May 2013

Time-based media artist Brian Knep has created an immersive and interactive installation in the Precourt Family Discovery Hall. Knep uses scientific tools and software to create interactive installations that respond to human behavior and activity. His works raise questions about the nature of human interaction and our place in the world. 

Herbert Bayer 1900 to 1928: The Bauhaus and Pre-Bauhaus Years is the first in a chronological series of exhibitions that trace Bayer’s development from his earliest days in Austria through his years in the United States. Bayer was first a student and later a master (teacher) at the Bauhaus, generally regarded as the most important school of art and design of the 20th century. In Colorado, Bayer is best known as the designer of the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, where he was able to apply the Bauhaus concept of “total design” across the Institute campus.

Focusing on Japanese woven bamboo, over 70 beautiful pieces will be displayed in this installation, including baskets, screens, trays, containers, accessories, hand warmers, and a chair. Among the works on view are pieces by basket makers who have been designated Living National Treasures. Texture and Tradition: Japanese Woven Bamboo highlights works from the Lutz Bamboo Collection and gifts from Paul M. Hoff III and Hazel W. Hoff in memory of Paul M. Hoff Jr.

Charles Partridge Adams was a Colorado landscape painter active during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Rocky Mountain Majesty: The Paintings of Charles Partridge Adams marks the first time that Adams’ paintings will be displayed together at a major art museum; and the Denver Art Museum will be the sole venue for this important exhibition that highlights his greatest paintings of Colorado.

Denver-based painter Rick Dula, who photographed the Hamilton Building throughout its construction, created hyper-realist painting A Moment in Time: Here in 2009. It appears to peel back the interior walls of the building to expose its steel girders and underpinnings, and reveals the angular skeleton of the structure, which opened in 2006.

Popular with museum members and volunteers, the artwork originally was on view in 2009 and 2010 in the exhibition Embrace!

See Dula and his team create the artwork on-site in the 10-minute timelapse video below.

The Denver Art Museum takes a wide-ranging look at textiles from pre-Columbian weavings to modern fiber art, Navajo blankets to an examination of clothing in art and photography in the campus-wide exhibition Spun: Adventures in Textiles.

Cover Story is the heart of the campus-wide exhibition Spun: Adventures in Textiles. Featured in the inaugural show for the new textile art galleries, the objects in Cover Story mirror the diverse geographical areas and range of textiles found in the Denver Art Museum's permanent collection.

While Navajo artists have been creating eye catching textiles since the late 1600s, the middle of the 1800s saw an explosion of color & design elaboration. This exhibition will present about 50 of the greatest examples of Navajo design expression.

Red, White and Bold: Masterworks of Navajo Design, 1840-1870 is part of the campus-wide exhibition Spun: Adventures in Textiles.

This exhibition provides a rare opportunity to view original works on paper alongside Czech-born Jacqueline Groag's lively, bold designs for furnishing textiles, dress fabrics, laminates and other decorative surfaces.

Pattern Play: The Contemporary Designs of Jacqueline Groag is part of the campus-wide exhibition Spun: Adventures in Textiles.

From recycled plastics and bound clothing to woven silks and charred tree limbs, Material World illustrates the wide range of materials and techniques used by contemporary artists.

Material World is part of the campus-wide exhibition Spun: Adventures in Textiles.

A selection of more than 30 drawings and sculptures by Denver-based artist Bruce Price will be featured in our works-on-paper gallery.

Bruce Price: Works on Paper, 2007–2012 is part of the campus-wide exhibition Spun: Adventures in Textiles.

Drawing from the Denver Art Museum’s extensive Spanish colonial art collection, Fashion Fusion looks at the influence textile motif’s have had on other artistic mediums.

Fashion Fusion: Native Textiles in Spanish Colonial Art is part of the campus-wide exhibition Spun: Adventures in Textiles.

This exhibition will feature the work of two twentieth-century photographers, August Sander and Seydou Keïta, whose work documented transformations in their respective countries through portraiture of everyday citizens.

