Art Attack: Fifteen Ways to Celebrate Art in Denver This Weekend

Month of Photography continues to reign in Front Range galleries and museums this weekend, as well as online, projected on the side of a building and side by side with works in other media. It’s a good time to recheck the MOP schedule online to see what you’ve let slip through the cracks — including workshops, virtual lectures and other photo-centric events.

And there's much more to see around town. Get it while you can.

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A new work from Phillip Monroe that's part of Hidden Vision Photography's online exhibition.

Phillip Monroe, Monroe's Art Studio, Model: Colleen @colleencolemodel

Denvertography
Ongoing online exhibition
Denvertography is an online project mounted by photographer Geoff Decker of Hidden Vision Photography, who noted that many of his Colorado colleagues might have missed deadlines to qualify for Month of Photography shows. He invited photographers within the state to submit work to the page, which serves loosely as a virtual directory where camera artists can introduce themselves to viewers with a sample of their best work and explanatory notes. An idea whose time has come?

Maggie Poe, “Opportunity,” (2021 Best in Show, Month of Photography Denver Festival High School Show).

© Maggie Poe

Gen Z: Responses to 2020
Online exhibition, through March 31
Another online exhibition, this one shared by the Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Gen Z: Responses to 2020 hands the visual soapbox to high school students reacting to the pandemic, social justice issues and the warped political roller coaster of 2020. CPAC director Samantha Johnston was joined by photographer Anthony Camera and MOP founder Mark Sink in jurying this imaginative show.

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Andrew Beckham, “After Everywhere,” charcoal (vine, compressed, powdered and liquid) and ink on paper, 2020.

Andrew Beckham

Andrew Beckham, Harbinger: Stories From a Burning Planet
Angela Faris Belt, Nascent
O'Sullivan Art Gallery, Regis University, 3333 Regis Boulevard
Through April 8
Andrew Beckham and Angela Faris Belt approach nature photography from two different angles at O’Sullivan: Beckham’s detailed, large-scale blowups of natural geologic shapes and textures are enhanced by ink and various forms of charcoal, while Farris Belt captures the delicate silhouettes of aspen branches on watercolor paper through the sun-assisted photographic medium of Cyanotype. Take advantage of in-person viewing hours in the gallery Monday through Friday, through April 8, or visit the cool 3-D virtual tour online.

Dan Baumbach, Discoveries: Found Magical Occurrences
Lori Dresner, Menagerie III: l’Assemblage
D’art Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Drive
Through April 4
D’art Gallery member Dan Baumbach puts in his two cents for Month of Photography with new digitally enhanced photographs of minute and rapidly changing textures, colors, ripples, sparkles, shadows and patterns caught by chance in nature, while ceramic artist Lori Dresner pitches in with whimsical porcelain objects and framed wall-hung mixed-media panels.

Narkita Gold, “LeeLee,” 2019, digital photograph.

© Narkita Gold

Black in Denver: Journey to Liberation
PlatteForum, 2400 Curtis Street
Through March 25, timed-entry visits by appointment only
Photographer Narkita Gold, who is ubiquitous on the Front Range these days with work in current shows at the MCA Denver, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and the Colorado Photographic Arts Center, has also been lending her genius and mentoring skills at PlatteForum, where Black in Denver: Journey to Liberation, the culmination of her residency working with youth artists, opens this weekend. The exhibition includes a selection of her positive Black in Denver portraits along with a collaborative installation denoting resilience, created with PlatteForum students.

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An image by Indigenous photographer Brian Adams, projected on the Clocktower building.

© Brian Adams, courtesy of Indigenous Photograph

Night Lights Denver: Indigenous Photograph
Daniels & Fisher Clocktower, 1600 Arapahoe Street
Tuesday through Sunday evenings, 7:30 to 11 p.m., through March 31
Virtual Panel Discussion: Thursday, March 25, 3 p.m.; RSVP online in advance for the Zoom link
Night Lights Denver, celebrating MOP in March, switched themes for the second half of the month with a program from the group Indigenous Photograph digitally projected on the side of the Daniels & Fisher Clocktower. The large-scale spectacle is free to ogle after dark Tuesday through Sunday, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Paul Sisson, “Night Lights—LOVE,” long-exposure photography.

