Buildings hold the stories of our cities, and that is particularly true of the stone structure currently housing the Emmanuel Art Gallery on downtown’s Auraria campus.
The humble yet hearty building was constructed in 1876, which means it is exactly as old as the state of Colorado itself, and so Emmanuel, too, is celebrating a 150th birthday this year, and presenting a special, retrospective exhibition to mark the occasion.
There is art on the walls, but also history, whittled down to concise bits of text that document the building’s transitions over time and get at a larger tale of how structures, which seem so sure of their purpose at the start, actually morph into entirely different places over time — if they are lucky enough to last as long as Emmanuel has.
The building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is likely Denver’s oldest existing religious structure, and its appearance very much reflects its original aspiration as an Episcopal chapel. The design is a blend of the Romanesque and Gothic styles that were popular for both sacred and public edifices during its founding era.
Emmanuel has some special features that make it distinctive, including very slender, stepped-back buttresses along its exterior side walls that keep the building from falling down while also giving it a visual lift. That architectural element, plus narrow, arched windows, makes the 24-foot-tall structure seem taller than it is. The building’s proportions are a delight.
As Denver grew and changed, so did Emmanuel. In 1903 it was acquired by the congregation of Shearith Israel, which converted it to a synagogue. That function lasted 55 years until it was transferred to artist Wolfgang Pogzeba, who used it as a studio.
Big changes came again in 1973 when the land-grabbing Auraria campus was developed to hold classrooms for Metropolitan State University, the Community College of Denver and the University of Colorado, which now operates the space as an art gallery.
In its most recent incarnation, the place has evolved into a crucial part of Denver’s cultural life, hosting scores of exhibitions by students and artists from both the region and the wider art world. Many of Colorado’s most important artists have presented there and the gallery has long held a biennial group exhibition, currently branded as “Made in Colorado,” which takes the temperature of the art scene here as its evolves.
The current show, “Come Together: 150 Years of the Emmanuel,” is curated by gallery coordinator Andrew Palamara, and it features objects by 20 artists, some working solo, others in pairs. All have some connection to Emmanuel’s exhibition program.
That means much of the work is resurrected from solo or group shows that took place over the past few years, though some of it was created specifically for this commemorative event.
And while a few pieces reach back in time, the exhibit mostly, and definitively, features recent work by active artists, placing it very much in the now, rather than comprehensively documenting Emmanuel’s four-plus decades as a gallery.
That makes it less a celebration of a long past and more of an affirmation of the present — and what Emmanuel’s curatorial standards lean into in the 2020s. It plays like a greatest hits record, but only from the past few albums.
In that regard, the gallery reveals itself as no different from most other contemporary art spaces across the United States in 2026. Diversity, in both creative voices and physical materials, is highly valued. Autobiography and identity art dominate, as do concerns for the environment and currently hot political causes — though any personal opinions aired here are delivered in pretty packages. Nothing feels edgy or dangerous.
There is also a clear dedication to regionalism. These are local artists, and anyone who has stepped into a Colorado gallery in the last five minutes will know the names on display. That includes veterans, like Carlos Frésquez, John Fudge, Melissa Furness, Rian Kerrane, Gregg Deal and Laura Shill, plus artists who have emerged as bright lights in more recent years, such as JayCee Beyale and Sammy Seung-min Lee.
Saving the names of individual artists until the end of this review is intentional. So is the avoidance of calling out specific works. The most compelling objects on display are repeats, and they overshadow the new objects that mostly feel like remixes of things we’ve seen before.
That is the nature of historical exhibitions; a visitor cannot expect to see anything particularly new. The pleasure comes in breathing in nostalgia for the multitudinous efforts Emmanuel Gallery has supported in the past. Itap a sentimental show for those who have been part of its community.
The wider appeal of the effort comes through the focus on the architecture itself and the role played by this chapel/synagogue/studio/gallery in Denver’s past. The building recounts key themes of our narrative here — expansionism, modernization, diversification. It also sums up the optimism that drove that, as well as the dark displacements of people and land over time that made it all possible.
And it establishes a solid and valuable baseline for the gallery itself. “Come Together” demonstrates precisely where Emmanuel is at the moment. In doing so, it sets the stage for what comes next. It is on the shoulders of the gallery’s current leadership to venture further, to take the building and the people that occupy it on new and authentic adventures.
“Come Together: 150 Years of the Emmanuel” continues through Sept. 19. Itap free. Info at 303-315-743 or emmanuelgallery.org.
Ray Mark Rinaldi is a Denver-based freelance writer.
