Denver is chock-full of arts organizations that have become a solid foundation for the future of the city's art scene, and PlatteForum is dedicated to serving youth through its ArtLab program. Students, often coming from Title I schools, are given the opportunity to study in a year-long internship under the guidance of professional artists in PlatteForum's residency program, which attracts creators from around the world. About thirty students are selected each year, and 95 percent graduate from high school and attend college. The program also provides its interns with mental health services, RTD passes, rideshares and a food pantry.

Artist residencies lift up creative people by allowing them the time and freedom to make quality work. The terms may vary, but for established creators in the visual arts who maintain practices that focus on our relationship to the natural world, Land Line at the Denver Botanic Gardens is a lifeline, with an honorarium and nearly unlimited access to the DBG's public spaces, collections and research materials. Artists who specialize in botanical illustration also have the opportunity to work with the School of Botanical Art & Illustration alongside the Gardens' research and conservation team.

After fifteen years, RedLine is still going strong in its mission of fostering the next generation of Denver artists. Each year, its resident artists not only create magnificent works, but they engage with the surrounding community through RedLine's array of programs, including Youth Art Mentoring, which pairs students with professional artists who work with them on a year-long project centered on social justice issues. And the artists often tend to continue giving back after their residencies; alumni include Denver art community leaders like muralist Thomas "Detour" Evans, collage artist Mario Zoots, and Anthony Garcia, who created Birdseed Collective, a nonprofit that implements arts-based community outreach programs.

While Threyda is normally accessed only by appointment, it opens its doors to the public on First Fridays and during exhibition openings. And when those dates come, be sure to go, because a night at this gallery is one to remember. Threyda curates only the most mind-melting artworks by visionary artists, including Android Jones, Morgan Mandala, Stephen Kruse, Seth McMahon and more. Whether you're gazing at a perfectly symmetrical pattern meticulously rendered in oil paints or a digital work dripping with fractals, each piece found in Threyda's rotating gallery is meant to be a catalyst for the type of transcendental experience you normally reach through psychedelics. Bonus: Opening nights and First Fridays often include live music, live painting and plenty of beverages.

A leader in the psychedelic visionary arts movement, Android Jones creates work that illustrates the heights of a DMT trip, which has made him a trailblazer in digital art, virtual reality and NFTs. His internationally recognized work has been projected on the Empire State Building, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, and the Ghats in Varanasi, India, and he was a visual artist for the 2015 Fare Thee Well Tour with the remaining members of the Grateful Dead. But he's also active in his home state, exhibiting a solo show at Threyda gallery last year. In January, Jones's Lyons studio was destroyed in a fire, but he raised more than his asking price of $250,000 in a GoFundMe to replace the expensive tools used to create his art, as well as countless art books and priceless sketches. Starting fresh is difficult, but we have no doubt this seasoned artist will stay on top.

The concept of the divine feminine is seen throughout the paintings of Emily Kell, a Boulder-based artist who has made a name for herself worldwide with her visionary works. Inspired by her tarot practice, mythology and archetypal figures from mysticism, Kell creates portraits of feminine figures, often with a background of swirling stars. She's also a poet, and created an alphabet she calls "moon scratch," which is instantly recognizable in her oeuvre. While most visionary art is centered on ecstatic psychedelic states, Kell's work is more about introspection and transitive moments. Her art was published in the 2018 book Women of Visionary Art, though her greatest accomplishment is likely the meaningful inspiration she passes on through her paintings.

Scott Hildebrandt didn't know that when he made a miniature village as a Christmas gift back in 2008, it was the beginning of a flourishing artistic career. With a background in electrical engineering, Hildebrandt makes miniature displays that can light up and sometimes move. His diorama worlds are usually set in vintage vessels such as boomboxes or Game Boys, evoking nostalgia and eliciting smiles — so it's no wonder that when Meow Wolf began enlisting Denver artists before it opened in 2021, Hildebrandt was asked to create an installation. After filling a hallway there with 200 dioramas, Hildebrandt now focuses on filling commissions, which have shot up — because unlike his art, Mister Christmas's reputation is far from small-scale.

Denver sculptor Ira Sherman has had a long, lucrative career with his iconic kinetic, wearable sculptures, which have been collected by the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C., and the National Ornamental Museum in Memphis, among others. In 2022, he produced his first exhibition in three years at Bitfactory Gallery with Ira Sherman: Revenge, Protection, Redemption, in which he displayed new, mind-blowing creations that each took six months to complete. These wearable prostheses respond mechanically to the wearer and provide commentary on humans' relationships with intimacy and emotions. From sci-fi chastity belts to a contraption that can lift couples in the air, Sherman's work is as fascinating as it's ever been.

Anyone who's been paying attention knows that Cal Duran, an Indigenous, queer, Two Spirit artist inspired by the lore and spirituality of many cultures, has seemingly possessed the superpower to do everything, everywhere, all at once over the past year or two. Wherever big displays were needed for Día de los Muertos celebrations, Duran was there, providing monumental altars, ojos de Dios, calaveras and calacas built from clay, tissue paper and found materials, sometimes at more than one venue in a single day, like a shiva with multiple arms.

In response to the lack of opportunities for trans and queer artists, Below the Concrete formed last year to showcase work from that community through DIY house shows whose location is revealed only to those who email or message the collective on social media. The group has now grown so much that it offers satellite shows from its members, emphasizing the success of Below the Concrete's mission to connect like-minded artists. And the works shown in its exhibitions serve as evidence of how DIY still incentivizes fine art, with compelling creations in myriad mediums, including fashion, sculpture, poetry, dance, painting and more.