December 12, 2024

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Art Attack: All the Shows You’ll Want to See This Weekend in Denver

No rest for the weary, folks. You’ll want to leave the Best of Denver 2022 behind for a few hours while you take in this weekend’s rush of excellent new art shows, including a few at galleries highlighted in the issue.

Here’s what’s happening:

click to enlarge A pile of Britland Tracy's traced drawings of mid-century photo-slides. - COURTESY OF UNDERSTUDY

A pile of Britland Tracy’s traced drawings of mid-century photo-slides.

Courtesy of Understudy

Britland Tracy, Carousel
Understudy, 890 C 14th Street
Through April 30
Closing Party: Saturday, April 30, 6 to 9 p.m.

Years ago, families across the nation photographed lush color slide images of shared events, from birthdays to barbecues, to relive at home using a carousel projector. Marfa-based artist Britland Tracy once purchased an anonymously captioned and curated mid-century album of 800 slides in an antique mall, picking it up again years later during the pandemic lockdown. Inspired by the popularity of adult coloring books during that solitary time, Tracy began to meticulously project and trace each slide, leaving a ghostly image from the past. Go back in time at Understudy, where Tracy’s reimagined memories will be on view through the end of April.

A sampling of work by Lisa Riannson. - LISA RIANNSON

A sampling of work by Lisa Riannson.

Lisa Riannson

Free Association: The Art of Lisa Riannson
Kanon Collective, 6851 West Colfax Avenue, Lakewood
Through May 1

Kanon Collective says farewell to Pasternack’s Art Hub with one last solo show by gallery artist Lisa Riannson, who invites viewers to take a walk through her psyche, the primary source for her dreamlike visual moments in time. Some results are abstract curtains, while others capture mimosas cooling on a patio table, the aroma of an iris, jumping into a pool and other everyday pleasures. Like the rest of its roommates at Art Hub, Kanon will be packing up for the new 40 West facility soon.

click to enlarge Barbara Takenaga, “Upper Lower Case,” acrylic on linen. - BARBARA TAKENAGA, COURTESY OF ROBISCHON GALLERY

Barbara Takenaga, “Upper Lower Case,” acrylic on linen.

Barbara Takenaga, courtesy of Robischon Gallery

Barbara Takenaga, Omar Chacon, Jae Ko, Linda Fleming
Robischon Gallery, 1740 Wazee Street
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 7, 6 to 8 p.m.

Robischon Gallery unwraps a new quartet of artist solos, ranging from Barbara Takenaga’s swirling abstract captures of the celestial and terrestrial and Omar Chacon’s patterned, tactile acrylics to Jae Ko’s rolled-paper sculptures and laser-cut steel sculptures by Linda Fleming. There’s a definite theme of continuity among styles going on here.

click to enlarge Just a few works from Innovations in Printmaking and Mixed Media at D'art. - COURTESY OF D'ART GALLERY

Just a few works from Innovations in Printmaking and Mixed Media at D’art.

Courtesy of D’art Gallery

Innovations in Printmaking and Mixed Media
James Holmes, Lifelines: An Artist’s Journey, in Gallery East
D’art Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Drive
Through May 1
Opening Reception: Friday, April 15, 6 to 9 p.m.
Artist Talk: Sunday April 24, 1 to 3 p.m.

D’art unveils its nod to Mo’Print with a national group print show juried by notable artist and printmaker Melanie Yazzie, who teaches at CU Boulder. The added interest of mixed media to these chosen works shows a whole new angle where the craft of printmaking takes off into sculptural and tactile territories. Meanwhile, painter James Holmes brings the ordered chaos of his bright abstract paintings to the East Gallery.

click to enlarge A Lauri Lynnxe Murphy bee collaboration. - LAURI LYNNXE MURPHY

A Lauri Lynnxe Murphy bee collaboration.

Lauri Lynnxe Murphy

Lauri Lynnxe Murphy, Seeing the Trees for the Forest
Pamela Webb: Hand + Hammer
Jeffco Schools Foundation High School Art Exhibition
Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, 6901 Wadsworth Boulevard, Arvada
Friday, April 8, through May 8

Exhibitions by Lauri Lynnxe Murphy and Pamela Webb at the Arvada Center can hardly be called sideshows to the gallery’s annual Jeffco Schools Foundation High School Art Exhibition, but both artists did begin their careers as students in the Jeffco system: Murphy at Green Mountain and Webb — who now teaches in the district at Dakota Ridge — at Pomona. Both follow unusual pathways in their practices, from Murphy’s experiments with snail paths and bee hives to Webb’s transitions between fine art, architectural fabrication and metalsmithing. They must be doing something right, then, in Jeffco’s high-school art departments, as the student exhibition of 400 works from 23 high schools will prove. A free reservation is required to visit the galleries; select a date and RSVP here.

click to enlarge Artist Jasmine Abena Colgan muses on living with vitiligo. - COURTESY OF ARTHYVE

Artist Jasmine Abena Colgan muses on living with vitiligo.

