STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Luann Holmes lets her art take her where it will. And it’s run the gamut from encaustics to eye popping acrylics to multimedia collage pieces focusing on Westerns and Sun Valley Resort to her latest—shiny skis done as art pieces.

“I love graffiti. I love to put letters and words on a canvas,” said Holmes, who is one of more than 140 artists showing their art in the Ketchum Arts Festival, which concludes from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today—Sunday, July 14—at Sun Valley’s Festival Meadows.

Holmes’ first taste of art was that of the quilts her aunt made on a quilting frame in the Pennsylvania Amish country where her mother doted on Pennsylvania Dutch fare and her parents spoke in an Amish German dialect, even though they were not Amish.

“There was a lot of needlepoint and other sewing crafts. I took every home economics class I could in school and got a college degree in clothing and textiles before teaching high school for 10 years,” she said.

Seven years ago, once her children were off to college, Holmes decided she needed to find something to fill the void they’d left behind.

“My older daughter was a talented watercolor painter. I watched her paint and, while I decided I could never do what she did, I started talking to artists, took a few painting classes, started painting and never stopped.”

Holmes never stays put in her work. She may spend weeks creating “eye popping” art with by squeezing acrylic paint into round circles, then move on to abstract art featuring geometric shapes.

In recent years, she’s gravitated towards multi-media collage works covered with shiny resin that often sport a tongue-in-cheek humor as they tell a story about times past.

Her, pink collage of Barbie, in juxtaposition with last summer’s hit movie, sports vintage ads, such as “Wear a Mustang to match your lipstick” and “Pink’s the thing.”

One collage keys off of old advertisements that depict women as “temptations no man can resist,” alongside a Maidenform Bra ad boasting “I dreamed I was queen of the Westerns in my Maidenform bra.” Not only does it remind viewers about old health cures that tried to jiggle the fat off but it showcases an ad for a $5 Mr. Trapper 4-shot 22-caliber Brownie semi-automatic safety pocket pistol that “every business needs.”

A “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” piece features a portrait of Audrey Hepburn amidst sparkling sprinkles alongside Tiffany champagne and Tiffany perfume.

“I love graffiti. I love to put letters and words on a canvas,” she said.

Holmes recently started a Western series, including a collage that features a young Clint Eastwood with movie titles like “Rawhide” “Fistful of Dollars” and “Pale Rider,” which the longtime Sun Valley star filmed in the Boulder Mountains north of Ketchum.

A Sun Valley summer piece sports a photograph of Ketchum when it boasted three gas stations on Main Street alongside a picture of the old leather golf bags once toted around Sun Valley’s golf course with the words “It Happened in Sun Valley.”

A Sun Valley winter piece depicts a horse-drawn sleigh ride, a picture of female Olympians training at Sun Valley and an ad for Clicquot Club with a child bundled up in Eskimo fashion. Another winter montage of Sun Valley features a a polar bear ad depicting how cool Coca Cola is in winter alongside a Life Magazine article about “Cram Camp for Skiers” and a picture of someone at Sun Valley hot pool.

Holmes just started turning skis into shiny, resin-covered works of art, and she managed to get three done in time for this weekend’s festival. One pays homage to Sun Valley’s iconic Limelight run with a Black Diamond rating and Sun Valley’s logo on its tail. Another says “Ski Sun Valley” while still another says simply “Ski Ski Ski.”

“My daughter wanted a shot ski for her dad so that’s what started it,” said Holmes.

Holmes creative bent has earned her a multitude of commissions. She created a collage for someone whose son had graduated from a drill team. And she did another depicting a man’s passion for golf from the time he learned to hit the ball as a boy to his later games.

“I just did one for a guy who was really into a card game called Magical Gathering where you collect cards,” she said. “I blew up the images huge and it turned out real nice looking. You just never know what you’re going to get into.”