Andrew Travers
VerifiedArticles by Andrew Travers
Alex Karp Goes Remote
Palantir CEO Alex Karp paid $120 million for a 3,700-acre former monastery near Aspen. His biographer explains how the remote estate fits his skiing-focused, low-key life. Why would the controversial Palantir CEO spend $120 million on St. Benedict’s Monastery? We asked his biographer. For most ofthe past seven decades, the man whose name was synonymous with St. Benedict’s Monastery in Old Snowmass was Father Thomas Keating.
Keith Mayerson’s Aspen
Painter Keith Mayerson returns to Colorado with 26 Aspen-inspired works, reimagining the town’s past and his childhood memories in a new American Dream chapter at the Aspen Art Museum. New paintings aimed to define Aspen as a place, an idea and the artist’s ‘Dream.’ The renowned painterand illustrator Keith Mayerson came home to Colorado in 2025 to create a new body of work about Aspen.
The Paul JAS Center Is Open
The new Paul JAS Center marks a historic moment for Jazz Aspen and its founder. The Great Recession hurt every arts organization, but for Jazz Aspen Snowmass and its eternally optimistic founder, Jim Horowitz, the downturn was an existential threat. It decimated the beloved presenter of Labor Day and June festivals and hub of jazz education for valley kids, leading to layoffs of longtime staff, Horowitz foregoing his salary and the loss of revenue including the title sponsor for Labor Day.
Alan Fletcher and Two Decades at the Helm
CEO Alan Fletcher reflects on his 20th season. CEO Alan Fletcher reflects on his 20th season. On the eve of his 20th summer leading the Aspen Music Festival and School, Alan Fletcher was appointed to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, joining the ranks of an organization established by the Founding Fathers that includes more than two centuries of American luminaries (and very few Aspenites).
A Smuggler Story: A Tribute to Our Favorite Open Space
Two decades after its last pieces became public, a new master plan aims to put finishing touches on the beloved trail and open space. Smuggler Mountain has always reflected Aspen's heart and character. An industrial center of the mining era, home to the largest silver nugget ever found in 1894. Abandoned in the Quiet Years. Home to squatters and societal dropouts in the post-'60s hippie ski bum era.
Opinion: Who is the real “Brutalist”? Aspen icon Hebert Bayer is among Oscar-nominated film’s Bauhaus inspirations.
There is no single historical model for the fictional Bauhaus-trained architect and American immigrant in “The Brutalist,” which is nominated for 10 Academy Awards in Sunday’s ceremony. Among its inspirations is Herbert Bayer, whose life and work in Aspen from the mid-1940s to the mid-1970s informs aspects of the fictional “Brutalist” played by Oscar-nominated Adrien Brody in this swaggering cinematic epic.
Andrew Travers, Author at The Colorado Sun
The Colorado Sun is an award-winning news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself. The Colorado Sun is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. EIN: 36-5082144 Got a story tip? Drop us a note at tips@coloradosun.com
A Year of Firsts at the Bayer Center
Last spring, a parent stopped me when I was picking up my kid from after-school gymnastics at the Red Brick Center for the Arts in Aspen. She had seen my name on a permission slip for a field trip to the Bayer Center at the Aspen Institute and asked, “What’s Bayer? What’s a Bayer Center?” An elementary school-age boy nearby overheard and interjected, in rapid-fire fashion with a know-it-all swagger: “You’ve never heard of Herbert Bayer?
Did the Beanie Baby Founder Destroy a Bauhaus Masterpiece?
Herbert Bayer’s Walk in Space Painting in Montecito in 1981, the year of its completion. Courtesy of Koko Bayer Beanie Babies founder Ty Warner was converting his toy-making fortune into a luxury real estate empire in 2000, he bought the historic Four Seasons Biltmore Santa Barbara hotel and a spectacular adjacent seaside conference center property.
Belly Up at 20
Michael, Danny and David Goldberg look back on two decades of Belly Up. Wires hung from the ceilingas paneling hadn't yet been installed, while contractors and owner Michael Goldberg scrambled to get the new music club ready for opening night, taking a break from buffing and prepping and lighting around 7 p.m. so that The Roots could do their soundcheck while Michael's teenage sons looked on.
