Audio By Carbonatix
“The big trend to me is the pull-away from romantic art to what’s really happening in Western art,” explains Rose Fredrick, who’s curated the Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale for nineteen years. “I think a lot of artists in this region want to speak about land usage, the things that make the West today — which is not covered wagons and tepees anymore.”
So this year you’ll find a show filled with more contemporary pieces, including a huge painting by Don Stinson, who specializes in current environmental realities. “I’m seeing this desire to stay more vital,” Fredrick adds. There’s also an emphasis on Native American work, she notes — and that will be reflected in today’s lunch and lecture on the “State of Native American Art in the West,” a panel discussion moderated by Lara Evans and featuring show participants Melanie Yazzie, an artist and professor of print-making at the University of Colorado; glass artist Preston Singletary, who just had a show at the Smithsonian; and printmaker Brent Greenwood. “We’re going to have a conversation about what it’s like to be part of the whole scene,” explains Fredrick; the talk starts at 11 a.m. in Ponti Hall at the Denver Art Museum.
And tonight at 5:30 p.m., the Red Carpet Reception for the show kicks off on the third floor of the National Western Complex Expo Hall. You get a chance not only to preview the exhibit — which officially opens on January 10, the first day of the National Western Stock Show — but also to bid on pieces by some of the featured artists and see art fans dressed in their most festive Western attire. To buy tickets to either the lecture ($40) or the reception ($200) — or simply to find out more about the show, go to coorswesternart.com.
Tue., Jan. 6, 5:30 p.m.; Jan. 10-25, 2015
