Visual Arts

At her new Denver studio/gallery, ATC DEN, Laura Krudener invites gallery-goers to come inside and throw off their creative inhibitions.

For Colorado artists weighed down by a shortage of studios, ever-rising rent and increased government scrutiny of DIY spaces, Concept was going to be “a space to dream, create, inspire,” promised founder Jeanie Nuanes King on the con.cept colorado Facebook page. But on July 5, Nuanes King announced that the dream is over.

Catch up on a veteran installationist, creative comic artists, the future of still life and a couple of rising stars — or just go to a swinging party — with these six picks.

The Fourth of July is such a definitively American holiday that its festivities cannot be contained to one calendar day. Aside from Independence Day celebrations,Denver has plenty of free and cheap events for its residents to attend.

On July 1, the second-floor living room of Paul Keefe’s Corona Street house will become the art gallery Grand Opening. Its inaugural, one-night-only exhibit, The Fridge Show, aims to bring together art by Denverites and out-of-state artists alike.

Motocross, a sport better known for revving engines and adrenaline than reflective documentaries, gets personal in Spectrum, a web series whose first episode, featuring Colorado Springs native Andrew Short, makes its screening premiere Friday at SeriesFest.

Venture out, sweaty Denverites. All you need is a crisp Hamilton and an open mind to see all the best Colorado has to offer.

Walk toward the Sloan’s Lake Alamo Drafthouse from the parking structure on Conejos Place, and you can’t miss the angular sculpture built with intersecting planks of steel, beckoning moviegoers toward the sidewalk that leads them toward the theater.

This morning, the City Council Safety, Housing, Education, and Homelessness Committee unanimously voted to move forward the Safe Occupancy Plan, an effort to wrangle two seemingly opposed aims — fire code compliance and the preservation of DIY art spaces — into compatibility.

Among this summer’s attractions at the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver is Derrick Velasquez: Obstructed View, a solo curated by Zoe Larkins that represents a followup to Velasquez’s 2015 Black Cube project. It’s a timely topic in a rapidly gentrifying city.

Over six months after the city closed two DIY spaces for safety issues, Denver Community Planning and Development and the Denver Fire Department, along with other agencies, have announced their proposal for the Safe Occupancy Program, a “voluntary path to compliance for existing spaces.” That proposal goes to a Denver City Council committee today, but Amplify Arts Denver says it is “deeply flawed.”

June may be winding to a close, but that hasn’t slowed Denver’s creative community’s tireless grind. Whether experimenting with European board games, eyeing nerd-inspired artwork in a hip boutique or taking songwriting lessons from Jill Sobule, you have access to everything you need to stay cultured, informed and entertained.

Denver is full of creative types, and you never know when you’re going to meet someone full of talent. At a house party in the Whittier neighborhood, we ran into Micah Bontrager, an audio and visual artist who makes music under the moniker Anicca Meeca.

Now that we’re on the waning side of the solstice, many sun burned locals are seeking opportunities to take shelter from the swelter. Luckily, the week ahead is rife with opportunities to beat both the heat and the summertime doldrums.

2017 is turning out to be a breakout year for Roy Wood Jr.

The world moves outside in summer, and so does great art, along with all the accoutrements of food, drink and surprises that make outdoor fairs a picnic for hundreds. Whether they line city streets or poke up like wildflowers in parks or up in the hills, focus on fine art or handmades or both, these markets all have one thing in common: They bring you eye-to-eye with the artists.

While paper may seem a flimsy theme around which to organize art, it adds up to three solid shows at the Arvada Center.

The heat is on, but Denver galleries are settling in for the long, hot summer with seasonally correct exhibits that focus on busy bees and sunny thoughts and nature and flowers and…Christmas? Read on, and it will all begin to make sense.

We’ve seen artist-run galleries come and go in Denver, but at a time when such venues seem to be in flux, the collaborative artist duo Hollis + Lana  aka muralists/sculptors/fabricators Conor Hollis and Amorette Lana) are making their stand at Druther, a new gallery space on South Downing Street that will showcase interesting artists, as well as the busy couple’s new furniture line.

Over six months after the disastrous fire at Ghost Ship in Oakland and Denver’s subsequent closure of two DIY spaces for safety issues, Denver Community Planning and Development and the Denver Fire Department today are announcing their proposal for a Safe Occupancy Program, a “voluntary path to compliance for existing spaces.”

Summer’s not even here yet, but it might as well be. June’s weather’s been hot, the parties have been lit, and the swimming pools have been at capacity. So before you set out for another June weekend, check out some of our favorite photos from some of the funnest events around town.

The Narrators, the storytelling show founded in Denver, is headed to Tijuana.