It had been far too long since any literal juggling was done in the Westword conference room, so when the offer came down to see Cirque du Soleil Dralion juggler Vladik Miagkostupov perform in person, we welcomed it with open, uncoordinated arms…
After Los Angeles-based graffiti artist David Choe finished his murals for Denver International Airport’s Terminal Kings project, he did what any street artist would do: He went and found a blank wall in the city where he could leave his mark. That wall happened to be at 13th and Champa…
We’re in the middle of “Stomping Week,” the lead-up to the International Snow Sculpture Championships hosted each year by Breckenridge. The Riverwalk Center is being adorned by giant blocks of snow to be hand-carved into works of art by numerous teams from around the world; the sculpting will begin on…
You could pretty much hear the yelps of joy all the way out here when The Book of Mormon opened in New York last year. The New York Times declared this musical — by our very own South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, along with Robert Lopez of…
To become well-known, artists usually have to find a niche. Once they become popular for their body of work within that forte, other projects are often over-shadowed. Guest curator for Vertigo Art Space, Mike McClung, is interested in defining popular Denver artists outside of their most-known work. In his new…
The art installation at City Hall is coming to a close this weekend, and it will end with a display of some serious talent. Following Tuesday night’s free Sub.Mission dubstep show with Denver residents RumbleJunkie, Despise, Dodger and Coult-45, in its final days Terminal Kings will show just what these…
Every artist has his quirk — an obsession within his own work. For John May, that obsession is seeing his reflection on the door of a newly painted car. “I take pictures that are reflection pictures, and they have my reflection in them,” he says. “None of the new cars…
Boulder’s EcoArts puts on art shows that go heavy on the green, while mixing everything up into something that the community can touch and feel and — hopefully — get, because there’s a message to be found in the midst of all the ecological hullabaloo. The invisible connectedness of things,…
Late last week, the unthinkable happened. Phil Bender — founder of Pirate gallery and the generally accepted godfather of the Denver co-op scene — mysteriously appeared on Facebook. Anyone who knows Phil even the least bit knows that he does not compute: doesn’t trust a computer or a tweet, is…
When I called Lawrence Woodson to reschedule my animal spirit reading, I was hoping the local psychic would have anticipated my call. “I saw this coming,” he would say, then cackle maniacally. Perhaps there would be a clap of thunder reflected in his crystal ball, perhaps a curl of incense…
To misquote Shakespeare, what’s in a dress? What’s in the cut of a particular tailored jacket? If these details were in the imagination of Yves Saint Laurent, the name means everything; one of the classic designers of the twentieth century, YSL earned his fame. He learned the ropes under the…
The RiNo neighborhood’s Ice Cube Gallery has emerged as a leader in presenting installation art — in part, I’m sure, because of the incredible soaring spaces in the converted dry-ice factory, something that encourages artists to think big. The facilities at Ice Cube are more like a museum than a…
As a willing participant at Friday night’s My Teenage Angst on-stage diary-reading event, I had some pre-show fears: What if my entries weren’t as funny as I remembered them being? What if other people’s entries weren’t funny? What if the whole thing fell apart because someone unintentionally read from a…
The point of iWorld, which opened this week at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center, is pretty much contained in the title: We do live in an iWorld of our own making, and it’s changing the face of the photographic image with its new level of immediacy — instant gratification, if…
Artists will paint on almost anything for charity: skateboards, vinyl toys, cat statues, guitars — you name it. Now an ever-growing slice of locals are contributing hand-painted bowling pins for the Wish for Wheels Bowling Pin Art Charity Show, a one-night affair on Saturday, January 14, from 8 to 11:30…
Tattoos are often associated with Lowbrow counter-culture art movements, but it’s more common now, especially in Denver, to see tattoo and fine art collide. Zach Custer, co-owner of Anthology Fine Art, a frame shop, photographer’s studio and fine art gallery on Santa Fe, explains that the fine art of tattooing…
Though we don’t often give it much thought, art has been locked in a love-clutch with science since the first caveman picked up a cinder and used it to draw on a wall. And while a lot of that has to do with things like chemical reactions, makeup of mediums…
Terminal Kings, a new art project commissioned by the Denver International Airport’s Art and Culture Program, is taking off this week, as world-class street artists Sam Flores, David Choe and Highraff work on giant murals — each 100’x8′, painted in panels — that will be used as construction barricades at…
Celebrity fashion icons usually get the credit for their style. When women go to the salon holding a picture of their favorite ‘do, they’re rarely focused on who’s behind the look. Ever Good, a makeup artist and hairstylist at Matthew Morris Salon (the same Matthew Morris who placed third in…
First came the 1940s WWII-Era Ball, which has been transporting revelers back to the time of big bands and brave boys in uniform since 2009. Then there was the Big Band Christmas Ball, a sentimental throwback to the holiday season that started in 2010. And now organizer and vintage enthusiast…
The fully functioning home in which Glenn Grassi is standing in isn’t much larger than his bedroom was that time he joined the circus. It is significantly smaller than the sets he made and won national awards for during the two decades he spent in theater. It is smaller, even,…
Virtually any time a guy has three hot, wild girls in his apartment, he’s dreaming. And yet that’s exactly how a Colorado State University student feels after finding out that he and his business partners are headed to the Super Bowl to compete for $1 million…
