Art Attack: Fifteen Ways to See Art Live or Otherwise This Week

Crush Walls is in full swing, and while in-person events have been pared down this year, there are plenty of Crush sideshows, both official and unofficial. But Crush isn't the the only game in town — this is a prime time for openings of every stripe, drive-by exhibitions and even an opportunity to register to vote and have your political say in the form of an original, hand-screened poster.

Here are fifteen of the most artful activities around town this weekend:

Frankie Toan, Queer Gardens: Lost at Home
The Storeroom, 1700 17th Avenue
Through December
Frankie Toan’s installation Queer Gardens: Lost at Home, the latest makeover in the Storeroom window gallery next to the Vine Street Pub and Brewery, pictures human life humbly, as an interdependent piece of nature’s vast puzzle. Ponder your place in the world any time you like at the Storeroom, masked and socially distanced on the sidewalk; keep your eye on the Facebook page for news of a public sidewalk party celebrating the work in November.

Black Birch Studios, Exposed: Flea Circus
Balefire Goods, 7513 Grandview Avenue, Arvada
Through September 26
Black Birch Studio, the two-person artist workshop of Dan and Cathy McNeil, mixes media with ease and versatility, incorporating ceramic, glass, wax and iron into a wonderland of visual flash fiction as large as a public-art installation and as small as a whimsical shadowbox that hangs on the wall. Catch the show while you can: Black Birch’s circus tent is pitched inside Balefire in Olde Town Arvada through September 26.

Valerie Savarie, Sharon Eisley and Miki Harder, Adaptation
Valkarie Gallery, 445 South Saulsbury Street, Belmar, Lakewood
Through October 11
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 19, 5 to 8:30 p.m.
Valerie Savarie and Sharon Eisley, longtime exhibition mates at Valkarie Gallery, become a trio with the addition of Miki Harder for Adaptation, a show big enough to hold each artist’s affinity for fantasy, whimsy and the animal world. In this case, they’re all speaking to the theme of adaptation in a fickle world; Savarie and Eisley also bring back their annual Cabinet of Curiosities affordable-art series, which made an adaptation this year: Instead of choosing your favorite to preview and pick a favorite at the reception, Valkarie is switching to a lottery system, where you have a five-minute slot — in person or online — to make your pick.

MASK
Vicki Myhren Gallery, Shwayder Art Building, DU campus, 2121 East Asbury Avenue
Through December 1
It had to happen sooner or later: Myhren Gallery’s fall show, MASK, is all about human ingenuity and service to others in a time of crisis, such as the one we’re in now. While details for viewing the large group show haven’t been finalized, gallery visits will be available by timed-entry reservations. Watch the website and/or Facebook page for new information.

SaveArtSpace Crush Walls
Dateline Gallery, 3004 Larimer Street
Through October 4
The national nonprofit SaveArtSpace and Dateline Gallery join forces on a two-pronged Crush collaboration that includes imagery created by an all-star group of artists selected by curators Thomas “Detour” Evans and Lorenzo Talcott, displayed on billboards around town that you can see from the safety of your car. Learn where to find them on the SaveArtSpace website, and view more work by the artists at Dateline’s reception. Remember your COVID manners at the gallery, where a DJ and food trucks will rock the sidewalk.

Kelly Austin-Rolo and Susan M. Gibbons, Concretion: The Act of Play
Jenn Merz and Terrel Bailey, Hydrodynamics: The Study of Liquids in Motion, in Gallery East
D’art Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Drive
Through October 11
D’art returns to its regular gallery hours after a slow summer rollout of visiting hours just in time for a joint member show of encaustic works by abstract painters Kelly Austin-Rolo and Susan M. Gibbons. D’art has also taken over the former Payge Gallery space and renamed it Gallery East; work by guest artists, painter Jenn Merz and photographer Terrel Bailey are presently on view there. Visit D’art Thursdays and Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m., Fridays from noon to 7 p.m., and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m.

Pamela Gilmore Hake, Susan Merriman and Patricia Rucker, EarthNotes
Sync Gallery, 931 Santa Fe Drive
Through October 10
Sync presents EarthNotes, a nature-inspired show of abstracted landscapes and other cross-genre imagery shared by Pamela Gilmore Hake, Susan Merriman and Patricia Rucker.

