It's official: Michael Garman Productions to close

"I never had any idea it would get this far," sculptor Michael Garman said, "I guess that's why it got this far."

The 70-year-old flew into Colorado Springs from Germany on Monday for a press conference to make official what fans of his work have been talking about for a week: Michael Garman Productions will stop making reproductions of Garman's sculptures at the end of this year, and the gallery in Old Colorado City will close once the remaining inventory is sold - probably in spring or early summer 2009.

Garman said his health is the problem. He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, and doctors have given him only a couple of years to live. It's time, he said, to focus on other things.

"It's sad, but it's also, ‘Holy mackerel, I get to take a breath,'" he said.

Because of his health, Garman is trying to limit the amount of time he spends in the thin air of Colorado Springs. He does plan to return this fall to sign his work for fans.

Garman doesn't plan to sell new works, but said he won't stop sculpting.

"It's been everything to me," he said, brushing back tears.

His son, Michael Patrick Garman, ran the business for five years and planned to take it over, but decided instead to strike out on his own, Garman said.

"Hell of a good sculptor," he said of his son. "He's decided to go out on his own now, find his own place."

Michael Patrick Garman could not be reached to comment.

Michael Garman's daughter Vanessa Garman will run the business until the end. The company's 15 employees should stay on until the business wraps up, she said.

The big question is what happens to Magic Town, Gar- man's street scenes that have become a tourist attraction. Magic Town could be sold and moved, or it could stay put and be run by whoever buys the gallery building.

"The last thing we would want is for it to end up in storage," Vanessa Garman said.

Losing the gallery will be a blow to Old Colorado City, said Jim Heikes, owner of Thunder Mountain Trading Co. and president of Old Colorado City Associates.

"It's really a sad thing," he said. "He has been a cornerstone for years and years and years. It will be a tremendous loss."

Garman began sculpting as a teenager while traveling in South America, more to feed himself than to express himself.

"Never got into this for art," he said. "Got into it for money."

Only later did he fall in love with sculpting - and develop a hugely successful business model producing affordable reproductions of his work, which are sold across the country. His sculptures are rougharound-the-edges depictions of rough-around-the-edges characters, mostly working people, like waitresses, cowboys, firemen and linemen. The originals, he said, he still holds onto.

He moved to Colorado Springs in 1971 and into the gallery building at 2418 W. Colorado Ave. in 1972. In the 1990s, business was so good that he owned a second, 32,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on Wahsatch Avenue and a second gallery in The Citadel mall, although Garman has since scaled back and everything is now run out of the gallery building.

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CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0275 or awineke@gazette.com

Meet the Artist

Michael Garman will meet fans and sign his work Sept. 6 and 7 and Nov. 22 and 23 at his gallery, 2418 W. Colorado Ave. For more information call 471-9391 or visit
www.michaelgarman.com.