Keeping it weird
Studio & celebrates 15 years of art, progress, ideas ... and those parties

I met Tim Kapustka in 2010, when I was working at a coffee shop on Main Avenue. Just a few blocks down, Kapustka, along with four other artists, had opened Studio & art studio. Obviously, we eventually crossed paths and became friends.

And while I no longer work at that local coffee shop, Studio & and its lineage of cohorts have steadfastly grown and will be celebrating their 15th anniversary this week. The celebration will be rung in with an “artists invitational,” in which 15 current and former Studio & artists each invited another artist to display a work. The show, succinctly named “Fifteen (15),” which runs March 14-22, will kick off at 5 p.m. this Fri., March 14, with what will likely be a quintessential Studio & party. 

When Studio & opened its doors 15 years ago, Kapustka was a fledgling professional artist looking for an affordable studio space. The answer was to share the rented space on Main Avenue (where Studio & is still located today) among four other artists. They would all create art together, with the idea that the doors would be open to allow the public to come in and watch the artistic process. A good idea in theory, but they soon found it to be a little uncomfortable to have onlookers.

“It’s not always the most fun thing to do – to create art in public. It’s super raw and vulnerable,” Kapustka said. He and the partner artists called it “the zoo factor.”

As time and that idea moved on, so did the studio, slowly morphing into a bonafide art gallery.

“We didn’t just say ‘now we’re going to be a gallery,’” Kapustka said. “It just evolved.” 

According to Kapustka, the zoo factor led the way for this: people would watch the artists and want to buy the art. As an artist trying to pay rent, how could you say no?

The studio started to display art and host art openings, which quickly became some of Durango’s best parties. And thus, the younger days of Studio & and its most artful shenanigans began, including late nights, live music, costumes, games, tennis and potatoes as prizes. Filled wall-to-wall with people – some dressed in peculiar and opulent outfits, others just off work – the parties were an opportunity to get weird and enjoy art with Studio & and its crew. 

“For our fifth-year anniversary, we made this place into a carnival, and we gave away mashed potatoes and read fortunes. (Former member Shay) Lopez was dressed up in a corset with some weird hot nut game,” Kapustka described it. “It was a sideshow.” 

This was just one in a hundred celebrations of friends and art, and another perfect example of what has made Studio & a success: one part art; one part tongue-in-cheek humor; and two parts avant garde vision. Kapustka credits the studio’s ongoing success to the hundreds of artists who have been exhibited there, but he also credits the community which has continuously shown up at 5 p.m. on Fridays to join the peculiar revelry that is Studio &. 

“This community is so amazing. They kept asking what we would do next, and in short order, that gave us a license to do a lot of stuff,” Kapustka said. “Some of it is edgy and pushy; some of it isn’t. But a lot of it is fun. We just all of a sudden became this vessel for art and ideas and progress.” (Which, of course, is Studio &’s official tagline.)

Durango’s community showed up to Studio & to look at the art but also to join friends. We went to drink wine with Scott Dye or Dan Groth. Or have conversations with Paul Pennington and Maureen May. We’d catch up with Crystal Hartman and Elizabeth Kinahan and go heart-to-heart with Shay Lopez. Kapustka looks back and is grateful for the time spent with anyone willing to share a conversation. 

“Anyone who has stayed until midnight. Anyone who has had a conversation with Milt, or went down the rabbit hole with Merv, or talked to Jeff Madeen,” he said. “We’d talk and imbibe, and sometimes we’d end up continuing the party elsewhere.”

Kapustka admits those raucous parties don’t happen anymore, but “they’re in the walls of Studio &.” 

Besides the lively parties, there has been a plethora of artists that have adorned the walls of Studio & over the years. “We’ve exhibited hundreds, represented dozens of artists,” Kapustka said. 

Over the years, there have been 17 owner artists – not including the three current ones: Kapustka, Shawn Lotze and Lorna Meaden – and the studio has had roughly 135 exhibits including art openings, anniversary parties and the annual holiday Bizarre Bazaar. 

Literally, Studio & has “grown up” over the years. They added the diminutive Recess Gallery; ended the impromptu concert space, the Listening Room; and turned the paint-splashed drafting table, where the “good” beer was hidden, into a spot for wine and catered snacks. Gone is the sheet that served as a makeshift wall – almost as if you were visiting a college dorm – as well as the curbside or thrift store finds.

“T-shirts in old suitcases, cards in an old card holder found in the alley… Everyone brought in their own stuff to hold their art,” Kapustka said. 

But, as tastes matured, so did the space. “Suddenly there was an interior design theme of wood and concrete and white,” he said.

The alleyway card holder became a custom wall rack, and the thrifted displays turned into more professional designs (however, there might still be t-shirts in an old suitcase). They even took down the sheet and built a wall.

“That’s the stuff where we were, shockingly, like adults,” Kapustka said. 

And while a new era of Studio & is dawning – one that is a little wiser and more seasoned – Kapustka, Meaden and Lotze still have a lot up their sleeves. “The sun is still shining. We’re still in our prime,” Kapustka said, adding that this year is looking to be the best yet. “We are very excited to bring an amazing lineup of artists to the gallery for 2025 and beyond.”

In addition to bringing in more represented artists, including Ron Fundingsland, the studio also plans to showcase a younger wave of artists as well. 

Kapustka equates the studio to a ball of tinfoil that keeps growing as it is layered with more artists, openings and, most importantly, community members coming in to share stories and ideas. 

“I can’t help but think about it – the biggest piece of art is Studio &,” Kapustka said. 

So maybe we’ve all grown up – I don’t walk to Studio & parties from my coffee shop job anymore – and maybe the parties don’t rage until the wee hours like they once did. But, when it comes to Studio &, it will always be a place for art, ideas, progress … and a little eccentricity.

“We still like to keep it as weird as we can,” Kapustka said. ?