It's First Friday in December! Here's All the Art to See

The First Friday of December offers prime pickings for holiday shopping wherever you go. Many galleries have loaded up, and some have holiday markets and shows all over town, with more to come in the next couple of weeks. Plus, there’s no law that says people can’t buy art for themselves. Find an array of art markets below (and more in Westword’s Winter Guide holiday market listings).

There are some great shows to see without an ulterior motive, too: An imaginative photo-storytelling show at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Koko Bayer at Alto Gallery, a traditional santos exhibition at CHAC Gallery and the wooden graffiti of street artist CLs, to name a few.
Tell Me a Story: The Role of Storytelling in Photography
Colorado Photographic Arts Center (CPAC), 1200 Lincoln Street
Through January 8
Opening Reception: Friday, December 1, 6 to 9 p.m.
Tell Me a Story: The Role of Storytelling in Photography, opening at CPAC this week, is a story on how to make a narrative image in a single, possibly lucky shot. Works by 32 photographers were selected out of 125 (and 546 images in all) by juror Mary Statzer, who must have had a glorious time choosing these visual yarns, which will hang on the walls to tickle each viewer’s imagination, as if they were in a library with books filled to the ceiling. Be prepared to spend some time with this show.
Harmony
Downtown Aurora Visual Arts (DAVA), 1405 Florence Street, Aurora
Through January 12
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 30, 4 to 7 p.m.
Every holiday season, Downtown Aurora Visual Arts throws a seasonal show and sale that shows off what happens when urban youths meet professional artist mentors who help them develop their inner creativity in DAVA’s after-school classes tailored for pre-K to age twelve. Work for sale includes student works and art by adult guests Leya Admasu, Raymundo Muñoz, Jen G Studios, William Emerson and I Love ME Gems. Expect charming gifts to suit all buyers, from proud parents to regular, art-loving holiday shoppers.
Mary Grace Bernard (MG) and Genevieve Waller, Black Mass Blood Ritual
The Storeroom, 1700 Vine Street
Through January 27
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 30, 7 to 9 p.m.
Closing Performance: Saturday, January 27, 7 to 9 p.m.
Black Mass Blood Ritual isn’t the usual fare one might expect in a window gallery during the holidays, but…it’s complicated. The loaded installation, billed as a “goth dreamscape where Christmas is a queer leather festival,” is another collaboration between the curatorial performance art team of Mary Grace Bernard (MG) and Genevieve Waller, who are speculating on how far they can stretch queer theory in ways both personal and political. For a better understanding, gather at the Storeroom to see the visuals at Thursday’s opening, and plan to return for the show’s closing live performance, when Waller assumes her alter-ego personality; Waller appears as the Dark Manner, a male drag figure in leather; and MG represents a disabled woman who follows a care regime of pure pain. It’s kinky, but there’s a message in its madness.
Koko Bayer, Folding-Time
Alto Gallery, 1900 35th Street
Friday, December 1, through December 23
Opening Reception: Friday, December 1, 6 to 10 p.m.; RSVP here
The inimitable Koko Bayer, who spreads love and hope on walls everywhere with wheat paste and a big heart, brings her peace-bearing symbolism inspired in part by the work of her grandfather, Bauhaus artist Herbert Bayer, to Alto Gallery for Folding-Time, a holiday show of the large-scale three-dimensional architectural prints she calls “fold-o-montages.” Alongside the exhibition, Bayer will also host a Hope Shop, where gallery-goers can purchase new prints and giftable merchandise from Bayer's iconic Hope and Rainbow Heart projects.
Frank T. Martinez, Modern Love
Space Gallery, 400 Santa Fe Drive
Friday, December 1, through January 13
Opening Reception: Friday, December 1, 6 to 8 p.m.
Frank T. Martinez, known for using bold geometrics, textures and color palettes in large architectural settings, offers minimal abstract compositions on large-scale canvases for Modern Love, opening at Space Gallery this week.
Santos of the Southwest: A Hispanic Tradition of Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico
CHAC Gallery, 834 Santa Fe Drive
Friday, December 1, through December 29
Opening Reception: Friday, December 1, 5 to 9 p.m.
For the holidays, CHAC chose the ecumenical route for Santos of the Southwest, which explores devotional religious art entwined for centuries with Chicano communities spanning the borderlands between Colorado and New Mexico. Curated by Sean Trujillo, a santero himself, the exhibition comprises hand-carved santos and bultos (wooden figures of the saints), and devotional icon paintings called retablos. You don’t have to be religious to appreciate their glowing, primitive beauty.
Charles “CLs” Schriver, Off the Streets: Shapes and Line
Bell Projects, 2822 East 17th Avenue
Friday, December 1, through December 17 (by appointment, December 18-31)
Opening Reception: Friday, December 1, 6 to 10 p.m.
Artist Talk: Wednesday, December 6, 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Charles Schriver, known by the name “CLs,” is in every way a street artist, using scrap lumber and other salvaged materials to create abstract sculptural graffiti he hangs on brick walls around the world. Created using Bauhaus principles, his work also comes in sizes suitable for hanging indoors; several indoor wall pieces will be on view beginning on First Friday at Bell Projects, and it’s no secret that CLs’s sculptures are hot items.

