Theater. Dance. Visual art. Opera. Classical music. Colorado has a full schedule of high-minded events to occupy your eyes, ears and soul this summer. Here, our culture critics offer up a “must” list of the season’s most promising offerings — for everyone in the family.
VISUAL ARTS
“The Residue of Memory”
Aspen Art Museum, through July 15
Aspen can be a pricey place, but there’s one genuine bargain in town: the , which is now free. Every day. This year the museum rounds up 21 big names in contemporary art for a group show that looks at the heady topic of memory. What leaves its mark in our minds, and why? Answers come from Kristoffer Akselbo, John Baldessari, Andrea Bowers, , , Glenn Ligon, Paul Ramirez Jonas, Doris Salcedo, Kaari Upson and others.
Info: 970-925-8050 or aspenartmuseum.org
“New Paintings”
Clyfford Still Museum, permanent (for now)
The opened in November 2011 with a killer survey of the great abstract expressionist’s work. Less than six months in, they’re taking a few paintings down and replacing them with different pieces that further the Still story. The museum has an excellent summer program this year: John Elderfield, MOMA NY’s chief curator emeritus of painting, speaks June 7, and Colorado Symphony Orchestra conductor talks about Still’s record collection June 28.
Info:720-354-4880 or
“Vochol: Art on Wheels”
Denver International Airport, Main Terminal, June 1-Aug. 31
This is built around one piece of art, but it is a jewel, a Volkswagen Beetle, covered in nearly 2.3 million glass beads. The work was done by hand over seven months in Mexico by two Huichol families to commemorate the traditional rites and crafts of the indigenous ethnic group. The show comes courtesy of the Consulate General of Mexico and the Mexican Cultural Center. The interior is crafted as well — it’s enough to make you miss your flight.
Info: 303-342-2000 or
“Now Boarding: Fentress Airports + the Architecture of Flight”
Denver Art Museum, July 15-Oct. 7
The Denver Art Museum is taking design seriously these days. First it was fashion with its big (there until July 8) and next is architecture with “Now Boarding.” The show celebrates our own DIA and its creator, Denver’s, whose firm has completed six airports in places as diverse as South Korea and Seattle. Using models, drawings and dioramas, the exhibit digs broadly into why airports and airplanes look the way they do.
Info: 720-865-5000 or denverartmuseum.org
“Off the Beaten Path: Violence, Women and Art”
RedLine, June 1-July 29
is taking itself seriously these days and next offers a traveling group show on the topic of violence against women. Two dozen internationally known artists whose work will be on display, including Marina Abramovic, Jane Alexander, Laylah Ali, Yoko Inoue, Miri Nishri, Yoko Ono and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. The exhibit was put together byand will be accompanied by two smaller shows featuring local artists and photographers. Take your daughters — and sons.
Info: 303-296-4448 or
“Kizuna: West Meets East”
Through Nov. 4, Denver Botanic Gardens
We’re gonna keep the faith in the Denver Botanic Gardens — and nature — and watch the site-specificgrow and change as the trees and plants around them do their summer thing. Both make art out of bamboo, twisting and turning the grass into works that are part sculpture, part architecture and all about connecting people to the earth. A great start for any at the gardens.
Info: 720-865-3500 or botanicgardens.org
Video art
Big outdoor screen, 14th and Champa streets, Through the summer
The details aren’t in for this summer-long happening but the videos are and they look promising. The Denver Theatre District commissioned a small line up of national names who work in LED screen art to create custom works for the downtown masses. Catch the pieces in rotation with the ads and watch our arts blog, and the DTD’s website for info on a back-to-back screening of the works later this summer.
Info:
“Colorado Art Survey VII”
The
No institution values Colorado artists more than the Kirkland and no one is snapping up their works and making more sense of them than . In all, this new, semi-permanent exhibit gathers works painted from 1875 to 2006. As usual, the art is integrated into the museum’s unrivaled collection of decorative works and, as usual, it looks terrific.
Info: 303-832-8576 or kirklandmuseum.org
Design Lab
Denver Art Museum, July 27- Sept. 2
Even more design from , but this time it’s different. Three of Denver’s most creative outfits get their own space to show pretty much whatever they want. Furniture makers , textpert Rick Griffith of , and innovative architects do time in the studio. The whole thing is promising.
Info: 720-865-5000 or denverartmuseum.org
Mixed Taste Lecture series
via the Loft Theatre at the , Thursdays, June 7-Aug. 30
Not art exactly, but so very artsy. We’ll let the mixed-up topics of this wildly popular series speak for themselves. Andy Warhol & Gin Martinis; Dubstep & the Napoleonic Wars; Aristotle & Nollywood; Beef & Edgar Allen Poe; Phantom Limbs & Flannery O’Connor; Fingerprinting & Traditional Sumatran Architecture; Psychic Animals & Vincent van Gogh. And more.
Info: 303-298-7554 or mcadenver.org
Ray Mark Rinaldi: 303-954-1540 or rrinaldi@denverpost.com
