Review: Everything’s a Game in the Compelling Just Playing, at RedLine

RedLine, the brainchild of artist and philanthropist Laura Merage, is both a major exhibition venue, with its handsome and spacious galleries, and one of the top studio complexes in town. The studios are occupied by artists serving either as “resources,” meaning their rent is completely subsidized, or “residents,” who pay…

SeriesFest Chooses Denver to Televise Its Revolution

This summer, Denver will have the opportunity to tune into the television industry when a new festival, SeriesFest, makes its season-one debut here. But the organizers have a bigger goal: to turn Denver into an off-site destination for TV movers and shakers, in the same way that the Sundance Film…

Phyllis Ripple Weaves Trendy Hemp Rugs Using Ancient Methods

Colorado might be on the cutting edge for adult-use marijuana laws, but if you chat with Phyllis Ripple, you’ll quickly realize that when it comes to hemp, this state — and the entire country, in fact — are far behind the times. Ripple runs ecoFiber Custom Rugs out of Boulder,…

Meet Artopia 2015 Artist/Curator Jolt of Guerilla Garden

Artopia 2015 curator and Guerilla Garden street artist Jolt will be walking the floor tomorrow night at City Hall, surveying the fruits of his hard work because, he says, it’s his job: “I will be enjoying it all from the standpoint of being a curator, moving throughout the show and…

The Five Gayest Moments In Academy Awards History (So Far…)

Deemed the “gay Super Bowl” by its many fans, the Academy Awards telecast has long been a bastion of over-the-top queer energy rolled up in the drama of the secret, gay inner-workings of the Hollywood system. Many a gay icon has had their moment in the sun during the Oscar…

Mark Sink at Artopia 2015: Not Your Typical Street Artist

Artopia curator Jolt of Guerilla Garden is bringing a whole posse of local street artists to City Hall for Artopia 2015 on Saturday, February 21, where they’ll transform the venue with a show of art in action. But at least one of those artists — photographer, arts booster and Denver…

Straight From the Art: Ten of Our Colorado Creatives Sound Off

When Westword’s first 100 Colorado Creatives series came to an end last February, it was a little like losing a very artsy best friend. And there were still so many unsung creative types doing great things around this state that we decided to start on a second round of Q&As…

Spark & Ruin Lights a Flame at RiNo’s Helikon Gallery

RiNo’s Helikon Gallery and Studios is currently hosting Spark & Ruin: Anatomy of a Flame, a handsome group exhibit that examines fire, which is a pretty relevant local topic. Though gallery director Cayce Goldberg’s family has owned this particular rail-side property for decades, Spark & Ruin was guest-curated by Raymundo…

Composer Paul Buscarello Sounds Off on His Favorite Film Soundtracks

With Louis Silver’s music for The Jazz Singer in 1927, talkies ushered in a new age of recorded sound; what audiences heard when they watched a film took a bold step into completing the grand illusion of cinema. Yet even without recorded sound, the silent film era flourished with hand-crafted scores,…

Review: Next to Normal Gets Mad Props at Town Hall Arts Center

The musical Next to Normal garnered a Pulitzer Prize for composer Tom Kitt and writer Brian Yorkey and high praise from critics — in part because it dealt with the ugly realities of mental illness, an unusual and courageous focus for a generally upbeat and unrealistic medium. At the center…

Sharon Feder’s Edge of the Plains at Denver Botanic Gardens

At first glance, Sharon Feder’s work seems to focus on sweeping, modern landscapes; train tracks and abandoned buildings fill massive canvases, alongside other familiar structures from Denver’s not-so-distant agricultural and commercial past. But she sees the paintings a little differently. “The reason I began painting buildings was because I had…

Barber TeJay Mora’s on the Cutting Edge of Art

You can find art all over town — not just on gallery walls. In this series, we’ll be looking at some of the local artists who serve up their work in coffeehouses and other non-gallery businesses around town. TeJay Mora’s art appears, well, just about everywhere. That’s because this quirky…

Noah Van Sciver on Saint Cole and the Endless Grind of Modern Life

After tackling the life of a young Abraham Lincoln for his first graphic novel, Denver cartoonist Noah Van Sciver turned to a more accessible, but no less dramatic, subject for his follow-up: the modern American working class. In Saint Cole, Van Sciver explores the plight of the average man raising…

Gallery Sketches: Three New Art Shows in Denver for February 13

This week’s openings include recent work from Colorado legend Clark Richert and a former student, an emerging artist solo in a living room, and a curatorial takeover at David B. Smith Gallery. You don’t have to wait until First Friday to see new art; keep reading for the details. Matthew…