Custom cowboy boot maker Mickey Mussett didn’t start out fancying up the elite. He’s 65 now and only started making boots ten years ago, after leaving his job in advertising. The lure of leather and glue is what pulled him away and what keeps him busy now. “It’s a very…
Though she was born and raised in Salt Lake City and has lived in New York for nearly a decade, painter Jenny Morgan has maintained her presence in the Denver art scene with regular exhibits at Plus Gallery. Her latest effort, Kith and Kin: New Paintings by Jenny Morgan, includes…
Editor’s note: Westword cartoonist Noah Van Sciver paints the town like nobody else, as demonstrated in his recaps of visits to the Denver Art Museum, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, our own Artopia, MCA Denver and StarFest 2012. (Make sure you read Noah’s blog for more comics and…
This past weekend we saw Captain America at a few different spots in Denver and Boulder, and while last summer’s film left movie-goers unsatisfied, his role in The Avengers has returned him to the list of most popular super heroes. Here’s where we spotted Captain American this weekend…
The stereotype of comic book readers as overweight, nerdy men has been pounded into bits since Comic Book Guy made his debut on The Simpsons more than 20 years ago. That much was evident this past weekend at the first-ever Denver Comic Con, held at the Colorado Convention Center. Christopher…
In its first year, in Denver Comic Con put on quite a show at the Colorado Convention Center this past weekend. Amidst the celebrity guests, trade expo and Jedi training sessions we found a ton of memorable comic costumes. Page down for photos of some of our favorite superheroes, villains,…
A few years ago, there was a lovely temporary museum in town — Jaime Kopke’s Denver Community Museum — that existed only to engage the community in the act and gestalt of art-making, rather than the usual staring at something hung on the wall of a gallery. That long-gone museum’s…
On such a lovely, long, almost-summer day, you should be out under the sun and the stars. The additional promise of visual surprises behind every wide-open door awaits at the Summer Solstice Celebration in the Navajo Street Art District, which runs Saturday, June 16 from noon to 9 p.m. This…
Humans have a complex relationship with nature: At times, we want to be a part of it or to observe it, while at others, we want to control it. Artist Jason Reno has spent the past few years exploring the way people manipulate nature and use it as a tool,…
If you’re a typical Denver Tom, Dick or Harry, there’s a chance you have no idea what goes on at Lighthouse Writers Workshop, a haven for the literary ensconced in the historic Milheim Mansion in Capitol Hill. But the first annual Lighthouse Writers Workshop Community Book Fair — two days…
At the end of his book tour, Ernie Cline, author of New York Times-bestseller Ready Player One, will give away a 1981 DeLorean, complete with its own Flux Capacitor, to one lucky reader/gamer. The prize is a nod to Back to the Future, the flick that helped lay the groundwork…
“Snowflake,” by Bryan Nash Gill, pine. Michael Paglia’s review of Material Abstraction at the Robischon Gallery (through June 30) and Bryan Nash Gill: Cut Wood at Goodwin Fine Art (through June 22) explores contemporary abstraction while showcasing pieces by regional and national artists. Both shows, he writes, help “to prove…
I’ve heard it a million times. The last time, I was looking at a Kandinsky, minding my own business, when someone behind me chattered to her friend, “Look at that. Ugh. I bet it’s worth a million dollars, and my three-year-old could paint it.” The truth is, the painting is…
The republic to the northwest — you know, Boulder — is really at its best in the summertime, when the forward-thinking city’s groovy vibe moves outdoors where everyone can share it. Summer in Boulder? It’s where those now-ubiquitous outdoor film screenings first caught on and music sounds better in Chautauqua’s…
Instagram is the latest, and obviously the hippest, photo-sharing app; it allows anyone with a smartphone to play amateur photographer, transforming regular old snapshots into filtered, fogged and color-tinted works of art at the touch of a finger. Search “Denver” on Statigram, one of the app’s web-based viewing platforms, and…
José Guadalupe Posada’s engravings adorned everything from National Enquirer-style stories of monsters and grisly crimes to devout religious pamphlets. Today, artist Jerry Vigil creates three-dimensional wood carvings that translate Posada’s style for a modern age, just as the Mexican engraver translated the day’s news into unforgettable illustrations. The two artists…
Steeped in local lore, Lakeside Amusement Park, at 4601 Sheridan Boulevard, is an art-deco wonderland. Framed by mature trees and blinking lights, the classic theme park is one of the oldest still in operation in the country…
Art and food have been an item for a long time, but some places do it better than others. City, O’ City is a case in point, where a partnership with the nonprofit Art-Plant, which curates shows by emerging artists for the eatery, keeps things interesting with work that isn’t…
For half a century, the art world’s chattering class — critics and curators, mostly — has been declaring abstraction dead and buried. In the ’60s, there was pop art, which was thought to be edging out abstraction. In the ’70s, it was neo-dada and postmodernism. The ’80s saw the development…
Perhaps it was their shared propensity for posting weird ads on Craigslist that was fated to bring them, like so many missed connections, together. Or maybe they’re just two weird dudes. Whatever it is, there’s something approaching ironic about the fact that Daniel Nilsson — who had been looking via…
The most recent art toy collection from Task One, AKA Daniel Rowley, is the result of a lot of late nights. While he works, the graffiti and custom toy artist watches copious amounts of his favorite TV shows, so it was only a matter of time before inspiration caught up…
Urban adventure races and downtown scavenger hunts have become old hat in adrenaline-conscious, wheel-happy Colorado. But when AIGA Colorado, the regional design association, decides to put on an outdoor event, you know it’s going to be of a very different type. To that end, letterpress typographer Rick Griffith of Matter…
