Grabowska is working on a series of sculptures about people's postures, taking inspiration from a variety of models through sessions of recorded conversation. Together, the artist and model come up with a body posture in which the model feels most protected,and Grabowska traces the postures with the tubes. "It's almost like figure drawing, but in 4D," Grabowska says.
As for the space Grabowska has been working out of for the past several weeks, it's "a fucking gift," Grabowska says. "Especially with sculpture, we generally need a lot of floor space and a lot of ceiling height, and in Denver on a very, very tight budget, that’s extremely hard to find. So to have a raw space here is so important, because I’m a mess when I work, so it’s really helpful to have something that’s not precious that we can actually work in."
That space is thanks to the RiNo Made Pop-Up Program, a new effort in the art district aimed at connecting artists with developers and building owners to turn vacant spaces into art studios where artists can work and the public can come and engage with the art (and see the vacant space) through Open Studio Hours.
RiNo Made builds off of the art district's NO VACANCY residency, which takes place inside of warehouses that are vacant or scheduled to be demolished. "We bring an artist to occupy those spaces and breathe in a last bit of life into those historically industrial areas," says Kiah Butcher, program manager of the RiNo Art District, which turns twenty this year.
Are there a lot of vacant spaces in RiNo? "Oh, yeah," Butcher says. "And I want them all to be in our RiNo Made Pop-Up Program."
While one explanation for the number of vacant properties could be rising leasing costs, Butcher says no single reason can take the full blame. "I think the entire economic structure of our country, our state, is a little shaky, so it’s a product of a lot of different reasons," she says.
Given the economic challenges, she explains, she wanted to find another way to activate and energize a space while also giving the benefit of resources, time and space to local artists.
The idea for RiNo Made came out of the Tools for the Creative Life series, which brought together creatives, developers and property owners earlier this year to talk through solutions to some of the area’s most pressing challenges —affordability and access to space. "I wanted to really think about how we can create this symbiotic relationship, uplifting businesses, properties and artists together," Butcher says.
The RiNo Business Improvement District approved $25,000 in funding for the pilot year of RiNo Made Pop-Ups, which will support at least two iterations this year. If successful, the district could expand the program to additional sites next year.
The first iteration is at a vacant storefront at 2601 Walnut Street, owned by national real estate company EDENS. For the past several weeks, five local artists including Grabowska, Matt McCall, Navya Mallepeddi, Shadae Hunt and Chris Bristow have been using it as studio space and hosting Open Studio Hours twice a week so that the public can come in and engage with their work.
It all culminates in an Artist Talk from 6 to 8 p.m. this Friday, August 22, where attendees will have the chance to hear from each artist about their creative process and view the works created during the residency.
The second iteration will open in a different location in either late August or early September, Butcher says. While the hope in continuing years is to have an open call to participate in the RiNo Made Pop-Up Program, Butcher, who has a background in contemporary art and public art curation, hand-selected local artists whom she thought would benefit from the program during its pilot this year.
The community of the other artists has been the best thing for oil painter Matt McCall, a full-time psychologist who has been painting on the side after taking several years of art classes at the Boulder School of Fine Art. "I didn’t know any of them at first," McCall says. "Having the open houses together has been really fun, and just hanging out and sharing ideas."
McCall paints from life, setting up portraits or still life scenes with items that catch his attention while wandering around Arc.
Kristen Fiore
The reaction of people coming in for Open Studio Hours has been encouraging. "I actually had one lady cry, which was amazing," McCall says. "She had a really strong reaction to it."
The community interacting with the artists is one of the main points of the program; Butcher says people can walk around and see murals and different public art installations outside in the art district any time, but RiNo Made lets people come inside the storefronts and see different kinds of work.
"RiNo Art District has defined itself by certain kinds of art, which are wonderful, great, public and communal," Grabowska adds. "But there are also a lot of artists who have much more private, introverted practices and might not be as commercial, so I hope that people can come see and appreciate more experimental forms of practice and different media and concepts, and have a broader exposure to the types of art in Denver and RiNo Art District."
The RiNo Made Pop-Up Artist Talk is 6-8 p.m. Friday, August 22, at 2601 Walnut Street, Unit 210.
