Letting in the light: Art events around Denver this week, May 21-28

A long weekend means more time to go look at art! Whether at the Denver Arts Festival, a new show opening or an ongoing exhibit, there are plenty of cool creative things happening around Denver this week.

Use this list to catch up on new exhibitions to attend and catch ongoing shows before they leave.

In Denver arts news

• First Friday vendor registration: Vending spots have filled up for June First Friday in the Art District on Santa Fe, which is June 5. 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.
• PlatteForum is moving: After five years in the ArtLab in Curtis Park and a studio/gallery in RiNo, PlatteForum has announced that it will be moving into the historic Smith’s Chapel, known to many as the longtime home of Inner City Parish, in the heart of the Art District on Santa Fe. PlatteForum will move to its new program space on May 5 and its doors at 910 Galapago Street will officially open on June 5 for a First Friday Grand Opening Event.
• ReCreative Denver seeks artwork for “RePost” event: “RePost” is an anonymous art sale and benefit for ReCreative Denver. Artists donate postcard-sized works of art (four by six inches) in a medium of their choice. The artworks are hung in the store’s second-floor gallery and sold the night of the event for $25 each. Proceeds from the event support the mission and operations of ReCreative, an art supplies thrift store. Donations of artwork will be accepted through May 29, and can be dropped off or mailed to ReCreative Denver, 765 Santa Fe Drive, Denver Colorado, 80206. RePost will be from 7 to 10 p.m. on June 6.

Art shows opening around Denver

Nikki Pike: “YES“
Opening reception: Thursday, May 21, 6 to 8 p.m.; through November 2027
BMoCA, 1750 13th St., Boulder
“YES” is a large, red steel piece of the word “YES,” Nikki Pike’s potential antidote to xenophobia, both a call to action and a reminder that the affirmative and the welcoming are something as innate to us as our fears. Pike is a Denver-based artist and activist.

“Essence”
Opening reception: Friday, May 22, 6 to 9 p.m.; through June 14
D’art Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Drive
“Essence” is a D’art Gallery memer show featuring the work of Joy Redstone, Jerry Allison, Pamela Neyman and Shaylen Broughten. Each of the artists in this show uses their art to speak to what is most central to their lives and to connect to what is most alive in the viewer. Themes explored include love, gratitude, mortality and beauty, and mediums range from photography and paintings to sculpture.

Denver Arts Festival
Saturday, May 23, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 24, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Conservatory Green, Central Park, 8304 E. 49th Place
The Denver Arts Festival is back for its 27th iteration of showcasing original works by fine artists and artisans from Colorado and beyond. Attendees will also have the chance to shop a curated selection of art and enjoy music, food, drinks and an art activity area for both kids and adults. Attendance and parking are free. More than 140 artists were selected to participate this year, exhibiting creative works that range in styles, price points, and mediums, including painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, mixed media, jewelry, glass, metal, ceramics, wood and photography.

New work from Barbara Carpenter, Deborah Howard, and Kathryn Oberdorfer
Artist reception: Saturday, May 23, noon to 3 p.m.; through June 16
Spark Gallery, 1200 Acoma St.
Barbara Carpenter’s “Variations on a Theme” include images shot through glass bricks, creating a natural distortion that transforms an ordinary scene into an abstraction. Deborah Howard’s “New Work” focuses on the human experience relating to heritage, migration, memory and hope. Kathryn Oberdorfer’s “That’s How the Light Gets In” is made up of abstract mixed media art pieces in response to Leonard Cohen’s song “Anthem.” “In times of seemingly endless turmoil, his famous lines remind us, ‘there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in,'” Oberdorfer says. “For me, the light is color.”

“Currents” and “Silent Empires”
Opens: Monday, May 25; opening reception: Friday, May 29, 5 to 9 p.m.; through June 14
Next Gallery, 6501 W. Colfax Ave., Lakewood
Next Galler presents “Currents” by Karen Eberle-Smith, who describes her show as capturing the essence of movement, and “Silent Empires” by Pam Farris, whose work brings together ancient and modern materials, including glass, stone and ceramic.

Ongoing art shows worth a visit

“Threaded Narratives: Weaving South Asian Identity in Colorado“
Through May 23
Bus Stop Gallery, 4895 Broadway, Boulder
“Threaded Narratives” brings together artists from across Colorado whose work reflects a shared yet varied experience of identity. Through a range of practices, the exhibition highlights the presence and perspectives of South Asian artists within Colorado’s creative community.

“The Cat and Dog Show“
Through May 24
Core Art Space, 6501 W. Colfax Ave., Lakewood
In this juried exhibition of artists from the Front Range and across the country, artists celebrate cats and dogs through painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, mixed media, ceramics, fiber and sculpture.

“Flight Risks: Birds In Peril”
Through May 24
Edge Gallery, 6501 W. Colfax Ave., Lakewood
Denver printmaker and animator Jessie Rodriguez will have a stop-motion film-themed art show at Edge Gallery in Lakewood. “Flight Risks” is a celebration of Rodriguez’s stop motion films in which she consistently places her bird characters in dangerously humorous and often depressing situations to drive plot and narrative. Her stop motion animations are created from linocut prints. Characters, background and text are made by hand by carving each piece out of linoleum, hand printing it onto paper and photographing them frame by frame.

