Art events around Denver this week, July 9-16

Use this guide to keep up with new art exhibitions opening around town and see ongoing shows worth a visit. This listing is updated every Thursday.

But first:

In Denver arts news

• Three Denver artists receive Bonfils-Stanton awards: The Bonfils-Stanton Foundation has awarded photographer Armando Geneyro, rapper Kalyn Rose Heffernan, and musician and social practice artist Stephen Malloy Brackett with Social Impact Artist Awards, which honor Denver-based artists whose work addresses the social needs of community. Each artist will receive a $35,000 unrestricted cash award and $15,000 in project support to advance a socially engaged creative project over the next year.
• The RiNo Art District just got some big funding: the RiNo Business Improvement District awarded nearly $400,000 in grant funding to fuel a landmark festival season.
• First Friday vendor registration: August First Friday vendor registration is now open. August is the most special First Friday because it’s the only month Santa Fe Drive from 6th to 11th avenues is closed to traffic, giving vendors and attendees more festive space. September registration is $50 for regular spots (assigned randomly), and $75 for corner spots. Register on the ADSF website.

Art shows opening around Denver this week

Colorado Black Arts Festival
Friday, July 10, through Sunday, July 12
City Park, 1700 City Park Esplanade
The Colorado Black Arts Festival celebrates its 40th anniversary this weekend with live music, visual art, cultural storytelling, food, a marketplace featuring more than 80 artists, creatives and Black-owned businesses, a Children’s Pavilion, an Art Garden and the returning Boogaloo Celebration Parade. Learn more here.

“Red, White & Blue”
Opening reception: Friday, July 10, 5 to 9 p.m.; through July 26
Core Art Space, 6501 W. Colfax Ave., Lakewood
In this juried exhibition of artists from the Front Range and across the country, artists created works around the themes of red, white and blue and the 250th anniversary of the United States. The show was juried by former Westword writer Michael Paglia, an art historian and professional art writer who has juried many exhibitions.

“Wasted Days and Wasted Nights”
Opening reception: Saturday, July 11, 6 to 9 p.m.; through Aug. 15
Leon Gallery, 1112 E. 17th Ave.
This solo show by Denver-born, Long Beach-based artist Mario Zoots is in collaboration with his son, curator Jonas Sanchez, featuring large xeroxed family photos, collages, and an installation piece. The show highlights themes of family, Denver culture and heritage.

“Rock Paper Scissors”
Opening reception: Saturday, July 11, 7 to 10 p.m.; through Aug. 9
Friend of a Friend, 3575 Chestnut Place, Suite 112
Featuring artists Leah Dixon (New York), Melanie Flood (Portland), and Sharifa Lafon (Denver), “Rock Paper Scissors” explores the dual role of artist and exhibition organizer, demanding a consistent balance where time spent in one arena almost always takes away from another through a range of sculpture and photography.

Green Box Arts Festival
Through Sunday, July 18
Green Mountain Falls
Head to Green Mountain Falls for a two-week multi-disciplinary event of arts performances, exhibitions, classes, camps, conversations and parties. Get the complete schedule here.

“Cowgirl Hat Ball”
Through January 2027
Denver International Airport, Concourse B, 8500 Peña Blvd.
DIA just got a new art installation, a 10-foot sphere built from over 500 straw cowgirl hats with a smaller companion piece made from 175 miniature hats by Louisville-based artist Terry Maker. “Cowgirl Hat Ball” will be on display in Concord B through January.

Ongoing art shows worth a visit

“Good Sports”
Through July 18
Access Gallery, 909 Santa Fe Drive
Featuring artwork by more than 20 Access Gallery artists, “Good Sports” explores movement, competition, teamwork, play, and personal connection through a wide range of artistic voices and unexpected interpretations of sports.

“Origin Story”
Through July 19
Understudy Art Incubator, 890 C 14th St.
“Origin Story” is an afro-futuristic reimagining of the Statue of Liberty by artist Chloe Duplessis, examining the historical, cultural and social forces that shaped one of the world’s most enduring symbols of freedom. The exhibition includes a fiber art gown, five collage works and 250 handcrafted paper and fiber flowers in recognition of the nation’s 250th birthday.

“Where We Roam: A Show for Public Lands”
Through July 25
NoBo Bus Stop Gallery, 4895 Broadway, Boulder
“Where We Roam” is a curated group exhibition featuring twenty Colorado landscape artists celebrating and advocating for the protection of shared public lands.

“Sacred Reflections & Pieces of the Whole: 2026 Youth Art Exhibition”
Through July 26
RedLine Contemporary Art Center, 2350 Arapahoe St.
In this youth art exhibition, young artists explore what matters most to them, individually and together, while recognizing their power to shape their communities. Through reflection and creation, students are encouraged to embrace their identities, honor their intersections, and stand rooted in self-awareness. RSVP for the panel here.

“Spot On #7”
Through July 26
D’art Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Drive
Juried by Jim Robischon, owner of Robischon Gallery, “Spot On #7” is a national exhibition of innovative art featuring glass, paint and ceramic works.