Robert Brinker, Mind Funk 2.0
Michael Warren Contemporary, 760 Santa Fe Drive
Through October 17
Robert Brinker brings a collection of explosive paintings, collages, drawings and prints both tiny and enormous to Michael Warren. Mind Funk 2.0 includes small, irregularly shaped canvases — metaphoric shrapnel —arranged in larger groupings on the wall, as well as collage-like paintings mixing bright swatches of color and texture. What if Fernand Léger and Roy Lichtenstein merged styles? See Brinker’s show and find out. Entry into the reception is by timed reservation at the website.

Jeanette Pasin Sloan, Reflections
Bob Knox, new paintings
Robert Delaney, new works
William Havu Gallery, 1040 Cherokee Street
September 18 through November 7
Visit by appointment, 303-893-2360
Jeanette Pasin Sloan’s exquisitely arranged, photo-realistic watercolor still lifes of items with reflective surfaces; Bob Knox’s paintings inspired by the styles of modern and post-modern masters; and Robert Delaney’s kinetic sculptures compare and contrast in lovely, divergent ways this fall at Havu Gallery.

Pandemic Studios Crush Weekend Open Studio
Pandemic Studios, 3354 Larimer Street
Saturday, September 19, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Sunday, September 20, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The denizens of Pandemic Studios, working smack in the middle of Crush Walls territory, will be opening their garage door to the public in tandem with the mural fest for an up-close diversion into the lives of artists at work. Megan Bray, Lauri Lynnxe Murphy and Andrea Thurber will have works, in progress and finished, on display, along with an in-the-works mural, ongoing wheat-pasting and whatever else the artists pull out of their collective hat. Mask up, practice social distancing and get to know some real artists.

C.L. Seving, Asking a Shadow to Dance: Painting and Poetry Collaboration
Eric and Eli West, Stickly Speaking, Adventures in Fiber and Wood
Next Gallery, Pasternack’s Art Hub, 6851 West Colfax Avenue, Lakewood
Through October 4
Next Gallery members C.L. Seving, who collaborated with poets for her latest body of work, and father-and-son duo Eli and Eric West, who work in mixed media and fiber, have the space through October 4. You might want to time your visit for Friday nights, when the neighboring Flourish Galleria is now hosting food truck parties in the Art Hub courtyard from 6 to 10 p.m. Gallery hours are Friday from 6 to 10 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. For a private viewing of Asking a Shadow, email [email protected].

Holy Moly, 2020! The Year ’til Now
Niza Knoll Gallery, 915 Santa Fe Drive
Through October 31
First Chance Viewing: Saturday, September 19, 1 to 5 p.m., reserve a time slot at nizaknollgallery.com
The all-encompassing events of the past six months — ongoing political upheaval, social movements and COVID-19’s ongoing repercussions — continue to pique the creativity of artists. Artist/gallerist Niza Knoll plugged into what’s on people’s minds for the juried show Holy Moly, 2020!, giving those artists a chance to get everything off their chests and into the gallery. This big group show tells every story you can imagine, which might get you talking and commiserating as you walk through.

Signs of the Times
Big Garden, Washington Park, South Downing Street between Exposition and Ohio avenues
Saturday, September 19, noon to 4 p.m.
Register online for a time slot in advance at Eventbrite
We get it: You’re action-oriented, and when times get rough or confusing or just plain ugly, you want to do something about it. Stu Alden of Ink Lounge took that mindset seriously to mount Signs of the Times, a one-day installation at Washington Park that wears its politics on its sleeve. Alden is turning Wash Park's Big Garden into a gallery of oversized political yards signs he designed and printed, and will be hosting voter registration, free screen-printing (bring your own T or other surface) and a sale of scaled-down versions of the posters that benefits Future Coalition and Black Lives Matter 5280. To keep things moving slowly throughout the day, register in advance at Eventbrite (link above).

Evergreen Open Door Studio Tour
Tour book and map available online
Saturday and Sunday, September 19 and 20, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Free
Head for the foothills and a day of studio-hopping in the Evergreen area to meet about twenty new artists and enjoy an opportunity for you to get out of the freakin’ house. Breathe deeply the smell of pine needles and buy some art!

Laleh Mehran
LMP PDA, Lane Meyer Projects, 2528 Walnut Street
September 21 to October 4
The vitrine-window art showcase LMP PDA at Lane Meyer Projects turns over street-side exposure to the digital think pieces of artist Laleh Mehran. All works are available to purchase with 100 percent of profits going directly to the artist, and access to the display is 24/7 on the sidewalk. Don’t forget to mask up.

Interested in having your event appear in this calendar? Send the details to [email protected].