What Aspen's Airport Expansion Could Mean for Ski Towns Everywhere
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app. On a fall evening in 1995, gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson stormed into Aspen’s Club Soda bar with a glass of Chivas Regal in hand, rallying locals around a simple message: “There is Some Shit We Won’t Eat.” The fight? An airport expansion that symbolized the town’s battle against overdevelopment.
What Was the Aspen Center of Contemporary Art?
Residencies and exhibitions brought a who's-who of superstar artists to Aspen for a brief stretch of the late 1960s. John Powers talking to visitors about his contemporary art collection in his home near the Aspen Institute in 1968.
The Music Fest Turns 75 and These Two Veterans Look Back
SHARON ISBIN Sharon Isbin has recorded with Joan Baez and collaborated with Sting, she’s won Grammys and performed for the Obamas at the White House. She’s released 35 albums and soloed with 200 orchestras. For the world’s preeminent living classical guitarist, Aspen has played a critical role in that success since she first arrived from Minnesota as a precocious 15-year-old in 1972. “I was awestruck by the mountains,” Isbin recalls of her first summers here.
What Was the Aspen Center of Contemporary Art?
Excitement was cracklingin Ann Mullins’ voice when she called me last winter and asked: “Have you ever heard of something called the Aspen Center of Contemporary Art?” Mullins—the landscape architect, former Aspen City Council member, authority on and champion of local design history—had in the course of a research project come upon a cache of documents related to this local institution from the late 1960s that she had never heard of.
Triumphs and tragedy of Aspen ski legend Spider Sabich set for Amy Redford-directed documentary
For most people around the world who know it, the name Spider Sabich conjures images of ski country’s most lurid true crime tale, set in the decadent Aspen of the 1970s, in which he — the dashing young ski champion — is shot dead by his starlet girlfriend. His accomplishments as an athlete, his groundbreaking efforts for ski racers to make a living, and the beloved 31-year-old human who died on March 21, 1976, have been largely lost to history.
The recycling symbol’s roots
Editor’s note: This story is provided by Aspen Journalism, a nonprofit, investigative news organization. For more,visit aspenjournalism.org. As a shy and bearded young architecture student at the University of Southern California in the spring of 1970, Gary Anderson happened upon a flyer advertising a graphic-design contest. It called for students to create a symbol to promote the recycling of paper products, with a winner to be selected at that summer’s International Design Conference at Aspen.
The recycling symbol’s Aspen roots
As a shy and bearded young architecture student at the University of Southern California in the spring of 1970, Gary Anderson happened upon a flyer advertising a graphic-design contest. It called for students to create a symbol to promote the recycling of paper products, with a winner to be selected at that summer’s International Design Conference at Aspen. The winning black-ink icon that Anderson created featured a series of folded arrows chasing one another in a triangle.
The recycling symbol’s Aspen roots
As a shy and bearded young architecture student at the University of Southern California in the spring of 1970, Gary Anderson happened upon a flyer advertising a graphic-design contest. It called for students to create a symbol to promote the recycling of paper products, with a winner to be selected at that summer’s International Design Conference at Aspen. The winning black-ink icon that Anderson created featured a series of folded arrows chasing one another in a triangle.
Saving Aspen's 'Fritz-Carlton'
Designed by Fritz Benedict and home to Aspen's unofficial poet laureate for five decades, this cabin found a savior and is headed for the National Register of Historic Places. Designed by Fritz Benedict and home to Aspen's unofficial poet laureate for five decades, this cabin found a savior and is headed for the National Register of Historic Places.
Saving Aspen’s ‘Fritz-Carlton’
After the prolific novelist Joyce Carol Oates spent an evening at Bruce Berger’s cabin for an Aspen Writers’ Conference party in the late 1970s, she quipped to her host: “You know, if I had a house like this I could really write.” Indeed, there was some ineffable creative magic in this modest 988-square-foot log structure.
