Win This Lamp!

The glorious, glowing Leg Lamp— certainly one of the memorable, if not most iconic element from the favorite holiday film— is up for grabs!

One lucky winner will receive the leg lamp used in our production of A Christmas Story, delivered to their home on Christmas Eve* (*should they live in metro Colorado Springs).  

Retailed at $200, you can enter to win the deluxe, 50 inch replica leg lamp by purchasing a ticket to place your name in our drawing.  

Tickets are $5 each, or buy 5 tickets for $20 (enhance your odds of winning + save money!)

Tickets are available for purchase at our Box Office. All proceeds go to the FAC Theatre Company. 

A winner will be drawn on stage following the final performance on Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012.

A Christmas Story 
Nov. 29 - Dec. 23 | Buy Tickets!
Invite your friends!

Actor Spotlight: Evan Lennon from 'A Christmas Story'

Ralphie Parker (played by Evan Lennon) with the infamous Red Ryder BB gun.

Evan Lennon, who plays nine-year-old, BB-gun wanting Ralphie Parker in our Theatre Company's production of A Christmas Story is no stranger to the stage. This is his fourth production at the FAC (All My Sons, Joseph’s Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat and Gypsy) as well as a smattering of other shows at his middle school and at Colorado College. We were able to catch up with Lennon between rehearsals, and ask him a few questions.

Do you relate to Ralphie?

A little bit because there’s always that one thing you want for Christmas. For example, last year I really wanted an iPod for Christmas— really, REALLY bad. But Ralphie's all quiet, and I’m not quiet at all. So I’m not like him in that way, but I’m like him in a lot of other ways. I focus on that one thing [the way he focuses on the Red Ryder BB gun]. And I’m not disrespectful to my parents. We’re similar in those ways.

 

Have you seen A Christmas Story before?

It’s kind of a tradition for us to watch it every year so it’s one of my favorite movies ever. It’s such a privilege to play this role.

 

How did you feel when you found out you got the main role of Ralphie?

I was so excited when I heard that they were doing it here. When I heard I got Ralphie, I freaked out! It was so awesome. And the day that I figured out that I got it, I bought the script and I read it all.

 

Ralphie Parker, played by Peter Billingsley in the film, and now by Evan Lennon for our stage production.

 

What do you hope people take away from your performance as Ralphie?

[My favorite holiday movie] is probably A Christmas Story. But the hard part is when people come in here, they expect to see certain things they see in the movie, so I want to give them those certain things, but I don’t want to totally copy the movie. I don’t want to do the same exact thing so I haven’t watched the movie so I’m just trying to be my own [Ralphie] in some ways but give the exact same remark they want to see when they come in and see this.

 

Evan Lennon

So what is your Red Ryder BB Gun?

For this Christmas, I really want a remote controlled airplane. One of those ones that goes like, 100 miles an hour!

Come see the young FAC veteran in the starring role of Ralphie, opening this week as part of our Silver Season of Theatre!

A Christmas Story 
Nov. 29 - Dec. 23 | Buy Tickets!
Invite your friends!

Bemis Faculty Holiday Art Sale

At the Bemis School of Art, you can take various creative classes taught by talented local artists. And during this time of year, you can purchase arts of work from our talented instructors!

At the Annual Bemis Faculty Holiday Art Sale, shop for unique, hand-crafted pieces of art— from pottery, jewelry, paintings, cards, objects d'art and more. All forms of payment as welcome.

Holiday Art Sale
Bemis School of Art, 818 Pelham Place
Friday, Nov. 30 | 4-8p 
Saturday, Dec. 1 | 9a-5p
Sunday, Dec. 2 | 10a-3p

Public Free Day — Tues., November 20

Floyd Tunson, Untitled 96 (version 1) 2005. Mixed media (detail). Image courtesy of the artist.

There is so much to see at this month's Public Free Day! Our current Fall Exhibition is Floyd D. Tunson: Son of Pop. The exhibition reflects the scope of Tunson’s career and work. It will include various bodies of work through which Tunson has addressed concepts such as cultural identity, American social history, pop culture, art history, and the beauty of pure abstraction.

We also have on view:

• Honoring a Legacy: Selections from the Taylor Museum Collection of Native American Works
• Fantastic Menagerie: The Work Of Jessica Freyre-Cuebas
• A Mural in the Making: Eric Bransby and Trevor Thomas

Siameses, Bipedos y Cuadrupedos, PA Xilografia, 2007

Fantastic Menagerie is a series of wood engravings and linocuts. Puerto Rican contemporary artist Jessica Freyre-Cuebas (born 1979) represents a cast of fantastic animal characters that embody human emotions and personality traits. These creatures provide insight into the artist’s character and views on what she describes as, “the drama or tragicomedy of man and woman’s social coexistence.” This exhibition closes November 25, so is the last Public Free Day to experience it.




Dig deeper and go on a tour! Guided tours with FAC docents will run throughout the day, starting at: 10 a.m., 11 a.m., and 1 p.m.

Bringing a group of 10 or more, but not scheduling a tour?
We would still appreciate advance notice of your visit! Please call ahead : 719.475.2444.
Museum etiquette makes the visit enjoyable for everyone! Read the rules here.
Due to heavy traffic on our Free Public Tuesdays, we are asking that all school groups schedule tours on an alternate day.  School groups larger than 15 must schedule a docent-led tour 2 weeks in advance. Please contact the tour coordinator: 719.477.4345


Public Free Day — Tues., November 20
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Admission: FREE!

