Crested Butte provides inspiration for John Fellows’ work

By Kyle Kirves

There is a certain ambiguous familiarity about the art of John Fellows. His renditions of nautical themes, mountain life and geography are descended from a long tradition of woodcuts and printmaking, for certain. Yet it is also clearly a 21st century take on the medium, imparting more movement than the medium often conveys. The images leap off the canvas — American modern and American mythic at the same time.

“In the old days, block printing was used to create artwork and mass produce it,” the Crested Butte-based artist says. “It is a very old style, but it is making a comeback in artistic circles.”

Fellows said the block printing method requires the artist to think in negative terms and in reverse. The artist must consider what they want the image to be on paper, cut from the block everything that isn’t part of the image, but also remember that what goes to paper will be the mirror-image of what’s cut into the block.

Fellows stands out among his peers for bringing that tradition back to the forefront, with work that uses familiar archetypal elements in fresh and often fanciful ways. After training in design at Drexel University in Philadelphia — a process he described as more computer-driven and less hands-on than he cared for — he roamed extensively.

“After college, I traveled a lot and I’d always have a block of artist’s linoleum with me,” he says of his experiences traveling the East Coast and Europe. “And I’d make these postcards and send them home. So they were my own impressions of the places and people I met.”

He moved to Colorado in 2003. Like many a migrant artist to the square state, he served a few tours in Keystone doing line-level jobs. Eventually, he graduated to sign design for the resort, which landed him more design gigs. Fellows created a portfolio of work that showcased his East-Coast rearing in nautical takes on familiar “Old Man and the Sea” concepts, while also working on mountain landscapes seemingly rendered from children’s dreams of snowy peaks: a kind of “Where the Winter Things Are.”

Now in Crested Butte after 11 years in Denver, Fellows is finding that the accessibility and approachability of his artwork is generating its own friends.

“I did a lot of T-shirt designs and freelance work that I had to hustle for, but now companies looking for more organic and authentic images are contacting me,” he says.

Those companies include heavy-hitters with household names, at least in Colorado: SmartWool, Patagonia, and Huckberry, among others. Craft beer fans also will recognize Fellows’ work on the branding for Breckenridge-based Broken Compass Brewing.

“I’ve been working with Broken Compass since the beginning. A good friend introduced me to the two owners and we just hit it off great,” he says. Fellows’ handiwork is present in Broken Compass’ flagship logo, as well as their bombers, can labels and branded merch. “The creative freedom and professional relationship have both been great,” he adds.

It isn’t all corporate branding and design for the artist, though. The more commercial work affords the space for Fellows to explore his passions in his art — most notably river scenes and living the rafting life.

“There really wasn’t a whole lot of real river art out there,” he says. “There was good landscape photography and some of the more accessible stuff. But nothing that really spoke to me or my friends about being on
the river.”

Crested Butte provides inspiration for John Fellows’ work and his brewery art is well known around Colorado.

Enter the latest in Fellows’ catalog of creations, one he counts among his personal favorites and his best work. “The Grand” is a tribute to the Grand Canyon. It is emblematic of his take on the established process — images laid over a palimpsest of antique maps or other topographical shadows. The art’s elements are as intimate and immediate as a photo, yet layering it over a map offers broader expanse and context. Who better than an artist who works in cutting away what is not part of the grander picture to capture a national treasure — itself formed by the erosive power of the Colorado River?

Fellows’ art is as varied and impressive as that of an accomplished storyteller. Images of men at work and play, sea-faring and river-faring exploits, and the joys of mountain life are stalwarts in his portfolio, all of it easily recognized in his signature style.

The rare commercial artist who also sustains a fine art career, John Fellows displays and sells his work at johnfellowsart.com. He occasionally shows in galleries regionally, but invites enthusiasts to contact him for tours of his Crested Butte studio to see his work. See more of his work at: instagram.com/jfellows56 and johnfellows.bigcartel.com.

Kyle Kirves drinks beer, plays guitar, runs trails, and manages projects – all with varying degrees of success. While not a craftsman himself, he is quite content writing about the Colorado artisans who create such wonderful things and memorable experiences