Rigsby Revisited
1976 and 1977 represented an explosion of productivity for John David Rigsby after six years working for the National Endowment for the Arts, first as an Artist in Residence in Beaufort, South Carolina and then as the national visual arts coordinator for Artists in Schools Program. Most of the paintings in the original 1977 Arvada Center show were created after the artist and family moved to Colorado in late 1976, although a small handful were created in the late 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. After concluding his stint with the NEA, Rigsby was exhilarated by the opportunity to return to what he loved best: making art. Most of the works in the original 1977 exhibit were created at his Evergreen, Colorado studio, at the base of the Evergreen Dam during an explosion of artistic output.