Art Attack: Have an Artistic Memorial Day Weekend in Denver and Beyond

Summer’s here, unofficially, and plenty of Denver residents are planning staycations over Memorial Day weekend; they'll have the chance to catch art openings at local art galleries and visit the first big art festivals of the summer. But even if you head to the hills, you can count on finding an arty party.

Here are a few suggestions on how to paint the town this weekend:
Ted Larsen, Total Fabrication
Amy Ellingson, Technosignature
Gary Komarin, in the Viewing Room
Robischon Gallery, 1740 Wazee Street
Thursday, May 25, through September 2
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 25, 6 to 8 p.m.
After a 45th-anniversary season dominated by a two-exhibition showcase of stable artists, it’s back to business at Robischon Gallery, with a trio of solos by Ted Larsen, Amy Ellingson and Gary Komarin. Larsen, an internationally known sculptor, has a knack for unveiling the elegance of industrial salvage by turning metal parts into irregularly shaped abstract pieces that burst out of the walls upon which they’re hung or dangle unobtrusively like unkempt bookshelves or exposed ducts creeping across the architectural landscape. If Ellingson’s wiry, tightly wound abstract oil and encaustic paintings share an industrial look, it’s because they begin with a digital archive of mark-making by her own hand — marks that she’s now extended into the creation of tapestries and sculptures resembling obsidian rocks. In the viewing room, Komarin’s paintings and mixed-media works provide a dreamy, improvisational escape from the industrial and digital worlds.
Keith Howard, The Trail that Disappears
Janice McDonald, Gesture and Flow
John Decker, 10,000 Images, in the North Gallery
Spark Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Drive
Thursday, May 25, through June 18
Opening Reception: Friday, May 26, 6 to 9 p.m.
Last Look: Sunday, June 18, 1 to 4 p.m.
Spark’s next trio includes members Keith Howard, whose pastel and charcoal abstracts explode in a seeing-stars “ka-pow” kind of look, and Janice McDonald, whose collage works of torn paper and mixed media are serene and contemplative in contrast, with flowing colors. In the North Gallery, John Decker’s 10,000 Images is fraught with activity and motion. These works begin with imagery originally intended for animations, which he draws, digitally manipulates, prints, photographs and paints with oils.
Rocky Mountain Triennial
Museum of Art Fort Collins, 201 South College Avenue, 
Fort Collins
Friday, May 26, through August 6
The Museum of Art Fort Collins brings back its Rocky Mountain Triennial, a big splash of an exhibition culled out of entries from artists in seven states in the Rocky Mountain region. Juried by Merry Scully, director of the Fullerton Museum at California State University, San Bernardino (and before that, head curator at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe), the show comprises sixty works by 46 artists. Museum admission is $8 to $10 (youth ages seventeen and under and museum members admitted free).

Street Wise Art Battle at Boulder Creek Fest
Saturday, May 27, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Boulder Creek Fest Art Zone
Street Wise, known for its September mural fest, offers a taste of the bigger wall-painting spectacular with an Art Battle at the Boulder Creek Fest, presenting artists with only one directive: paint imagery on an Adirondack chair. Ten or more hand-selected mural artists will compete for the support of the public as they paint live throughout the day; the winning artist gets a cash prize, and all chairs will go up for auction online to support Street Wise Art programs.

Denver Arts Festival
Saturday, May 27, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, May 28, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Conservatory Green, Central Park, 8304 East 49th Place
Back for its 24th year, the Denver Arts Festival is a fine arts and crafts fest that proudly sticks to Colorado artists with only a select group of national artists filling the booths. The action isn't just in the visual arts: Wendy Woo will perform from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday and Wirewood Station from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, and along the way, there will also be plenty of food and drink, as well as more entertainment. Admission is free; find out more here.
Taste of Creede
Main Street, Creede
Saturday, May 27, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday, May 28, 10:30 a.m.
National Small Print Show Opening: Saturday, May 27, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Creede Repertory Theatre, 120-124 Main Street, Creede
Thinking about a Memorial Day weekend getaway? Head southwest to Creede, where the annual season-starting Taste of Creede is not just about the food, although there will be plenty of that, including a townie component, the KBelle Community Cook-Off. But art might be the biggest attraction, with 25 or more artists at work in the street, craft vendors, and a National Small Prints Show opening at the Creede Repertory Theatre (which kicks off its season, too; make reservations here). On Sunday, an Artists' Quick Draw and an art auction close the fest down.

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