Paul Sisson

Into the Rearview Mirror: A Look Back at 2020
Lone Tree Arts Center, 10075 Commons Street, Lone Tree
Through May 23
Into the Rearview Mirror: A Look Back at 2020 is self-explanatory, in that it casts the critical eyes of 29 artists on the slow, hermetic lifestyle we’ve all lived over the past year, as well as the immediacy of events happening beyond our living rooms and iPad screens. It appropriately includes a selection of Pandemic Self-Portraits collected from around the world by Denver artist Adrienne DeLoe, who is now working to finish a book of 175 of the works, but that’s just one cross-section of the 52 pieces in the show. There’s a large showing of photography in a nod to MOP 2021, as well as paintings, drawings, mixed-media works, collage, sculpture and prints to round things out. Visit the gallery from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, or view the show online at the website.

Karin Kempe, “Earth(2),” acrylic on canvas.

Karin Kempe

Karin Kempe and Chad Henry, From Home
Sync Gallery, 931 Santa Fe Drive
Through April 10
Sync Gallery members Karin Kempe and Chad Henry pick up on the now-popular theme of making art during lockdown with contemplative abstract paintings and gridded photography scanned from 16mm film (Kempe), and mixed media and collage (Henry). The gallery is open afternoons until 4 p.m. Fridays through Sundays, or view work by the artists online.

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Sandy Skoglund, “Winter,” 2018, pigmented ink print, (ed 8/15).

© Sandy Skogland, courtesy of Rule Gallery

Other Fictions
Rule Gallery, 808 Santa Fe Drive
March 19 through April 24
Opening Reception: Friday, March 19, 5 to 8 p.m.
RSVP required online in advance for timed-entry slot
Rule’s MOP entry juxtaposes photographic works by the diverse sextet of artists Joseph Coniff, Sandra Elkind, Julie Henson, Wes Kennedy, George P. Perez and Sandy Skoglund for an exhibition about practical process melded to obscure storytelling. It’s a compelling combination.

Ninth Annual SPE Combined Caucus Exhibition
Dateline Gallery, 3004 Larimer Street
March 19 through April 10
Opening Reception: Friday, March 19, 6 to 11 p.m.
The Society for Photographic Education, a national platform, took a 21st-century initiative by limiting entries to its ninth annual show to those from members of the multicultural, LGBTQ and women’s caucuses within the organization. Endia Beal, a North Carolina-based photographer and videographer known for her visual documentation of the experiences women of color face in the corporate workplace, juried the MOP show.

Eye of the Camera – Myths and Legends
Littleton Museum, 6028 South Gallup Street, Littleton
March 19 through April 24
The Littleton Museum’s MOP show promises to download a bounty of visual storytelling with a theme that leaves everything to the imagination. Fairy tales, urban legends, mythology, daydreams, a griot’s history lesson — the sky’s the limit for this exhibition’s message. Reservations are required to visit the museum; call 303-795-3950.

Artist A.L. Lummus considers the plight of the mid-century woman.

A.L. Lummus

A.L. Lummus, Mettle Martyr
Bitfactory Gallery, 851 Santa Fe Drive
March 19 through April 8
Opening Reception: Friday, March 19, 6 to 9 p.m.
A.L. Lummus channels the Madison-Avenue-fueled mid-century image of the feminine in her solo Mettle Martyr, a combination of mixed-media works, installation and film all revolving around the trussed-up, big-haired ideal of a different time.

Virgil DiBiase, "1000 Pieces.”

© Virgil DiBiase, Access Gallery

Virgil DiBiase, My Husband Won’t Tell Me His First Name
Access Gallery, 909 Santa Fe Drive
Through April 17
First Friday Reception: Friday, April 2, 6 p.m.
Meet the Artists Reception and Talk: Friday, March 19, 6 p.m.
Closing Reception: Friday, April 16, 6 p.m.
Indiana doctor Virgil DiBiase, a dementia specialist, photographed patients for clues to learn more about how fading personalities hidden behind the fog of an incurable condition might understand their world. It’s a two-sided revelation, opening up discussion and a kind of communication between the mentally able and those living with dementia, however disconnected.

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Kate Casanova, “Deepskin #2,” 2021, gelatin bioplastic, artificial nails, eyeshadow, artist's hair, barbells, scouring pad, window screen, tree moss oil.

Kate Casanova

Kate Casanova
LMP PDA, Lane Meyer Projects, 2528 Walnut Street
March 22 through April 4
Interdisciplinary Denver artist Kate Casanova takes over the gallery window at Lane Meyer Projects Monday with sculptural “post-human” constructions. The artist will donate 25 percent of sales to the Minneapolis College of Art & Design MFA 2020 Fund and 25 percent of sales to the Asian Pacific Development Center.

Interested in having your event appear in this calendar? Send the details to editorial@westword.com.

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