Common Threads: Portraits by August Sander & Seydou Keïta is part of the campus-wide exhibition Spun: Adventures in Textiles.

A collaboration between artists Annica Cuppetelli and Cristobal Mendoza, Cuppetelli and Mendoza: Transposition is a site-specific installation that explores the intersection between traditional craft and digital technology. The artwork consists of elastic ropes that are illuminated by software driven video projections.

Transposition is part of the campus-wide exhibition Spun: Adventures in Textiles.

Western Duds explores the importance of textiles in the colorful history of the American West. The exhibition highlights four paintings paired with the uniquely western textiles they portray and celebrates western clothing and accessories as sources of artistic inspiration.

Western Duds is part of the campus-wide exhibition Spun: Adventures in Textiles.

The use of resist-dye techniques is found in many Asian countries. This exhibition highlights eye-dazzling textiles from various cultural traditions, including weavings from Uzbekistan and Japan. Several of the garments in the exhibition are made with ikat—fabrics with patterns created by dyeing the threads before they are woven into cloth.

Irresistible: Multicolored Textiles from Asia is part of the campus-wide exhibition Spun: Adventures in Textiles.

To coincide with the opening of the much-anticipated Clyfford Still Museum, the department of Modern and Contemporary Art will present a selection of paintings and drawings from its collection of some 20 works by abstract expressionist painter Robert Motherwell. This extraordinary collection spans the artist’s career from 1944 to 1990 and includes masterpieces such as the artist’s last Elegy to the Spanish Republic.

Motherwell's works-on-paper artworks will go off view after May 27, 2012, while the paintings will continue to be on view into 2013. 

The Roath Collection includes more than 100 works ranging in date from the 1870s to the 1970s with a focus on art of the American Southwest. With iconic works from nearly every artist associated with the Taos Society of Artists, this collection is one of the best groups of Western American art in private hands. The collection also includes major works by Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Remington and Henry Farny, to name a few. The museum has selected 65 works that will be displayed in the permanent galleries for Western American art.

On view through January 5, 2014.

The 30 artworks in this exhibition reveal the versatility of lacquer as a media used by Japanese artists to create containers, trays, plaques, braziers, and screens. A wide range of techniques are represented to demonstrate how lacquer was used during the last century to create objects of enduring beauty. The selected artworks reflect the changing styles and tastes of successive generations of lacquer artists who produced designs based on plants, animals, and other elements of nature.

Following nearly one year of conservation treatment, an Italian masterwork discovered in the Denver Art Museum storage is on view. Since spring 2012, we have been writing updates about behind-the-scenes discoveries and decisions related to the restoration.

Experience one of the world's premier collections of Native American art. Reopened on January 30, 2011, our remodeled galleries of American Indian and Northwest Coast art focus on artists and their creations, revealing the hand and eye of each individual artist.

Nampeyo: Excellence by Name is on view in the American Indian art galleries. Nampeyo is recognized as one of the greatest ceramicists of the 20th century. This exhibition traces the full spectrum of the famed Hopi artist’s career, highlighting key elements of her innovative forms and designs and the work of successive generations of her family.

Experience the best parts of the Daniel Libeskind–designed Frederic C. Hamilton Building, like  Boettcher Canyon Walk, the Bartlit Sculpture Deck, and views from Duncan Pavilion.

Daily at 10:15 am. Tours meet in the first level elevator lobby of the Hamilton Building and are 45 minutes long.

Explore highlights of our collections, including objects in both the North and Hamilton Buildings.

Tours meet in the first level elevator lobby of the Hamilton Building and are 45 minutes long.

A 45-minute public tour highlighting the new exhibition, Spun: Adventures in Textiles.

Tours offered daily at 1 pm, May 19–September 22.

Meet in the first level elevator lobby of the Hamilton Building.

Free with admission. Reservations are not required.

A 45-minute public tour highlighting the new textile art gallery and the debut exhibition, Cover Story.

