Audio By Carbonatix
Where can you take a glass-blowing class, buy a painting, look at books and get your bike fixed, too?
The Other Side Arts, a nonprofit community center that offers a new twist on one-stop shopping.
“We really wanted to give up-and-coming artists an opportunity to show their work, while also educating the community on local art,” says co-founder Jeff Ball. “And we wanted to be all-inclusive.”
When Ball and fellow artist Chris Minter saw a large, empty warehouse space on Platte Street last summer, they immediately began to fantasize. “We started dreaming about all that could be here,” Ball recalls.
Their vision has quickly become reality. The Other Side features twelve artist studios as well as a children’s art room and offers monthly workshops ranging from glass-blowing to welding to making mosaic tables. (And if art isn’t necessarily your thing, you can also browse through alternative books at Breakdown Books or take out one of the free rental bikes from Bike Chek, a bicycle-repair and consignment store. Both are part of the collective.)
On the second Friday of every month, a new exhibit opens in the gallery space upstairs. “We have live music, spoken word, puppetry,” says Minter. About 350 people turn out for the openings every month. “It’s just amazing,” says Ball. “We had a vision, but this is much more than we ever hoped it could be.”
Now they’re ready for the next step. On Saturday, the center is holding its first annual Other Side Arts Unity Fair, in the field behind the former Platte Anchor Bolt warehouse. The daylong event will include local music (“everything from acoustic music to rap”), art, kids’ events and performances. “It’s going to be thirteen hours of fun,” Minter promises.
“I think Denver’s art scene is really changing. It’s challenging itself to do different things,” says Ball. “We’re definitely riding a wave of new energy.”