Courtesy of ArtHyve

Jasmine Abena Colgan, You Gotta Have Tough Skin: To Be a Woman of Colors
Taxi Community, 3457 Ringsby Court
Through April 17
Artist Reception: Friday, April 8, 6 to 9 p.m.

On a sad note, the two-woman nonprofit ArtHyve, an organization working to archive and preserve important work by Colorado artists, is signing off for now with one last commissioned Archives as Muse exhibition. Jasmine Abena Colgan — a crusader for the cause of people with vitiligo, an autoimmune condition that attacks melanin-producing cells, causing discolored patches of skin — will unveil You Gotta Have Tough Skin: To Be a Woman of Colors, an autobiographical and transformational look at living with vitiligo through photography and installation.

Let’s all pause here for a salute to Jessie De la Cruz and Sigri Strand for an effort well done. ArtHyve not only gave artists a reason to produce their best work, but also helped expose that work to an audience.

click to enlarge Deb Stanger, “Sunflowers,” in response to a poem by Deborah Kelly. - COURTESY OF FIREHOUSE ART CENTER

Deb Stanger, “Sunflowers,” in response to a poem by Deborah Kelly.

Courtesy of Firehouse Art Center

Exquisite Connections: Month of Poetry
Kay Keyes Farrar, in Studio 64
Firehouse Art Center, 667 Fourth Avenue, Longmont
Friday, April 8, through May 8
Artist Reception: Friday, April 8, 6 to 9 p.m.

Firehouse celebrates National Poetry Month 2022 with a collaborative pairing of artists with poets for the South Gallery exhibition Exquisite Connections. Each duo was allowed a choice as to whether the poet or the artist would respond to the other’s work. Representational and plein air painter Kay Keyes Farrar pops up in Studio 64, and the Mo’Print show Mixed Grit continues in the Main Gallery.

click to enlarge Ceramic artist Kevin Snipes and his North High mentees show together at ASLD Gallery. - COURTESY OF THE ART STUDENTS LEAGUE OF DENVER

Ceramic artist Kevin Snipes and his North High mentees show together at ASLD Gallery.

Courtesy of the Art Students League of Denver

Kevin Snipes, Supernatural Stomping Grounds
Art Students League of Denver, 200 Grant Street
Friday, April 8, through May 22
Artist Reception: Friday, April 8, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Ceramic artist Kevin Snipes, who essentially draws on clay to create decorative, sculptural surfaces, finishes up a residency at the Art Students League of Denver, with Supernatural Stomping Grounds, a show he shares with the North High School ceramics students he worked with during his term.

Dateline 112: George Bangs, Terry Campbell, Miriam Dubinsky, Brandon Opalka and Maria Staffeld
Dateline Gallery, 3004 Larimer Street
Artist Reception: Friday, April 8, 6 to 9 p.m.

Dateline celebrates its 112th exhibition on Larimer Street since it opened in the living room of artists Jeromie Dorrance and Adam Milner in March 2014. Dorrance, who now runs the gallery on his own (Milner headed off to grad school at Carnegie Mellon), has crafted a show much like Dateline 001, with a mixed-bag group exhibition of interesting and experimental work.

RedLine resident Max Maddox imbues objects with new life at Dateline. - COURTESY OF DATELINE GALLERY

RedLine resident Max Maddox imbues objects with new life at Dateline.

Courtesy of Dateline Gallery

Max Maddox, Radiant Birds: A Suite of Objects
Alto Gallery, RiNo ArtPark, 1900 35th Street, Suite B
Friday, April 8 through April 30
Artist Reception: Friday, April 8, 6 to 10 p.m.

RedLine resident Max Maddox, an artist splitting time between surrealism and assemblage, spills the beans on what he’s been working on with Radiant Bird, billed as “A Suite of Objects.” Basically presenting said objects as something other than their definitive identities, Maddox thereby frees them from the shackles of commerce and functionality.

A sculptural work by Janine Thornton. - JANINE THORNTON.

A sculptural work by Janine Thornton.

Janine Thornton.

CU Denver Sculpture Club, Inclusivity
Janine Thornton, What We Saw Matters
Timus Ware, in the Treasure Chest
Pirate: Contemporary Art, 7130 West 16th Avenue, Lakewood
Friday, April 8, through April 24
Opening Reception: Friday, April 8, 6 to 9 p.m.
Pirate Performance Series: Songs and performance by Abby Gregg and Melissa K. Jones: Friday, April 22, 7:30 p.m
.
The CU Denver Sculpture Club, a collective member of the gallery, presents a group show juried by CSU sculpture professor Suzanne Faris, with associate member Janine Thornton, whose sculptural work encompasses an interest in totems, natural and found materials, woven fibers and sustainability, not necessarily in that order. In the Treasure Chest, meet Timus Ware.

click to enlarge Street artist KRAVE checks in at ILA Gallery. - COURTESY OF ILA GALLERY

Street artist KRAVE checks in at ILA Gallery.

