Platteforum Sews It Up

Abigail Kokai captures moments not with a paper and pen, but with a needle and thread. The artist has spent her seven-week residency at PlatteForum observing what she calls the everyday experience of the downtown area -- from riding the 16th Street Mall shuttle to exploring the Denver Art Museum...

By Robin Edwards

January 5, 2012

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Abigail Kokai captures moments not with a paper and pen, but with a needle and thread. The artist has spent her seven-week residency at PlatteForum observing what she calls the everyday experience of the downtown area -- from riding the 16th Street Mall shuttle to exploring the Denver Art Museum -- and translating that into seven unique quilts. "Quilts are essentially documents that capture an experience of a specific time and place," she explains.

Along the way, Kokai has also been teaching her method to eleven- and twelve-year-old girls from the I Have A Dream Foundation, who have all made their own quilts to document their lives. "They all liked really bright, glittery, furry, fun fabrics instead of traditional quilting fabrics," Kokai says, who hopes that by looking at the quilts, people will be able to relate to the imagery as well as "take a little more time to look at the world around them."

All of the quilts will be on display tonight in a show called (im)permanence at PlatteForum, 1610 Little Raven Street, Suite 135, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., and will stay up through January 6. PlatteForum teams contemporary artists with groups of at-risk or underserved kids. For hours and more information about the exhibit, call 303-893-0791 or visit www.platteforum.org.
Tuesdays-Saturdays. Starts: Dec. 15. Continues through Jan. 6, 2011

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