Meet Your Neighbor: Bill Enyart

Local artist and Niwot resident Bill Enyart has lived an incredibly full life, many years of which were spent in Colorado. In 2018, Enyart moved to Niwot and has since become a friend to all in the area. With his personable demeanor, he and his family had no trouble finding their way into the Niwot community.

Throughout his life, Enyart found himself constantly connected to art. As a young child he inherited an art box from his grandmother, in high school he sketched images from National Geographic, and in college he decided to take ceramics classes, which kickstarted his love of pottery. His heritage revealed an array of artists in the family, including his great-uncle, Benson Bonde Moore, a widely known painter and etcher.

In college Enyart pursued geology in Virginia, but felt drawn to the Rocky Mountains after graduation. Shortly after moving to Colorado in 1981, he convinced his wife Lynn to move here with him. They moved back to Virginia 12 years later after having two children to be closer to family, and then to Houston for over 25 years, but Niwot stayed in their minds.

Enyart is close with both of his children, Billy and Lauren. Lauren lives in Texas with her husband and children, but Billy has lived in Colorado since 2012. Billy and his father work together in the business Billy started, Enyart Forge and Fabrication. Enyart contributes to his son's work with architectural scale kiln-formed glass, one of his artistic specialties.

Regardless of where his career took him, Enyart and his family always maintained the importance of art in his family's home. Although his career entailed building mega-regional seismic programs globally to map subsurface geology for oil and gas exploration, his artistic passions came to the surface in creative gifting concepts and architectural endeavors.

Enyart said, "Eventually I began painting glass in layers and fusing it in the kiln. This attracted the attention of Boulder gallery owner Mary Williams. Mary suggested I join Plein Air Artists Colorado to hone my painting skills and I began painting with that group every Thursday morning that I could. I was hooked, and soon I was off on my own painting all over Boulder County and beyond."

Today, Enyart and his wife live in a beautiful home in Niwot where he is pursuing his passions. He may be a geologist, but the various artistic mediums he has worked with cultivated his love for painting. His passion, or as he calls "obsession," has led him to become a well-known local artist.

Enyart's art pieces are sold at Osmosis Gallery and Fly Away Home Decor in Niwot and his talent is widely appreciated among locals. He and his wife hope to retire soon to pursue their dream of purchasing an Airstream trailer and following their love of arts together around the world wherever it takes them. For now though, they are happy to call Niwot home.