Artists Examine the Stars and Alter Egos in Exhibitions Around Denver This Week

This week around Denver, artists harness their introspections about the stars, alter-egos and language to create new works from unexpected mediums — like men’s underwear, for example. Meanwhile, the work of more than 100 Colorado artisans will be for sale at the Foothills Art Market on Saturday, April 11.

Use this list to catch up on local arts news, see new art and catch ongoing art shows before they close.

In Denver Arts News

• May First Friday Vendor Registration: Vendor registration for the May 1 First Friday in the Art District on Santa Fe opens at 9 a.m. on Monday, April 13. May, June, July, and September registration is $50 for regular spots (assigned randomly), and $75 for corner spots. August First Friday pricing is TBA. Register on the ADSF website.
• Colorado Senate Bill 26-133 Proposes Legal Structure for Colorado Artist Companies: In an April 9 newsletter, RiNo Art District Executive Director Daisy Fondess-McGowan expressed her support for Colorado Senate Bill 26-133, which proposes that artist companies should have a stated artistic mission and follow other legal structures.
• Six Fellows Selected for 2026 Clyfford Still Museum Institute Residential Fellowship Program: A committee selected six fellows from different study areas to engage with the Clyfford Still Museum and its collections from July 1 to 31 as the third cohort of the museum’s residential fellowship program: Lamees Rahman and Martha Tuttle in Studio Art; Paul E. Nelson in Art Writing; Jon M. Wargo in Early Childhood Education; and Kathryn Graddy and Michael White in Social Enterprise. Each fellow will receive a round-trip economy class travel to and from Denver, housing in Denver during the program, and workspace for their projects, which will be deep studies of the museum and its staff, engagement and more.
• Dairy Arts Center Announces 2027 Open Call for Art: Dairy Arts Center is currently accepting proposals from artists, curators, and collectives nationwide for exhibition opportunities in its 2027 visual arts season. The call welcomes submissions across all visual arts mediums and encourages ambitious, conceptually driven projects that foster dialogue and community engagement. The deadline to apply is April 30.

Art Shows Opening This Week

Three New Robischon Exhibitions
Opening reception: Thursday, April 9, 6 to 8 p.m.
Robischon Gallery, 1740 Wazee Street
Robischon Gallery is displaying three solo shows: Stacey Steers’s The Stars Watch From Long Ago, Kahn and Selesnick’s Dark Matter and Kim Dickey’s And all the meadows wide.

Embracing Change
Opening reception: Friday, April 10, 5 to 9 pm; on display through May 3
D’art Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Drive
Featuring the work of Lydia Riegle, Jean Smith and Gloria Campbell, Embracing Change meditates on each artist’s discovery that surrendering to the unexpected holds its own quiet reward. The show includes abstract mixed media, print work and sculpture.

Foothills Art Market
Saturday, April 11, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Foothills Fieldhouse, 3606 South Independence Street
Browse the artwork, goods and crafts spanning across mediums and made by over 100 Colorado artists at the Foothills Art Market. Works for sale include pottery, sculpture, glass, jewelry, fashion, wood, soaps, home accessories, photography and more. Admission is free and food and beverages will be available for purchase.

Dirty Laundry
Opening: Saturday, April 11, 6 to 10 p.m.; on display through May 1
SP_CE 13 Contemporary Art Gallery, 3157 S Broadway, Englewood
Dirty Laundry is Denver artist Deanne Gertner’s debut solo show, featuring embroidered and beaded text on
men’s underwear, inviting audiences to audiences to reflect on the impact of language, power and gender.

Alter Ego
Opens: Monday, April 13; opening reception: Friday, April 17, 5 to 9 p.m.; on display through May 3
NEXT Gallery, 6501 West Colfax Avenue, Lakewood
In this show examining the idea of “the other self,” NEXT Gallery artists invited artists from outside the gallery for pairings that create visual conversations that reflect, contrast, and complicate identity, looking into the hidden double, the public persona and the creative counterpart.

