For art fans in Denver who have probably not been immersed in this colorful art, the show serves as a sort of engaging, summer staycation opportunity, a journey through unfamiliar lands that happens to be right down the street.

It����ap a large undertaking, featuring 130 objects by 142 artists, including drawings, map paintings, works on bark and trees, textiles and more contemporary materials such as photography and neon. And it has major gallery cred, since it was organized by both the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it premiered last year.

That debut got a mixed reception. The show attempts to accomplish a lot — summing up decades of complicated art history in a display that can be consumed in about an hour — and there is an inevitable disappointment in that, especially for fans of the deep, academic dive. This exhibition is a survey, not a college course.

But as an intro to a genre of art that rarely gets the spotlight here, I found it satisfying, even exciting at times, offering lessons in geography, culture and painting, all told through a mesmerizing collection of work.

The exhibition does have what I assume will be a high learning curve for many visitors, starting with understanding the artists themselves and where they come from.�� For that, it’s best to begin with information that the National Gallery published at the outset to accompany the offering.

“Aboriginal peoples have ancestral roots on what is today known as mainland Australia and in Tasmania,” according to that text. “Torres Strait Islanders trace their roots to the archipelago of islands off the northeast coast of Australia, and the bottom of Papua New Guinea.”

Before the British colonized those regions in the late 1700s, there were “more than 600 Indigenous nations, representing more than 250 language groups and over 500 dialects.”

“The Stars We Do Not See” attempts to show how history and the diverse background of these Indigenous people evolved into the contemporary art they make today, focusing mostly from the 1980s to the present. As you can imagine, a lot of influences impact the way the work appears. That includes old methods of drawing, writing, mapmaking and the recording of history, as well as more recent influences, such as the development of global communications, the evolution of the contemporary art market, and the widespread reckoning over colonialism and its impacts on vast civilizations. Like I said, it����ap an ambitious show.

But the exhibition’s organizers make sense of things through the work itself and the common methods artists have adapted over time. Running throughout the exhibition are styles of mark making dominated by geometric shapes, lines made from the repetition of individual dots, and brilliantly hued blocks of color that come together as abstract landscapes, skyscapes and other pictorial concepts.

The work is often intricate and labor-intensive, and sometimes on grand scale. One piece in the show, “Ngayartu Kujarra,” a 2009 painting depicting a spiritually significant lake in Western Australia, has 12 collaborators listed in the wall text.

The show calls out the stars of the genre, including Emily Kam Kngwarray and Gulumbu Yunupinu, and is broken down into sections that help visitors understand timelines and key places of progress, and it ends with a series of very recent works that delve more into the politics of displacement. Showstoppers include a series of paintings on eucalyptus bark and groupings of decorated tree trunks, known as memorial poles.

While many of the art-making techniques can be traced back centuries, the show makes a distinction between the work in “The Stars We Do Not See” and artifacts from earlier periods. The objects on display are, by and large, purposefully made as artwork and not ceremonial or functional in nature.

For example, visitors learn that the bark paintings came about in the 1900s when a British Australian biologist asked Aboriginal artists to replicate their ancestral style of paintings — traditionally applied to cave walls, shelters and ceremonial objects — on individual pieces of bark that were roughly the same size as canvases that European artists were using for oil paintings.

“These early paintings became a catalyst for reimagining traditional stories and imagery as contemporary art,” the exhibition text explains.

Similarly, the memorial poles have their roots in preserving the stories of deceased humans, though many of the poles made today, which are included in this show, are simply art for art����ap sake.

But the connection between old techniques and modern sensibilities is the exhibit����ap magic — especially for audiences new to the work. Things often feel older than they are because they have what might seem to be a “primitive” quality to them. But their dates give them away as new objects made with present-day sensibilities while retaining a respect for the past.

In that way, “The Stars We Do Not See” has multiple entry points for visitors. The works are visually pleasing, hyper-colorful art objects, but they are also puzzles to solve, maps to read, a world waiting to be explored.

IF YOU GO

“The Stars We Do Not See” continues through July 26 at the Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14th Ave. Info: 720-865-5000 or denverartmuseum.org.

But as any curator is happy to tell you, they have more than enough to stay busy. They give tours, manage storage and conservation, and watch their departmental budgets in that stressful way workers at most non-profit organizations are obliged to do.

They also acquire new objects, and that may be the most important part of the job. An encyclopedic museum is only as good as the art in its stockpiles, and that requires a lot of research. Curators constantly assess where their collections stand, where they are going and what holes they need to fill in terms of both the art and artists represented in the vault. It����ap not just about shopping.

The Denver Art Museum has been putting a great deal of focus on its own collection in recent exhibits and has been quite effective in connecting the museum-loving public to both the work it can be proud to have ownership of and the museum’s staff, which decides what comes and what sometimes goes.

