The arts in Denver: Ten people to watch in 2013

The Denver Art Museum was on a roll in 2012 and it isn’t slowing down in the new year, with exhibits showcasing Georgia O’Keeffe and Nick Cave’s Soundsuits on their way. At MCA Denver, the Ladies Fancywork Society will soon have its day in the sun its own exhibition. The…

Twelve Denver arts flashbacks from 2012

Art-museum shows reigned in 2012, from a couple of demographic-busting blockbusters at the Denver Art Museum to a visual constellation of exhibits at the Museum of Contemporary Arts Denver, the Colorado Photographic Arts Center and other satellites that paid tribute to a West Coast punk moment in time. But 2012…

Getting stoned with comedian/musician Chella Negro

After years of performing her soul-folk songs around the Denver music scene, Chella Negro hooked up with this town’s blossoming comedy community when she joined the all-female sketch group LadyFace. Proudly public about her affection for ganja, Negro was the ideal candidate for our Getting Stoned With series, in which…

The Stick of Truth hopes to be the first great South Park game

As if South Park, Colorado, doesn’t have enough problems (Canadians, Gingers and the fearsome Jewpacabra among them), Cartman, Stan, Kyle, Kenny and the whole South Park gang will soon lay waste to the hapless burg in the upcoming video game South Park: The Stick of Truth. See also: – 10…

Susanne Mitchell documents African culture at Edge

Denver artist Susanne Mitchell has taken over both of the front spaces at Edge Gallery for her solo, Crossing Into, a visual exploration of the cross-cultural currents represented by her marriage to an African immigrant. That union has since dissolved, but while they were together, the couple had a child,…

Five toys for girls that need a gender makeover

Hasbro’s Easy-Bake Ovens are getting a masculine makeover fifty years after the toy was introduced, thanks to a market-savvy thirteen-year-old girl in New Jersey who wanted to buy her little brother one as a gift — and found only purple and pink ovens. Her campaign got a media-smooch after a…

Gorinto rethinks the musical instrument at the Mercury Cafe Wednesday

Gorinto, the Mercury Cafe’s occasional music, food and whatever Wednesday evening get-together, continues to reinvent itself. This week, it will transform into a showcase of homemade and found-object musical instruments featuring a revolving parade of local folks who toy — sometimes literally — with the definition of what we use…

Denver’s RiNo district breaks the First Friday mold this weekend

The Ice Cube Gallery fronts the Dry Ice Factory, a beautiful, light-strewn maze of studio spaces in, yes, a converted dry-ice factory. It’s a formidable venue for the display of art, and once-a year Ice Cube cooperative members join together for a wide-open group show. See also: – Feminism is…

Material Engagements highlights the work of RedLine artists

Founded by Laura Merage, a wealthy philanthropist and an accomplished artist, RedLine opened in 2008 in a smartly rehabbed warehouse at the northeast edge of downtown. RedLine is an unusual art institution in that it’s partly a studio complex, partly a stunning exhibition venue, and partly an agent for social…

Photos: Artists make statements with materials at RedLine

Michael Paglia visited RedLine for this week’s review, taking in a group show from artists who also use studio space at the gallery. The show features many different types of work, ranging from paintings to installations, from about two dozen artists. Continue reading for photos from the exhibit…

Noah Van Sciver’s The Hypo tops year-end lists

When Westword cartoonist Noah Van Sciver’s graphic novel The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln was released this past September, he wasn’t sure what its critical reception would be. His prior work was almost entirely comedic, and here he was tackling a complex, biographical-historical novel about one of the nation’s greatest…

Mile High Mountaineering selected as ISPO BrandNew Awards finalist

Denver-based backpack company Mile High Mountaineering (MHM Gear) won the top prize at the local Something Independent Awards in October; in July, MHM’s “Snake-Loader” Salute 34 pack made the cover of the 2013 Backpacker Magazine Gear Guide and also won an Editor’s Choice Award. And this week the local brand…

See the multimedia of tomorrow in Boulder tonight

As a university town, Boulder has a reputation for supporting both the avant garde and the cultural underground. Tonight, for instance, the Univerisity of Colorado boulder will host the multimedia program Invasion 2012, featuring works by students of new media technology-arts ground-breakers Mark Amerika (who teaches Remix Culture) and Mark…