Five Cool Things in Montbello/Green Valley Ranch

Montbello and Green Valley Ranch: Never been there? The far northeastern Denver districts out by the airport do seem to be worlds unto themselves, cut off from the rest of us by parcels of Aurora and Adams County, and that’s why Denver’s civic health club, Warm Cookies of the Revolution,…

ALL THE FEELS Might Be the Coolest Art Show Ever in Aspen

A Denver-centric art exhibit opens tomorrow at the historic Crystal Palace in downtown Aspen, and it could be the coolest show ever in that mountain town. ALL THE FEELS will feel a little something like the “nostalgia of music that still tickles the hair on the back of your neck, the…

The Ten Best Denver Street-Art Murals of 2015

This list involves a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. The artists who ignore the gallery and take to the streets to paint their murals are among the most hard-working in the city. Narrowing it down to ten is a near impossible task, but subjectively, we have chosen our favorite…

Westword’s Ten Most-Read Denver Arts and Culture Stories in 2015

What got people talking in 2015? On Westword’s arts blog, the hottest topics spanned everything from inner city woes and ugly buildings to the most Colorado-iffic ways of escaping both. Without fanfare, here are our ten most-read arts blogs of 2015. 10) Film on the Rocks 2015 Schedule Announced “Outdoor…

The Five Best Denver Art Shows of 2015 — And Two Are Still Open

Considering the cornucopia of art venues in the Denver area — galleries, art centers, museums, artist-cooperatives, pop-ups, and even wide hallways — and the hundreds of exhibits presented inside them over the last year, it comes as no surprise that the Mile High City is starting to get some real traction as…

Art Review: Surface Tension and Other Special Effects at Havu

Part of a generation of modernists who emerged in northern New Mexico in the 1970s, Zachariah Rieke has been influenced by both abstract expressionism and Japanese calligraphy. A selection of his abstracts can be seen in Surface Tension, a group show at William Havu Gallery that combines paintings and sculpture…

Pueblo’s Neon Alley Lights Up the Night — and Illuminates the Past

Joseph Koncilja is a longtime preservationist who’s working to save historic structures in Pueblo. His interest in the vintage built environment extends to neon signs, which he has been collecting for years. Because of a preservation ordinance in the southern Colorado town, neon signs aren’t allowed on buildings facing the…

The Mayday Experiment: Move Along to Where?

Every year we endlessly debate the “meaning of Christmas.” Fox News stages its traditional “War on Christmas” show, commentators lament the crass commercialization, and decorations inch up in store stocks until they compete with pumpkins for space. And on Christmas Eve, families everywhere gather around a traditional nativity, with baby…

Meet the First Six Artists Announced for Artopia 2016

It’s cold outside, but plans are heating up for Artopia 2016 on Saturday, February 20 — a night of art, culture and fashion at City Hall. And cocktails, of course, which you can enjoy as you move through seven rooms of art installations and exhibits, curated by Jolt from Guerilla…

Gallery Sketches: Four New Shows in Denver This Weekend

Local galleries and co-ops are in the holiday swing, offering year-end group showcases and lots of affordable art. Take a break from the malls and the non-stop Christmas music and feed your soul by looking at something awesome — and then take it home with you. Kanon Tenth Anniversary Show…

Ten Cool Things About La Alma/Lincoln Park and West Central Denver

Warm Cookies of the Revolution, the local community-fostering group that founder Evan Weissman calls a “civic health club,” continues its yearlong Stompin’ Grounds Games series this month by focusing on Denver’s rapidly changing La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood and surrounding districts, from the city’s poorest — Sun Valley — to the urbane…

Gallery Sketches: Five New Shows in Denver for December 11-13

As 2015 draws to a close, it looks like Walnut Street Galleries are focusing on one of the major themes of this year, when rampant redevelopment has changed the face of the arts-driven RiNo community. And at Leon in Uptown, street writer Jolt also chimes in on gentrification. Get a…