Tours offered daily at 2 pm, May 19–June 28.

Meet in the first level elevator lobby of the Hamilton Building.

Free with admission. Reservations are not required.

Explore a different topic every week in a thirty-minute tour, offered on Wednesdays and Fridays at noon. Nooner Tours are included with general museum admission. Meet in the first level elevator lobby of the Hamilton Building.

Upcoming Topics

May 8 & 10: American Still Lifes

May 15 & 17: The Long Journey of the Assyrian Bird-Headed Deity

For the fourth annual AAMD (Association of Art Museum Directors) Art Museum Day, the DAM is hosting an Art and About Tour focused on the museum’s special exhibition Cover Story. Art and About Tours are specially designed for visitors with dementia and their care partners. Participants experience and discuss art together on a tour led by a specially trained guide.

Curator Nancy Blomberg will give two guided tour of the exhibition Red, White and Bold: Masterworks of Navajo Design, 1840-1870. She will speak on the major types of Navajo wearing blankets of the mid-19th century with special emphasis on the artist's attention to design. Presented as part of a DAM-wide series of summer events and exhibitions, Spun: Adventures in Textiles. 

Doors open at 5:30 pm. Tours begin at 6 and 7 pm. Check-in in the first level Hamilton Building atrium; tour in Martin & McCormick Gallery.

Cochineal—a small insect that lived on cactus—was the primary red dye used in the ancient Americas to create brilliant crimson red.  With the coming of the Spanish in the early 16th century and the age of global sea trade, it became the most sought-after source of red color.  Elena Phipps, president of the Textile Society of America, presents research from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that traces this journey around the world.

Doors open at 2 pm.

Tickets are free for Alianza members, $3 for students with current ID, $5 for DAM members, $10 others.

Throughout May, DAM members will receive 15 percent off ties and scarves. Other weekly special offers available onsite. Additional member 10 percent discount does not apply to weekly specials. Offer is good at both Museum Shop locations.

Design a 2-feet-wide-by-3-feet-tall fabric or textile block for our larger-than-life sized community quilt in the Hamilton Building atrium. The Spun Community Quilt will be on view in the Hamilton Building's El Pomar Grand Atrium as part of the DAM’s Spun: Adventures in Textiles campus-wide exhibition this summer.

Artist-in-Residence Marie Watt will be on-site in her studio July 16-28. Join her as she leads sewing circles for all visitors that wish to join—no experience necessary. Work together, learn a new stitch, and share your own blanket stories with other visitors. A new installation by Marie Watt will also be on view in the American Indian galleries.

The Artist-in-Residence Studio will be open May 19–October 27.

¡Bienvenidos al CelebrARTE! On May 19, entre 1–4 pm, bring toda la familia and drop in to the DAM’s monthly, bilingual program. Create art in our taller with master-artist Beatriz Gómez inspired by the most important people you know—your familia! Watch and listen as the art of the Spun: Adventures in Textiles exhibition comes to life through the cuentos of storyteller Angel Vigil.

This class will occur June 11–14, 10 am–noon.

American Indian artists have been creating beautiful works of art for centuries.  With our American Indian galleries as inspiration, spend the week learning about and creating works in clay and other interesting materials...some inspired by historical artists and some by contemporary artists.

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

This class will occur June 11–14, 2012, 1–3 pm.

Line, shading and gesture are just fancy words for squiggle, smudge and splat!  Travel all over the museum, read stories, then mash and mold clay, drip and splash on t–shirts, paint, collage and more.

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This camp will occur June 11–14, 9 am–5 pm.

Get in the minds of three superstar architects! Construct with angles like Daniel Libeskind, create tile mosaics like Gio Ponti, and build with blocks like Michael Graves.  Visit great downtown buildings and get inspired to design your own using trace paper, computers, and more.

$225 DAM members, $250 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

This class will occur June 18–21, 10 am–noon.

Pick up some easy watercolor tricks that will make your paintings look incredible.  Discover the power of black-and-white paintings in the Asian galleries.  Try out unusual brushes and inks.  Experiment in mixed media, and more.

