible opportunity to be part of such a historic event,” she says. //sarahsfineart.net

 


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