Commonwheel Artists Art Festival

01/22/2025

For many years, Becky Elder helped the Art Festival be more eco-friendly. She teaches this amazing course on Permaculture again this year. Are you ready to start a journey today towards exploring permaculture and learning life-changing techniques and living skills. The future is coming and the time to prepare is now. This course includes the full permaculture curriculum, tours of fantastic sites, hands on skills and community building. Classes start on February 22nd. Everyone is welcome. They even have financial help for anyone who needs it. They follow the curriculum created by the Permaculture Institute of North America.Take the step! Let's manifest a better future for our descendants! Learn how to enroll for this course at:

Welcome to Pikes Peak Permaculture! Welcome to Pikes Peak Permaculture! Pikes Peak Permaculture, Inc. is a non-profit, educational organization with the mission to provide education and instruction to the general public on the nature, ways and benefits of the discipline of Permaculture. Announcement...

01/21/2025

Applications for the 51st! Annual Commonwheel Art Festival have started arriving for the Festival committee to jury. If you are an artist who does outdoor festivals, or know a friend who would like to show their art in Manitou Springs on Labor Day Weekend, check out the information about this art Festival here:

Commonwheel Artists Labor Day Art Festival is excited to celebrate its 51st year in the historic Colorado foothill community of Manitou Springs! This is a juried Fine Arts & Fine Crafts show that...

01/20/2025

It was an extremely cold, but beautiful day in Manitou Springs on Sunday. With prediction of even colder weather, but wanting to be open on the Monday holiday with our annual Pottery by the Price Sale happening in the Creekside Gallery, Commonwheel Artists Co-op will be open from 11 am to 3 pm on January 20th.
Many visitors who came into the gallery on Sunday, expressed there gratitude to find our beautiful art-filled space open and many left with great art for their homes, and some beautiful jewelry to wear.

01/19/2025

Due to the cold weather the Commonwheel Artists Co-op will be open for shortened hours on Sunday, January 19th from 11 am until 3 pm. Pottery by the Price Sale is in the Creekside gallery and lots of lovely art and pottery is available until the end of the month.

01/18/2025

Due to extreme cold and snow, the Commonwheel Artists Co-op will may have delayed open times and close early each day, and for the next 3 days.
Please give a call to 719-685-1008 before making a special trip to Manitou Springs to check to see if a member is working there during the time you are thinking of visiting the gallery or the sale happening this month.
Stay safe and warm.

01/17/2025

There are some amazing bargains on beautiful artwork available during the Pottery by the Price sale at Commonwheel Artists Co-op in Manitou Springs. You can find glass and painted clay ornaments, handmade goat milk soaps, prints and wall art on sale. And lots and lots of functional and decorative pottery. Do some shopping for yourself, or find the perfect gift for a special occasion happening later this year.

01/15/2025

It's almost time to let your fruitcakes fly through the air in Manitou Springs. Join in the fun for some old fashioned games of tossing fruitcakes! It all started in 1996 with locals throwing fruitcakes in the park, and 30 years later, it will happen on January 25 starting at noon. Events will include pure feats of strength, talent, balance and taste!
Learn more at:

It all started in the park in 1996. After 20 years, the fruitcakes are still flying in downtown Manitou Springs. Don't miss this one-of-a-kind competition!

01/12/2025

ACI 2025: Manitou Springs is ideal for artists of all disciplines who are emerging in their creative career and arts business. Topics include goal setting and planning, marketing and promotions, legal issues, and financial management. The program incorporates various speakers, practical exercises, tool kits, and networking activities.
The ACI 2025: Manitou Springs program will be a condensed, weekend-long version of the ACI curriculum from February 21-23, 2025. The Deadline to apply is January 17th.
By completing the Intensive, participants will be eligible to apply for a limited number of Career Advancement Grants up to $500 to support their ongoing work, funded by Colorado Creative Industries.

Applicants should be:
Residents of Colorado who are able to attend the full in-person, weekend-long program in Manitou Springs
Practicing artists who are currently working professionally and/or are looking to make their creative endeavors into a business venture. ACI is ideal for artists who are emerging in their creative career and arts business.
Working in the creative industries, including visual arts, music, theatre, dance, design, fashion, film/TV, literary arts, crafts, and creative placemaking.
Willing to participate in ongoing program evaluation to assess the short- and long-term impact of the Intensive.
CBCA will prioritize an Advancing Creatives Intensive cohort that includes diverse creative practices, expressions, and backgrounds in Colorado. The ideal cohort size is 10-20 people.
Learn more about the program and apply at:

Advancing Creatives is CBCA’s artist professional development and business skills education programming. Through Advancing Creatives, CBCA hosts, coordinates and partners with speakers...