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This class will occur June 18–21, 1–3 pm.

Explore the world of painting and sculpture as we move from 2-D to 3-D.  You may not believe your eyes as you look at your art and what you have created. 

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This class will occur June 18–21, 10 am–noon.

Search the galleries for famous faces.  Get inspired and create your own faces with drawing, paint, prints and masks.

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This class will occur June 18–21, 1–3 pm.

Claude Monet’s first pictures were caricatures. Picasso’s first word was pencil.  Get to know a different artist each day, see what it’s like to work with their materials, and try out their techniques.  Mystery guest: a real artist!

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This class will occur June 25–28, 10 am–noon.

This class will occur June 25–28, 1–3 pm.

Meet all things wild at the Art Museum.  Create masks, sculptures and collages from paper, paint, fabric, flour, water, glue and more.

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This camp will occur June 25–28, 9 am–5 pm.

Prowl the museum galleries to create a play inspired by the artwork. Together we will write and act in a production to be performed in the art museum!

$225 DAM members, $250 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This class will occur July 9–12, 10 am–noon.

Explore the seasons through an art adventure the galleries. Get inspired by fall, winter, summer, and spring to dribble, splatter, and melt color to create each season.

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This class will occur July 9–12, 1–3 pm.

Journey through the galleries to discover whimsical, amazing, and alien lands in abstract art. Create creatures and have fun setting them in exciting new worlds, built just for them!

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This class will occur July 9–12, 10 am–noon.

Sniff, listen, and feel your way through the museum in a week-long adventure to engage all your/the senses! Prepare to see, taste, and make works of art in a whole new way!

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This class will occur July 9–12, 1–3 pm.

Art supplies can be much more than pens, paints, and pastels. Discover how you can use ordinary objects to create extraordinary works of art.

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This class will occur July 16–19, 10 am–noon.

Sculpt your version of Seymour (the museum’s monkey mascot), then travel to his home in the rainforest to create some friends to keep him company in paint, clay and collage.

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This class will occur July 16–19, 1–3 pm.

Cows that can be seen from outer space. A horse built out of old cars. A broom and dustpan big enough to clean the city dump. We will launch into orbit and take a closer look at the strange and alien art around the galleries.  Come back down to Earth to create alien pets and out of this world art!

$85 DAM members, $95 others.  See all this summer’s classes and camps.

This camp will occur July 16–19 (SOLD OUT) and July 23–26 (SOLD OUT), 9 am–5 pm.

Three little mice lead you behind the scenes of a Chinese palace around 1800. You’ll fit right in with the royal family wearing the imperial silk robe you make yourself. Paint a hand scroll to record your adventures.

$225 DAM members, $250 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

This camp will occur July 23–26, 9 am–5 pm.

Charles and Ray Eames designed furniture, toys, films and exhibitions—all of which are still prized today.  Their granddaughter, Carla Hartman, will encourage you to fill your designer’s notebook (and your arms) with designs for furniture, graphics, architecture, and photography.

$225 DAM members, $250 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

This class will occur July 30–Aug 2, 10 am–noon.

Shed your t-shirts and flip-flops and take a trip back in time to Italy of the 1500’s—the world of velvet, gold, dragons and mysteries! Put yourself in a gold frame, paint with a raw egg, and make an extravagant treasure chest to hold your masterpieces. Buon viaggio!

$85 DAM members, $95 others.  See all this summer’s classes and camps.

This class will occur July 30–Aug 2, 1–3 pm.

Turn your 2-dimensional sketches into 3-dimensional sculptures. Explore the museum, sketch in your notebook and build fantastic sculptures in our studio.  Make your ideas leap from the page with wire, paper and clay.

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This class will occur July 30– Aug 2, 10 am–noon.

Mount your imaginary pony, and search the museum for horses made of metal, beads, and clay. After the roundup, draw, paint, print, and sculpt a whole stable full of horses.

