Back before the organized bike paths, the boom of posh lofts and even the construction of Elitch’s, downtown Denver painted a very different scene — a scene of abandoned buildings, empty factories and graffiti. Lots and lots of graffiti. “Denver has always had a big scene for (graffiti),” says Jolt,…
Alongside tonight’s flurry of Biennial-sponsored events — a 5:30 p.m. symposium led by Arianna Huffington at the Buell Theatre and a Canada Night shindig at Sustainability Park from 7 to 11 p.m. — MCA Denver will jump into the middle of the action at 5 p.m. with a celebration of…
Though its name would suggest otherwise, the Biennial of the Americas is back in Denver three years after its inaugural edition in 2010. Although the lineup of that event was impressive, it barely made a blip on the local radar. But this time around, Denver’s mayor, Colorado’s governor and the…
While sitting in traffic on 22nd Avenue, it’s hard not to look out the windows at the buildings around you. And that is when you notice it — the large, colorful mural taking up the entire side of an abandoned building on Park and 22nd. The artist behind the piece…
Returning to the Boulder Book Store for the first time since 2006, Chuck Klosterman was a new breed of literary animal on this visit. Now the author of two fiction novels and a new essay collection about the dark truths of self-deception, Klosterman is no longer the dismissable pop nerd…
The curatorial team behind the Biennial’s Draft Urbanism exhibitions wanted to turn the city into an international showcase so people-friendly that it’s accessible by simply walking down the street. In turn, Draft Urbanism’s indoor element, First Draft, was conceived as a welcoming gesture from the local art community to the…
Editor’s note: Artist Charlie Boots is part of the inaugural pair of PAIR residents at Denver’s Powerhaüs Studio. As part of his residency, he and his fashion-designing counterpart will be reporting from the real world via Show and Tell, as they learn the ropes from studio mentors Mona Lucero, Lauri…
Architecture provides our daily backdrop of the city, and we tend to take it for granted as we walk each day through brick, glass, metal and concrete canyons and along orderly avenues lined with dwellings old and new. But Carson Chan, executive curator for Denver’s Biennial of the Americas 2013…
As of July 1, anyone eighteen and under can get into Museum of Contemporary Art Denver for free thanks to a new initiative in partnership with David and Laura Merage of the David and Laura Merage Foundation. “The partnership is designed to give Denver’s teenagers access to the art that…
Putting together an exquisite corpse exhibit would be no easy task for a gallerist in any case, but Rebecca Peebles and Danette Montoya of the adventurous Groundswell Gallery made their mission even more challenging: For Exquisite Corpse: Stamped and Mailed, they tapped a whopping 44 local artists to choose partners…
Editor’s note: Longtime Denver fashion designer Francis Roces, whose brand name is KimonoDragons, is half of the inaugural pair of PAIR residents at Denver’s Powerhaüs Studio. As part of his three-month residency, he and his fine-art counterpart, Charlie Boots, will be reporting from the real world via Show and Tell,…
Two-dimensional works dominate contemporary art — and not just paintings, prints and watercolors, but videos and films, too. But three-dimensional pieces in the form of sculptures and installations are undeniably on the up-swing, and the evidence is all around us this summer. There’s the spectacular Catalyst, at the Denver Botanic…
Michael Paglia visits Z Art Department and Goodwin Fine Art in this week’s art review, taking in two solo shows that focus on sculpture. The show at Z Art Department features work by David Mazza, while Goodwin Fine Art is showing pieces from Patrick Marold. Continue reading for photos from…
In September 2010, an unknown artist dropped off one of his original creations at the Westword office. The abstract sculpture depicts an open hand covered in different colors, shapes, textures and other miscellaneous items, including green plastic army men at its base. The sculpture was accompanied by this note: “The…
Next Tuesday, the second Biennial of the Americas will kick off a crammed four days of programming — July 16 through 19 — that promises to run fast and hard, giving you little time to catch your breath. To help you plot your course, we’ve compiled this list of the…
The Denver Public Library is honoring two of its oldest branches on Saturday, July 13: the Decker Branch, at 1501 South Logan Street, and the Woodbury Branch, at 3265 Federal Boulevard, with both mark their hundredth birthdays with parties featuring family-friendly activities, photo booths, live performances and refreshments from 9…
A Breckenridge resident and self-described “river rat,” Beth Groundwater is a writer of mystery stories. After retiring from a software engineering position in 1999, Groundwater pursued her lifelong interest in writing and mysteries and set to work on her craft, eventually seeing her short stories published in anthologies before moving on to writing the ongoing RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series for Midnight Ink Publications. In advance of her upcoming signing appearance at Broadway Book Mall, Westword Book Club chatted with Groundwater about mysteries, her struggles with grammar as a young writer and her own book club.
Last month Create Denver invited residents to Come Play in the Park, an informal BYO-picnic celebration designed to raise awareness of the sights and amenities of Civic Center Park and its newest cultural jewel: the refurbished McNichols Building, the one-time Carnegie Library reborn as a gallery and event space. It…
Conceptual artist and octogenarian Roland Bernier is the subject of a solo at Walker Fine Art that’s alternately titled Last Picture Show and What’s in a Name. The exhibit is made up of sculptures and wall-relief panels, with both types of work including the artist’s last name as their chief…
Local artist Camryn Forrest is featured in a new edition of author Art Donovan’s The Art of Steampunk that’s coming out this month. It’s already received extreme praise from publications like Wired and New York Journal of Books for its inclusive look at steampunk, a genre that is growing in…
Yesterday on the Pepsi Center grounds, Cirque Du Soleil raised its blue and yellow Big Top tent in advance of its latest show, Amaluna, which debuts on July 18. The Big Top is nineteen meters high and has a diameter of 51 meters. It will be secured to the ground…
Colorado Native Noah Dorsey will release his first solo comic, Saint Chaos, today with production help from Mile High Comics and illustrations by Zsombor Huszka. Dorsey took time out from preparing for his comic’s release to answer a few questions about how he got into comic book writing, his partnership…
