LYONS — After roughly six months of renovations, a new center is opening next week in Lyons that honors the life and legacy of 22-year-old Christian Glass through artistic expression.
Creative Grounds was founded by Sally and Simon Glass, the parents of Christian Glass, who was killed by law enforcement four years ago.
"He was a gentle, artistic soul. Very sensitive, deep thinker," Sally Glass said. "Always loved art from a little boy. Always fascinated with rocks... He was always painting and drawing. Was always wondering how things worked."
The nonprofit community art center and cafe has a pottery studio, art center, and cafe. An outdoor seating space is attached to the facility as well.
“You can come to this space and do whatever you want, or nothing at all," said Sally Glass. "Just sit and watch the clouds. Come and throw a pot. Come and just hang with your friends. Pick up a guitar and jump on the stage. Just come and have a hot drink if you're cold. You come and just be.”
Creative Grounds welcomes young adults to a space where they can unwind through art and connect with others. The concept is something Christian Glass' mother believes he would have loved.
“We want now to remember not how he died, which was horrific, horrific crime. We want Christian to remembered for who he was," said Sally Glass. "He's just a really cool young man, really cool young man — artistic, creative — and by doing this, we really feel like we're honoring who he was.”
In June 2022, Christian Glass called 911 after his car got stuck on an embankment in Silver Plume. Five agencies responded to the call. His parents have said in the past that he was having a mental health crisis that day.
Christian Glass remained in his car for more than an hour as deputies persuaded him to exit. When Glass maintained he was afraid and wanted to stay inside, Deputy Andrew Buen with the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office responded that Glass would be removed with force. That call was authorized by former deputy Kyle Gould.
Moments later, Buen, as evidenced by body camera footage, can be seen shooting Christian Glass. Christian Glass died due to his injuries at the scene.
In Nov. 2022, a grand jury indictment found that Christian Glass was not a danger to himself, law enforcement, or anyone else when he was accosted by Clear Creek County deputies and shot, and the decision to remove him from his vehicle directly led to his death.
Buen and Gould, the deputy who shot him and the deputy who authorized the call to do so, respectively, were both let back to work after the incident. It was only after the two were indicted on criminal charges related to Christian Glass’ death, that they were fired by the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office.
In a retrial that concluded in Feb. 2025, a jury found Buen guilty of criminally negligent homicide. He was sentenced to three years in the Department of Corrections (DOC) for the criminally negligent homicide charge and 120 days in jail for a reckless endangerment charge. The latter sentence ran concurrently with the DOC charge.
"We just wanted that cop in jail, which we achieved, and Christian's name was cleared. So we were like, great, that's justice," Sally Glass said. "But there's another part, which is the civil — it's called a civil trial, which our lawyers told us about. It's financial settlement, which we didn't really understand, but we were told it's like a punishment.”
In the civil rights case settled by the law office of Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC, Clear Creek County, the State of Colorado, the Town of Georgetown, and the City of Idaho Springs agreed to a historic $19 million payment to the Glass family.
“We call it Christian's money. That money grows each year, and we take the growth, and we've used that to fund this," Sally Glass said, gesturing to the community art center. “It's a nonprofit, and we hope that the settlement money lasts a long, long time.”
Christian Glass' artwork hangs throughout Creative Grounds, and his mother knows her son would be proud of the way they are using the settlement funds.
"I think he'd be happy and excited that this space is opening, and the fact that we're able to turn something vaguely positive out of something so horrendous and tragic," Sally Glass said with a smile. "When I come here, I just feel happy because I just think, 'Oh man, Christian would have loved this space'... Hopefully other young adults and teens will love this space, too.”
The center is set to open on Wednesday, Sept. 16.