Aspen icon Herbert Bayer unveiled his World Geo-Graphic Atlas in 1953
When Bauhaus artist and Aspen icon Herbert Bayer unveiled his World Geo-Graphic Atlas in 1953, he broke the mold and set a new standard for the old-school mapmaking genre.
Theater Aspen Celebrates 40 Years
In 1983, with a loan from Aspen Community Theatre, a dream to produce the highest-quality staged plays for Aspen audiences, and an 80-seat performance space in the basement of the Hotel Jerome, actor Kent Reed founded what would become Theatre Aspen. As part of commemorating its 40th anniversary this summer, the company is mounting its first three-show main stage season in its Rio Grande Park tent theater since the pre-pandemic summer of 2019.
In Soldner's Footseps: Paul and Ginny's Home Opens for Tours
The Aspen home of renowned ceramic artist Paul Soldner opens its doors to the public. The Aspen home of renowned ceramic artist Paul Soldner opens its doors to the public. Since it opened for public tours last summer, the five-acre property and five-building compound where the iconic Aspen artists Paul and Ginny Soldner made their magic has naturally been a magnet for ceramicists, architects and creative pilgrims. But the plumbers are among Stephanie Soldner's favorite visitors.
Who Will Save Your Soul, Aspen?
Some say aspen is dead, others are working to keep it alive There is an old Aspen cliche: I came for the winters but stayed for the summers. It’s a nod to incredible skiing and tribute to gorgeous, active summers. But it’s about more than that. It’s about time. The longer you are here, the more you experience the most beautiful thing about Aspen. Ask any local what the best part of living here is. Nine out of 10 will say it’s the community. The one who doesn’t thought it was a trick question.
Nonprofit coalition aims to buy down homes to create affordable housing
As the least pricey free-market homes in once-affordable Colorado mountain towns such as Basalt and Carbondale are increasingly bought up as vacation properties and short-term rental investments, a new nonprofit coalition is aiming to keep them in the hands of locally based workers.
Nonprofit coalition aims to buy down homes to create affordable housing
As the least pricey free-market homes in once-affordable Colorado mountain towns such as Basalt and Carbondale are increasingly bought up as vacation properties and short-term rental investments, a new nonprofit coalition is aiming to keep them in the hands of locally based workers.
Art Gallery: David Yarrow
Shooting luxury bar scenes crowded with Western stars isn't the only thing David Yarrow is known for. The photographers talks visual storytelling, his eye for precision, and his new book. Some photographs beg to have the backstory told. Lock in at Woody Creek Tavern is one of them. Seeing it at Casterline|Goodman Gallery in Aspen, Colorado, you just have to find out how British photographer David Yarrow set the scene. The shoot outside of Aspen was chaotic, but that was the plan.
Art Galleries Meet Guests in their Comfort Zone: Hotels
Terry Eaton curates a conversation-starting new collection for the Limelight Hotel. When you enter a museum or art gallery, you’ve prepared yourself for an encounter with art. Stepping into a hotel, you probably haven’t. But that is beginning to change as more local properties curate permanent collections or rotating exhibitions. Guests can expect something more than another basic aspen tree painting on the walls.
What Does the Sheriff's Office Look Like After Braudis?
Pitkin County’s new sheriff stakes a claim to Aspen’s progressive law enforcement tradition. The late Bob Braudis’ name wasn’t on the local ballot in November, but may as well have been. Five months after the peace-promoting lawman’s death, at 77, and 12 years after he retired, voters were asked who was best suited to carry on his legacy.
Jackson Emmer's 22 Songs in 12 Months
Singer-songwriter Jackson Emmer looks back on an ambitious year-long project. Jackson Emmer canceled all of his tour dates last winter, as coronavirus cases spiked around the new year. The singer-songwriter ended up spending most of 2022 at home near Carbondale with his wife and baby daughter, yet more people may have heard his music than any previous time in his career.
Arts Campus at Willits celebrates first year
When The Arts Campus at Willits (TACAW) broke ground on its $7 million performance venue in June 2020 in Basalt, during the grim early stage of the pandemic, the nonprofit arts organization was unclear when—if ever—concert crowds might again pack dance floors. In fall 2021, Gov.
