You Say it's Your Birthday

It’s hard to believe that Ironton Studios and Gallery, a trailblazing pioneer in the now-thriving RiNo, has been around for ten years, but the name of the venue’s new show, decade, says it all: Ironton, a true arts community, was founded ten years ago by four graduates of the University of Colorado Denver sculpture department, back in the days when this area was little more than a run-down collection of junkyards, railroad tracks and warehouses. Celebrate Ironton’s tenth anniversary tonight from 7 to 10 p.m. at an opening reception for the group exhibition, which features works by all thirteen of its resident artists.

“At our group shows, you always really get the sense that there’s not another place like this in Denver, where studios for huge, large-scale metal fabrication are right next door to someone making paintings that are four by four inches...and we all get along,” says Ironton tenant and spokeswoman Jill Hadley Hooper. “It’s great to be able to pull yourself away from an easel and walk outside and see something completely different being made.” Variety will be just one hallmark of the evening. The other? Serendipity. There might be an accordion player, Hadley Hooper adds, and there will definitely be a magnificent, traffic-free view of tonight’s fireworks at Coors Field from the corner of 36th and Chestnut streets.

That’s where you’ll find Ironton — at 3636 Chestnut Place, to be exact; for details, go to www.irontonstudios.com or call 303-297-8626. Decade continues through July 25.
Fri., July 3, 2009