That backdrop is important to understand when it comes to appreciating “What We’ve Been Up to: People,” DAM’s current photo show. The title says it all, really. The exhibit����ap main goal is to remind people of all that labor curators do under the radar, while offering the simultaneous pleasure of looking at some attention-worthy things.

In this case, there are 60 images on the walls, all making their first appearance in a DAM gallery, and some are by stars of the genre, including Andy Warhol, Richard Avedon and Graciela Iturbide. That alone is a good reason to go see the show, even if it does not reach so deeply for a richer curatorial theme.

In that regard, the curators set reasonable expectations upfront with the sentimental text intro to the show displayed at the entrance. Rather than setting up some deep intellectual or biographical dive as the best exhibits do, they suggest that these images, all featuring human beings, might invite viewers to “consider, despite our differences, all of the hopes and needs, the fears and joys that people hold in common.”

Fair enough. We are a divided planet right now, and museums can offer hope. I’ll take the trade-off from time to time. Plus, most of the photos are, indeed, museum-worthy, and many reflect trends in institutional art collecting that have been fashionable since the museum’s photo department was created in 2008.

That means there are familiar names making their signature moves. Dorothea Lange is represented with her 1935 “Imperial Valley, California,” a portrait in the field of a youthful male figure during the difficult economic time she documented so deftly. There are portraits of people in Mexico, taken by Italian photographer Tina Modotti in Mexico, captured in 1929.

Moving closer to the present age, there is a portrait of “Truman Capote, Writer” that Avedon created in 1974. The subject is pensive, expressionless and looking away from the camera. But history has built the man, and viewers can assume he was thinking of something clever.

The show does have some provocative moments, including a series of portraits by Andrea Modica from 1999. Her contribution to “people” consists of a quartet of same-sized photos of human skulls, positioned at various angles, that mirror the intensity of still-life paintings. The photos have simple, anonymous titles, like “B4 Female, 34 Years” and “A14 Male, 56 Years,” but the precise way she lights these specimens and the special care she takes in showing them as individuals gives them a hyper-personality. The series is a testament to the power of photography to make us see the world in ways that are both personal and profound.

From 1999, there is one of Francesca Woodman’s monochromatic self-portraits, “It Must Be Time for Lunch Now…,” which has the artist crouching or sitting mysteriously on the floor of a dimly-lit room — in the company of forks and spoons — and gazing directly at the lens. Woodman’s photos — she died at the age of 22 in 1981, making her an external enigma  — are always a combination of playful and mysterious, this one included.

Bringing the exhibition — and collecting habits — into the present are works by artists who are defining current trends in photography. Tim Sullivan’s self-portrait from 2003 (titled here  “Tim Sullivan,” appropriately)  is a carefully staged shot of the artist wearing a jacket, shirt and tie in a classic floral print. He is standing before a wall covered in ceramic tiles that have the exact same print. This elaborately produced, over-the-top and often humorous way of taking photos has become a trademark for 21st-century portraitists, in both painting and photo.

Following another trend is Jess T. Dugan’s 2020 “Oskar and Zach (embrace),” which captures two youthful, gender-nonspecific humans in a close hug. Only one of their faces is visible and it stares directly at the viewer, appearing to be neither happy nor sad — just sort of saying “I exist.”

Dugan has built a successful career by making intimate images of LGBTQ subjects (emphasis on the “T”) mirroring the trend of photographers to bring attention to marginalized communities. This photo alone would be enough to fulfill the exhibition’s promise to remind us of “the fears and joys that people hold in common.”

Like many of the pictures here, it rides a line between documenting human behavior and exploiting its drama to get attention. There is a tension in that, and it makes many of these objects a tantalizing, sometimes beautiful, puzzle to comprehend. The best of these works make the show’s theme of “People” seem more interesting than it might appear on the surface.

Nearly all of these photos on display represent a thoughtful choice by curators in the photo department at DAM — whether they were purchases or gifts from donors that the museum accepted into its holdings. What do curators do all day? They build collections, and they balance them and, when they get the chance, they show off their work to the customers.

Ray Mark Rinaldi is a Denver-based freelance writer specializing in fine arts.

IF YOU GO

“What We’ve Been Up to: People,” continues through Sept. 29 at the Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14th Ave. Parkway. Info: 720-865-5000 or denverartmuseum.org.

Friday-Sunday. Denver Film’s Women+Film Festival stands out even among the many, mini-fest highlights at the nonprofit movie organization, which also runs Film on the Rocks and puts on the annual Denver Film Festival. The Friday, April 24-Sunday, April 26, lineup features globe-spanning titles that make it easy to catch up on women’s issues and the best work by female filmmakers, organizers said, with screenings, filmmaker Q&As and community conversations.

That includes the delightful opening-night presentation “Cookie Queens,” which looks at Girl Scouts through the lens of cookie season, and the closing-night “Ask E. Jean,” which looks at writer and activist E. Jean Carroll’s life — including becoming the only woman to beat President Donald Trump twice in court.

