Nature, people, and music converge in depictions of history and culture. PHOTO COURTESY OF BRIAN O’DONNELL[/caption]

In March of 1904, a double murder occurred in the Russell Gulch area of Gilpin County, turning a beautiful mountain home into a crime scene and part of history. The home remained vacant for an estimated 50 years.

O’Donnell first moved to Gilpin County in 1973. He commuted 60 miles a day, five days a week, to Denver. With a line of family artists, it’s no surprise O’Donnell went on to study at the Rocky Mountain School of Art (RMSA), where he received formal training primarily working with figure painting. RMSA was inspiring and has influenced his nearly 50 years of painting.

After training at the RMSA, O’Donnell worked on the Denver Rio Grande Railroad changing rail through mountain passes. His experiences also include lumberjacking, and janitorial services, all while he continued painting.

After several moves and other career experiences, including the film industry during which he produced the documentary Deadheads, about The Grateful Dead’s faithful followers, he found his way back to Gilpin County.

O’Donnell has remained in Gilpin since 1999 when he wrote his first novel A Life At High Altitude. That same year, he and his wife acquired the murderous home mentioned previously.

With the enormous task of turning the home into a habitable place, clearing nearly five decades of dust and grime, and ridding the space of rats, spiders, and various other rodents that had taken hold of it, it became their forever home.

The O’Donnell’s spent their first three years restoring the cottage to its present-day condition, “turning a rundown dilapidated haunted house into an Art Gallery, displaying the work of American Artist Brian O’Donnell,” born on October 23, 1950.

The home gallery displays samples of O’Donnell’s work, including oil, watercolor, pastel paintings, and pencil drawings. His style ranges from subjective to non-objective abstract and impressionistic to realistic.

O’Donnell shares, “I think that most artists would love to have their own gallery in which they can hang their work. In my case, it turned out to be in a haunted house at the end of a dirt road in a ghost town.”

O’Donnell has proven that with love, creativity, patience, and hard work something dark can be filled with light and color, adding more beauty to Gilpin County.

Brian O’Donnell’s Ghost Town Gallery is located on the grounds of the Ghost Town Disc Golf Course in Gilpin County. To learn more visit https://artistbrianodonnell.com/ or you can give him a call at 303-582-3083.

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