Artist Creates Playful Cowgirl Paintings and Builds Community in RiNo

The outline of a cowgirl lounges among vivid orange and baby pink hues. She wears funky boots and keeps her nails long, pointy and bright red — to go with the shade of her lips. She rocks a wide-brimmed hat and seems to gaze at the viewer in cool confidence — despite the fact that she doesn’t actually have eyes.

This woman is the subject of “Desert Bloom,” a painting by local artist Ariana Barnstable, a western contemporary artist based in Denver who paints a series called “Lazy Cowgirl.” 

The works feature vibrant, swirling colors in the background of flirty line-drawn cowgirls. They’re expressive without detailed facial features, with red lips, dramatic nails, and big cowboy boots. 

Barnstable is also the art director for EDIT at River North, where she hosts monthly art parties featuring work by other local artists. On Thursday, February 26, she’s celebrating the opening of the Petite Gallery at EDIT.

Barnstable’s “Lazy Cowgirl” series began when she was working in the film industry in New Orleans. She became close with a costume designer who invited her to work in Steamboat Springs for the summer at a performing arts camp. 

“ We had this gorgeous costume shop that was over a hundred years old, and there was a whole back closet just filled with cowgirl boots,” she says. 

Whenever Barnstable had time, she would choose fun boots and accessories to paint set against the stunning mountain scenery. “ It was just a very inspiring landscape to work with,” Barnstable recalls.   

Developing her “Lazy Cowgirl” series inspired her to transform painting from a hobby to a full-time job. 

“ For a while, I had a lot of ideas. I was doing abstracts. I was doing a lot of large-scale landscapes, and I just kept returning to the cowgirls,” Barnstable says. “This series seems more meaningful. I feel like I can really expand on it and just keep reworking it into different series and grow with it.”

Barnstable later moved to Colorado and has been an artist-in-residence at The Mollie Aspen, The W Aspen, and The Ramble Hotel. 

She has been an artist-in-residence at EDIT at River North — an apartment building in Denver’s River North Arts District — for the past three years. 

Barnstable was the building’s first-ever artist-in-residence, so she helped design the role. 

“ I was like, ‘Well, this isn’t a traditional gallery setting,’ which is usually what art residencies are, where artists can have a studio or produce work for a gallery,” she says. “So I was like, ‘I think we really need to make this more community-focused and be bringing in creatives as well as producing workshops for the residents here to create that community.’”

As artist-in-residence, Barnstable taught workshops for residents once a month, hosted pop-up events and markets, and put on large events once a year. 

In her new role as art director, Barnstable is celebrating the opening of a small four-wall art gallery aptly named the Petite Gallery.

The exhibition titled Ink, Leather and Bone will feature work by Barnstable, leatherwork artist Magenta Martinez, and interior designer and artist K Abate. 

“They’re both incredible local artists. Magenta does leather jewelry pieces, and she actually hunts and uses deer leather for her work. We collaborated on a couple pieces where the leather is actually sewn into the canvas, which is really cool,” Barnstable says. “And then K does these beautiful painted cowhide skulls.”

Barnstable will debut a new series of black-and-white cowgirl pieces on stretch satin. 

The night’s theme is black and white, and guests are asked to dress in those colors. The gallery opening is free and open to the public. 

Barnstable added that she plans to rotate new art into the Petite Gallery two or three times a year.  

“ Being in the RiNo Art District, I think it’s really important to make sure we’re creating spaces for more artists,” Barnstable says. “It just adds to the overall culture of Denver, too, just having people creating new events and showcasing their work.”

The Petite Gallery at EDIT at River North is at 3463 Walnut Street. The grand opening event is from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 26.