All events take place at the Sie FilmCenter, 2510 E. Colfax Ave. in Denver. are $85 and individual tickets are $16 via .

Día del Niño 2026

Sunday. The annual celebration of children known as Día del Niño returns to the metro area this weekend, with the marquee event taking place at the Denver Art Museum. Admission is free all day on Sunday, April 26, as the museum joins nearby institutions in the Golden Triangle for activities and fun, including the Denver Public Library main branch, History Colorado Center, Clyfford Still Museum and the Center for Colorado Women’s History.

Expect live dance and music from a dozen-plus global performers, hands-on artmaking, access to exhibits and more. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. April 26 at 100 W. 14th Ave. Parkway in Denver. Call 720-865-5000 or visit for more details.

Read up!

Through Saturday. It’s a great week for readers, with National Library Week and Independent Bookstore Day overlapping on Saturday, April 25. Metro area libraries are hosting fun, free, literary-adjacent events, screenings, talks and performances such as Shakespeare in the Parking Lot (2 p.m. Saturday at Aurora Central Library, 14949 E. Alameda Parkway), while raising awareness about banned books and the importance of reading.

It’s a great time to sign up for a card and donate to a books nonprofit, but also to our brick-and-mortar booksellers for Colorado Indie Bookstore Day, such as The Shop at Matter (2114 Market St. in Denver). Like lots of others, they’ll have free, live readings, craft activities (printmaking, zines), a DJ set, specials and more. Check out the full list of Colorado locations, including Petals & Pages, Black and Read, Trident Book Sellers and others at .

FoCoMX returns

Friday-Saturday. The biggest indie music fest in Colorado returns this weekend with the FoCoMX, which packs a whopping 450-plus live performances onto 40 downtown Fort Collins stages on Friday, April 24, and Saturday, April 25. The smoothly run, generously booked event, now celebrating its 18th year, features all-ages performances from hip hop, R&B, folk, bluegrass, indie rock, pop, country, metal, jazz and many more artists.

Get your ticket online for $60 — or $75 for day-of, in-person purchases — and start building your schedule now. Visit for the full lineup and filters to search by venue, genre, and day. Venues include the Aggie Theatre, Avogadro’s Number, Sound Bar, The Neighbor, The Magic Rat, Washington’s, and Odell Brewing Co.

The sculptures include “monumental” works such as 1991’s “Lao Tzu,” by artist Mark di Suvero. That 33,000-pound, 30-foot-tall red steel sculpture formerly sat on Acorn Plaza, between the Denver Art Museum’s Martin Building and Denver Public Library’s main branch, along 13th Street in downtown Denver. In 2017, it was removed and put in storage to make way for more than $100 million of renovations and construction at the Denver Art Museum.

Other pieces will be on display for the first time in Colorado, said Geoffery Shamos, who oversees the University of Denver’s collections and art spaces. They’ll be installed over the next 16 to 18 months, with completion set for summer 2027 as part of the new . (See the full list of sculptures below.)

The timing is coincidental, Shamos said, with Denver Art Museum having completed major renovations and construction in recent years, and the University of Denver looking to bolster its own collection. Both institutions share board members, but the pieces were chosen by the Denver Art Museum for their aesthetic and educational value to the public. Some of them had been acquired from the 1970s through the 1990s as part of a potential, Civic Center-area sculpture garden that never materialized.

A few of those pieces ended up in prominent places, such as Gail Folwell’s “In the Peloton,” which sat near the Reiman Bridge that runs over 13th Street at the Denver Art Museum. It will be installed near DU’s Ritchie Center, .

While Shamos had no cost estimate for the project, which involves complicated transport and installation involving cranes, forklifts and newly poured concrete pads, he said it’s being paid for entirely with philanthropic donations, which will support the creative management team, construction, and conservators who will spruce up and weatherize each piece.

“Even having been around this work for a while, it’s always startling to see how many details and logistics there are to work out,” said Shamos, who oversees DU’s 8,000-item art collection. “But we’re so grateful to the Denver Art Museum for transferring these works to us from their permanent collection, which allows us to take advantage of our beautiful spaces on campus.”

The steel and bronze works will become part of a new DU Art Walk that mixes existing outdoor sculptures on campus and the new crop from the museum. “This DU Art Walk is the first step in the creation of a holistic art experience at DU that will encompass art collections and galleries, and the performing arts,” the school said in a statement. They’ll sit along the north-south spine of the campus, Shamos added.

The pieces have been stored in various facilities across Denver until now, and their reinstallation will free up huge amounts of warehouse space, according to Shamos. The deal also underlines DU’s 100-year partnership with Denver Art Museum, dating back to when the nascent institutions shared a space in the historic Chappell House, at 1555 Race St. in Denver.