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This class will occur July 30–Aug 2, 1–3 pm.

Experiment with all kinds of media, wood, paint, paper, glass, dough, beads, and more. Take home art inspired by the many genres and materials seen in the museum, like Abstract, Architecture, Realism, 2-D and 3-D, clay, paint, and more.

$85 DAM members, $95 others.  See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This class will occur August 6–9, 10 am–noon.

Get inspiration from favorite works of art in the museum and learn to construct basic stop motion animations and Claymation. Then post your creations to YouTube to share with others! 

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This camp will occur Aug. 6–9 and Aug. 13–16 (SOLD OUT), 9 am–5 pm

What would it be like to grow up in an 18th-century Japanese castle? Follow the adventures of four young lords and ladies, design settings for seashells, embellish a samurai sword, and play the games kids played back then.

$225 DAM members, $250 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

This class will occur August 6–9, 1–3 pm.

Every piece of art has a story to tell...your job is to use your imagination to unlock it! Collect words, sketches and ideas inspired by the art in front of you, turn them into out-of-this world stories and poems, and make whimsical books to hold them all.

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

This class will occur Aug. 13–16, 10 am–noon.

Explore all that flies! Make wings inspired by birds, bugs and butterflies. Steal ideas from flying machines to create your own kite, and every day add a new piece to your hovering mobile!

$85 DAM members, $95 others. See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

This class will occur Aug. 13–16, 1–3 pm.

Discover how to spin a story without saying a word. Create using paint, yarn and paper to make a book, print a drawing and weave a tapestry. All to tell your own special story!

$85 DAM members, $95 others.  See all this summer’s classes and camps.

Registration for DAM members begins March 5; for non-members on March 12.

DAM members can join curatorial and conservation staff for special thematic discussions that offer insider insights on their detailed work with textile art collection objects. See the difference a treatment makes by looking at art works “before and after." Led by Allison McCloskey, Associate Textile Conservator.

The program will be offered three times:

• May 22, 11 am-noon
• June 7, 1-2 pm
• June 19, 10:30-11:30 am

Members only. $5. Space limited.

For details and reservations, call 720-913-0130.

Also open the opening weekend of Spun: May 18 & 19, 1-3 pm

Get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how DAM staff prepares works of art for display. For two hours on a weekly basis (and during Spun opening weekend), visitors can observe and interact with conservation and other staff as they assess, handle, and treat objects from the textile art collection. Learn about tools, processes, and equipment; special conditions necessary for fragile objects; and the general “hows and whys” of conservation.

Included in general admission.

Alice Zrebiec, Avenir Foundation Curator of Textile Art, gives a guided tour of Cover Story, the inaugural exhibition for the brand new, greatly expanded textile art gallery.

Conversations with Curators feature lively discussions with different curators on the first Friday of every month. During Spun, additional Conversations are being scheduled.

All Conversations are free with general admission and no reservations are needed.

Meet at 4 pm on level six of the North Building.

Untitled #57 (Darn) is about misprints, mistakes, mending, and moving on. A DAM staff member gives a behind-the-scenes tour of the new conservation lab and chats about techniques used to repair specific artworks.  Pick up some mending skills in a community-led textile repair workshop.

Included with general admission. Two-for-one tickets with valid student ID during the event. Cash bar.

Visitors can explore the innovative world of contemporary quilting and immerse themselves in the creative process in the Spun: Adventures in Textiles-inspired Quilt Studio. Weekend demonstrations by local artists will provide a behind-the-scenes look at quilting practices and encourage visitors to try their hand at assorted techniques.

Included in general admission, no reservations needed.

Weekend Demonstration Schedule, noon–3 pm

The Pop-up Dye Garden, inspired by the DAM’s textile collection, celebrates the bright dye colors produced from plants that grow in your own backyard. Visit the Dye Garden as it grows throughout the summer to pick up new planting ideas and think creatively about natural color for your own projects.  

For more information, call 720-913-0130 or e-mail info@denverartmuseum.org.