Best group ceramics show -- contemporary division 2000 | High Degrees | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best group ceramics show -- contemporary division

High Degrees

Sally Perisho, director of the Metro State Center for the Visual Arts, has presented group shows devoted to ceramics periodically over the last decade. This past spring, Perisho organized High Degrees, an exhibit featuring the work of many distinguished ceramics teachers at Colorado colleges and universities, including several world-famous ceramicists such as Maynard Tishler, Richard DeVore and the late Rodger Lang. It was no mean feat to get High Degrees to stand out among the nearly one hundred ceramic shows that were inspired by the NCECA conference, but the secret to Perisho's success was that she had the foresight to snag several of the best ceramic artists in the state before anyone else did.

Best curatorial gesture linking Colorado with the outside world

Ron Otsuka's Takashi Nakazato

In recent years, the Denver Art Museum has been under the gun to present more Colorado art. Now, honestly, no one -- not even the DAM's shrillest critics -- would expect Ron Otsuka, the accomplished curator of Oriental art, to feel the need to respond. Oriental art is associated with the Far East, whereas Colorado is Out West. But Otsuka's something of a treasure, with crackerjack creativity tied to a seasoned connoisseur's eye, and he actually accomplished the seemingly impossible -- and made it look easy. He organized an Oriental show about Colorado. The gorgeous Takashi Nakazato exhibit, still open on the fifth floor of the DAM, features the ceramic art of that famous Japanese potter, all of it made in Snowmass Village's Anderson Ranch Arts Center, where Nakazato has been a visiting artist once a year for nearly a decade. Otsuka's deft exhibit was an East-meets-West stroke of genius.

Best curatorial gesture linking Colorado with the outside world

Ron Otsuka's Takashi Nakazato

In recent years, the Denver Art Museum has been under the gun to present more Colorado art. Now, honestly, no one -- not even the DAM's shrillest critics -- would expect Ron Otsuka, the accomplished curator of Oriental art, to feel the need to respond. Oriental art is associated with the Far East, whereas Colorado is Out West. But Otsuka's something of a treasure, with crackerjack creativity tied to a seasoned connoisseur's eye, and he actually accomplished the seemingly impossible -- and made it look easy. He organized an Oriental show about Colorado. The gorgeous Takashi Nakazato exhibit, still open on the fifth floor of the DAM, features the ceramic art of that famous Japanese potter, all of it made in Snowmass Village's Anderson Ranch Arts Center, where Nakazato has been a visiting artist once a year for nearly a decade. Otsuka's deft exhibit was an East-meets-West stroke of genius.

Best installation show -- solo

Gail Wagner

In her self-titled exhibit this past winter, Boulder artist Gail Wagner turned the front room at Edge Gallery into a world of her own. The mostly wall-hung installation pieces were made of woven fibers that had been stiffened with paint, suggesting undersea plants and animals -- but only vaguely. One of Wagner's real strengths is as a colorist, brilliantly orchestrating contrasting shades such as a mossy green used with a burnt orange. Also adding visual interest were the novelty plastic fruits and vegetables that she attached to some of her sculptures. Her work is carefully made, with interesting forms and enticing colors and handsome installation and lighting. Come to think of it, that's not so easy.

Best installation show -- solo

Gail Wagner

In her self-titled exhibit this past winter, Boulder artist Gail Wagner turned the front room at Edge Gallery into a world of her own. The mostly wall-hung installation pieces were made of woven fibers that had been stiffened with paint, suggesting undersea plants and animals -- but only vaguely. One of Wagner's real strengths is as a colorist, brilliantly orchestrating contrasting shades such as a mossy green used with a burnt orange. Also adding visual interest were the novelty plastic fruits and vegetables that she attached to some of her sculptures. Her work is carefully made, with interesting forms and enticing colors and handsome installation and lighting. Come to think of it, that's not so easy.

Best installation show -- group

Western Vernacular: Colorado Installation

Freelance curator Sean Hughes was thinking about the local art scene and noticed that many artists were making careers from creating installations. So he made a list of his favorites and built a show around them. Western Vernacular: Colorado Installation filled the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver for nearly all of last fall. The show included ambitious pieces by the likes of Chuck Parson, Jeff Richards, John McEnroe, David Brady, Linda Herritt and Elizabeth Faulhaber. Hughes's was not only the best group show devoted to installation last year, it was the best show at MoCAD in all of 1999.

Best installation show -- group

Western Vernacular: Colorado Installation

Freelance curator Sean Hughes was thinking about the local art scene and noticed that many artists were making careers from creating installations. So he made a list of his favorites and built a show around them. Western Vernacular: Colorado Installation filled the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver for nearly all of last fall. The show included ambitious pieces by the likes of Chuck Parson, Jeff Richards, John McEnroe, David Brady, Linda Herritt and Elizabeth Faulhaber. Hughes's was not only the best group show devoted to installation last year, it was the best show at MoCAD in all of 1999.

Best local gallery show -- solo

William Stockman, Sketchbook

In a way, Sketchbook was a mid-career survey of a still relatively young artist, William Stockman, who came on strong in the mid-1990s as one of a group of artists who revitalized the Pirate co-op. Almost immediately, it was onward and upward, with Stockman getting a piece into the Denver Art Museum's collection -- no mean feat for a then-emerging local -- and bouncing around between some of the city's top commercial galleries, most recently landing at Ron Judish Fine Arts, which hosted Sketchbook. The show explored the all-sizes-fit-one range of Stockman's drawings, which are distinct in style from his equally distinguished paintings. The show included small, intimate sketches, larger-presentation drawings, oversized drawings and even one mammoth drawing applied directly to the wall in the manner of a mural. They all sported enigmatic narrative content and hand-scrawled text coming together to literally shade our understanding of Stockman's vision.

Readers' choice: Aaron Alden at Kung Fu Kitchen

Best local gallery show -- solo

William Stockman, Sketchbook

In a way, Sketchbook was a mid-career survey of a still relatively young artist, William Stockman, who came on strong in the mid-1990s as one of a group of artists who revitalized the Pirate co-op. Almost immediately, it was onward and upward, with Stockman getting a piece into the Denver Art Museum's collection -- no mean feat for a then-emerging local -- and bouncing around between some of the city's top commercial galleries, most recently landing at Ron Judish Fine Arts, which hosted Sketchbook. The show explored the all-sizes-fit-one range of Stockman's drawings, which are distinct in style from his equally distinguished paintings. The show included small, intimate sketches, larger-presentation drawings, oversized drawings and even one mammoth drawing applied directly to the wall in the manner of a mural. They all sported enigmatic narrative content and hand-scrawled text coming together to literally shade our understanding of Stockman's vision.

Readers' choice: Aaron Alden at Kung Fu Kitchen

Best movie theater -- high-tech

IMAX, Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Last December, the newly renamed Denver Museum of Nature and Science in City Park updated its 441-seat IMAX theater with a 15,000-watt (up from 8,500) digital sound system featuring six-track reproduction and -- count 'em -- 58 giant speakers. The sonic effect is rather like taking a front-row seat at the Battle of Verdun. There's also a brand-new screen -- four and a half stories tall, six and a half stories wide -- manufactured by the British firm Harkness. So if you're in the mood for a gigantic view of Dolphins, or some eye- and ear-popping Adventures in Wild California, or a trip to Cirque de Soleil: Journey of Man, IMAX is the place to be. All three films, shot in oversized 70 millimeter, are currently on view, a total of 35 times per week.

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