“This collaboration represents a unique synergy between two of Denver’s most vital anchors of culture and education,” said Craig Harrison, who serves on the boards of both DAM and DU, in a statement. “By bringing these monumental works from the DAM into the heart of the DU campus, we are reinforcing Denver’s reputation as a city where creativity and learning are truly inseparable.”

The collection will surely grow over time, Shamos said, but it already fits in nicely with other marquee Denver public art.

“That aspect is special, with Blucifer (a.k.a. ‘Mustang’) at the airport and the Big Blue Bear (‘I See What You Mean’) at the convention center becoming truly iconic,” he said. “It’s our hope that these works will join them.”

Here are the sculptures to be installed as part of the project:

• “In the Peloton,” Gail Folwell (2014)
• “Lao Tzu,” Mark di Suvero (1991)
• “Intruder,” Lauren Ewing (1984)
• “Device to Root Out Evil,” Dennis Oppenheim (1984)
• “Yin and Yang,” Edgar Britton (1964)
• “Bull Skull and Horn,” Jack Zajac (1962-1963)
• “Herbides 4: Scalpay,” Catherine Lee (2004)

I would not describe it as an ambitious event; shows drawn from in-house objects rarely are. They can be quick and uncomplicated — and certainly cheap — ways to fill an art gallery.

The material is already on-site, saving the museum shipping and insurance costs. The curatorial choices are less about building an experience around some grand concept or documenting an important moment in art history, and more about showing off what is in the storeroom, or in this case, the closets.

Still, these efforts can be crucial for both the museum and the patrons who support it. Without them, some important objects can remain hidden forever; a waste of human effort and money — and much of that sponsorship cash comes from taxpayer funds and the generous gifts of donors who trust the museum to share its collection with its community.

Just as important, these shows let art fans size up the job curators are doing on their behalf. Is the museum making good choices when it spends its limited acquisition money? Does it have good taste?

The good news is that “Conversation Pieces” is full of good taste and great examples of work by some of the most popular high fashion designers of the past 100 years. The exhibition’s energy comes from the star-studded list of creators whose objects are displayed on the 60 mannequins set up on the sixth floor of DAM’s Martin Building.

Fashion lovers will find it hard not to get giddy over a 1926 outfit by Coco Chanel, the famous inventor of the little black dress (and, of course, much more). The piece on display is a dazzler, with a low, wide neckline and fringe extending from the shoulders and hemline. The signage lets viewers know it is made from silk chiffon and embroidered with bugle beads.

And that garment is displayed right next to Yves Saint Laurent����ap updated version of the style from 1982. This one has beads, too, along with rhinestones and Chantilly lace. It was famously worn by the actress Catherine Deneuve.

There are many more top-of-the-line, brand names in this display. Wool dresses by Geoffrey Beene and Pierre Cardin; a velvet coat dress by Elsa Schiaparelli; an evening gown decked out with faux pearls by Christian Dior; a coordinated jacket, shirt and pants by Yohji Yamamoto; another coat dress by Rei Kawakubo.

Bringing all that up-to-date are clothes by makers with more contemporary currency, including a printed synthetic knit dress by American designer Vivienne Tam; a dress and shawl by the Peruvian designer Ani Álvarez Calderón; a metallic gold frock by Mexican designer Carla Fernández; a printed silk party dress by the British designer Alexander McQueen, who died in 2010.

And there are pieces that are a treat to look at, even if the designers behind them are less familiar to many people: a 1973 “hippie” dress with glass beads by Bill Gibb; a pleated ball gown by Rick Owens; a shiny debutante gown by Ann Lowe adorned with silk flowers.

That might sound like a laundry list of objects, but that is really how “Conversation Pieces” plays out as a show. It is all over the map as far as styles and time periods go, though DAM’s textile team, led by curator Jill D’Alessandro, tries to make sense of things by grouping dresses made with similar personalities, or during the same time period, or with complementary techniques or colors. That goes a long way toward helping visitors understand the context of these particular pieces and the history of high fashion at the same time.

While the work has global roots, the show adds a local touch. There is a tribute to Neusteters, the family-owned department store that brought to Denver a world of fashion before it closed down in 1986.

Surprisingly, there are a few dresses worn by society figures of a bygone age when Denver was an up-and-coming metropolis, made rich by mining and the westward expansion of American culture. That includes a fancy, 1935 silk velvet evening wrap by Italian designer Maria Monaci Gallenga that was “worn by Mrs. Thomas Patterson Campbell of The Rocky Mountain News family,” as the exhibition’s text tells visitors.

While Colorado has never been considered a fashion capital (unless you count ski wear, and that is a stretch) these objects remind exhibition visitors that clothing has always played the same role here that it has in other places — it����ap a legit avenue for artistic, self-expression, as well as a way for people of different social and economic classes to separate themselves from each other.

