Art Attack: Nine Ways to See Great Art in Denver

This week in Denver, the Museo de las Americas pumps new life into its Gallery of the Ancient Americas, and  Salvador Dalí’s surrealist floral prints take root at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Meanwhile, photographer Sherry Wiggins unveils a new book of her Claude Cahun performative imagery series at Michael Warren Contemporary.

Beyond those highlights, galleries across town are opening with shows for everyone. Here's what to see:
Moe Gram, Every Human: The Push Back
The Storeroom, 1700 Vine Street
Through June
The Storeroom’s window gallery gets a spring makeover from artist Moe Gram, whose installation “Every Human: The Push Back” drives forward ideas about communal empathy explored previously through public participation at Understudy during the 2019 Biennial of the Americas. In the reprise, Gram is asking people to actively share definitive ways of passing human empathy forward wherever it's needed. Drive or walk by the installation any time of day or night for inspiration, then leave suggestions at the Every Human website.
Grand Reopening: Gallery of the Ancient Americas
Museo de las Americas, 861 Santa Fe Drive
It’s a big week at the Museo, where the refurbished, permanent archaeological Gallery of the Ancient Americas reopens with Tiempo y Lugar, an exhibition focused on historical cultural advancements throughout early Latin America. The centerpiece, a replica of the Mayan Temple of the Magician at Uxmal, Mexico, created in the ’30s by WPA artists and restored by Denver artist Emanuel Martinez, will be exhibited in counterpoint to a modern mural by David Ocelotl Garcia. While you’re there, catch up with the Museo’s fine Month of Photography show, La Nueva Cara / The New Face, on view through April 17. .
Danyl Cook, Snip, Snip
Valkarie Gallery, 445 South Saulsbury Street, Lakewood
Through May 2
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 10, 5 to 8:30 p.m.
When Valkarie resident artist Danyl Cook mounts a show at the gallery, you know you’re in for spring colors and lighthearted subject matter in portraiture, florals, landscapes and the natural world. Things are looking up: Here’s where to visually rev up that good feeling about life.
Photography: Your Vision
Lisa Calzavara, Reconnecting, in Gallery East
D’art Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Drive
Through May 2
D’art Gallery offers up something different in April: a juried photography show with the no-theme theme of imagery reflecting a personal vision. Juror Maureen Ruddy Burkhart chose fifty images from hundreds of entries reflecting diverse ideas and techniques — all applied with skill. In the East Gallery, D’art member Lisa Calzavara emotes through abstract work created in COVID times.
Betsy Anderson, Home Is Where the Art Is
Skyline VPA Academy, South Gallery
Month of Poetry Pop-Up, Studio 64
Firehouse Art Center, 667 Fourth Avenue, Longmont
Through May 9
Second Friday Opening Reception: Friday, April 9, 6:30 to 9 p.m.; RSVP online in advance at Eventbrite
Second Friday at Firehouse busts out in April with all guns firing: Longmont artist Betsy Anderson takes over the Main Gallery with a varied collection of paintings and embroidery art (including functional aprons and underwear); students from the VPA Academy art program at Skyline High School in Longmont show off their skills in the South Gallery; and artist-and-poet pairs unveil the results of their collaborations for a one-night pop-up in Studio 64. Timed-entry slots are going fast; act now so you aren't left in the cold.
Vida
ILA Gallery, 209 Kalamath Street, Suite 12
Through May 3
Opening Reception: Friday, April 9, 6 to 10 p.m.
ILA Gallery hosts twelve hot local and international mural and street artists with twelve different points of view for a show focused on current events, the family of man, and living life to the fullest after a long year of hunkering down.

April Group Show
Globeville Riverfront Arts Center (GRACe), 888 East 50th Avenue
Opening reception: Friday, April 9, 6 to 9 p.m.
The GRACe studio complex celebrates the return of group shows with its first in 2021, featuring work by Greg Gandy, Jade Hoyer, Erin McAllister, Charles Martinez (aka the Flower Dude) and Cindy Pincus. Be a good art lover, and come masked and ready to bargain.
Salvador Dalí: Gardens of the Mind
Freyer-Newman Center, Denver Botanic Gardens, 1007 York Street
April 10 through August 22
Included in DBG gate admission, free to $15; RSVP online in advance for timed-entry visitation slot
Gardens of the Mind offers works of botanical art as only Salvador Dalí could have imagined them as a new addition to the collection of exhibitions on view in the beautiful new Freyer-Newman Center galleries. Nearly forty works from two series of Dalí prints, FlorDalí and Surrealist Flowers, will be on view through August, offering a world where lilies make music and the sun branches out like a tree.
Sherry Wiggins Book Signing: The Unknown Heroine
Michael Warren Contemporary, 760 Santa Fe Drive
Saturday, April 10, noon to 5 p.m.
RSVP online in advance for timed-entry slot
The fascinating subject matter and imagery of The Unknown Heroine, a performative series of photographs created in collaboration by photographers Sherry Wiggins and Luís Branco and based on an essay by surrealist writer and artist Claude Cahun, on view at Michael Warren Contemporary, has now been documented in a book of the same name. Wiggins and the gallery are hosting a book signing for the tome, hot off the press, by half-hour timed-entry slots on April 10. For reference, the Month of Photography show is open through April 17.