“Observer Effect“
Through May 24
Edge Gallery, 6501 W. Colfax Ave., Lakewood
In Anthony Porcaro’s debut solo show, “Observer Effect,” explores the boundary between truth and artifice in photography. “The work bridges the gap between the ‘artifice’ of contemporary photography and the ‘authenticity’ of 19th-century chemical processes,” Porcaro explains. “By using the Wet Plate Collodion process to capture meticulously staged miniature sets and digital composites, I am creating what I call contradictory objects. These works present an obvious fiction, yet they are validated by the organic textures of silver deposits—the historical markers of a truthful photograph.” Porcaro is an art educator at Arvada West High School and a member at Edge Gallery.

“We the People“
Through May 24
The Gallery @ArtGym, 1460 Leyden St.
The journey of survival, resilience and triumph told through the eyes of immigrants from around the world comes to life through the lens of storyteller and photographer Walter Gallacher in “We the People.” What started as a podcast has evolved into an immersive exhibition that invites visitors to see the faces and hear the voices behind the powerful stories. The exhibition combines portraiture with audio.

“The Stars Watch From Long Ago“
Through May 30
Robischon Gallery, 1740 Wazee St.
“The Stars Watch From Long Ago” features work in film, collage, objects and prints by Stacey Steers.

“Energy, Form, Flow“
Through May 30
Pulse Visual Art, 3256 Walnut St.
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.

“Color as Light: A Restorative Experience“
Through May 31
Alto Gallery, 1900 35th St., Suite B
“Color as Light” explores color as light and energy through large-scale silk works from artist Christy Cattin’s “Veils of Light” series and introduces a guided color practice that invites visitors to engage with art through breath, intuition and visualization. Cattin is a Denver-based artist whose work explores color as energy, emotion and restoration.

Extinction Burst
Through May 31
Valkarie Gallery, 445 South Saulsbury St., Lakewood
Featuring the work of Cody Kuehl and Zachary Reece, “Extinction Burst” is a unique adventure
and collaboration. Kuehl’s sought-after paintings of new western visions are a feast for the imagination, while Reece’s work is highly detailed. Reece is a pointillist, composing geometric patterns over his subject, alternating stipples and circles, then using a stylus to build the image molecularly, one circle and dot at a time.

“A Room Happy“
Through May 31
NKollectiv, 3485 South Broadway, Englewood
Artworks by Mary Lynn Baird and Michele Messenger mirror the delight they each find in the creative process as this exhibition puts a premium on highlighting their most smile-inducing, energetic works. Baird’s focus is printmaking, and Messenger specializes in encaustic, but they will also display the results of dabbling in one another’s medium, as well as a small gathering of papier-mâché animals to further infuse the space with happiness.

“Sculpting Sound“
Through June 6
Leon Gallery, 1112 East 17th St.
“Sculpting Sound” features multiple new sonic artworks by local visual and installation artists that will become an “orchestra” for a series of new musical commissions to be performed by the musicians in The Playground Ensemble. The artworks and composers’ scores will be on display at Leon Gallery through June 6. General admission is $20.

35th Annual Governor’s Art Show & Sale
Through June 6
Loveland Museum, 503 N. Lincoln Ave., Loveland
The Governor’s Art Show & Sale is a six-week exhibition known as one of the largest juried fine art shows featuring exclusively Colorado artists. This year’s show displays the work of 65 artists, including ten making their first appearance at the show. Artwork can be viewed in person and online throughout the exhibition. Opening night gala tickets are $100, while general admission is $7 for Loveland residents, $10 for non-residents and free for kids under 12.

“Rainbow (Desperate)“
Through June 7
Understudy, 890 C 14th St.
In this solo show by Kaitlyn Tucek, Tucek creates a body of work that engages ideas of impermanence, fragility, and play, reflecting her ongoing interest in temporality and how meaning shifts through lived experience. The show centers on an 18-foot inflatable rainbow, surrounded by paintings and ceramic works that extend the artist’s visual language across scale and material.

“Make It Yourself, At Home“
Through June 12
Annex Gallery, 3575 Ringsby Court
PlatteForum Artist in Residence Drew Austin will open his show, “Make Yourself, At Home” at Annex Gallery. Austin, an interdisciplinary artist and curator living and working in Denver, has been working with PlatteForum’s ArtLab interns to develop the exhibit. Centering a process-based approach, the show presents a body of work as an exploration in the understanding of self, through the act of making. Inspired by overlapping worlds of interior design, queer coding, quantum physics, aging, and personal intuitive response, the physical crafting of the work takes precedence over the meaning of individual pieces.

“Sacred Noticing“
Through June 14
SYNC Gallery, 931 Santa Fe Drive
“Sacred Noticing” is a body of photography work by DCD Dixon and sculptures and paintings by J. “Popeye” Olson. Dixon’s photos are rooted not in spectacle, but in a spiritual awakening toward attention, while Olson’s sculptures and paintings are figurative in nature, with abstraction used to enhance composition and ignite imagination.

