Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak
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structure, designed by Japanese architect Hiroshi Nanamori, is as unexpected as it is minimalist, a cube of Colorado red sandstone offset by a white pergola- style frame and edged with a 6,000 -square-foot Cambrian black granite terrace and ref lecting pool. It stands in memory of the late John Powers, who, with his wife, created one of the world's most inf luential private collections of Pop and contemporary art. A New York lawyer and president of education publisher Prentice Hall, Powers began spending time in Aspen, with Kimiko, in the late '60s, following his early retirement. In addition to founding the Aspen Institute's Asian Seminars, he began pouring his energy and resources into collecting contemporary American art. Of all the artists whose work he amassed, Powers had a particular admiration for Jasper Johns, whose art, he once noted, "makes people talk and have full conversations about the world around them." One of the most signifi- cant and inf luential American painters of the 20th century, Johns' focus was always on the process. Eventually, he became engrossed with printmak- ing, which, parallel to his painting, gave him the opportunity to experiment with screenprinting, Dear Johns The BRAND-NeW PoWeRs ART CeNTeR DeBUTs WITh A LoVe LeTTeR To JAsPeR JohNs. by linda hayes A former cow pasture on a 460 -acre working ranch at the edge of Carbondale is hardly the setting in which you'd expect to find one of the Roaring Fork Valley's most significant art venues. And it's easy to whip by the understated entry off fast-paced Highway 82. But once you pass through the rusted gate and wind your way up the narrow drive, one glimpse of the new Powers Art Center against a back- ground of winter white will set you straight. This is where it was meant to be. The Center, named for prominent art collectors and local residents John and Kimiko Powers, commands a panoramic view. "The Powers family bought this property years ago while they were living in Aspen, and John was at the Aspen Institute," says Director Melissa T. English, caretaker of sorts for the Center along with the 300 -piece collection of Jasper Johns limited-edition works on paper exhibited within. "They made it their home and fell in love with the view from up here. That's why the building is posi- tioned this way on the site. It's breathtaking." The 14,502-square-foot "aspen is a cultural mecca in the mountains. we're consistently putting ourselves out there as a hub of art." —albert sanford photography by Jack Mitchell/getty iMages (Johns); © Vaga, ny, gift of philip Johnson in honor of alfred h. barr, Jr. digital iMage © the MuseuM of Modern art, licensed by scala i art resource, ny (flag); Joel saMuelson (art center) continued on page 88 clockwise, from top left: Johns with his work at New York's Whitney Museum of American Art in October 1977; Flag, Jasper Johns, 1954–55; the view of nearby Mt. Sopris from the Powers Art Center. 86 aspenpeak-magazine.com culture Art at Altitude