With $2.4 million purchase, a Colorado nonprofit is testing "intervention model" to keep trailer parks out of private equity’s hands
A Carbondale-based social justice nonprofit this week went under contract to buy a 20-unit mobile-home park southwest of Glenwood Springs for $2.4 million attempting to buck the trend of losing affordable housing as private-equity groups buy Colorado parks. The Roaring Fork Community Development Corp.
With $2.4 million purchase, nonprofit is testing ‘intervention model’ to keep trailer parks out of private equity’s hands
A Carbondale-based social justice nonprofit group this week went under contract to buy a 20-unit mobile-home park outside of Glenwood Springs for $2.4 million in an attempt to buck the trend of displacement and affordable-housing destruction at the hands of private-equity groups buying Colorado parks. The Roaring Fork Community Development Corp.
Habitat for Humanity eyes manufacturing homes locally as future housing solution
Habitat for Humanity of the Roaring Fork Valley is attempting to build a modular home manufacturing plant so that it can scale up its pace of affordable housing development and more aggressively combat the housing crisis rippling from Aspen to Parachute.
Opinion: Colorado’s newspapers need new models, better owners Original
The annual Colorado Press Association awards ceremony is usually a feel-good affair for the state’s newspapers, a recognition of the quality journalism coming out of publications of all sizes, from the Front Range to the Four Corners. Normally the event and the association’s annual convention is an occasion for back-patting and journalistic pride. It’s a chance for the association’s 150 news outlets to celebrate the best reporting, writing, photos and design of the previous year.
End Times in Aspen Original
How a Soviet-born developer and a West Virginia billionaire destroyed a 141-year-old Colorado newspaper Here in Aspen, the air is thin, the snow is perfect, and money is everywhere. This is a singular American town in many respects. Among them is this: Aspen had, until very recently, two legitimate daily newspapers, The Aspen Times and the Aspen Daily News.
The sheriff we knew: Remembering Bob Braudis
Bob Braudis and George Stranahan bartending at the Woody Creek Hoedown in 2001. Aspen Historical Society/ Mary Eshbaugh Hayes Collection Mary Eshbaugh Hayes with her daughter, Elli Hayes Ford, granddaughter Alice Ford and Sheriff Bob Braudis in October 2011. Aspen Historical Society/Mary EshbaughHayes Collection Bob Braudis and filmmaker Bob Rafelson at a Filmfest reception held at the Wheeler Opera House in September 1999.
ATW Agenda: Fringe Fest, Violent Femmes, Rosé & More
THEATER 6.10-11 The Aspen Fringe Festival is back at the Wheeler Opera House on June 10 and 11, which will include a performance of Tony Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens’ “Heisenberg” and excerpts from Stephens’ other works with a cast of local actors including Tony nominee and Snowmass Villager Beth Malone of “Fun Home” fame. Stephens will be in-residence for the festival.
Simon Stephens’ Curious Incidents
The Tony-winning playwright Simon Stephens is learning something as the Aspen Fringe Festival’s playwright-in-residence. The London-based writer, best known for the Broadway version of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” this week in Aspen has been immersed in works that span his career.
Latinx House Launching New Festival in Aspen
A new festival is coming to Aspen in late August celebrating Latin culture with panels, talks, art exhibitions, live music, film screenings and food. The inaugural Raizado Festival, produced by The Latinx House, will run Aug. 30-Sept. 1 at Aspen Meadows. The event has been designed by film producer Olga Segura and activist Monica Ramírez, co-founders of Latinx House, which uses a gender-neutral term for Latinos.
Two new exhibitions open at Red Brick Center
Red Brick Center for the Arts executive director Sarah Roy puts the final touches on watercolor pieces by Leah Potts for the new show in Aspen on Thursday, June 2, 2022. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times) Artist Johanna Mueller’s pieces hang in the new show at the Red Brick Center for the Arts in Aspen on Thursday, June 2, 2022.