“Summer Speaking Softly”
Through July 26
D’art Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Drive
“Summer Speaking Softly” featuring the work of Gabrielle Shannon — mixed water media on canvas, inks, acrylics, gouache, and watercolors that attempt to capture the dynamic energy that surrounds and fills us, constantly shifting and transforming, too small to understand and too vast to comprehend…recognizing that the patterns of change are the only constant we have.

“Curas: Males de Corazón”
Through July 26
Art Students League of Denver, 200 Grant St.
Art Students League of Denver Color Scheme resident Juan Carlos Escobedo displays his work in “Curas: Males de Corazón,” which looks into his family’s shared pains, rituals and remedies through 2D and 3D art.

“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.

Canstruction Edible Art Gallery
Through the end of July
Cherry Creek Shopping Center, 3000 E. 1st Ave.
Canstruction has turned Cherry Creek Shopping Center into a giant edible art gallery. Eight teams of architects built massive summer-themed sculptures entirely out of canned food. Expect everything from playful, larger-than-life creations like a flamingo pool floatie to intricate architectural designs like a sandcastle. The cans will ultimately be donated to Denver food recovery nonprofit We Don’t Waste.

CPAC’s 2026 Members’ Show 
Through Aug. 1
Colorado Photographic Arts Center, 1200 Lincoln Street, Suite 111
CPAC’s 63rd annual juried members’ show is a highly selective survey of the best contemporary photography from Colorado and across the country, showcasing CPAC’s talented community of over 700 members and providing artists with an important exhibition opportunity. Thirty-two members are featured in the exhibit and were selected from a pool of 162 photographers who submitted more than 850 images.

“Pain & Prosperity”
Through Aug. 2
Pulse Visual Art, 3256 Walnut St.
This solo exhibition featuring the work of Fresh Sam is made up of works on canvas, framed prints, T-shirts, and custom clothing. A fashion designer and wardrobe stylist by trade and founder of the clothing brand Infatué, Fresh Sam will be venturing outside her typical mediums to explore the idea that pain shapes us all. This collection invites the viewer to see pain differently — whether emotional or physical — not as an ending, but as a catalyst for prosperity.

“Accidentally on Purpose – Pasó lo que tenía que pasar”
Through Aug. 9
Museo de las Americas, 861 Santa Fe Drive
“Accidentally on Purpose – Pasó lo que tenía que pasar” is a landmark exhibition celebrating the 50-year artistic journey of Denver Chicano renaissance artists and activists Maruca and Daniel Salazar, featuring animation, film, video, photography, installation, sculpture, and paintings created over the last half century as Maruca and Daniel Salazar chronicled the Chicano movement and the role of art in social change — celebrating their journey of Chicano identity, from Denver’s Northside and across the invisible railroad tracks.

Plein Air Buddies Show and Sale
Through Aug. 15
James J. Richey Gallery at Lakewood Civic Center, 480 S. Allison Parkway, Lakewood
See 51 paintings created outdoors in Colorado by 17 artists at the Plein Air Buddies show. The Plein Air Buddies group was formed six years ago by several professional artists and educators. Today, the groups enjoys each other’s company and discussing the artwork produced as they paint and share ideas. All paintings on display are also for sale.

On the Walls at CSU: Posters from the 1970s
Through Aug. 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.

“Tilting West”
Through Aug. 23
The Arvada Center Galleries, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd., Arvada
“Tilting West” is a large-scale group exhibition that re-examines the genre of the American West through a contemporary lens. Blending invited and juried artists from across the region, the exhibition includes 12 invited artists and 102 selected works chosen from 1,555 submissions by 335 artists. This exhibition presents a wide range of perspectives that engage with and challenge the traditions within Western art.

Come Together: 150 years of the Emmanuel
Through Sept. 19
Emmanuel Art Gallery, 1205 10th St. Plaza
One of Denver’s oldest buildings turns 150 this year, and CU Denver is marking the milestone with a new exhibition opening June 18 at the Emmanuel Art Gallery. “Come Together” celebrates the vibrant history of the Emmanuel from its inception as an Episcopal church (1876–93), to its history as a synagogue (1903–58), to its time as an artist studio for Wolfgang and Susan Pogzeba, and since 1976 as the Emmanuel Art Gallery on the Auraria Campus. The exhibition includes the work of twenty artists who are connected to the Emmanuel’s exhibition history, with artworks ranging from the mid-1980s to new works created specifically for “Come Together.” Read our story here.

“Simulacra”
Through Oct. 10
Marie Walsh Sharpe Gallery, 5225 N. Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs
“Simulacra (or, The Persistence of Nature in an Age of Mediation)” considers how the natural world persists when our encounters are increasingly mediated by technology and threatened by ecological collapse. The exhibition features the work of Bill Viola, Etsuko Ichikawa, and Dornith Doherty.

Nikki Pike: “YES“
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.

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