It certainly sounds — and looks — like summer out there…
Brayden Espinosa, Splitting Grounds
Rita Bhasin & Sangeeta Reddy, Of Matter and Mind and Dynamic Shapes
Jared David Paul, Dirty Lil' Drawings
BRDG Project, 3300 Tejon Street
Through September 2
BRDG Project debuts three separate exhibitions, beginning with a solo in the main gallery, Splitting Grounds, from Brayden Espinosa, a young painter with a natural eye for intuitive abstraction and an inquisitive propensity for working in mixed-media. Seasoned artists Rita Bhasin, who works in still life and landscapes, and Sangeeta Reddy, a Modernist specialist dividing time between abstract and stylized landscape painting, bring global views to the east gallery. Finally, Jared David Paul offers a series of drawings in the central gallery, some of them burnt. They date back to the pandemic days, and were created with a sense of urgency and an international toolbox of influences.
Coyote art by Sarah Tenney and Jeane Michelle Warner Green's “Ancestral Paper Dolls on Lichen,” acrylic on canvas.
Sarah Tenney and Jeane Michelle Warner Green
Catie Michel, Memoria, in the Leyden Jar
Art Gym Denver, 1460 Leyden Street
Through August 18
In Art Gym’s main gallery, painters Jeane Michelle Warner Green and Sarah Tenney team up for Bones, Hearts and Guardians, a contrasting but copacetic pairing of storytelling paintings, shadow boxes and wall constructions: Green’s are dreamy sojourns in nature and self-actualization and Tenney displays active children and wild animals (foxes in particular), telling tales of survival and inter-species connections. Catie Michel takes over the Leyden Jar space with Memoria, a loving and continuing collection of platinum-palladium portraits of women and nonbinary subjects, which seem to glow with inner light, though they are predominantly black and white.
Lexy Ho-Tai and ArtLab interns, About How Strange It Is To Be Anything at All
PlatteForum, A.I.R. Annex Gallery, 3575 Ringsby Court
July 26 through August 18
Opening Reception: Friday, July 26, 6 to 8 p.m.
Artist Talk: Tuesday, July 30, 6 to 7 p.m.; RSVP here
One can only imagine how much fun self-described “goopey” artist Lexy Ho-Tai and her ArtLab interns had creating About How Strange It Is To Be Anything at All at PlatteForum. Ho-Tai works in soft sculpture, assemblage, costuming, fiber art, puppet-making and animation, all practices where the imagination soars, with giggles, smiles and personal insights all around. For a more complete story, come back for an artist talk with Ho-Tai where visitors can “loosen up your human suits” for a while.
EDGE/Pirate Crossover Party: Friday, July 26, 6 to 10 p.m.
Craig Robb, Chrysalis; Janine Thornton, I Am: Variations on Creation Myths; and Hyde Chrastina in the Treasure Chest, Friday, July 26 through August 11
Pirate Contemporary Art, 7130 West 16th Avenue, Lakewood
Gail Wagner: Anomaly, and Kelly Pierce: Collateral Damage, through July 28
Edge Gallery, 6501 West Colfax Avenue, Lakewood
As member exhibitions at Pirate commence and those nearby at Edge prepare to close, the two galleries in 40 West will intermingle with a summer celebration of co-op unity and local-art appreciation. New at Pirate are new sculptures of wood, metal, LED lights and assorted surprises by Craig Robb, as well as Janine Thornton, who is pondering creation stories through art with guest Hyde Chrastina in the Treasure Chest. Edge member shows by Kelly Pierce and Gail Wagner close Sunday.
Keystone River Run Village Art Festival
Keystone Village, 120 Ida Belle Drive, Keystone
Friday, July 26, and Saturday, July 27, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, July 28, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; free admission
As the summer heat continues, a quick trip to higher climes might afford slightly lower temperatures. Consider the Keystone River Run Village Art Festival, a juried display of fine art and craft in the resort village. The spread includes jewelry, paintings, assemblage, sculpture, photography, fiber art, ceramics, art glass, wine (the art is on the labels) and more, along with live music, food, mountain views and fresh air.
An installation in parts by David Wiseman for Biophilia at the Denver Art Museum.
Courtesy Denver Art Museum
Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway
Friday, July 26, 6 to 10 p.m.
DAM general admission: Free to $22)
Let feature artists Kayla Marque and Christine Nguyen help you see the current DAM exhibition, Biophilia: Nature Reimagined, in new and entertaining ways, with help from a talented batch of creative friends during Untitled: Artist Takeover’s quarterly Friday night at the museum. Marque will be vocalizing with the Midheaven Quartet and Homecoming at different times of the evening, while Nguyen has installed a display and video loops of her cosmic artworks. Other highlights include an offbeat tour of Biophilia with new-media artist/curator Kiah Butcher, an interactive sound bath with Cal Duran, hands-on art workshops and dance performances, and Stowaway Kitchen will prepare super-fresh small bites — modeled after the Japanese kaiseki meal, a traditional Japanese tasting course — for hungry visitors. Untitled events are included in the regular museum admission price (details above).
Hot Sweat
Evans School, 1115 Acoma Street
Saturday, July 27, 5 to 11 p.m.
On the wilder side, artists Cherish Marquez and Holly Norbeck commingled to curate Hot Sweat at the Evans School Building, a one-night summer pop-up art party and paean to that trashy overarching theme. Along with art by eleven artists, the evening comes with dollar hot dogs and hours of dancing, interrupted by a Hot Sweat Fit Contest at 8 p.m., a judging of the hottest, sweatiest garb in the house (“all creative interpretations will be game”). There’s a $50 gift card to Awakening Boutique for the winner.
Cheesman Park Art Fest
Cheesman Park, 1599 East Eighth Avenue
Saturday, July 27, and Sunday, July 28, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; free
Another outdoor art show, the annual Cheesman Park Art Fest by Dash Events returns to the park this weekend, bringing more than 150 artists to the grounds with a curated selection of hand-made, American-made art and craft. Enjoy food vendors and live music, along with make-and-take crafts for kids; it’s a public park, so leashed dogs are allowed, but keep in mind that the booths line the park’s hot asphalt park roads. Fido might be happier at home.
Interested in having your event appear in this calendar? Send the details to [email protected].