The show mostly avoids the politics that swirl around the design business, especially these days when critics are obsessed with the environmental evils of fast fashion and the shortcomings of an industry known to exploit labor around the globe. There is not much of a theme separate from the idea of giving folks a glimpse of what Denver has managed to collect since 1942, when the museum acquired its first women’s garment.

But there is something enjoyable — again, exciting — about this kind of showing off. This is a lovely array of dresses, and it is pulled from a collection that DAM’s fans and supporters can easily admire. If the goal was to build up a little it of pride about our local museum, and offer some unexpected fun to visitors, all the while doing it on a conservative budget, then that mission is accomplished.

If you go

“Conversation Pieces” continues through Feb. 7, 2027, at Denver Art Museum, 100 14th Ave., Denver. Info: 720-865-5000 or .��

The museum formally removed the object from its collection in September and returned it to the Turkish government in December, DAM officials told The Denver Post.

The object originated from a basilica in the ancient city of Smyrna — now known as İzmir — on the Aegean coast. The conducted excavations at the site in the 1930s and early 1940s, with the marble head dug up in 1934 and published in scholarly sources.

Then the relic went missing for decades.

The Denver Art Museum acquired the piece as a gift in 1989 from the estate of Marie Thérèse Macy, the wife of a former U.S. foreign service officer who served as consul general in Istanbul in the 1940s. It remained on long-term loan until the museum in 2005 formally added it to its collection.

In 2013, Denver museum officials say, they first reached out to the Izmir Museum, letting them know they had the marble head and requesting information about whether it had once been part of the Turkish institution’s collection.

Nothing happened until last year when Turkish cultural authorities confirmed that the marble head was missing from its national collections and submitted an official request for its return. Months later, it was back in Turkish hands.

“The marble head’s repatriation stands as an example of how museums can responsibly address complex histories and strengthen relationships with source communities and nations,” Andy Sinclair, a Denver Art Museum spokesperson, said in an email.

The repatriation comes amid a renewed push by Turkish authorities to reclaim their plundered cultural history.

The country, which boasts more than 20 , received 180 cultural artifacts last year, adding to the more than 13,000 relics it has repatriated over the past 23 years, according to .

Turkish officials developed a to identify cultural assets of Turkish origin on sales platforms, auctions and social media.

The country has also worked with American law enforcement to retrieve looted works. In December, the in New York, which boasts a specialized antiquities trafficking unit, , valued at more than $2.5 million.

Looters for decades targeted the ancient city of Bubon, a Roman site in southwestern Turkey. Many of these pieces fetched .

In recent years, the Denver Art Museum has sought to rehabilitate its reputation after scandals involving the collection of looted artworks.

The Post, in a three-part investigation in 2022, found a longtime museum consultant and art scholar, Emma C. Bunker, helped the DAM acquire a host of antiquities that had been pillaged from ancient temples in Southeast Asia. Her relationship to one disgraced dealer in particular, Douglas Latchford, allowed the museum to become a way station for plundered works, The Post found.

In 2023, the ���ܲ���ܳ���removed Bunker’s name from its gallery wall and returned a six-figure donation to her family. DAM has also returned pieces connected to Bunker to Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia.

Denver museum officials have also come under fire for their dealings with Native American tribes and source countries.

Saturday. You and your dog should dress to impress for Boulder Social’s third annual St. Patrick’s Puppy Parade and Costume Contest. Participant registration begins at 11 a.m. at the restaurant before the parade steps off at 1 p.m. to serve fur-ocious looks. The $10 registration fee goes to support POSO Dog Rescue and also comes with a free beer for pup parents 21 and older. After the parade, enjoy puppy portraits, pet-focused vendors booths and a costume contest with prize baskets up for grabs. As if that weren’t enough, there will be pup cups available as well as Irish food and beer specials for humans. Paw-some!

The St. Patrick’s Puppy Parade and Costume Contest takes place at 1600 38th St. in Boulder, on Saturday, March 14. It’s free to attend, and $10 to join the parade. For more details, visit . — Tiney Ricciardi

The best Oscars party

Sunday. It’s hard to beat Denver Film’s annual watch party for the Academy Awards telecast, with its savvy balance of glitz and irreverent fun. The Hollywood’s Brightest Night party returns on Sunday, March 15, to keep tabs on the winners and losers from the year’s biggest movies. Anyone can submit predictions with a $10 donation, organizers said, “whether you watch at the Sie FilmCenter or at home, for a chance to win one of four prizes.”

They’re expecting about 500 guests for the screening party, with doors opening at 4 p.m. and the show starting live at 5 p.m. on ABC and Hulu. Dress up as your favorite actor, throw on a tuxedo or dress, and stop on the red carpet to snap some photos. Visit for more details and to RSVP. It’s free to get in, and standby guests will be considered when the event reaches capacity. Reserved seats are $25 (and almost gone). — John Wenzel

DAM’s very own art

Through April 30. It should come as no surprise that some employees of the Denver Art Museum are artists themselves, some boasting gallery shows and studios outside their day jobs. A new exhibit offers a peek inside the museum’s inner child with staff and volunteers’ own creations.

