Art

Colorado’s art scene is continually growing and we won’t miss a beat! From world exclusive exhibits such as “Becoming Van Gogh” at the Denver Art Museum to less discovered local artists, Carri is hitting the streets to get the scoop!

10 Things To Do In Denver During Memorial Day Weekend

Adventure & Entertainment, Art, Festivals & Events, Film & Performing Arts, Keepin' it Local, Local Art, Museums No Responses »

May 112013

Denver celebrates the start of the summer season with a long weekend packed with events, including a free, day-long music festival in downtown Denver, thrilling pro sports and outdoor adventure. This is just the beginning of summer in The Mile High City.

1. Honor our military heroes at the Memorial Day Parade and Tribute Ceremony, May 25

Denver will commemorate those who lost their lives while serving our country during this event, starting at 11:30 a.m. in Civic Center Park. The Veterans Memorial Day Tribute at the Veterans Monument follows the parade.

2. Encounter Mammoths & Mastodons at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, through May 27

It’s the last weekend to experience this exhibit, where you will encounter some of Earth’s most awe-inspiring mammals and see the fossils discovered at the Snowmass Dig in Colorado.

Mammoths & Mastodons at DMNS

3. See Thomas Jefferson’s Bible at the History Colorado Center, through May 27

Don’t miss this rare showing of Jefferson’s Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, which Thomas Jefferson assembled in 1820.

4. Rock out all day long at Denver Day of Rock, May 25

For the fifth year in a row, downtown Denver’s 16th Street pedestrian mall will be transformed into a massive block party with 25 free rock concerts performed on five stages throughout the day.

5. Shake things up at ArtStir, May 24-27

Local creatives get crafty at the first ArtStir Denver, a weekend-long market at the Denver Pavilions showcasing Colorado art, music and fashion.

6. Wander through Colorado’s best art at The Downtown Denver Arts Festival, May 24-26

Mix and mingle with thousands of fellow fine art lovers at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, during the 15th Annual event that features more than 150 of Colorado’s best artists.

7. Experience major league soccer with the Colorado Rapids, May 25

At Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, the Rapids take on Chivas USA

8. Take a date to Sense and Sensibility The Musical, through May 26

It’s your last chance to see this musical in Denver at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

9. Sing along with Les Misérables, May 22-26

Cameron Mackintosh’s Les Misérables returns to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts for one week along with the songs you know you can’t help but sing along to.

10. Catch a concert under the stars at Red Rock Park and Amphitheatre with the Randy Rogers Band and the Casey Donahew Band, May 26

Enjoy an Americana-filled evening with two country bands at one of the world’s most famous outdoor venues.

Bizarre Art: Dana Schutz: If the Face Had Wheels

Adventure & Entertainment, Art, Featured, Museums No Responses »

Nov 102012

Fueled by her imagination, Dana Schutz creates art that is beyond the border of uncomfortable and even absurd. Her bold and colorful brushstrokes take us places that most imaginations don’t explore. Her show, Dana Schutz: If The Face Had Wheels, opens tomorrow (11/11) at the Denver Art Museum. The show explores ten years of art Schutz first created in her mind. ”This is even beyond a scope of abstract art. Dana creates her art based on imagination alone,” says curator Gwen Chantzi.

Catch Carri with Dana Schutz at “Dana Schutz: If the Face Had Wheels” preview

Expect her art to make you feel uneasy. When I came face to face with the Self Eaters series I shied away. But I toughened up and allowed myself to think along the same lines of Schutz. She often explores what she refers to as “what ifs.” In the case, she thought about people having the ability to digest themselves and then produce parts to reconstruct themselves. Bizarre? Absolutely. She enters territory many artists don’t explore. “She is open to the outlandish and unthinkable. That’s part of the magic,” says Chantzi. “This is one of the most fun shows I have hung. You have sights lines and surprises.”

Schutz’s distinctive visual style is characterized by vibrant color and raw and tactile brushwork.

Schutz admits her paintings are outrageous and even odd but hopes they are equally witty and humorous. “You have to let yourself go places you normally wouldn’t allow yourself to go,” says Schutz. When she is thinking of what to paint, Schutz often uses words as a springboard. In her verb series, Schutz places words together like Swimming Smoking Breathing. “I like putting things together that you wouldn’t think go together.”

