After all that, it was good to sit on the bus as it whisked us off across town to Tennyson Street, where First Friday is just as happening as Santa Fe's, but in a different, folksy sort of way. We were dropped off at Shack Man Glass, a veritable beehive of First Friday action, where local poster artist Lindsey Kuhn had a show reception and book signing and, in the back, glass-working demos were in full gear. I could barely tear my traveling companion away from that work table...don't know if she was just mesmerized by the slow transformations of melting sticks of glass into beads and others forms, or if it was the flaming torches that held her rapt. Does it matter?
Shack Man does offer classes in glass-working, should the urge ever come over you. Tennyson Street was alive with people who spilled out of Brasserie Felix and other eateries along the way, and there was also a lot of live music, from drum circles to down-homey children's music. The mid-century emporium Mid, Mod and More was hopping, too, with retro tunes on the working tv/hi-fi combo and a wacky collection of high- and low-brow furniture and art. And down at the other end of the drag, at 44th Avenue, EvB Studios hosted a table-full of clay-sculpting kids and adults who were making "Baby Face Fridas" under the tutelage of clay artist Marie Gibbons. Every First Friday, Gibbons hosts these mini-shops, where participants can make a themed artwork for ten bucks and come back to pick it up after she's fired them. And across the street, Sellars Project Space hosted a nice-looking a show by painter Laurel McMechan. Heading back to the bus, we encountered tin woodsmen hanging from a stop sign in front of Green Door Furniture, a disco DJ at a marijuana dispensary and the Denver Cupcake Truck. Mmmm. Next stop, a smidgen of RiNo at Ironton Gallery and Weilworks. Ironton was hosting an opening for Sharon Feder, whose well-executed paintings straddle the realms of realism and abstraction. The firepit in Ironton's courtyard was blazing, and artists were visiting in their studios; even in the dark, the enclave's esoteric garden was well worth a stroll.Across the street at Weilworks, resident owner/artist Tracy Weil welcomed visitors to his new show Re-Modernism, and the ambiance was quiet, genial and easy-going. Just what you'd expect from someone who lives and works in his gallery space. We made the pilgrimage up into the famed Weilworks tower, where we admired drawings by Susan Wick on the way up and the skyline and other city lights at the top.
Finally, tired, but inspired, we reboarded our bus and went home to dream of of Denver, a wonderful city with art and culture to spare.