Nine Things for Art Lovers to Do and See in Denver

This weekend in metro-Denver galleries, discover international art stars and talented crops of Coloradans, go to an arty party and dance on a moonlit rooftop, smile at weird art and marvel over inspirational art. Come on out, the water’s fine and the pickings diverse. Our nine picks follow, in chronological order.

Roberto Juarez, Processing: Paintings & Prints 2008-2018
Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, 1750 13th Street, Boulder
June 7 through September 16
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 7, 6:30 to 9 p.m. (Artist talk precedes the reception from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. with an admission price of $8 to $12.)
The paintings of internationally renowned artist and traveler Roberto Juarez represent a patchwork of his own visual experiences through a composed, abstracted lens. The works are rendered in shapes and lush/muted tropical colors. You’ll get an eyeful of them at BMoCA’s comprehensive exhibit, Processing. Guest-curated by NYU art history professor and author Edward J. Sullivan, Processing breaks down Juarez’s technical and creative processes through more than 65 works.

We Make Our Own Wings
ATC Den, 3420 Larimer Street
June 7 through August 25
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 7, 6 to 9 p.m.
Free, RSVP in advance
On the surface, ATC Den’s exhibit We Make Our Wings combines the seemingly different aesthetics of three Denver artists — Emma Balder, Bonnie Ferrill Roman and Yoshitomo Saito — but it turns out that the thread linking their works is a sense of transcendence expressed in the disparate styles. Ultimately, it promises to be an exhibit that’s uplifting and beautiful to look at, whether your attention is directed toward Balder’s organic fiber paintings, Roman’s sculptural installation constructed from paper or Saito’s nature-inspired bronze sculpture and wall installations.

Made in Colorado
Emmanuel Gallery, Tenth and Lawrence Street Mall, Auraria Campus, and 808 Projects, 808 Santa Fe Drive
June 7 through August 10
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 7, 6 to 9 p.m.
This summer, the CU Denver College of Arts & Media is resurrecting its long-ago all-Colorado juried exhibit Zip 802 at the Emmanuel Gallery, with overflow going up at 808 Projects on Santa Fe Drive. Renamed Made in Colorado in 2018, it wasn’t an easy project for co-jurors Cameron Gainer and Olga Viso, who had to size up nearly 1,000 entries from across the state, paring it down to a manageable 45 works by 39 artists. It should be all smooth sailing from here on out, offering an illuminating look at the diverse face of art in Colorado.

MCA Summer Opening Celebration
MCA Denver, 1485 Delgany Street
All exhibitions, through August 26
Friday, June 8, 5 to 11:30 p.m.
Admission: $5 to $15
MCA Denver is a party machine, especially in the summertime, and it’s the place to be on June 8, when four new shows will be celebrated with free sushi and beer (availability limited); DJ Polyphoni, Mile High Soul Club and Cooper Saver spinning on the roof; and lots of fabulous new art by Derrick Adams, Lisa Oppenheim, Kristen Hatgi Sink and Patrice Renee Washington. Best-kept secret? If you’re on the broke side and can’t afford a membership, you can join MCA’s Broke Heart Club for only $1.95 a month and get membership pricing for all events and free museum admission. That might have to do with the fact that the opening celebration is all-ages, because that’s the way MCA rolls.

Love & Physics: Art and Artifacts by Josh Davy
Next Gallery, 6851 West Colfax Avenue, Unit B, Lakewood
June 8 through June 24
Opening Reception: Friday, June 8, 6 to 10 p.m.
There’s something about robot art — and all things that go boop and beep in the night — that awakens the child in everyone, not to mention your inner nerd. That’s why art lovers of all ages, from 3 to 300, will get a kick out of Josh Davy’s nuts-and-bolts robot sculptures made with spit and everyday hardware, which he tries to roll out here and there a couple times every year. Also in the gallery beginning June 8: Rock ’n’ Roll Casserole, by Kelly Clements.

The Goddess Redefined Art Show I
Westwood Food Cooperative, 3738 Morrison Road
June 8 to 29
Opening Reception: Friday, June 8, 5 to 9 p.m.
With the goal of building a better creative district, Westwood is establishing a regular schedule of art exhibits and cultural events; in June, it’s The Goddess Redefined Art Show I, a juried women’s show extolling the down-to-earth female spirit with personal views and interpretations. In conjunction with the July 6 NoBo First Friday event, the exhibit will later move to Studio 102A, 4949 Broadway, #102A, in north Boulder, where it runs through July 27.

2018 Annual Members' Show
Colorado Photographic Arts Center, 1070 Bannock Street
June 9 through July 14
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 9, 5 to 8 p.m.
Closing Reception: Saturday, July 14, 5 to 8 p.m.
For more than fifty years, the Colorado Photographic Arts Center has been celebrating its members, the heartbeat of the organization, with an annual juried show of their own. In 2018, 49 of them will be represented and up for selection as Best of Show, an honor that includes a $300 cash prize and a place in CPAC’s permanent collection. Catch the awards ceremony, presented by juror Paula Tognarelli of the Griffin Museum of Photography, at the opening, and come back in July for an artist talk at the closing reception.

It's Alive! New Works by Corrina Espinosa
Cabal Gallery, 1875 South Broadway
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 9, 6 to 10 p.m.
Artist Corinna Espinosa is a bit of a mad scientist: When left to her own devices, she’s dreaming up kinetic cut-out pictures that are bathed in flashing lights, souped up with electronics and arduino technology, and captured (or trapped?) inside clear acrylic boxes. At other times, she might be collaging together vaguely macabre scenarios or 3-D-printing visual dirty jokes. Join Espinosa on Saturday for a tour of her weirdly delightful world.

Nerd Out and Kaitlin Ziesmer: XOXO
Helikon Gallery & Studios, 3675 Wynkoop Street
June 9 through July 21
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 9, 6 to 10 p.m.
First Friday Reception: Friday, July 6, 6 to 10 p.m.
Helikon Gallery turns in a pair of new exhibits this weekend — one a big group show galvanized by a mix of popular geek culture, from cartoons to video games, and the other a solo by Denver artist Kaitlin Zeismer, whose wacky works draw inspiration from nature and the animal world...before she anthropomorphizes and subverts the wild creatures into strange and curiously hybrids from a parallel universe. Yeah, they’re that good.