Gathering of the Tribe

It’s been thirty years since a group of Denver artists desperate for affordable studio space found shelter in the vacant Sherman Elementary School and renamed it the Grant Street Art Center. In a move spearheaded by Pat Cronin, who was looking for a place to relocate her printmaking studio, they...

By Susan Froyd

September 5, 2013

Audio By Carbonatix

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It’s been thirty years since a group of Denver artists desperate for affordable studio space found shelter in the vacant Sherman Elementary School and renamed it the Grant Street Art Center. In a move spearheaded by Pat Cronin, who was looking for a place to relocate her printmaking studio, they finagled the red-stone 1893 Romanesque landmark and turned it into what was then an anomaly that, at any given time, provided workspace to 25 artists over a period of five years. Cronin managed the whole enclave until its final year, when “famous artist” Phil Bender took over. “The whole building was full — upstairs, downstairs, in the basement,” Cronin recalls. “It was just amazing. Before, a few people had studios together on Platte Street, but they had a landlord to deal with; it was not an artist-run project. I had never seen such a thing before.”

In 1988, the concept — which also provided classes and gallery shows in addition to studio space — morphed into the more educational model of the Art Students League of Denver under the leadership of Henry Meininger, and the Grant Street artist-tenants scattered. But Cronin has gathered a good number of them together in the present for a Grant Street Art Center Thirty-Year Reunion Show, opening tonight with a reception from 6 to 10 p.m. at Zip 37 Gallery, 3644 Navajo Street.

A lot of notable local veterans will be represented in the exhibit, which continues Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through September 15; for information, visit the Facebook event page or call 720-470-6339.
Fri., Aug. 30; Fridays-Sundays. Starts: Aug. 30. Continues through Sept. 15, 2013

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Susan Froyd started writing for Westword as the "Thrills" editor in 1992 and never quite left the fold. These days she still freelances for the paper in addition to walking her dogs, enjoying cheap ethnic food and reading voraciously. Sometimes she writes poetry.

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