This first 10-year survey features 31 paintings and 9 drawings created since 2001

Schutz’s paintings are absolutely bizarre, but she isn’t afraid to break boundaries and norms to make herself stand out as an innovative artist. “There’s a certain braveness about what she does,” says Chantzi. “Dana has an incredible, free, unbridled imagination,”

Schutz’s subjects spring from an absurdist sensibility as she invents imaginary stories or hypothetical situations

Dana Schutz: If the Face Had Wheels will be on view through January 13, 2013.

Denver Art Museum
100 W 14th Ave Parkway
Denver, CO 80204
(720) 865-5000

Win Tickets: “Becoming Van Gogh” at Denver Art Museum

Adventure & Entertainment, Art, Featured, Giveaways, Museums 2 Responses »

Oct 212012

One Person Will Win Two Tickets to Becoming Van Gogh at the Denver Art Museum

EASY ENTRY

1. Like Catch Carri on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CatchCarri

2. Email carri@firsttakefeatures.com and tell her your favorite Van Gogh Painting (Emails kept private and are used so we can notify the winners)

More than 70 paintings are displayed in “Becoming Van Gogh” Exhibit runs through January 20, 2013

It’s been seven years in the making. “Becoming Van Gogh,” an exhibit that willonly be showcased in the Mile High, opened at the Denver Art Museum today. Explore 70 Van Gogh paintings on loan from 40 international museums and collections. Curator Timothy Stranding took on the Titanic size challenge and stopped at nothing to make it happen.. Museum director, Christoph Heinrich, applauds the effort. “You want curators with big dreams.”

“Isn’t this terrific?” grins Stranding as he points to a painting filled with flowers

bursting with color. “You can see Van Gogh discovered the world of color while living in the South of France.” With sights set on specific paintings, Stranding wanted to tell a story. Each painting and sketch was targeted for a specific reason. You will explore the different styles and techniques Van Gogh experimented with over his 10 year career.

In response to the question of all celebrated artists why did Stranding lock his focus on Van Gogh? Painting a proud smile on his face and adjusting his signature orange bow tie Stranding stood up taller. “He was an underdog with four failed careers. He worked hard enough and became disciplined enough to become one of the most famous artists of all time.”

You quickly learn success didn’t quickly fall onto the painter’s palette. Rough but accurate paintings show a unique style that is adding a vibrant new energy to the DAM. Van Gogh quotes accent each of the four rooms of the exhibit. “And the great isn’t something accidental. It must be willed.” As is clear with each of his spontaneous but deliberate brush strokes.

Search for Van Gogh’s Signature Painted Bow-Ties

“Becoming Van Gogh” October 21-January 20, $13-$25
720-865-5000 or denverartmuseum.org.
Denver Art Museum
100 W 14th Ave. Pkwy.
Denver, CO 80204

Museum Curator, Timothy Stranding, speaks about the progression of self taught Artist, Vincent Van Gogh

Self Portrait. 1887. “It is difficult to know one self, but it isn’t easy to paint onself eaither.” Vincent Van Gogh

Artist Creates a Modern Representation of Pompeian Art at Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Art, Museums No Responses »

Oct 012012

Artist Jonathan Saiz creates Phaeton to recreate Pompeian Art

Denver Museum of Nature & Science is partnering with a local artist who is recreating the wall paintings, mosaics, and frescoes of ancient Pompeii. Museum visitors will be able to watch Jonathan Saiz create art every day through the middle of October as he creates the art piece. Phaeton is a tribute to all four painting techniques known as the Pompeian Styles and reflects the myth of Phaeton, the ill-fated son of Helios, who nearly destroyed Earth with his eager attempt to drive the Chariot of the Sun. The oil on wood piece will later be available for purchase in a silent auction at the Museum’s annual gala Museum After Dark, on Friday, November 2.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.dmns.org/pompeii.

16th Street Mall Festival of the Arts

Art, Festivals & Events No Responses »

Sep 122012

Downtown Denver is getting crafty. This coming Friday and Saturday Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe and the Denver Theatre District will present the inaugural 16th Street Mall Festival of the Arts. Featuring artists/galleries from Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe, the festival will be assembled between the blocks of Arapahoe Street and Stout Street on the 16th Street Mall. This event is free and open to the public. Art will be for sale to the public.

As part of the festival, performances and demonstrations will be held every hour on the hour at the performance circle located on the south side of Champa Street. Expect everything from dance, music, art demonstrations and character actors.

Award-winning artists and galleries, whose works are in prestigious private and public collections nationally and internationally, will be represented at the festival. Mediums include: painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, textiles, metal and wood works, ceramics, and jewelry.

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