Winner Updated! | Share Your Holiday Wish + Win Tickets!

Look how excited Ralphie (played by Evan Lennon) is to have his most prized possession. Photo by Jeff Kearney.

For some people, all they want for the holidays is their two font teeth. But if you're little Ralphie Parker from A Christmas Story, all you want in this whole entire world is a Red Ryder BB gun.

We're curious.  
What's one thing YOU want this holiday season? 

Share with us by posting in the comments section below, and we'll enter you in a drawing to win two free tickets to A Christmas Story! Official contest rules listed below.  

UPDATED | Congratulations to our winner, Sunee MacRae! Thank you all for participating and sharing your holidays wishes—we hope they come true!

To help get the ball rolling, we asked a couple FAC interns to share what one thing they most want for the holidays.

Super generous Kelly (Museum Intern) wants someone to donate to IndyGive!
"I think IndyGive is one of the most awesome ways to donate to the community non-profits in Colorado Springs. The more you donate, the more awesome prizes and certificates you get to use in other local stores.  The rewards you get after you've donated include some free socks from Old Town Bike Shop, a POUND of coffee from Colorado Coffee Merchants, a Saturday matinee performance of a FAC Theatre Production, or even a NEW CAR! Just donate for me, and we can share the rewards, k?" -Kelly

Annika serenades some cats.

Annika (Social Media Intern) wants a new classical guitar!

"I've been playing classical guitar for a little while now, with a guitar on loan from my dad. I'd really love to get my own guitar this year, so that I can return the borrowed one and feel like a more legitimate musician. Maybe I should also get one of those hands-free harmonica holders so I can go full Bob Dylan." -Annika









Official Rules

• You must be at least 16 to enter
• No purchase necessary
• You can post your comments either via Facebook on this blog, or in the blog comments themselves. However, if you don't leave us some sort of contact information in the blog comments, we may not be able to award you your prize.
• Blog sweepstakes runs 11/19/12-11/29/12, 12:30 p.m. 
• Contest sponsored by the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 30 W Dale St Colorado Springs, CO 80903.
• Prizes will be awarded to one winner selected by the Fine Arts Center
• Winners will be announced at 2:00 p.m. MST 11/29/12 via Facebook and Twitter.
• By participating in this sweepstakes, participants agree to let the Fine Arts Center use their comments in marketing and promotions for the Fine Arts Center.

Behind the Scenes: "A Christmas Story" Lighting Design

 

Above is photo of Lighting Designer Holly Rawls, setting up for the FAC Theatre Company's upcoming production of A Christmas Story. The video below includes more behind the scenes photos plus capture the audio on set as the production crew works out lighting effects. Check it out, and come back at the end of this month to see the lighting design in action for this favorite holiday film brought to life on stage! 

A Christmas Story  
Nov 29 - Dec 23 |  Buy Tickets online

Talpa Family Chapel

Enter through the double glass doors of the first-floor galleries, and look straight down the hallway. Past sculptures by Eugenie Shonnard and Charles Bunnel, You'll see the FAC's recreation of the historic Talpa Family Chapel's through our 1940-50 acquisition of altar screens and santos. An interior replica of the Chpale of Our Lady Talpa was completed in 1977.

There was a lot of uproar when the FAC first wanted to acquire these objects in the late 30s because it was partitioning up the original historic Chapel. The Chapel was suffering major neglect and the FAC returned purchase the altarscreen for the sake of cultural preservation. 

[The removal of the altarscreen from the Chapel in 1950] incensed some members of the Museum of New Mexico staff. However, steps looking to the return of the chapel contents were not pursued at that time, because it was felt that the objects would be preserved, since they were in possession of a good museum. 

— Boas Long, Director of the Museum of New Mexico, memo from Oct. 14, 1954 

The site of the Chapel of Our Lady of Talpa was chosen by architect and builder Nicolas Sandoval. The earth under it is known for its healing powers -- some studies suggest the site may have been used extensively in pre-HIspanic times by the Taos Indians.

Taylor Museum director and research director Mitchell Wilder and William S. Stallings, Jr pioneered a serious academic interest in Southwestern art, and was one of the first museums to base their collection in this genre.

One of the inscriptions on the roofboards of the chapel from 1851.

En el nombre de Dios todo poderoso y de la siempre Virgen Maria de Talpa, desde el año de 1838 se fabrica. Jesus, Maria y Jose. A debocion del esclabo [Ni]colas Sandoval por mano del es [...] Rael Aragon. Aprovada poe el illumo. Dn. Jose Anto de subiria. Viva Jesus Maria y Jose.

In the name of God all powerful and the ever Virgin mary of Talpa, since the year 1838, it was built — Jesus, Mary and Joseph — by the devotion of the slave [or: the sculptor] Rafael Aragón. Approved by the most illustrious Don José Antonio de Zubiría. Hail Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

 Artist unknown, St. Anthony of Padua

(San Antonio de Padua), pine carving, before 1850.

Attributed to José Rafael Aragón, St.

Joseph (San José), paint on cottonwood,

ca. 1838.

José Rafael Aragón, altarscreen from Chapel of Our Lady of Talpa, gesso, tempera, pine, ca. 1838.

Visit this truly unique recreation of the Talpa Family Chapel at the FAC today! Become a FAC Member and get free admission to the museum -- so you can continue to soak up this Southwestern history — invitations to exclusive events, discounts and more.