Ongoing Art Shows Worth a Visit

Parting Gift: Fitting in America and An Impossibly Normal Life 
Through April 18
Colorado Photographic Arts Center, 1200 Lincoln Street, Suite 111
Two solo exhibitions will be on display at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center. Leonard Suryajaya’s Parting Gift: Fitting in America explores living in the U.S. while his family remains in Indonesia through “elaborately staged photographs to explore distance, belonging, and who is allowed to be seen as family in America today.” In Matthew Finley’s An Impossibly Normal Life, Finley imagines an alternate, more accepting world where queerness is unremarkable. He uses vintage found photographs, ephemera, and embellished imagery to tell the fictional story of his Uncle Ken and celebrate everyday queer joy.

The Illusion of Paradise and The Idiot’s Defense
Through April 18
David B. Smith Gallery, 1543 Wazee Street
Two new exhibitions are opening at David B. Smith Gallery. The Illusion of Paradise is a solo exhibition by San Diego-based Peruvian artist Sylvia Fernández that features stretched paintings mounted back-to-back and suspended throughout the Main Gallery, speaking to themes of “paradise as an emotional and physical territory, nature as solace, and the potential for optimism are among the many paths
laid out in the exhibition.” Meanwhile, The Idiot’s Defense features work by Denver-based artist Dmitri Obergfell in the project room. The show “presents a series of sculptures — including vases, figural sculpture, smoking paraphernalia, and a chess set — set atop clear pedestals and custom wood furniture. Blending functional design objects and sculptural elements as well as combining both ancient and pop references, together the works contemplate the frameworks that shape experience.”

Dans Le Rêve
Through April 18
Leon Gallery, 1112 E 17th Avenue
Featuring new work by Denver-based artist Sandi Calistro, Dans Le Rêve explores grief, loss and growth. “Grief has changed me forever, and it took years to understand that this transformation does not have to be tragic,” Calistro writes in an artist statement for the show. “Some of the most beautiful change emerges when we allow ourselves to sit with our darkest thoughts and feelings. Melancholy has long fueled my work, and I have learned to embrace it as both teacher and companion.”

Purse as a Portal
Through April 19
CHAC Gallery, 834 Santa Fe Drive
In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council and the Women’s Caucus for Art – Colorado Chapter present Purse as a Portal, “a collaborative exhibition that explores what women carry—physically, emotionally, socially, and ancestrally.” Included artworks span a variety of 2D and 3D mediums, highlighting the intersection of art, identity, and storytelling, honoring women’s voices across generations and cultures. “My body represents my purse portal. I carry my roots, familia, tradition, spirituality, love, memories and community. The portal allows me to make room for all the good things to enter my space,” says Gayedine Rodriguez, artist and curator at CHAC Gallery.

Sum It Up
Through April 23
POST Gallery, 910 Santa Fe Drive, Studio 12B
In an experimental DIY group show uniting artists and designers nationwide through expressive typography and the US Postal Service, Sum It Up “responds to the State Department’s switch from Calibri to Times New Roman, inviting participants to reclaim sans-serif type as a tool for resistance and creative freedom.” All submissions were sent by mail.

The Fragmented House
Through April 25
Michael Warren Contemporary, 760 Santa Fe Drive
The Fragmented House features the work of Dorian Agüero, expanding on Abraham Lincoln’s warning that “a house divided against itself cannot stand,” but moves beyond political rhetoric toward psychosocial collapse. “The exhibition establishes a visceral parallel with The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka,” according to a release.

The Tender Vigil
Through April 25
Abend Gallery, 1261 Delaware Street, Suite 2
Featuring the luminous oil paintings of Alexandra Manukyan, The Tender Vigil comprises nineteen paintings of young women in peaceful interactions with birds, porcelain, lace, and winter light. “They function less as symbols and more as silent witnesses, reinforcing the sense that each figure exists within a larger, watchful, and interconnected interior cosmos,” Manukyan says of the birds. Manukyan was born in Armenia in 1963 and moved to Los Angeles in 1990. This is her fourth solo exhibition at Abend Gallery.

