Art Attack: Ten Ways to See Great Art This Weekend

Take an arty summer vacation this weekend! Follow a trail of art both indoors and out, and along the way hear artist talks and enjoy receptions. Ready for an aesthetic adventure?

Let us point the way.

Places of Memory: Artist Talk With Gregg Deal
Wednesday, July 21, 7 to 8:30 p.m., online
Free, RSVP in advance for link
An art show in an anthropology museum? When the subject matter is culture-based and sociopolitical, you bet. Indigenous artist Gregg Deal’s contribution to the University of Denver Museum of Anthropology’s virtual exhibition Places of Memory is an ironic view of the Native American story, rife with graphic imagery documenting a stolen culture. Join Deal online for a conversation and viewing of the artwork.

Applied Matter
Robischon Gallery, 1740 Wazee Street
Through September 25
Robischon presents a summer group show by gallery artists that displays the diversity of abstraction with works created in a variety of media. As the title suggests, Applied Matter includes a universe of materials used in unique ways, from paint to industrial cast-offs.

Drew Austin, Silent Worlds
Art Gym, 1460 Leyden Street
July 22 through August 22
Opening Reception: Thursday, July 22, 5 to 8 p.m.
Artist Drew Austin has filled the Art Gym gallery with all the accoutrements of living – but no sign of human life – in his installation Silent Worlds, a coalescence of sculpture, assemblage and light, with a soundtrack by Denver composer Nathan Hall. Austin also collaborated with Art Gym on a series of screenprints for sale in the facility’s online shop, and will lead a free virtual sculpture workshop on Wednesday, August 18, from 4 to 6 p.m.; RSVP online in advance.

LandMark Nature Tour
Bear Creek Greenbelt Park, 2800 South Estes Street, Lakewood
Friday, July 23, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Free, register online in advance
The ongoing LandMark exhibitions of outdoor artwork in public spaces in Arvada and Lakewood continue, offering viewers new opportunities to see and learn more about the installations. On Friday, July 23, in Lakewood, artists Nicole Banowetz, Tiffany Matheson and Jaime Molina will be joined by naturalist Lindsay Gillis in Bear Creek Greenbelt Park for a nature tour and talk marrying environmental and artistic experiences. Afterward, artist/educator Anna Kaye, one of the curators of LandMark, will host some free creative art-making on-site; bring tools for journaling, sketching and photography to participate.

The Many Faces of Eros
Artemesia Galerie, 836 Santa Fe Drive
July 23 through October 18
Opening Reception: Friday, July 23, 4 to 10 p.m.
The artists of Artemesia Galerie in the Art District on Santa Fe prove that the study of the human body never grows old in a new show of erotica and nudes.

Of Sky and Ground: Yoshimoto Saito
Freyer-Newman Center, Denver Botanic Gardens, 1007 York Street
July 24 through November 28
Artist Talk: Thursday, August 5, 6 p.m.; $15 in person or $10 virtual (members free), includes DBG gate admission
Sculptor Yoshitomo Saito’s work sourced from nature blends in perfectly at the Denver Botanic Gardens, where the exhibition Of Sky and Ground opens this week. How Saito casts the delicate organic shapes of vines, pine cones, leaves, seeds and twisted branches in bronze so elegantly is his secret to keep and ours to contemplate. The artist talk on August 5, which you can hear in person or online, might give away some of his tricks, but the peaceful spirit of the natural world wins out in the end.

Tony Ortega: Magia Chicana
Green Room Gallery, Loveland Museum, 503 North Lincoln Avenue, Loveland
July 24 through November 13
Reception: Friday, August 13, 6 to 8 p.m.
Tony Ortega’s artist survey Magia Chicana (Chicano Magic), opening this week at the Loveland Museum, blends Ortega’s styles, from bright depictions of his community in everyday life to satirical Chicano superhero prints, for a complete look at his practice. See it now, then return next month for the reception.

Mirada Gallery Grand Reopening
Mirada Fine Art Gallery, 1331 15th Street
Saturday, July 24, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, July 25, noon to 4 p.m.
Mirada has officially picked up and left Indian Hills and settled into a spot just off Larimer Square, bringing an ambience and collection of art rated “superior” on the American Art Awards 25 Best Galleries and Museums in America list just two years ago. It might not have that fireplace anymore, but the spirit is still there; Mirada is hosting a two-day opening to introduce itself to the city folk.

Mikey Yates, Hard in the Paint, one-day preview
Rule Gallery, 808 Santa Fe Drive
Sunday, July 25, 4 to 6 p.m.
Hard in the Paint, a visual diary of painter Mikey Yates’s Filipino-American upbringing in light-drenched, stained-glass colors, is opening at Rule’s location in Marfa, Texas, later this month, but not before stopping for a day in Denver to offer locals a sneak peek. Meet the artist and see his beautiful paintings while you can.

Jody Guralnick, Visiting Artist Talk and Reception
RedLine Contemporary Art Center, 2350 Arapahoe Street
Tuesday, July 27, 6 to 8 p.m.
Aspen artist Jody Guralnick, whose nature-based fantasies were on display recently at the Denver Botanic Gardens and are currently at Michael Warren Contemporary Art, and who served in RedLine’s S*Park Visiting Artist Program this month, will be feted at a collaborative reception hosted by all three local institutions. Get to know Guralnick during her artist talk and over cocktails at RedLine before she hightails it back up to the mountains.

Interested in having your event appear in this calendar? Send the details to editorial@westword.com.