Tradition with a Side of Politics

The spectacle put on by Shen Yun Performing Arts is — and yet isn’t — the usual classical Chinese song and dance. It’s carried, on one hand, by an impressive cast of more than 100 dancers, choreographers and live musicians, and boasts a truckload of costumes to die for, plus…

Tropical Winter

It’s Presidents’ Day, and if you’re lucky, you won’t even have to play hooky to take advantage of the SFCD Free Day at the Denver Botanic Gardens. And if at first the idea sounds tinny to you in the dead of winter, remember that the DBG can be quite cozy…

Top of the Arts

What can one not say about Artopia? Westword’s annual multi-venue celebration spills over with things to do and hear and see and eat and drink, from visual-art exhibitions and fashion shows to poetry readings and adventurous mixed drinks. You can shop at Artopia’s fashion market and I (Heart) Denver store,…

Brave New World

Bunky Echo-Hawk is a modern Renaissance Indian — an artist, activist, poet, teacher and member of the Pawnee and Yakama nations who lives very much in the present while incorporating both the tenets and the sorrows of American Indian tradition into a contemporary message. Pierced, tattooed and comfortable in a…

Dianne Denholm: 2012 MasterMind award winner

I first met Dianne Denholm in grade school, and it’s been great reconnecting with her as an adult in the six years since she started the TACtile Textile Arts Center. During that time, I’ve learned a lot about Denholm and how her mind works, and it’s been a trip: Not…

Q&A: Bunky Echo-Hawk on sharing art and ideas with the people

Indian artist Bunky Echo-Hawk is an old soul in a cutting-edge suit — his bright paintings, slabbed with blocks of blinding color, mix traditional and pop imagery and ideas, resulting in a body of work that’s funny, sad, stridently satirical and very smart. He’s therefore an excellent choice as a…

First Friday reruns: Everybody loves a second chance!

When Mother Nature dumped snow on Denver last Friday, more than a few galleries and businesses decided to shut their doors, first Friday or no. A blizzard of confusion resulted, as many show openings and other events were postponed to later dates — many of them this weekend. Here are…

Illiterate’s Adam Gildar goes solo in a new chapter for Denver arts

Adam Gildar, Westword MasterMind (Class of 2011), is having a hard time getting used to saying “I” rather than “we” when speaking about happenings at his South Broadway gallery: Formerly known as Illiterate and managed by three partners including Gildar, it’s now re-entering the art-scene fray as Gildar Gallery, run…

The Gentileschi Touch

The Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi has long been held high in the estimation of modern female artists; imagined today as a feminist way before her time (she painted in the first half of the seventeenth century), we actually don’t know that much about who she really was. But there…

Tonight at Slam Nuba: Have your slam, and learn your lesson, too

Slam Nuba is still on a roll: After winning one of Westword’s coveted MasterMind awards last year and sending a team to the nationals last summer that snagged first place, the spoken-word collective (which will also perform February 18 at Artopia ) is hard at work finding fresh ways to…

Korean artists keep it real at the CU Art Museum

Where is art happening? Many of the most contemporary trends are coming from urban Asia — Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul — where technology wraps itself around ancient aesthetics with bold results. There are plenty of Korean artists riding that wave, and eight of them are featured in Keeping It Real: Korean…

From the Inside Out

Nobody knows what it’s like to be disabled more than the people who actually live with disabilities. That’s why a new production of Bernard Pomerance’s The Elephant Man, presented by the Physically Handicapped Actors and Musical Artists League, is certain to have added depth: The play is based on the…

Sitting pretty? PlatteForum seeks funky chairs

Another year, another residency — it’s business as usual at PlatteForum, the award-winning nonprofit that pairs struggling kids with resident artist/mentors to create something communal and beautiful. The latest resident, installation artist Jessica Kruetter, has been working with ArtLab students for a few weeks already, with an imaginary environment as…