Running through April 30, The Experience exhibition includes 72 objects, “ranging from paintings to photos and more,” organizers wrote. “It is an exceptional display of the incredible talents within the museum that are responsible for bringing world-class art and perspectives to the Rocky Mountain region.”

The show is free with museum admission, and located at the Creative Hub inside DAM’s Martin Building, 100 W. 14th Ave. Parkway in Denver. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily; closed Wednesdays. General admission: $22-$25, with youths under 18 free. Visit for more details. — John Wenzel

French group makes Denver debut

Thursday. It’s not often that you can step into a church and hear expertly performed Baroque music from a touring French ensemble, but Thursday, March 19, is your chance to do just that. Le Consort, which formed in 2015 in Paris, is one of Europe’s leading Baroque ensembles, according to Friends of Chamber Music, which is presenting the group’s Denver debut at Augustana Lutheran Church, 5000 E. Alameda Ave. in Denver.

The two-hour, 7:30 p.m. show is “devoted to the trio sonata — a quintessential chamber music form of the Baroque era,” according to the Friends. Tickets for the all-ages concert are $45 general admission, with a discounted $15 ticket for attendees 30 and under, and a $5 student ticket. Visit to buy and for more details. — John Wenzel

But they are out there, especially this year when a handful of institutions are presenting well-crafted, tightly-curated, modestly-sized shows.

Think of this list of exhibitions as an à la carte menu of gallery-hopping opportunities. Any one of these choices could make for a satisfying stop — or string them together for a full day’s excursion.

Here are five that look promising right now.

A trio of exhibits featuring Ana María Hernando, various locations, through July 5

This is a shining moment for Ana María Hernando. She has solo shows at two of Colorado’s most important contemporary spaces, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Simultaneously, she is part of a group show at Robischon Gallery.

In the Springs, the retrospective “Cantando Bajito (Singing Softly)” continues through July 3 and brings together many of the elements that Hernando mingles to deep effect in her art: sculptures made from tulle, paintings, drawings and a bit of poetry.

MCA Denver’s show (March 5-July 5 ) is titled “Seguir Cantando (Keep Singing),” and connects to similar themes, unfolding “chromatically, beginning with works rendered in black charcoal, gray tulle, and dark paint to white tulle and embroidery, to new works bursting with color.”

Combined with her part in Robischon’s “Ostinatos,” (through March 21), this a good opportunity to celebrate the career of one of Colorado’s crucial voices in visual arts.

More info: 719-634-5581 or fac.coloradocollege.edu

“Conversation Pieces: Stories from the Fashion Archives,” Denver Art Museum, through Oct. 11

Many people know about the Denver Art Museum’s vast collection of paintings and sculpture, but its extensive holdings of fashion often fly under the radar. “Conversation Pieces” shines a bright light on one of DAM’s underrated attractions.

The show has more than 60 objects on the roster. Each is runway-ready, and many are being shown in the galleries for the first time.

On the rack: clothing and accessories from names like Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Yohji Yamamoto, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld and others. There is a nice local twist to the show, which puts a separate emphasis on some of the outfits worn by Denver’s fashionable set from the past and present.

More info: 720-865-5000 or denverartmuseum.org.

“What We’ve Been Up To: People,” Denver Art Museum, through Sept. 29

“What We’ve Been Up To” is part of the Denver Art Museum’s ongoing series in which the photography department debuts images from its collection that the public has never seen before. So far, the series has been excellent, serving the dual purpose of entertaining patrons with high-quality displays, while at the same time giving Coloradans an opportunity to see some examples of how millions of dollars in public arts funding are being channeled into acquisitions.

As the title explains, this edition focuses on portraits. While that seems narrow, there is plenty of diversity within the genre to keep the show interesting, partly because the curators decided to mix the works of contemporary photographers with images from photo artists dating back to the1800s. The exhibition’s roster includes Lucas Foglia, Francesca Woodman, Flor Garduno, Tina Modotti, Andrea Modica, Jess T. Dugan and more.

More info: 720)-865-5000 or denverartmuseum.org.

“Futures: 528.0: Regional Printmaking Exhibition,” Center for Visual Art (Part of Month of Printmaking)

Denver’s Month of Printmaking kicks off in March, and this exhibit, at the Center for Visual Art, is one of its early highlights. As the clever title suggests, the show features work by artists who live within a 528-mile radius of the city.

