Get a head start on a magical art month at these First Friday shows.
Jody Herrera and Frank Blazquez, “Her Depth is only fully portrayed when her darkest shadows are present,” oil painting on wood.
Jody Herrera and Frank Blazquez
Alto Gallery, 1900 35th Street, Suite B
Through September 28
Opening Reception: Friday, September 6, 6 to 20 p.m.
Sueña Artist Talk and Exhibition Tour: Saturday, September 7, noon to 1 p.m.; RSVP here.
The Denver area’s prime season for mural fests unfolds this month, when artists from our region and across the nation arrive to apply fresh paint to waiting walls in Boulder, Aurora and at Denver’s Crush Walls. Get in the mood for street art now at Alto Gallery, where five Latina muralists — from Denver, Miami, New Mexico, San Diego and Los Angeles — will show off their trademark imagery for Sueña. Guest curator Lorenzo Talcott and artists Amanda Valdes, Chelsea Lewinski, Diana "DidiRok" Contreras, Jodie "Chromaj" Herrera and Michelle "Mr. B Baby" Ruby will give a free artist talk and walk-through, which ends with what promises to be a spirited Q&A. Alto recommends staying afterward for a session of the Ragland Library’s LoUD (Library of Unity & Diversity) concert series, offering four bands between 1 and 4 p.m.
Thomas Carr, “Temple of Azathoth, Sarkomand, from the lost expedition to the Plateau of Leng, 1932.”
Courtesy of the artist
Bug
Pirate: Contemporary Art, 7130 West 16th Avenue, Lakewood
September 6 through September 22
Opening Reception: Friday, September 6, 6 to 10 p.m.
Thomas Carr Artist Talk: Friday, September 13
Photographer Thomas Carr, one of Pirate’s most recent associate members, brings an arcane exhibition of black-and-white images inspired by horror author H.P. Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle, which dives into terrifying revelations of a hidden otherworld reached through dreams and ancient deific progenitors. Though Carr shoots the original imagery using film and old-school vintage cameras, he uses modern techniques to tweak spooky effects through digital collage and montage. He calls it a “synthesis of photography and archaeology,” seeking the mysterious sense of presence while photographing historical sites trod by people who lived centuries ago. Carr is joined in the gallery by longtime Pirate member Bug.
Tammy Yancey and other CHAC artists get real about their Chicano heritage.
Tammy Yancey
CHAC Gallery, 7060 West 16th Avenue, Lakewood
September 6 through September 28
Opening Reception: Friday, September 6, 5 to 9 p.m.
A centuries-old Chicano/mestizo culture that traveled up from the Mexican border through New Mexico and the San Luis Valley is imprinted on Denver’s diverse identity, and no one tells that story better than Chicanos themselves. The job was embraced by curators Rob and Tammy Yancey and CHAC artists for the September exhibition Unapologetically Chicano, a documentary show in many mediums and from a broad palette of Chicano points of view.
A photo taken by Regan Rosburg while studying the effects of climate change in the Arctic.
Regan Rosburg
Downtown Aurora Visual Arts (DAVA), 1405 Florence Street, Aurora
September 6 through November 18
Opening Reception: Friday, September 6, 4 to 9 p.m.
Young artists and their professional mentors took an in-depth look into the causes and possible remedies for climate change through art at DAVA, where art projects of this sort have been offered to youth in different age groups for more than thirty years. The latest, executed with help from ecology-directed artists Regan Rosburg, Anna Kaye, Eileen Roscina and Kelly Cox, opens on First Friday with an array of imaginative ideas dreamt up in an all-ages effort, including scientific research, posters and the results of sustainable practices by teen students. Students in lower grades learned principles of composting and reforestation and created ceramic pollinators.
Charly Fasano, Ahhhh Matchsticks Art Show and Zine Release
The Matchbox, 2625 Larimer Street
September 6 through early October
Opening Reception: Friday, September 6, 6 to 9 p.m.
Local poet, filmmaker and illustrator Charly Fasano (aka the “the city mouse”) delivers twin debuts — appropriately at the Matchbox — with his Ahhhh Matchsticks exhibition of intricately drawn designs comprising dozens of tiny black, white and red matchsticks. The same images are compiled in Issue 7 of his Walk Off Hot zine series, priced at $6 (not bad for twenty full-color glossy pages) at the September 6 show opening.
Shaylen Amanda Broughton: Alchemy
Ironton Distillery & Crafthouse, 3636 Chestnut Place
September 6 through October TBA
Opening Reception: Friday, September 6, 6 to 9 p.m.
Denver artist Shaylen Amanda Broughton’s recent experiments in mixed media bridge the personal, addressing the life force of nature in beautiful ways. Her layered method includes freely poured acrylic paint manipulated with brushes and other tools, acrylic glazing liquid, spray paint and pure water drawn from natural sources, forming organic cellular shapes in the process. Broughton will introduce her Alchemy series, as she calls these works, in the gallery at Ironton Distillery, where she also keeps a studio.
Mallory Hart
Abstract Denver, 742 Santa Fe Drive
Friday, September 6, 6 to 10 p.m.
Mallory Hart’s lowbrow show at Abstract Denver’s original location on Santa Fe Drive is perfect for dark dreamers, witches, pop-surreal fans and folks who can’t wait for Halloween. Known for producing images of three-eyed black cats, plague doctors, crows and skulls in her sinister style, Hart is your source for artsy offbeat party decorations on October 31.
Richard Burkett, Wine, Roses, (and soda)
Plinth Gallery, 3520 Brighton Boulevard
Through September 28
First Friday Reception: Friday, September 6, 5 to 9 p.m.
Richard Burkett, whose show Wine, Roses (and soda) opened in July, will have ceramic works on display, primarily soda-fired porcelain pieces, at RiNo’s Plinth Gallery through the end of the month. The versatile potter makes both functional vessels and purely sculptural work with unusual surfaces and coloring, is also an author and so deeply engaged in the art and science of ceramic glazes that he’s created a glaze calculation software called Hyperglaze. The gallery will be open for First Friday with works available for purchase.
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