By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
Following the successful publications of a children’s book and coloring book based around Helper, Color Carbon County is back at it and preparing to release another coloring book, with the newest addition to the collection featuring businesses and landmarks from Price and Wellington.
Founder Ashley Vincent joined the KOAL newsroom to discuss her journey with the organization and what lies ahead for Color Carbon County.
“Color Carbon County is a nonprofit that I started a few years ago, where I’m trying to bring art opportunities to the youth in our area,” explained Vincent. “So this is mostly for kids who want to be able to explore their creative abilities outside of school, or maybe they’re homeschooled, or maybe they just need a safe place to be. And so my whole goal with it is just to bring a safe place for them to create art and to develop a love for where they’re from.”
Vincent shared that the idea for Carbon County started with a simple premise: how could she encourage a love for art outside of the classroom? “I’ve sat on the idea of having an art club at the school. The school, unfortunately, wasn’t able to fund that kind of art club, but the Helper Project did help me with that. And that’s kind of where the seed was planted. I was also the kids’ activity coordinator for Vibes, and so I took on that artistic role as well. And I just saw more of a need for art in our community for the young ones outside of school … It started with a couple of coloring pages that I made for Helper Vibes, and it turned into this.”
Creating a coloring book is no easy feat. Vincent peeled back the curtain and gave a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process behind the books,” It’s a lot of work. So the Helper one took about a year, and that is with communicating with the business owners in Helper and trying to figure out what hot spots I wanted to put in there and all of that, and then the time it takes to draw the pictures and talk with the printers and trying to get the funding and stuff. It took about a year.”
Vincent added,” This one actually moved a little faster just because I’ve already done it before, and I’ve got those relationships built with some of the locals in the community here. This one took about seven months, and it’s already at the printers – the Price and Wellington coloring book. And I feel like this one’s going to take off.”
Officially becoming a state tax-exempt nonprofit in July, the organization has worked tirelessly to encourage a love for the arts. Vincent took the time to examine the impact of the organization: “With the coloring books themselves, there have been a lot of people who have been really excited to see something like it. They’ve grown up here, and they’re like, ‘Wow, I know these landmarks, and it’s really exciting, and I want to buy these books for my grandkids. I’ve sent them all over the states already. So it’s impacting more than just local, which is a lot of fun.”
She continued, looking ahead to the future of the nonprofit,” I have lots and lots of big goals that I’m going to be working toward. We want a physical building at some point, and we’re not going to be bouncing around and living out of bins and stuff. We’re going to have an actual physical place, hopefully in the next few years. I also want to start a traveling art club. So think of, like, a pop-up at events, and the kids will be able to come in and do just a simple art project there.”
Closing our conversation, Vincent shared,” Thank you for the support, everybody, that’s been able to support me, and keep your eyes out on our Facebook page, or even on our website, for the drop of the coloring book. We will be doing a pop-up bake sale and a coloring book sale at Coyotes Well, as soon as it drops, so keep an eye out for those dates.”
More information on Color Carbon County is available online through the organization’s Facebook and Instagram pages. Copies of the coloring book and children’s book are available online through Etsy or in person at businesses along Helper Main Street.