The point of the curation is material diversity, to put on display “both traditional and alternative methods being used in the field of contemporary printmaking.” Among the jurors are well-respected names, including CVA director and curator Cecily Cullen; Rick Griffith, founder of Denver-based  MATTER, the nonprofit that supports printmaking of all sorts; and Chinn Wang, a national artist whose prints are in major museums across the country.

With such a large geographical region in play, the roster is large — very large — with about 70 names on the list, including local stars such as Trine Bumiller, Carlos Frésquez, Viviane Le Courtois, Mark Lunning, Taiko Chandler, Tony Ortega and more.

Month of Printmaking — known better as Mo’ Print — includes scores of exhibitions, talks, workshops and more spread across dozens of galleries and other venues, with major shows at the CVA, RedLine Contemporary Art Center and the Arvada Center.

For info on the CVA show and other Mo’ Print events, go to moprint.org.

“Ostinatos,” Robischon Gallery, through March 21

Robischon Gallery represents many of the region’s top artists, and it usually showcases them through small, solo shows. From time to time, however, the place goes big, putting together work by groups of artists whose output is linked by a theme or process. When that occurs, the exhibition is almost always a winner because viewers get to see a variety of Colorado’s top names all at once.

“Ostinatos” is a good example. The show includes 11 artists, all “exploring the use of repetition in the development of visual form and compositions.” In other words, they repeat the same action over and over again, often through small gestures, to make larger objects.

One artist: Derrick Velasquez, whose wall pieces are made from thousands of thin strips of vinyl layered on top of one another. Another: Omar Chacón, who lines up rows of tiny slivers of paint that he pulls together into colorful grids.

Other names in the show include Ana María Hernando, Terry Maker and Paul Corio.

More info:  303.298.7788 or robischongallery.com

There are exceptions — in Denver, that might come in the form of a giant blue bear or an angry blue horse — but for the most part, public art gets less interesting over time as everyday citizens, rushing to work or jogging by for the hundredth time, simply lose interest. Too much of it is a waste of money, even if the projects do pump up the local economy and make the city look exciting to tourists.

Three new pieces installed downtown by artist Paula Castillo have a distinct advantage in staring down that predicament, primarily because of their placement on the grounds of the Denver Art Museum campus and in front of the Denver Central Library.

Rather than being shoved into the faces of passersby who are not particularly concerned about aesthetics, or who have different tastes in art than what they are seeing, these works are actually set in a spot where people seek out paintings and sculptures, where they expect to be challenged intellectually by the things they encounter, and where they give art a chance to unfold over time.

Because of that placement, they have to be high-quality objects that deserve the attention. The stakes for the most prominent of public artworks are high.

Castillo rises to the occasion here by presenting a trio of sculptures that warrant a second or third — or hundredth — look. The pieces understand the city and how it developed over the ages, and ask people to consider those things holistically.

The three works unfold as chapters in the history of the area, going back to before it was the city of Denver, and marking aspects of its physical and cultural evolution. They are meant to reflect the diversity of the population here and the contributions of various demographic groups over time or, as Castillo puts in in her writings, “a centuries-long process of cultural mixing among Indigenous, European, African and Asian peoples.”

The first is “Glyph,” which is set on an outdoor deck extending from the Denver Art Museum’s Ponti Building. It is on museum grounds but rises into public view because it is placed atop a trio of shiny, 10-foot poles that hoist it into the air so it gets noticed. Assisting in that effort is the fact that the stainless steel piece is powder-coated in an eye-popping pink.

“Glyph” is an exaggerated, three-dimensional representation of the xicalcoliuhqui, a motif — or decorative design element — that has long been part of Mesoamerican visual culture, and continues to have a place today. The piece harks back to pre-Columbian times, when it was omnipresent in the ornament of buildings, ceramics, jewelry and other items.

The point of its presence here is to give a place to Indigenous thinking in a part of town where the architecture and landscape have mostly European roots. It is a counter-balance to the Greek-inspired Civic Center across the street, and to the distinctly modern, and post-modern, designs of both the art museum and the library.

The second — and most intriguing piece — is “Trestle,” which is set on an existing, low concrete plinth on the walkway that connects the museum’s newer Libeskind Building addition to 12th Street.

The piece is abstract, and combines — to break it down for the sake of easy discussion — the shape of a railroad trestle adorned with hummingbird feathers. The work consists of 12 laser-cut, stainless steel arch-like elements, set about 2 feet apart from each other, that come together in the form of a truss. Visitors can actually walk under the work, which rises 22 feet off the ground.

“Trestle” pays homage to the role of the railroads in developing the city into what it is today, and to the diversity of the labor that laying the tracks required. It is really about Denver’s transformation, from cowtown to metropolis, from ethnically homogeneous to multi-cultural, from rural to industrial to urban. The piece packs in a lot of history.

The third is “Equis,” on the library’s front lawn. The piece is basically a 12-foot-tall representation of an “X,” the first letter of xicalcoliuhqui, which connects it not so obviously to the “Glyph” piece. (Note: Equis is the Spanish pronunciation of the letter x).

