Cie Hoover
Ouray, CO
Wood-based artist living and creating in the mountains of Ouray, Colorado.
Message
Cie Hoover: From Music Row to Alpine Artistry
Cie Hoover is an "organic contemporary" artist and musician based in Ouray, Colorado, whose work serves as a rhythmic bridge between the pulse of the music industry and the rugged solitude of the San Juan Mountains. His journey is one of profound reinvention—transitioning from a decade-long career in Nashville to a fine-art practice centered on the tactile and innate beauty of wood.
Hoover’s early life was defined by sound. A graduate of Belmont University’s Music Business program, he served as a Global Event Manager for Gibson Guitar and a Music Row publicist before spending nearly seven years touring full-time in the folk-rock duo You Knew Me When. This era of constant motion eventually led Hoover and his wife to seek roots in the Rockies, where the restoration of an 1898 mining house sparked a new creative obsession. What began with basic woodworking evolved into a sophisticated artistic style, transforming his garage-turned-studio into a sanctuary for subtractive carving, wood-burning, and mixed-media composition.
Hoover’s work is a meditation on the untamed spirit of the West, seeking to bridge the gap between the wild, natural world and the structured environments we inhabit. Using wood as both a canvas and a subject, he employs meticulous carving and burning techniques to render patterns that abstractly represent the "visual acoustics" of the elements: the flow of water, the rhythm of wind, or the grain of rock. By presenting these textures on wood panels, he frames the raw power of the mountain spirit through a contemporary lens.
His trajectory as a public artist has gained significant momentum, highlighted by his "Crescendo" sculpture series and a permanent, 18-foot tall and 40-foot wide installation at the Durango-La Plata County Airport. In 2026, Hoover reached a defining milestone with the opening of Cie Gallery, a flagship personal gallery and studio space for his work at 738 Main Street in downtown Ouray.
Represented by Raitman Art Galleries (Breckenridge & Vail, Colorado), as well as Piper J Gallery (Truckee, CA), and recognized for high-profile collaborations with brands like Wagner Custom Skis, Hoover continues to explore the dialogue between nature and modern design—inviting viewers to contemplate the essential connection between nature and the soul.
Learn more at www.CieCreativeCo.com and www.instagram.com/CieCreativeCo
Statement
My work is a tactile exploration of the natural world, rooted in the medium of wood and expressed through both intricate wall-mounted reliefs and free-standing sculptural forms. Living in the San Juan Mountains, I am endlessly inspired by the rugged topography of the alpine landscapes that surround me. I treat wood not as a passive substrate, but as a collaborator; I utilize subtractive carving, wood-burning, and various pigments to reveal the organic patterns within the grain, allowing the material’s innate character to guide the aesthetic of each piece.
This "organic contemporary" style is a rhythmic bridge between my past in the music industry and my present in the studio. I view the textures of a forest or the shifting shadows of a peak as a visual rhythm—a direct influence drawn from my background in sound and composition. Whether carving the sweeping contours of a mountain ridgeline or shaping a three-dimensional sculpture, my goal is to distill the vastness of the outdoors into tangible, textured forms.
By translating these organic patterns into structured wooden works, I aim to create a dialogue between the viewer and the environment. My process serves to frame the raw power of the mountain spirit through a contemporary, architectural lens, allowing the energy of the wilderness to permeate the modern spaces we inhabit. Ultimately, my work is a meditation on the untamed spirit of the West—an invitation to contemplate the essential connection between the landscape and the soul, offering a sense of grounded tranquility and connection to the ephemeral beauty of the wild.