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After catching the latest Mel Gibson flick at the Cherry Creek Cinemas, or Gladiator at the UA Colorado Center, drop in at tony but casual Bistro Adde Brewster in Cherry Creek to discuss the deeper meanings in these masterpieces over a Bombay martini the size of your head. The American-French fare (especially the famous hamburger) is just fine, and the late-night crowd is an interesting mix of youngish sophisticates and experienced pub-crawlers. Maybe somebody will have the real story on Rashomon -- or at least a good cigar to loan.

After catching the latest Mel Gibson flick at the Cherry Creek Cinemas, or Gladiator at the UA Colorado Center, drop in at tony but casual Bistro Adde Brewster in Cherry Creek to discuss the deeper meanings in these masterpieces over a Bombay martini the size of your head. The American-French fare (especially the famous hamburger) is just fine, and the late-night crowd is an interesting mix of youngish sophisticates and experienced pub-crawlers. Maybe somebody will have the real story on Rashomon -- or at least a good cigar to loan.

For a brief time last year, Susan Goldstein transformed the ordinarily turgid front room at Edge into one of the most visually sophisticated places in the city. She did this by putting together Life Layers, a series of very fine collages in which she combined found objects -- ledgers, textbooks and labels -- with computer-transferred images. Goldstein, who at the time had only recently returned from a stint at the famous Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, layered her images, printing some of them on transparent plastic sheets, revealing the pages beneath. Though Goldstein has been exhibiting in town for a decade, she's never been better than in Life Layers.

For a brief time last year, Susan Goldstein transformed the ordinarily turgid front room at Edge into one of the most visually sophisticated places in the city. She did this by putting together Life Layers, a series of very fine collages in which she combined found objects -- ledgers, textbooks and labels -- with computer-transferred images. Goldstein, who at the time had only recently returned from a stint at the famous Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, layered her images, printing some of them on transparent plastic sheets, revealing the pages beneath. Though Goldstein has been exhibiting in town for a decade, she's never been better than in Life Layers.

Nationally renowned ceramic artist Rodger Lang came to Denver thirty years ago to join the art faculty at Metropolitan State College of Denver. He founded and built one of the best clay programs around, arousing the undying loyalty of generations of students. Two years ago, Lang was instrumental in snagging the prestigious National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts conference, and he served as chairman when the group met in Denver this past March. But that's not all Lang did. He was also the force behind the scores of ceramic shows presented throughout the area when 3,000 ceramicists were in town. It all went without a hitch and was astoundingly successful in bringing ceramic art to the more broadly interested contemporary art world. And then, unbelievably, just two weeks after the conference closed and while most of the associated ceramic shows were still open, Lang died of cancer. Though life is short, art is long, and Lang's best efforts in promoting Colorado ceramics will benefit the field for years to come.

Nationally renowned ceramic artist Rodger Lang came to Denver thirty years ago to join the art faculty at Metropolitan State College of Denver. He founded and built one of the best clay programs around, arousing the undying loyalty of generations of students. Two years ago, Lang was instrumental in snagging the prestigious National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts conference, and he served as chairman when the group met in Denver this past March. But that's not all Lang did. He was also the force behind the scores of ceramic shows presented throughout the area when 3,000 ceramicists were in town. It all went without a hitch and was astoundingly successful in bringing ceramic art to the more broadly interested contemporary art world. And then, unbelievably, just two weeks after the conference closed and while most of the associated ceramic shows were still open, Lang died of cancer. Though life is short, art is long, and Lang's best efforts in promoting Colorado ceramics will benefit the field for years to come.

Even in the crowded field of nearly one hundred ceramics shows presented this past spring in association with the National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts conference, Scott Chamberlin Twelve Years stood out. The show was organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver's interim director Mark Sink and artist and museum boardmember Dale Chisman, with the pieces selected by Chamberlin himself. Along with a few drawings, Chamberlin's sculptures were presented on the main floor and on the mezzanine. The two-story spaces at the front of the museum featured Chamberlin's monumental multi-part floor sculptures from a decade ago -- a period that was clearly a watershed in his career. These large sculptures looked gorgeous in the then newly reconfigured MoCAD. In the galleries below and on the mezzanine were the anthropomorphic and organic bas-reliefs Chamberlin's been doing in the last ten years. They have a quality that shifts quickly from charming to unnerving and back again.

Even in the crowded field of nearly one hundred ceramics shows presented this past spring in association with the National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts conference, Scott Chamberlin Twelve Years stood out. The show was organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver's interim director Mark Sink and artist and museum boardmember Dale Chisman, with the pieces selected by Chamberlin himself. Along with a few drawings, Chamberlin's sculptures were presented on the main floor and on the mezzanine. The two-story spaces at the front of the museum featured Chamberlin's monumental multi-part floor sculptures from a decade ago -- a period that was clearly a watershed in his career. These large sculptures looked gorgeous in the then newly reconfigured MoCAD. In the galleries below and on the mezzanine were the anthropomorphic and organic bas-reliefs Chamberlin's been doing in the last ten years. They have a quality that shifts quickly from charming to unnerving and back again.

Susan Sagara, an assistant curator at the Arvada Center, crammed a couple of the lower-level galleries with more than a hundred pots for Time in Tandem: James and Nan McKinnell Retrospective. The McKinnells, now retired, were globe-trotting beatniks from the 1940s to the '60s. They landed in Boulder and Denver a few times before finally settling outside of Fort Collins three decades ago. The show included their student work and the work that later made them famous locally and nationally. A real revelation of the show was how distinct each one's work was from that of the other: James follows the Japanese-inspired tradition, the main current in contemporary ceramics, while Nan's pieces look like handmade versions of industrial design. Through the great volume of worthwhile pieces it presented, the Arvada show revealed that the McKinnells are among the best potters to have ever worked in Colorado.
Susan Sagara, an assistant curator at the Arvada Center, crammed a couple of the lower-level galleries with more than a hundred pots for Time in Tandem: James and Nan McKinnell Retrospective. The McKinnells, now retired, were globe-trotting beatniks from the 1940s to the '60s. They landed in Boulder and Denver a few times before finally settling outside of Fort Collins three decades ago. The show included their student work and the work that later made them famous locally and nationally. A real revelation of the show was how distinct each one's work was from that of the other: James follows the Japanese-inspired tradition, the main current in contemporary ceramics, while Nan's pieces look like handmade versions of industrial design. Through the great volume of worthwhile pieces it presented, the Arvada show revealed that the McKinnells are among the best potters to have ever worked in Colorado.

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