It isn’t exactly the Sistine Chapel, but Molly Dilworth is spending six days at the Foothills Art Center painting the ceiling of one of its galleries as visitors look on.
“I’ve always wanted to paint a ceiling, partly because I like things that are hidden in plain sight,” the New York artist said during a break Friday afternoon at the Golden space.
When it is finished this week, the temporary mural will take its place as an anchor of “Habitat,” an exhibition dealing with the interaction, sometimes collision, between humanity and nature.
The show, which opened Friday evening and runs through March 13, features 10 nationally recognized artists from across the country.
Dilworth, 35, likes to create paintings in unlikely places, such as rooftops, where they can only be seen from a helicopter online via Google Earth. Her profile got a big boost last summer when she and a group of assistants painted an undulating, water-inspired design onto five blocks of now pedestrian-only streets running through Times Square.
“I really like the idea of painting in nontraditional spaces,” Dilworth said. “If you make a painting on a roof or a ceiling or some place where it doesn’t belong, then it automatically asks you to think, ‘What is that doing there?’ “
Her abstract compositions are loosely based on unseen natural forces — such as weather patterns or underground water flows — that can have a significant yet often overlooked effect on everyday life.
In advance of her project in Golden, she conducted research on Colorado and became intrigued by its geology, which has played a key role in the history and development of the state. The abstract composition of the 10-by-14-foot ceiling mural, which will evolve organically as Dilworth works on it, is derived from colorful, patterned, highly magnified images of rare-earth metals.
“Habitat” has a broader reach and more of a socio-political edge than most previous Foothills shows, which have tended to be more traditional in style and regional in scope.
Curator Michael Chavez said this new direction is the result of an 18-month study of the art center’s mission.
“We want to bring some things to our members that they haven’t seen before,” he said. “So, this is a way to do that. We wanted it to be thought-provoking and be something not expected.”
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
