Ten unexpected places to throw your 2013 holiday party

This year, why not think outside the ubiquitous and well-wrapped gift box and plan a holiday party your friends will never forget? Here are ten unexpected places to throw a surprisingly great bash. See also: Dear Stoner: Can we light up at parties now?…

A pair of abstract solos makes up Structural Leanings at Space

Michael Burnett, the director of Space Gallery, is constructing a swank new two-story space at the northeast corner of Fourth Avenue and Santa Fe Drive to house his venue. A custom gallery is something of an exception in Denver, where most art businesses occupy repurposed storefronts in existing buildings. Space…

Photos: Comic Con pops up at the Colorado Symphony

For Saturday night’s performance at the Colorado Symphony, the scene wasn’t the classic crowd. In place of stuffed shirts and pearls, there were Star Wars stormtroopers and Star Trek crew members wandering the lobby of Boettcher Concert Hall, along with a whole zoo of other comics, sci-fi and gaming characters…

Americas Latino Festival debuts this weekend in Denver and Boulder

It’s not every weekend that a handful of Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize-winners and international artists converge on the area. But this weekend the Americas for Conservation and the Arts will present the inaugural Americas Latino Festival of Colorado, a green event celebrating the nation’s largest and fastest-growing minority population and…

Naked tradition gets an update with a postmodernist mystery

Colorado native Rebecca Shepard is a newly minted author, and she’s barely old enough to drink. Her book, Naked Came the Post-Postmodernist, already has the New York Times talking. Actually, make that the book in which she has a part. There’s a story to this Naked and it began when…

Tracy Weil scares up some seasonal fun at Ironton

Artist and arts advocate Tracy Weil and fellow artist Jill Hadley Hooper founded the wildly successful River North Art District in 2007. And Weil’s Weilworks, a postmodern farmhouse complete with a small farm, is right across Chestnut Place from Ironton Studios & Gallery, the post-industrial complex where Hooper is the…

Fallen Owl Tattoo’s annual toy drive: Give and get inked

Now through December 1, giving also means getting at Fallen Owl Tattoo, 8789 West Colfax in Lakewood, where anybody who brings in a few unopened toys during the third annual Toys for Tattoos Toy Drive receives a gift certificate good toward a tattoo. See also: The Boulder Tattoo Project puts…

Author Carol Berg on Tolkien and writing realistic fantasy

Reading is about more than following a narrative or learning facts; it can also be a profound shared experience that culminates in a better understanding of ourselves and each other. In that spirit, welcome to the Westword Book Club, a weekly feature celebrating the books that inspire Denver artists.

The real-life Hoosiers of Medora: Small-town life dribbles away

There’s the zombie, post-apocalyptic kind of cannibalism (good), and then there’s the kind that Stanley Tucci notices in Medora, a movie that’s been called the year’s most important sports documentary and, according to executive producer Tucci, “shows how America has cannibalized itself.” Davy Rothbart’s newest flick isn’t just for basketball…

Photos: SVPER ORDINARY brings art and design goods to the Source

The Source seems to have something for everyone under its miles-high roof. But until this weekend, it didn’t have a gallery/design boutique. When SVPER ORDINARY opened its sleek new space at the Source Saturday with an inaugural show, Máthēma, featuring new works by the graphic design duo, Berger & Föhr,…

Regional art and artists are showcased at Havu and David B. Smith

The reliable William Havu Gallery has hit a groove this fall by establishing a theme for a series of exhibits: regional subjects by regional artists. The season opener was Western Not Western, which featured varying interpretations of Western subjects. Next week, there’s a Jeff Aeling solo made up of neo-traditional…