Lucas McMahon, (everything must go) on
Rotunda Gallery, Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design (RMCAD)
Friday, December 1, through January 19
Opening Reception: Friday, December 1, 4 to 7 p.m.
Artist Talk: Wednesday, December 6, 11:45 to 12:45 p.m.
Lucas McMahon, a RMCAD grad who now works for the school as a 3D Studios assistant, hosts his first solo exhibition with the enigmatic name of (everything must go) on. The multidisciplinary artist’s varied practice gets a full workout for the show, which includes layered paintings and collage, as well as video and audio works that span the gaps between digital and analog strategies. McMahon will give an artist talk in the gallery on the following Wednesday. RMCAD’s Fall 2023 Graduation Exhibition also opens that night in the Philip J. Steele Gallery, and as it happens, RMCAD’s Fall ’23 Artist’s Alley sets up at the same time in various locations, in rooms TB 116, TB 102, Epic 110 and the Shore Annex Lobby. Take a side trip through exhibitions of student art and browse handmade and fine-art gift items by nearly twenty students.

Holiday Mercado
Museo de las Americas, 861 Santa Fe Drive
Friday, December 1, 5 to 9 p.m.
The Museo celebrates First Friday and the holiday season by hosting a mercado with handmade goods and clothing by top-notch local Latinx artist vendors, a Venezuelan food truck parked outside and a bar inside. First Friday in the Art District on Santa Fe includes various small-works shows and other holiday-shopping fare up and down the street; there’s no way any ardent art shopper could leave without taking something home to wrap up.
Access Gallery Holiday Market
Access Gallery, 909 Santa Fe Drive
Saturday, December 2, through December 16
First Friday Opening: Friday, December 1, 6 to 8 p.m.
Meet the Artists: Friday, December 15, 6 to 8 p.m.
More than 35 Access Gallery artists with disabilities have work in the nonprofit’s holiday market, which celebrates the gallery’s mentored artist programs and instills pride in creating wonderful art to sell. The market opens on First Friday, but come back on Friday, December 15, to meet the artists and enjoy shopping with such perks as complimentary gift-wrapping (using paper designed by Access makers!), cider and snacks.
Chapter II: Inaugural Members Exhibition
931 Gallery, 931 Santa Fe Drive
Friday, December 1, through January 14
Opening Reception: Friday, December 1, 5 to 9 p.m.
The 931 Gallery presents the second half of its inaugural members' show, showcasing fine abstract and decorative art by more than ten respectable local artists working in varied mediums, including painting, glass and 3-D printing.
Fall 2023 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition
CU Art Museum, 1085 18th Street, CU Boulder Campus, Boulder
Saturday, December 2, through December 14
Opening Celebration: Friday, December 1, 4 to 6 p.m.
University of Colorado Boulder MFA candidates Katheryn Horne, a found-item printmaker and sculptor, and Eileen Roscina, who works widely in multimedia, show together in the Fall 2023 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition. The exhibition runs for two weeks only.
Studio Arts Boulder Artists, First Friday Pottery Pop-up
NoBo Art Center, 4929 Broadway, #E, Boulder
Friday, December 1, 6 to 9 p.m., and Saturday, December 2, noon to 3 p.m.
The NoBo Art Center hosts a pop-up by artists working out of Studio Arts Boulder’s Pottery Lab, just in time for the gift-search season. Looking for something handmade and personal? Visit the sale on Friday night or Saturday afternoon.
Greetings From Krampus 6
Memento Mori Gallery, 6451 West Colfax Avenue, Lakewood
December 1 through December December 23
First Friday Reception: Friday, December 1, 6 to 9 p.m.
Memento Mori has fun with the dark side of Christmas by inviting artists to create work glorifying Krampus, the folkloric horned and cloven-hooved villain of central and eastern Europe who punishes misbehaving children by beating them with birch rods, while Santa rewards the good ones with candy and fruit. This is the themed exhibition’s sixth year, and it has only gained steam over that span. Another reason to be there: Special guest Lo B will be in the house impersonating Krampus himself.
Avifauna Studios Open Studio Holiday Sale
Avifauna Art Studio, 10580 West 23rd Place, Lakewood
Saturday, December 2, 2 to 6 p.m.
Ceramic sculptor Meagen Svendsen, who is known for her belly bowls and sweet ceramic birds that fly across a wall, will host an open studio and art sale with a small group of fine-artist friends with familiar names on Saturday. Along with Svendsen, artists Chris DeKnikker, Heather Patterson, Jennifer Jeannelle, Mark Penner-Howell and Tracey Barnes will kick in giftable items that make use of their prodigious and various skills.

Atelier Modern ARF Open Studio Holiday Sale
1045½ Lafarge Avenue, Louisville
Saturday, December 2, and Sunday, December 3, noon to 5 p.m.
Boulder artist-about-town John Aaron makes architectural coloring books of old buildings in towns like Boulder and Aspen, is the founder of the international community initiative CHALK4PEACE, has recently joined CU art professor Dr. George Rivera’s Artnauts collective, and is also that guy who sets up an easel and paints on the streets and sidewalks of Boulder. What will you find in his studio? You’ll just have to visit this weekend and find out.
Fleeting Presence: The Liminal Art of Daniel Sprick
Madden Museum, 6363 South Fiddler’s Green Circle,
Greenwood Village (north side of the building, next to Mangia Bevi Café)
Through March 29
This new solo exhibition of works by the incomparable Denver-based realist painter Daniel Sprick opened earlier in November, but remains on view at the Madden Museum in Greenwood Village, where teams of University of Denver art students can sharpen their curatorial skills by putting together exhibitions like this one. The massive Madden Collection was bequeathed to the DU School of Art & Art History in 2016, allowing for student programs in curation, collections care and art handling, and even studio classes in the museum environment. Visit the show on Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., through March 29.

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