Strong Is the New Pretty Shows Girls in All Their Kick-Ass Glory

When Kate T. Parker started shooting photos of her two daughters, both tomboys, she noticed that her favorite pictures were those in which her children were totally themselves — not posing and primping as girls are too often taught to do. She started shooting other girls, and soon her images…

Review: Presence: Reflections on the Middle East Takes You Over There

One of the early standouts of Denver’s Month of Photography is Presence: Reflections on the Middle East, at the Center for Visual Art, Metropolitan State University of Denver’s off-campus exhibition space in the Art District on Santa Fe. The show comprises more than sixty works by a dozen artists, all natives of Muslim-majority countries. Most of these artists no longer live in their homelands, though, and have immigrated to the United States or Canada.

Amid Shakeups, DCPA Appoints Attorney Martin Semple as Board Chair

Denver Center for the Performing Arts has seen a lot of turnover in recent years, but one guiding force has been board chairman Daniel Ritchie. Today, March 7, the organization announced he will be replaced in that role by Martin Semple, an attorney who has specialized in employment law —…

DAM’s Star Wars and the Power of Costume Extended to April 9

The Denver Art Museum’s Star Wars and the Power of Costume has brought thousands into the venerable institution who might otherwise never have walked through its doors. Because of public demand, the nationally recognized exhibit that has been compared to Donald Trump —”Both are mega-entertaining, show-biz fluffs that have puffed…

Caboose Welcomes Model-Railroad Enthusiasts to the 21st Century

The average age of the model-train enthusiast is typically over fifty. He’s part of a legion, mainly male, of WWII-era kids and early boomers whose childhood dream it was to unwrap a Lionel train set on Christmas morning. Some of them never abandoned that dream, and even after realizing it,…

Month of Photography 2017: Eleven Not-to-Miss Shows

The 2017 edition of Denver’s biennial Month of Photography is a lot to swallow in a month — a good reason why MoP show openings are usually spread out over several weeks. But don’t be daunted. There’s so much worth seeing in this community-wide effort, which this year loosely circles…

Artspace Weighs Opening Live-Work Space for Artists in Aurora

Aurora is one of several Colorado cities talking with Artspace, a nationally renowned nonprofit developer, about creating live-work space for artists. On March 1, the discussion came to the Vintage Theatre, where Artspace discussed the possibility of putting a live-work space for artists in the Aurora Cultural Arts District. At…

Review: Abstraction Connects in Havu’s The Connected Edge

Geometric abstraction, an international current, has played an outsized role in the modern art of the American West for the past fifty years, maybe longer. Consider the career of Colorado’s Clark Richert, Agnes Martin’s work in New Mexico…you get the idea. This type of work has not only held on to its relevance, but it’s currently making a comeback. A strong case for that return is The Connected Edge, at the William Havu Gallery, where a trio of artists — two from New Mexico and one from Wyoming — are showing compositions with strong linear elements.

Hamilton Coming to Denver With DCPA’s 2017-’18 Broadway Season

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts just announced its 2017-’18 Broadway season, and it includes Hamilton, which will be open at the Buell Theatre on February 27, 2018 — which means less than a year to wait. Tickets to the full Broadway subscription season are now on sale; single-show tickets will be available at a later date.

Curtain Closing on Boulder’s Video Station After 35 Years

Video Station held its an annual Oscar contest on Sunday, February 26…and the next day, the 35-year-old Boulder store announced that it would be shuttering its doors for good early in March.  The news was sad but not surprising; what’s remarkable is that the brick-and-mortar video store stayed open year after…

Artopia Designer Anne Fanganello on AnnaFesta, FestaSports and a Perfect Fit

Anne Fanganello isn’t afraid to shake up the status quo with her fashion. Her two lines – the couture AnnaFesta and athletic FestaSports – aim to make women of all shapes and sizes, especially plus sizes, feel confident and comfortable in their own skin. You can see her work in action at the Whiteout fashion show at Westword’s Artopia, set for February 25 at City Hall.

Review: Month of Photography Off to Strong Start With Two Arvada Center Shows

March marks Denver’s biennial Month of Photography, a tremendously successful, multi-venue event founded by photographer and photography advocate Mark Sink in 2004. Each iteration of MoP sees many of the area’s exhibition spaces mounting shows at least tangentially related to photography. The Arvada Center has already opened two of them: Double Exposure: An Exhibition of Photography and Video, a large group show, and Stop/Look/See: Photography by James Milmoe, a major solo.