For an event known for coffin races, polar plunges, and costumes, Frozen Dead Guy Days has long embraced the strange. But until recently, it has lacked one element often associated with cultural festivals: a visual arts component.
“Frozen Dead Guy Days was so much fun, but there was no art,” said Velina Davidson, owner of Aspen and Evergreen Gallery, who noticed the absence on her first visit to the event after moving to Estes Park three years ago. “That was strange to me.”
Now, that observation has grown into “Dead of Winter,” a monthlong exhibition inspired by the quirky legacy of FDGD that will open today at Aspen and Evergreen Gallery. The exhibit will be on view through March 27, with an artist mixer and awards celebration scheduled for March 27 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. On March 28, selected works will move to a festival booth during FDGD, marking the first time a curated art exhibition has been formally integrated into the event.
Davidson began discussing the possibility of incorporating visual art into the festival with organizers several months ago. Initially unsure how many artists might participate, she reached out within the local arts community and placed a call for submissions through the Estes Arts District. What began with an estimated six to eight potential participants has grown to nearly 30 contributing artists.
“I just counted 35 pieces here yesterday,” Davidson said. “We’re getting two more in today, and I just got an email from a guy who is bringing a lot of prints. He has quite a few prints, at least 30 prints, so in total, ‘Dead of Winter’ is around 60 pieces from almost 30 people.”
The exhibition includes works ranging from photography and sculpture to woodcarving and mixed media. While early discussions centered on what Davidson describes as “Dead Art,” the final exhibition has taken a broader approach.
“The theme is dead of winter, so it can be cold, it can be dead, and it can be winter,” Davidson said. “It’s very open-ended.”
That openness is reflected in the variety of pieces included in the show. Some artists have submitted traditional winter landscapes depicting bison or polar bears in snowy environments. Others have leaned into the festival’s dark humor with skeletal figures, bone structures, or found-object sculptures, while others take inspiration from historical traditions surrounding death.
Shawn Whitney, a fine art photographer who joined the gallery about a year ago, says the exhibition challenged her to experiment beyond her usual work.
“This is much more whimsical than my usual stuff,” Whitney said. “If you would have asked me to put a skeleton in my front yard 15 years ago for Halloween, I never would have done that, so this was a big leap for me.”
Whitney’s photographic submissions include staged images featuring a life-size skeleton she calls Skully, as well as works inspired by memento mori imagery, a tradition dating back to the 15th century that reminds viewers of life’s impermanence.
“It’s about remembering life is short and goes by so fast, so it encourages people to remember that and be kind to each other,” Whitney said. “Death is a fact but how we live our lives is also important.”
Tracy Lytle, a gallery employee and artist who has exhibited at Aspen and Evergreen for more than a decade, contributed several woodcarving pieces incorporating handmade paper flowers. One sculpture features a carved skull surrounded by white and blue floral elements intended to evoke winter conditions.
“This is not the kind of artwork I’d hang in my house,” Lytle admits, “but it’s so fun and different. It was an exciting artistic challenge to work with the ‘Dead Art’ style that Velina has been developing at the gallery for this exhibition.”
Lytle says bringing art into FDGD offers a new dimension to the event that could broaden its appeal.
“You have the bar crawl, the music, the games, and the races, so to bring art into it is another cool spinoff that will hopefully bring more people to the event,” she said. “I’d love to see this grow into something that happens at Frozen Dead Guy Days each year.”
Following the March 27 awards mixer, gallery staff plan to transport unsold works to the festival grounds using a hearse in a ceremonial procession meant to reflect the event’s origins. The artworks will be placed in a coffin, covered in black, and driven to the festival pavilion, where the gallery expects to host its “Dead of Winter” art sale booth in a heated indoor space near the coffin races (though the booth’s exact location is TBD).
Participating artists will staff the booth throughout FDGD, offering visitors an opportunity to purchase original work and speak directly with the creators behind the exhibition. Davidson says her goal is to make art a lasting part of FDGD moving forward.
“I really want this to continue and I don’t see any reason why it won’t,” Davidson said. “Von Freeman [FDGD coordinator] and I share this view that we don’t want it to be pub crawls or too crazy of a place where people come to drink. We want it to be more cultural, and having art there helps to preserve the legacy of the frozen dead guy who inspired the festival. FDGD will always be fun and whimsical, but we want it to have more layers.”
The “Dead of Winter” exhibition will be open to the public at Aspen and Evergreen Gallery from March 3 through March 27 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Additional works will be available for purchase at the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival booth on March 28.
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