Courtesy of ILA Gallery

KRAVE, Mono-Sapien
Love Pulp, American LoFi
ILA Gallery, 209 Kalamath Street, Suite 12
Friday, April 8, through May 7
Opening Reception: Friday, April 8, 6 to 10 p.m., or by appointment

ILA Gallery brings some big fish to Denver’s little sea: versatile Miami street artist, muralist and sculptural artist Daniel Fila, aka KRAVE — along with wall-writer Love Pulp, a sometime-Denverite who’s diversified to include signage, tattoo art and mural work in realist and pop-art styles in his repertoire. Krave’s Mono-Sapien focuses on his “El Mono Fresco,” a monkey cartoon that’s his signature character, while Pulp’s American LoFi gets nostalgic for the good ol’ days.

click to enlarge Ogle artist Risa Friedman's collage work at Westward Gallery. - COURTESY OF WESTWARD GALLERY

Ogle artist Risa Friedman’s collage work at Westward Gallery.

Courtesy of Westward Gallery

Community
Westward Gallery, 4400 Tennyson Street
Opening Reception: Friday, April 8, 6 to 10 p.m.

Westward Gallery on Tennyson Street gets edgy with an invitational show curated by Jarred De Palo and boasting a worthy lineup of local artists, including Julio Alejandro, Cal Duran, Risa Friedman, Anthony Garcia Sr., Hillary Lauer, Jahna Rae and Michelle Weddle.

Ceramic artist Aprylisa Snyder is just one of thirty artists on the EBCA studio tour. - COURTESY OF EAST BOULDER COUNTY ARTISTS

Ceramic artist Aprylisa Snyder is just one of thirty artists on the EBCA studio tour.

Courtesy of East Boulder County Artists

East Boulder County Artists Exhibition
The Great Frame Up, 430 Main Street, Longmont
Friday, April 8, through May 6
Opening Reception: Friday, April 8, 5 to 8 p.m.

In preparation for EBCA’s annual tour of artist studios in Longmont and Lafayette on April 23 and 24, lookie-loos can get a sneak peek of what to expect beginning Friday at the Great Frame Up in Longmont. An exhibition at the shop through May will showcase work by the thirty participating EBCA artists who will be opening their doors at sixteen studio locations in a couple of weeks.

click to enlarge Elaine Erne comments on the dark lives of stuffed animals. - COURTESY OF ARTWORKS CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART

Elaine Erne comments on the dark lives of stuffed animals.

Courtesy of Artworks Center for Contemporary Art

Power
The Lives and Traumas of Stuffed Animals: Elaine Erne
Artworks Center for Contemporary Art, 310 North Railroad Avenue, Loveland
Friday, April 8, through June 25
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 9, 3 to 7 p.m., $15
Loveland’s Artworks celebrates ten years of building community among artists and art lovers with a couple of shows opening Friday as part of downtown Loveland’s Night on the Town, including a resident artist group show, Power, and a solo show by Elaine Erne, whose storytelling series of graphite pencil drawings and prints about the inner lives of stuffed animals tends to cross over to the dark side. See it now or wait until the gallery reception and celebration on May 7, with music by Wendy Woo. If you haven’t been, either date would be a good time to see what’s up with Artworks, said to be the largest studio artist community in northern Colorado.

click to enlarge Kelton Osborn, “Jepun,” acrylic, latex and graphite on canvas. - COURTESY OF MICHAEL WARREN CONTEMPORARY

Kelton Osborn, “Jepun,” acrylic, latex and graphite on canvas.

Courtesy of Michael Warren Contemporary

New Works by Kelton Osborn
Michael Warren Contemporary, 760 Santa Fe Drive
Closing Reception: Saturday, April 9, 4 to 6 p.m.

Michael Warren hosts a last-chance opportunity to take in abstract painter Kelton Osborn’s pleasing solo show before it comes down.

click to enlarge Audra Stachnik, garment upcycled with gold tablecloth, upholstery fabric, faux fur, beading, metallic fabric, Domino silk ribbon and butterfly necklace. - COURTESY OF SPECTRA ART SPACE

Audra Stachnik, garment upcycled with gold tablecloth, upholstery fabric, faux fur, beading, metallic fabric, Domino silk ribbon and butterfly necklace.

Courtesy of Spectra Art Space

Upcycled Art Show
Spectra Art Space, 1836 South Broadway
April 9 through May 1
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 9, 5 to 10 p.m., donation of $5 to $25 with graduated perks (free general admission sold out)

Spectra has a spectacle on its hands with the Upcycled Art Show and its fabulous lineup of handy people who have a way with the stuff the rest of us toss out, as clothing designers, found-object sculptors, collectible-toy makers and general throwaway geniuses with a natural affinity for the art of reuse. The opening is a party; admission donations starting at $5 will get you varying sizes of swag bags and, at $15 and up, free entry into Spectra’s immersive Spookadelia/Novo Ita experience.

Interested in having your event appear in this calendar? Send the details to [email protected]ord.com.