01/10/2025

If you are interested in applying for CBCA’s Advancing Creatives Intensive (ACI) in Manitou Springs in February come to the virtual lunch and learn session on Monday, January 13 at 12pm!
Learn about the program, the application process, and have all your questions answered. Presenters include: Meredith Badler, Deputy Director at Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA), Lindsey Bell, Program and Events Coordinator at Colorado Business Committee for Arts (CBCA), and Natalie Johnson, Executive Director at the Manitou Art Center.
This event is FREE and open to the public, and is organized by COPPR and the Creative Sector Partnership Team.
Register in advance to receive the Zoom link!

01/09/2025

Frog & Friends played at the Commonwheel Art Festival last fall. Frog & Fiddle have two performances scheduled this week. Tonight they will be playing at the Armadillo Ranch in Manitou Springs starting at 7:00 pm. Then next Wednesday, they will appear at the Front Range BBQ from 6:30 to 9:30 pm. They are fun to hear and perhaps will get you in the mood to do some dancing.

01/08/2025

We are excited to see the new ideas for the Iron Springs Mineral Spring tomorrow night. Come join us.

Join us for the official public reveal of the new Iron Spring font replacement concepts! 🌟

Presented by CRANE and the Mineral Springs Foundation , this event will feature a meet-and-greet with the talented artists behind the reinvention of the iconic Iron Spring font.

📅 Thursday, January 9th
⏰ 6:00–8:00 PM
📍 Manitou Art Center (MAC)
513 Manitou Avenue

Enjoy light hors d'oeuvres, mineral spring-themed cocktails, and, of course, cookies while hearing from the artists during a brief presentation.

✨ Your voice matters! Public input will be considered when choosing the new font, so don't miss the chance to be part of this creative process! ✨

Learn more about the Mineral Springs Foundation here: ⬇️
mineralspringsfoundation.org

01/08/2025

The 5 decades of the Commonwheel Artists Co-op is summarized on our website. Read about how it all started and how we weathered many challenges through the last 5 decades. The Members of the co-op will continue tp work together to bring art by Colorado artists both as members and visiting artists to the Pikes Peak Regions, going into our 51st year.

​© 1999-2024 Manitou Commonwheel Artists' Association, LLC 102 Cañon Avenue, Manitou Springs, CO 80829 719.685.1008 [email protected] Directions Open Daily 10AM-6 PM​ Subscribe to our mailing...

01/06/2025

The Commonwheel Artists is looking for food vendors for it 51st Annual Art Festival that is held in Manitou Springs on Labor Day Weekend. We don’t have spaces for food trucks, but if you can set up in the park, we would love to see your application. Food vendors can check out the details and find the applications on our website. The application deadline is May 15th, 2025. Download the Food Vendor application here:

Commonwheel Artists Labor Day Art Festival is excited to celebrate its 51st year in the historic Colorado foothill community of Manitou Springs! This is a juried Fine Arts & Fine Crafts show that...

01/05/2025

The Commonwheel Artists Labor Day Art Festival is celebrating its 51st year. We are ready to accept applications from artists for this highly juried celebration of the Arts in Manitou Springs, Colorado.
Check out the details about the Festival here:
https://www.commonwheel.com/2025-festival-info-page.html
then go to the tab that has artist application and fill i t out to have your creative art juried after the May 15th deadline.

01/03/2025

It isn’t often that Labor Day lands on September 1st, and it is even a more rare occasion when Labor Day is on September 7th, which happened in 2020. With Labor Day being September 1st this year, that means the Commonwheel Artists 51st Annual Labor Day Art Festival will begin on August 30th this year. Here are images of past posters when those dates caused the festival to be held for two days in August and only one day in September. They are from 1997, 2003, 2008 and 2014. We will reveal the new poster later this year.

01/02/2025

IT’S HERE! The art sale you all have been waiting for! The Pottery by the Price sale at Commonwheel will open up at 10am today. The sale invites local artists beyond our members to participate. The Creekside Gallery is filled to the max with pottery on shelves and the floor. The walls are covered with art and various hanging items. There are glass ornaments, handmade soaps, art prints & cards, cloth napkins, dicroic jewelry, and so many other art items beyond just pottery. I don’t think we have ever seen so many different styles of art-based items here before! The sale runs through February 2nd and artists can bring in more items as the month progresses.

01/01/2025

Happy New Year! Yes we are open! The gallery is being prepared with arty items that will be on sale starting on January 5th. It is the only sale Commonwheel hosts and we invite artists from around the Pikes Peak region to participate.

12/31/2024

Tonight, at midnight ADAMAN sets off fireworks from the summit of Pikes Peak at Midnight. Every year these adventurous souls hike up Pikes Peak to brighten the skies above Manitou Springs with this colorful display of light.