Homestead Fine Art Gallery’s Peggy Keagle  stands by some of her art in the gallery she shares with nine other artists.
Bob McDonnell / The Surveyor

By Bob McDonnell
The Surveyor

A small space at 344 Mountain Ave., packs in a lot of creativity and art, thanks to Peggy Keagle. In September, Keagle started Homestead Fine Art Gallery at that location.

The space, attached to the real estate offices of Re/Max Town & Country, previously was Green Frog Fine Art.

Green Frog existed for four years under the management of Kathleen Gruman. Gruman is a real estate agent for Re/Max Town & Country. She used the 400-square-foot space for both her office and to display art. Keagle was one of the artists who displayed at Green Frog.

Gruman turned the gallery over to Keagle, and that is when the Homestead name came about. Keagle says she associates homestead with small town atmosphere.

Homestead is a cooperative. Each of the 10 artists —including Keagle — share in the expenses to keep the business running. This includes the rent, utilities, etc. Proceeds from sales of each person’s art goes directly to them. There is no commission paid to a gallery, which happens in many other locations. Oils, pastels, ink drawings, photography, and glass art are on display.

Keagle has been an artist for 20 years. She works in oils but started by doing drawings, then pastels, and later acrylics. Her teachers encouraged her to do oils last. Keagle likes “country” scenes and subjects including flowers, animals and people.

Homestead Fine Art Gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to five p.m. Each of the 10 artists takes turns being in the shop during business hours.

In the last couple of months, the shop has seen 168 visitors to the gallery. Some are from out of town and some even from other states.

Keagle is excited about the upcoming snow-sculpting competition. She feels it will bring many new people to town and hopes some will find her gallery.

“Fine art with local artists in northern Colorado” is how Keagle characterizes the shop. This includes works in oil, pastels, ink drawing and photography. She pointed out the wooden sign on the front of the shop was made locally too.

Kim Andrews, one of the 10 artists, likes being in the shop. She paints while waiting for browsers and customers to stop by the Homestead Fine Art Gallery. Andrews likes to paint scenes from Rocky Mountain National Park. She goes on site to do her painting when the weather permits.

“It’s nice to have a wall where people can see your stuff,” said Andrews. She estimates each artist has about four-and-a-half square feet of display space on the walls of the gallery.

In addition to Keagle and Andrews, the artists contributing works to the gallery are Andrea Gabel, David Ryder, Jerry Phillips, Jim Steele, Ken Knox, Laura Young, Margueritte Meier and Nelia Harper.