RISE Survivor Art Show
Through April 25
40 West Arts, 6501 West Colfax Ave, Lakewood
The Blue Bench presents the fifth RISE Survivor Art Show, featuring the artwork of survivors of sexual violence, with pieces exploring themes of trauma. The annual exhibition is rooted in healing, grounded in dignity, and committed to honoring the strength and resilience of survivors.

One Small Instrument
Through April 26
Friend of a Friend, 3575 Chestnut Place, 3575 Chestnut Place, Suite 112
One Small Instrument features Tania Colette B. of Seattle, Cidney Owen of Milwaukee, and Denver artists Camille Garcia, Paloma Jimenez, Lucas T. McMahon, Cornelia Peterson, Markus Puskar and Walter Ware. The collection of work meditates “on the tools we use
and the acts or labor they might help perform. More than purely functional, these objects require actions that range from aspirational to the spiritual, where the human body and psyche must become the medium, or instrument through which energy is passed.”

Same Place Different Night
Through April 26
Squirm Gallery, 3553 Brighton Boulevard
Same Place Different Night features local artists Max and Eli West as they look into the queer subconscious and illusory states of fervor in the face of the trials and tribulations we face today, tapping into the disjointed order of the subconscious to bring desire and elation to the forefront of thought by way of a return to jovial exuberance and impishness.

Life Force
Through April 28
Commons Gallery, 218 West Colorado Avenue, Colorado Springs
Inspired by the Greg Niemeyer quote, “Graffiti is a life force in a city, that says to every citizen, I’m alive. A city without graffiti is like a field without flowers,” Life Force is a solo show featuring work by JPEAKE. The show contains “elements of graffiti, street art in his urban pop surrealistic worlds not seen in the natural world.” Reserve a spot here.

So On & So Forth
Through April 30
A. R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art, 150 East Main Street, Trinidad
So On & So Forth – A Celebration of the Idiosyncratic is a group show featuring the work of Colorado artists Rick Dallago, Michael Dowling, Charles T Levesque, Julia Martin, and Megan Wilbar. Curated by former Hollywood film producer and location scout-turned painter Dallago, the exhibition “examines the ways we perceive ourselves (and one another) through humor, irony, and layered storytelling.”

Proximity to Joy
Through April 30
Feral Gallery, 738 East 18th Avenue
The work of Denver painter, filmmaker and musician Vincent Cheap is displayed in his show Proximity to Joy, in which Cheap studies his environment and personal history through human-like creatures and characters around him. This collection attempts to capture everything from simple moments of happiness to melancholy in dreamlike snapshots where reality is drowned in rich colors and textures.

Spring 2026 BFA Thesis Exhibition
Through May 1
MSU Denver Center for Visual Art, 965 Santa Fe Drive
Check out the research and work of 27 inventive artists and designers as they conclude their undergraduate studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver in this Thesis Exhibition. “This body of work represents a range of nuanced topics framing what it means to be an individual in contemporary society. Collectively, the artists consider how perception is shaped by social, cultural, and political systems — and whose experiences are centered or marginalized within them,” according to a release.

Yes &…
Through May 3
Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, 1750 13th Street, Boulder
In Yes &…, eighteen contemporary visual artists are “united by their human-centered focus and perspective” as AI becomes increasingly ubiquitous. The artists of Yes & remind viewers of what it means to be human through colorful, imperfect and beautiful work.

Nightcap
Through May 3
Pon Pon, 2528 Walnut Street
Instant photography nightlife documentarian Shadows Gather has a new show opening at Pon Pon in the RiNo Art District — a space tied to the project’s origin story. Working primarily with Instax instant film, Shadow has built an ongoing archive of raw nightlife
portraits since 2019, documenting queer, punk, goth, and underground scenes as lived — not staged. Nightcap includes photos taken in Denver from 2019 to the present, and guests are encouraged to encounter the art casually while ordering a drink, talking with friends or passing through the room. “This was supposed to be my first solo exhibit in 2020. The bar and gallery closed because of COVID, and the show never happened,” Shadow says. “Coming back to do it now, in the same space, feels like picking up something that just got paused for a few years. Pon Pon has been part of this project from the beginning. It’s where I go. It’s home.”

