Rule Gallery, one of Denver’s oldest and most respected commercial art spaces, is moving from 227 Broadway to the fast-rising River North Art District.
Owner Robin Rule has leased a 1,200-square-foot space in the Dry Ice Factory. The brick industrial building, built in 1929 by the Liquid Carbonic Corp., was transformed in 2007 into an art studio and gallery building.
The new location,at 3340 Walnut St., is adjacent to the Ice Cube Gallery, 3320 Walnut St., a 2-year-old artist cooperative. Both galleries expect their proximity to be mutually beneficial.
Rule has long been a fan of RiNo, which sprawls across a fast-gentrifying industrial area northeast of downtown. It already encompasses a dozen art spaces, including RedLine, Plinth Gallery and Plus Gallery, as well as at least 100 artist and designer studios.
“I just love everything else that is going on there,” Rule said. “I like all the other galleries. I’ve loved Ironton (Gallery) since the beginning; I think some of the best artists show there. And I love what Mickey Zeppelin is doing at Taxi.”
Rule is moving because the lease is up on her space, where the gallery has operated since February 2006, and because she wants to downsize. The new location, which has a little more than half the square footage, will allow her to cut her expenses in half.
“The name of the game now with galleries — it’s about concentrating more on your Web presence and doing art fairs and not having these big, giant spaces,” she said. “I think it is old-school to have those big spaces.”
Rule Gallery will close following the March 5 conclusion of “All Is Leaf,” a ceramic installation by Kim Dickey. It will reopen May 6 on Walnut Street with a solo exhibition devoted to veteran Denver painter Margaret Neumann.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
