Clyfford Still, master and pioneer of mid-twentieth-century abstract expressionism, was something of an eccentric in the artist-as-egomaniac stripe. This characteristic is best illustrated by the fact that at the height of his acceptance, he pulled out of the New York art world and isolated himself in a rural part of…
For nearly three-quarters of the twentieth century, the heart of the art world in Colorado was in Colorado Springs. Artists were attracted to the then-charming town by its art-colony character, which was anchored by the Broadmoor Academy and its successor institution, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center School. Beginning in…
The American Landscape and Carny. Rule Gallery has typically presented single solos since landing in its new space several months ago, but this time, there are two different shows in that long and narrow sales room. The two work well together, though, as both are made up of photographs about…
Tiny adorable pineapples on knobby twigs pop up out of a vase; above them rise stems covered with thornapples plump, green and spiny. Along the wall, the antique cooler is filled with living treasures: blooming eucalyptus that looks like sea anemones, delicate blackberry stems with clusters of fruit, velvety brown…
Julia McClurg loves animals. A lot of people claim similar affinities, but McClurg is serious about her passion. She paints portraits of pets as her business, LuLu Bella, which is named for her Italian greyhound, She creates everything from wall-hanging masterpieces to greeting cards, and has done more than 400…
Although Dr. Hunter S. Thompson was called many things during his 67-plus years on the planet — brilliant, disturbed, innovative, dangerous and more — few observers ever accused him of being a role model. Nevertheless, Anita Thompson, who’s in town today to sign copies of The Gonzo Way, her new…
As Miss Talulah proprietor Robin Lohre sadly puts it, it’s time to open your purse and pick up a “little piece of Talulah history.” The girly store, which once upon a time moved from the Ballpark neighborhood to pioneer a space in Stapleton’s Town Center, 7477 East 29th Place, is…
What’s implied in the hip design store Mod Livin’s name has taken benevolent shape in Happiness Is a Mod Puppy, a unique benefit auction for the Downtown Animal Care Foundation. Featuring a pack of Eero Aarnio plastic puppies decorated by local artists and businesses — including Westword style blogger the…
I don’t understand how my nine-year-old daughter became fixated on the overly cheerful tunes of ABBA, the sound of which has never, in all my lifetime, been wanted or even allowed in my house. She brought it home from school like a virus, I guess. Day after day she sits…
Ladies…gentlemen…and children (over eighteen, anyway): Step right up and witness Emerge: Carnival of Shadows, a circus of the erotic, the bizarre and the musical. See DekO, the ringleader, and his merry troupe of Circus Rave Dolls, chosen for their sensuous beauty and hailing from every corner of the globe. See…
As president and founder of my high school’s Green Club, I was hated. I harassed students who didn’t use our recycling bins, and I ruined assemblies with staged funerals for the earth. We now live in an age that I don’t think my teen self would have ever thought possible:…
Nothing is worse than being out for a walk on a beautiful day, losing track of time and finding yourself miles from home — and suddenly needing to pee. You’re stuck in an unfamiliar neighborhood and can’t find any establishment that will allow you to use its bathrooms. Things start…
Conductor Carl Topilow is the bicycle of the symphony world. He’s wagged his wand on stages from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Owensboro, Kentucky. He’s been known to tease horns up and blow woodwinds down. He’s banged big brass and he’s brassy to big bass. He’s as comfortable straddling old classic…
This year’s Buffalo Bill Days, the annual Wild West celebration in Golden, requires an entire weekend and then some in order to fit in all the activities. Yesterday was the annual golf tournament and awards buffet, and today visitors can enjoy a Chamber of Commerce luncheon, but the real fun…
Put the fun between your legs today at the second annual Subaru Urban Assault Bike Race. Open to cyclists of all ages, the course runs throughout the city and is set up like a scavenger hunt, with landmarks that must be found and various checkpoints that include physical/mental challenges. Teams…
My Jewish grandmother used to make me schlep everything. Schlep the folding card-table chairs out of her basement for dinner, schlep groceries from her car, schlep the patio furniture out for the summer and back in for the winter. No male in the family was free of his schlepping responsibilities…
The Little Mermaid was the first Disney film I saw in theaters. I was nine years old and had grown up on flicks such as Cinderella, Pinocchio and Snow White, but the story of misfit mermaid Ariel, who had to lose her voice to find herself, was the most amazing…
What do Kurt Cobain and solar eclipses have to do with each other — besides the fact that most people didn’t find out about them until after they were over? Almost nothing. But don’t tell that to the Lab at Belmar. To those folks, there are strings that tie everything…
In my childhood bedroom, there’s a pink roll of yarn attached to a shabby six-inch square — the scarf I started making when my grandma taught me to crochet at age ten. Never one to throw anything away, I thought about picking up where I left off a few years…
As always, the Vail International Dance Festival offers a delicious grab bag of premiere performances and choreographic styles to Colorado dance lovers, delivered with grace in the pristine fresh air of Vail’s Ford Amphitheater, 530 South Frontage Road East, or on the Vilar Center stage in Beaver Creek, 68 Avondale…
We all want our kids to appreciate the greatest writer in the English language, but sometimes the play’s not the thing, especially for the easily distracted seven-year-old representatives of the human experience. Today in Highlands Ranch, the Shakespearean era comes alive — out of the dark theater and into the…
Comedian Bob Marley — an Irish guy from Maine — hears “real zingers” all the time about how he should come out in a dreadlocked wig at his gigs and impersonate the dead reggae singer, and he wisely chooses to ignore them. “It’s kind of ridiculous that I don’t do…