Apis Opus
Through May 3
NKollectiv, 3485 South Broadway, Englewood
Apis Opus is a juried show and a celebration of wax media. It presents a colorful display of 2-and 3-D artworks submitted by U.S. artists working in any beeswax-based media such as encaustic or cold-wax medium. All pieces in the show are derived either from beeswax-based media, alone or combined with other materials.

Gary Simmons: Rush
Through May 9
Cookie Factory, 425 West Fourth Avenue
The Cookie Factory‘s latest show features the work of Gary Simmons, known for using erasure as both a material process and a conceptual strategy. Recognized for his unconventional use of the blackboard, Simmons brings the medium into the exhibition space, drawing with chalk and partially erasing it by hand, commenting on history, imposed identities and a liberated vision of the future.

Ecosystems
Through May 15
DAVA, 1405 Florence Street, Aurora
In conjunction with Mo’Print, DAVA students ages 3 to 18, and guest artists Faith Williams Dyrsten, Virginia Diaz Saiki, Kristin Smith and Johanna Mueller represent animals, plants, and their ecosystems to raise awareness about the importance of biodiversity through a variety of printmaking techniques.

Paper Works
Through May 16
Access Gallery, 909 Santa Fe Drive
Paper Works features twenty works on paper by Access Gallery artists in celebration of the gallery’s twentieth year in the Art District on Santa Fe. The exhibition brings together drawings, prints, and other works on paper that show where ideas begin. For many artists, working on paper is a starting point, a place to explore, experiment, and develop their practice.

Flor y Canto Youth Art Show
Through May 17
Chicano Humanities & Arts Council, 7060 West 16th Avenue, Lakewood
This show featuring the artwork of local youth was curated by Felipe Dominguez, a CHAC Gallery member who works with art students around Denver. Come support the young artists as they celebrate Flor y Canto through their creative work.

Nuestras Historias
Through May 17
Museo de las Americas, 861 Santa Fe Drive
Nuestras Historias/Our Stories is Museo de las Americas’ first-ever youth-curated exhibition, featuring work from young artists exploring themes of tradition, justice, identity and playfulness through embroidery, painting, drawing, ceramics, poetry and video.

YALLA and (UN)SEEN
Through May 17
RedLine Contemporary Art Center, 2350 Arapahoe Street
YALLA is a solo exhibition featuring photographs and ephemera from Brooklyn-based, Lebanese, Palestinian-American photographer Marwan Shousher, while (UN)SEEN challenges viewers to see Palestinians as complete individuals with a deep connection to their land, ancestors, and the traditions they carry, featuring photographs of Colorado Palestinian families taken by local artists.

Energy, Form, Flow
Through May 30
Pulse Visual Art, 3256 Walnut Street
This solo show featuring the work of Tom Ward is an ongoing exploration of how energy travels through both the natural world and human experience. Growing up in Southern California, Ward was immersed in environments defined by motion: ocean currents, shifting light, and the quiet complexity of living systems. Early fascinations with biology, from studying insects to watching fish glide through water, continue to echo through his visual language today.

Beyond the Western Horizon
Through July 31
Madden Gallery at Museum of Outdoor Arts, 6331 South Fiddlers Green Circle, Greenwood Village
Celebrate the “reimagined myth, memory, and the enduring spirit of the American West” with Beyond the Western Horizon, an exhibit featuring twenty artists and over fifty artworks depicting aspects of the American West, from people and animals to landscapes, through a variety of mediums. “We’re lucky to live in a state with stunning natural resources, strong light and Western lifestyles stimulating our many talented visual artists,” MOA founder and director Cynthia Madden Leitner says.

On the Walls at CSU: Posters from the 1970s
Through August 16
CSU Libraries – Morgan Library, 1201 Center Avenue Mall, Fort Collins
Colorado State University showcases campus life, design and activism through archival posters from the ’70s at Morgan Library. The exhibition features posters, exhibition panels and publications produced at CSU in the 1970s and preserved in the University Archives.

Interested in having your event appear here? Send details to editorial@westword.com.