“Quantum Entanglement“
Through June 14
931 Gallery, 931 Santa Fe Drive
In “Quantum Entanglement,” fiber and mixed media artists Talia Johns and Penelope Sharp combine wire, thread, wood, stone and found elements to create sculptures that explore connection and tension, where geometric and fluid forms coexist and distinctions between authorship dissolve.

“Enjoy the View“
Through June 14
Artists on Santa Fe, 747 Santa Fe Drive
“Enjoy the View” is a display of Lisa Calzavara’s abstract landscape paintings, inspired by the vital life forces of nature which emerge each spring. The paintings in this series convey both the energy and calm that coexist in nature’s most extraordinary places, with views that reveal the dramatic natural features — the canyons, the gentle movement of streams, the changing contours along the shoreline, and the mesmerizing flow of waterfalls. “Through my work, I seek to evoke a range of emotions,” explains Calzavara. “The boldness of color and the extremes of shadow and illumination ignite a sense of excitement, as each scene presents a new discovery and fresh perspective. There is anticipation in witnessing how light continuously alters the environment, revealing unexpected beauty and depth. At the same time, the tranquil spaces within these natural landscapes invite a feeling of serenity, offering a peaceful retreat from the world.”

“Points of View (POV): Ideas in Conversation“
Through June 14
rolo gallery, 910 Santa Fe Drive
rolo gallery announces its grand opening with “Points of View (POV): Ideas in Conversation,” a vibrant inaugural group exhibition featuring a diverse range of contemporary artists and perspectives. The show was curated by artist and founder Kelly Austin Rolo, and featured artists include Linda Armacost, Judith Bergquist, Rita Bhasin, Rick Dallago, Anne Emmons, Melody Epperson, Mark Friday, Steve Girard, Vonder Gray, Gigia Kolouch, Nicole Korbe, Leslie Lefferdink, Michele Messenger, Kelly Austin Rolo, and Gabrielle Shannon.

CHAC Gallery Members’ Showcase
Through June 20
CHAC Gallery, 834 Santa Fe Drive
This showcase is a multi-generational show bringing together CHAC artists ranging from emerging creatives to accomplished masters, highlighting pieces that are deeply connected to the essence of Denver. Each artist has chosen work that is the deepest expression of their voice.

Western Federation of Watercolor Societies’ 51st Annual Exhibition
Through June 27
Curtis Center for the Arts, 2349 E. Orchard Road, Greenwood Village
Master watercolorists from the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies, which includes groups in several states, including Colorado, will show off their work in this exhibit.

“The End Is the Beginning“
Through June 28
PonPon, 2528 Walnut St.
“The End is the Beginning” is a photography show featuring the work of long-time Denver music photographer Michael McGrath, a long-time fixture on the Denver music scene, photographing local and national acts for a variety of outlets including the Denver Post, Audiovore, and Twist and Shout Records since the early ’90s. McGrath was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive Stage 4 cancer in January of last year and was told he had “months” to live. Since then, he has been undergoing often debilitating treatments to fight the cancer while continuing to shoot live music regularly. “The End is the Beginning” features recent work, much of it created since his diagnosis. It also features his early work, from 35 mm film, from the early ’90s — including Indie Rock pioneers like Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Iggy Pop and Hole.

SABO / UNSAVORYAGENTS: “The Right Kind of Rebels”
Through July 1
VFW Post #1 Denver, 841 Santa Fe Drive
Art created by veterans and SABO, the artist responsible for the “KAMALAS ILLEGALS” and “MIGRANT HOOKERS $20” art placed around the Denver Capitol about a year ago will be on display in “The Right Kind of Rebels” at VFW Post #1. The collection on display comments on current politics, history and events that have helped shape the collective American psyche. SABO says this is his first show in the Denver area, and he’s curious to see the reception of the work. “I don’t do landscapes, and I believe that if art is not political, it’s wallpaper,” SABO says. “I hope this opportunity catches the eyes of some other galleries who are open to displaying my more edgy works.”

“Beyond the Western Horizon“
Through July 31
Madden Gallery at Museum of Outdoor Arts, 6331 S. 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.

Coming Soon

“Animal Planet Kid“
Saturday, May 30, 6 to 10 p.m.
2240 Curtis St.
Zaida Sever, whose Denver Art Noodle won a 2026 Best of Denver award for “Best Mix of Snakes and Art,” will do just that with “Animal Planet Kid,” a living show, integrating herpetological education with large-scale, experiential installation art. The show, which Sever’s snakes will attend, is a nostalgic tribute to the golden era of wildlife media and a forward-looking manifesto on exotic pet husbandry, featuring multiple terrariums transformed into museum-quality, naturalistic enclosures.

Sea Change
Artist talk: Saturday, June 20, noon; on view through July 3
William Havu Gallery, 1040 Cherokee St.
“Sea Change” is Amy Metier’s eleventh solo show with William Havu Gallery, featuring new paintings on panel and works on paper. Most of these works are abstracted references to landscapes, still lives or architecture. Metier’s work is in the permanent collection of the Denver Art Museum and The Kirkland, as well as private and public collections throughout the United States and Europe.

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