(DENVER) — Colorado Academy (CA) announced today a gift of 15 artworks by local philanthropist and art collector Craig Ponzio.
Craig Ponzio, a member of Colorado Academy’s Board of Trustees and parent to two current CA students, donated works by 11 contemporary American artists. The gift of the art comes less than a year after the opening of the new Ponzio Arts Center at CA, a visual arts education center on the school’s 97-acre campus in southwest Denver. Ponzio’s lead gift helped make the project possible.
The Ponzio Arts Center was formerly a boys’ dormitory in CA’s military and boarding school days that has been converted to an innovative visual arts space that features three state-of-the-art studios, flexible gallery space and facilities for printmaking, ceramics, 3D printing, film studies, and access to functional outdoor work areas. It was designed to house CA’s marquee programs in the visual arts, including painting and drawing, sculpture, and digital content production.
“Colorado Academy has an amazing art faculty,” says Ponzio. “Investing in the new arts center will provide the faculty with a great space to develop the creative talents of all students.”
Sculptures included in the donation are Young Elephant by David Hayes (1931-2013), Rubric #3 by Denver-based artist Emmett Culligan, and a commissioned piece by sculptor and photographer Miguel Edwards.
Other works include Electric Spring by Patricia Aaron, Yellow by Adam Bateman, In Free by Judy Campbell, The Seeps with the Shadows and The Endless Commute by Haze Diedrich, Patterns with Purpose C and Patterns with Purpose O by Paul Ecke, Paris Velvet, Hybrid Fictions II, and Walk with Me by Monroe Hodder, Healing by Karen Scharer, and Sarah-4 by William Stoehr. Stoehr will work as an artist in residence at Colorado Academy in April.
“The gift of these artworks to the Colorado Academy collection will enhance the educational value of our visual arts center,” says Head of School Dr. Mike Davis. “Craig’s generosity and commitment to our school, and specifically to our visual arts program, will forever change CA’s ability to inspire and nurture students’ knowledge in and passion for the visual arts.”
Colorado Academy is a Pre-K through Grade 12 independent school serving more than 950 students, and is known for its robust visual and performing arts program with offerings in voice and instrumental music, theater, visual arts, and dance.