‘Aspen Space Station’ to land in Ashcroft
Artist Ajax Axe’s “Aspen Space Station” installation, which last summer took over a swath of Aspen Mountain’s backside with a group of artists, is returning for summer 2022 and landing in the more accessible Ashcroft ghost town site in July. It is due to run July 17 through Aug. 15. The inaugural “Station“ in August 2021 filled a 30-acre property on the remote backside of Aspen Mountain with work by Axe and local artists including Chris Erickson, Wally Graham and Lara Whitley.
The Unsinkable Jess Kimura
Based on the evidence of her countless high-flying and death-defying snowboard video parts over the past decade-plus, you might conclude Jess Kimura is invincible. But as the intimate and harrowing 40-minute documentary “Learning to Drown” makes clear, she has a mental and physical breaking point.
Adventure Encore
The Canadian snowboarder Jess Kimura reflects on her on-snow exploits and opens up about her mental health journey in the documentary “Learning to Drown,” a standout of the 2022 5Point Adventure Film Festival. At the April festival in Carbondale, the 40-minute film won the Hayden Kennedy Award and the audience-voted People’s Choice Award.
Visiting artists join for Anderson Ranch lecture
Diedrick Brackens and Meleko Mokgosi have overlapping residencies at Anderson Ranch Arts Center this month, so this pair of leading contemporary artists are joining together for a free public dialogue on Tuesday. Mokgosi has been on the Snowmass Village campus since May 24, while Brackens arrived on Sunday.
Chapel Gallery partners with EcoFlight for art show
The Aspen Chapel Gallery will open the mixed-media art show “Soar” on Wednesday, June 1. Curated by painter Amy Beidleman, the show includes work from Neal Beidleman, Coleen Clare, Larry Day, Mark Harvey, Pete McBride, Jane Pargiter, Robin Van Domelen, Andre Wille, and Pierre Wille. It will run through July 10. The show, presented in partnership with the nonprofit EcoFlight, which uses small aircraft to advocate for wildlands and habitat.
Historical Society renovates two museums and adds new ‘history hikes’ for summer
The Aspen Historical Society’s Wheeler/Stallard Museum will open for the summer on Tuesday, beginning a season that unveils makeovers at its two museums and new programs from the nonprofit. New offerings include additions to the “history hike” series with a July 9 guided hike of the Midland Railbed Trail, following a former railroad corridor from Koch Lumber Park to the Holden/Marolt Mining Museum, and an Aug.
Film about aftermath of plane crash near Aspen now streaming
The documentary “3 Days 2 Nights,” about brothers Andy and Mark Godfrey’s harrowing boyhood survival from a 1974 Aspen-bound plane crash and decades of healing from trauma, began streaming on Friday. An early cut of the film premiered at the 2018 Aspen Filmfest, where it won the festival’s Audience Award and filled the Wheeler Opera House for a Q&A with the Godfreys and director John Breen.
Godfrey brothers doc ‘3 Days 2 Nights’ now streaming
The documentary “3 Days 2 Nights,” about brothers Andy and Mark Godfrey’s harrowing boyhood survival from a 1974 Aspen-bound plane crash and decades of healing from trauma, began streaming on Friday. An early cut of the film premiered at the 2018 Aspen FIlmfest, where it won the festival’s Audience Award and filled the Wheeler Opera House for a Q&A with the Godfreys and director John Breen.
Aspen Art Museum presents ‘Mountain/Time’ video art exhibition
Clarissa Tossin, “Ch’u Mayaa,” 2017. (Courtesy the artist) Korakrit Arunanondchai, “Songs for Dying,” 2021. (Courtesy the artist and Rosenkranz Collection) Maia Ruth Lee, “The Stranger,” 2018. (Courtesy the artist and Whitney Museum of Art) Alan Michelson, “Pehin Hanska ktepi (They Killed Long Hair),” 2021. (Courtesy the artist) Don’t expect to lean back in a chair in the dark with a bag of popcorn and passively take in the Aspen Art Museum’s ambitious new video art exhibition.
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