But “Equis” has a much more contemporary, even trendy, flair than “Glyph” because its most obvious reference is the current fad of using “X” instead of “O” or “A” in Spanish words as a way of removing gender designations from the language and making it more inclusive. (One example would be to say “c�󾱳����” rather than “c�󾱳�����” or “c�󾱳��Dz�” to make the words for “boy” or “girl” less loaded politically.)

Think of the sculpture, which is rendered in laminated glass that reflects light in a rainbow of colors, as a broad nod to inclusion as it is manifested today.

In a sense, the works follow a chronology, from the deep past to the recent past to the moment we currently occupy. Though, because the pieces are not physically next to one another, nor can they be viewed as a group all at once, it might be difficult for viewers to see them as connected objects or to link them together as different parts of one expansive narrative.

They do not look like a trilogy, and the fact that they are all so different materially adds to the confusion. That is a conceptual challenge, or shortcoming, that can only be overcome with both some background knowledge on the works and a bit of meandering around the Golden Triangle neighborhood. It is hard to imagine most people giving public art that kind of chance.

But most people should, and they just might, because the works have the good fortune of being set in a place where the good citizens arrive with open minds, a spirit of adventure, a sense of pride, and — thanks to Civic Center’s role as the site of various cultural festivals — an awareness of social differences. If it takes time to consume these objects, well, this is a place where people actually have time.

And Castillo, who lives and works in New Mexico, keeps the journey interesting. She has spent a career connecting the dots between the region’s history, culture and geography. She has a knack for isolating individual moments that matter, and for recreating them in an artistic language that excites viewers enough to reconsider the stories they already know.

The works, crafted to near perfection by the Denver fabricating firm Elmendorf Geurts, are flashy pieces that turn up the volume of the Civic Center area. They are crucial to an ongoing — and very promising — revival that is currently happening in that part of town. Like all public art, they may fade into the background over time. In the short-term, they are about as successful as public art can be.

Many other nonprofits funded by the SCFD also offer annual free days — or they’re always free, such as the Broomfield Veterans Museum, city of Lakewood art exhibitions, Heritage Lakewood Belmar Park, Foothills Art Center, Colorado Music Hall of Fame, the Aurora History Museum, and Louisville History Museum, according to the SCFD.

All free days take place during regular business hours unless otherwise noted. Check the full list, and a printable bookmark for the spots listed below, at . Some require online reservations, and all events are subject to change or cancellation.

Denver Museum of Nature & Science

• • Sunday, Jan. 11
  • Sunday, Feb. 1
  • Monday, Feb. 9
  • Friday evening, March 6
  • Monday, April 13
  • Sunday, April 26
  • Friday, June 19 (Juneteenth)
  • Monday, August 24
  • Tuesday evening, Sept. 1
  • Sunday, Oct. 11
  • Saturday evening, Nov. 7
  • Monday, Nov. 16

Free admission does not include IMAX or the Planetarium. Call 303-370-6000 or visit for more.

Denver Art Museum

• Tuesday, Jan. 13
• Tuesday, Feb. 10
• Tuesday, March 10
• Sunday, April 26
• Tuesday, May 12
• Tuesday, June 9
• Tuesday, July 14
• Saturday, Aug. 1
• Saturday, Sept. 12
• Tuesday, Oct. 13
• Saturday, Nov. 7
• Tuesday, Dec. 8

Note: General admission is free every day for those 18 and younger. Free days do not include admission to ticketed exhibitions. Call 720-865-5000 or visit for more.

Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance

• Friday, Jan. 9
• Sunday, Jan. 25
• Sunday, Feb. 22
• Sunday, April 19
• Wednesday, Nov. 11
• Saturday, Nov. 14
• Saturday, Nov. 22

Due to demand, tickets will not be available at the gate. Instead, all reservations must be made online starting roughly two weeks before the date. Call 720-337-1400 or visit for more.

Denver Botanic Gardens at York Street and Chatfield Farms

• Monday, Jan. 19
• Thursday, Feb. 12
• Monday, March 9
• Wednesday, April 22
• Tuesday, June 9
• Wednesday, July 1
• Tuesday, Aug. 25
• Friday, Nov. 27

Denver Botanic Gardens, Plains Conservation Center

• Thursday, Jan. 15
• Thursday, Feb. 19
• Saturday, March 21
• Thursday, June 11
• Saturday, July 11
• Thursday, Aug. 20
• Saturday, Nov. 14
• Thursday, Dec. 17

Call 720-865-3500 or visit for more, including educational days for students.

Denver Center for the Performing Arts

• Tuesday, Jan. 6
• Tuesday, Feb. 17
• Tuesday, April 7

DCPAccess Sale dates supported by SCFD include low-cost tickets to various upcoming shows. Visit for more.