April is shaping up to be a month of big ideas in three dimensions in local gallery spaces, with shows that focus on scale, mixed media and quirky manifestations of artfulness. Here’s a selection of galleries where you can jump on the big-art bandwagon or just have a good time this weekend.

Tempest: Photography by Greg Amanti
Hinterland
April 10 through May 1
Opening Reception: 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, April 10
Hinterland caps its Month of Photography programming with a solo from photographer/mixed-media artist Greg Amanti, who raises his work into mind-tripping three-dimensionality with everyday materials like plaster and string. Get ready for a visual ride: These are images you’ll have to stand back to properly see.


Boxwood Pinball Tournament
Pirate Contemporary Art
7 p.m. Friday, April 10
Pinball gaming by donation
Sculptor William Manke and illustrator Travis Hetman, who proudly call themselves a couple of “art nerds,” take play to an artful level in their hand-painted wooden Boxwood pinball collaborations. Tonight at Pirate, they’ll help raise funds for the gallery by hosting a tournament for all who are willing to pony up a donation to play. “Boxwood is the friendly little brother to pinball,” says Hetman of the machines, which are non-electronic and use a scoring system similar to that of cribbage.

Substrate: New Installation Works by Jennifer Jeannelle
Ironton Studios
April 10 through May 16
Opening reception: 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, April 10
Local artist Jennifer Jeannelle makes textural statements on a grand scale; the body of work created for Substrate deals with the concept of swarming, portrayed in various mediums, from drawings to clay-and-thread wall structures, as well as a soundscape that’s motion-based. Swarm over to Ironton tonight for the opening; a second reception will fly on the First Friday in May.

CycLyric, new work by Gamma
Cold Crush
7 p.m. Friday, April 10
Prolific Longmont street artist Gamma Acosta, who can often be seen transforming and re-transforming a wall at Bella Vista Mexican Restaurant at East 20th Avenue and Sherman Street, goes big with a new mural at Cold Crush, along with some smaller works. Catch him while you can — Gamma doesn’t formally show work often, and his large-sale murals come and go with the night. Spins by D Musa.


John Haley III: Metalmorphosis
Crimson Hilt Tattoo
April 11 through May 7
Opening reception: 7 p.m. Saturday, April 11
John Haley III, a member of the Pangloss Graviton artist collective and an old-school blacksmith working in a modern world, applies mettle to the metal to create snakey, iron-wall sculptures with an undulating life of their own. This ain’t your Grandma’s cast-iron fence.

Want more? See the Westword art event listings to learn more about current gallery and art museum exhibitions and openings in the metro area. 

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