Six Free Gallery Openings in Denver

The heat is on, but Denver galleries are settling in for the long, hot summer with seasonal exhibits that focus on busy bees and sunny thoughts and nature and flowers and…Christmas? Read on, and it will all begin to make sense.

Buzz, Melt & Create: Explorations in Encaustic Art
Art Gym
June 22 through July 15
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 22, 5 to 8 p.m.
The Art Gym is more than a gallery or a workshop space — it’s really a community center for makers. And as it happens, recent projects at the Art Gym, including the installation of a beehive on the roof and an encaustic studio inside, so mirror its successful hive mentality that curator Elke McGuire decided to showcase a group of artists working with wax for its latest show. Patricia Aaron, Alane Holsteen, Dylan Gebbia-Richards, Katie Kalkstein and Laura Tyler work wonders with beeswax in the exhibit’s full-circle display.

Imagine
Downtown Aurora Visual Arts
June 22 through August 30
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 22, 4 to 7:30 p.m.
Imagine this: The open-minded thinking kids specialize in never stops being fueled by the "what if?" uncertainty of the future, so John Lennon’s hopeful, peace-promoting masterpiece “Imagine” seemed like a great inspirational theme for this summer’s youth-art project at DAVA. With guidance from fellow free-thinker Esther Hernandez, a Denver performance and video artist, students in different age groups and DAVA programs came together in a variety of interpretations, all pulled together by projections of Hernandez’s dream-reenactment animations. Hernandez will perform a Butoh-themed dream live from 4 to 6 p.m. during the reception.

Fabricating Nature
William Havu Gallery
June 23 through August 5
Opening Reception: Friday, June 23, 6 to 9 p.m.
Havu Gallery introduces several new stablemates (and one longtime gallery artist) in the all-women summer show Fabricating Nature, a well-named exhibit of work inspired by nature while utilizing contemporary mediums and processes. In other words, don’t expect a bunch of pretty landscapes. Visual beauty and pure fabrication know-how go hand in hand in this meeting of the minds, including works by Katie Caron, Judy Gardner, Margaret Haydon, Sharon Meriash, Regan Rosburg and Naomi Scheck. Okay, there will be some lovely landscapes, too — through the modernist prism of Havu favorites Sushe and Tracy Felix, on the mezzanine.

Continue reading for more new art shows in Denver.

Emily Hollis, To Drift
Neet Gallery
June 23 through August 18
Opening Reception: Friday, June 23, 6 to 10 p.m.
TJ Raygun’s Neet Gallery, near Regis University, is its own tiny art district and a perfect place to catch wind of emerging artists who are just finding their wings. This summer, it’s Emily Hollis, whose beautiful, organic botanical watercolors and mixed-media drawings will be on view at Neet through mid-August.

I Am Her: New Works by Marsha Robinson
Svper Ordinary
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 24, 6 to 10 p.m.
Like Emily Hollis, Marsha Robinson, aka Strange Dirt, also delves into botanical themes, but with a keenly retro sense of art deco design, which she incorporates into large pen and ink and watercolor drawings, prints and hanging decorative textiles. The crossover work deftly fits into Svper Ordinary’s double identity as a gallery and home-oriented gift shop, so if you’re looking for some showpiece decor, you’ll have come to the right place.

Phil Bender: The 1/2 Xmas Show
Dateline
½ Xmas Eve Party: Saturday, June 24, 6 to 11 p.m.
½ Xmas Day White Elephant in the Room Party: Sunday, June 25, 6 to 11 p.m.
Denver art legend (and self-proclaimed "Famous Artist") Phil Bender will take a break from building out the Pirate co-op’s new space in Lakewood to celebrate Christmas with a two-day holiday show with parties on both nights. You read right: Bender’s breaking out his festive Santa collection, arranged in trademark grids and stacks for a holiday half-time: Saturday’s party will include an ugly-sweater contest, cookie baking, caroling and eggnog (says Bender: “If we can find some”), while Sunday’s wraps up with cookie decorating and a white-elephant exchange. Sure, it’s June, but don’t sweat it — and bring your best gag gift to share.

Check our calendar for more things to do.