The Big Build-Up

Denver artist and Chicago native Tim Flynn grew up loving his home city’s unique Midwestern architecture; as an adult, he gravitated toward twisted wire and sculptural assemblage, and eventually — in the present — back to architecture, thanks to a rekindled interest and ensuing research into the technical side of designing structures. A collector of children’s building toys, from Tinker Toys to Legos, as well as all manner of found materials, Flynn’s been incorporating the science of building into his recent works. “My art generally follows what I am studying,” he explains. “My sculptures became little buildings.”

In the meantime, his wife, ceramic artist Gayla Lemke, has been building stacked towers that are only loosely architectural. But working in studios twenty feet apart as they do, there’s bound to be shared ground, and it’s this territory that they explore together in their joint show, Heavy Dress, which opens tonight with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. at Niza Knoll Gallery. For her works in the show, Lemke says she’s added more structural elements to her towers, such as roofs and domes, to adhere to the architectural theme, while Flynn’s are perhaps more obvious, but the result is nonetheless a fascinating study of an art couple’s symbiosis: where they mirror as artists and where they don’t.

The veteran co-op couple’s first joint exhibit in a commercial gallery, Heavy Dress continues at 915 Santa Fe Drive through December 22; visit www.nizaknollgallery.com or call 303-953-1789.

Third Friday of every month, 5-8 p.m.; Wednesdays-Saturdays, 1-5 p.m.; Fri., Dec. 7, 3-8 p.m. Starts: Nov. 16. Continues through Dec. 22, 2012