Denver Art Museum Blogs

Installing Joel Shapiro’s For Jennifer

The 32-foot tall, bright blue sculpture between the Hamilton Building and the Clyfford Still Museum is For Jennifer by Joel Shapiro. On a chilly weekend in November 2011, the DAM’s newest outdoor sculpture was installed. Constructed of aluminum, the sculpture gets its signature color from an innovative matte polyurethane paint. The blue paint is slightly translucent and was sprayed over an ultra-white sealer to bring out the intensity of the hue. The matte finish gives the color depth and a velvety richness.

How the DAM Uses Rare-Earth Magnets with Art Installations

Many of us have seen small, super-strong magnets in toys like Buckyballs sets and NeoCubes. These are called rare-earth magnets as they are made using elements such as neodymium and samarium that are classified as rare earth metals. These magnets appear in all kinds of everyday items including jewelry, guitars, speakers, cordless tools and even hybrid vehicles.

But how many of us have ever considered hanging art with magnets?

Figure1-blog.jpg

No Dust Bunnies Allowed: Gallery Cleaning at the DAM

There are some pretty great and little known jobs preformed behind the scenes at the Denver Art Museum. Among them is the role of caring for and protecting the artwork by keeping it clean while it is on display. The Denver Art Museum is closed to the public every Monday, and our collection management staff takes advantage of that quiet time to mount an attack on two of the biggest threats to artwork in the museum – dust and insects.

So why are dust and insects so harmful?

Dust

Waddell Paintings May Remind You of an Inkblot Test

Have you ever taken an inkblot test? It’s a psychological test where a person is shown an image of an ink blot pressed between two sides of a piece of paper to create mirror images of a blot, then asked what they see. Although there are no correct answers, the most common images people see are butterflies and people’s faces. But have you ever seen cows in an ink blot test? A new exhibition at the Denver Art Museum might just remind you of an ink blot test and prompt you to question, “Where’s the beef?”

Exhibit Explores Prized Functional Items in Spanish America

One exhibit on view at the DAM through November 2014 highlights how art was an essential part of daily life in Spanish America. Personal Effects: Art & Home in South America includes a number of small jewel-like objects of the highest quality—polychromed wood and ivory sculpture, exquisite pieces of silver, a magnificent illuminated manuscript and a portrait miniature painted on ivory. Many of the objects on view were prized possessions while serving practical domestic functions such as storing jewelry and writing materials.

What Madeleine Albright Bought at the Museum Shop

We were fortunate to host former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at the museum recently during the opening of her exhibition, Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection. Known to be quite the shopper, we had everyone in the Museum Shop on high alert lest she make her way into the store. She not only found her way, but also made some fabulous purchases. The large selection of pins piqued her interest, but she was also curious about local designers and pins that represented our part of the country.

Untitled #47 (LOL) Brings Together Comedians, Curators & Cartoonists

Stretch out your sides because the next Untitled is going to a funny one. Untitled #47 (LOL) on May 25 brings comedians, curators, and cartoonists together to examine the more playful side of art.

Even though their performance is the same night, we convinced the funny guys from the Grawlix comedy show to be part of the evening's events. Adam Cayton-Holland and Andrew Orvedahl will be taking the reins as tour guides, leading visitors on an unpredictable Detour of the collections.

Calling all Creatives: Create Denver Week is Here

Each and every year, we are blown away by the support and outpouring of creativity that the City of Denver's most creative branch of government, Arts and Venues Denver, supports and encourages. This year, AVD is throwing down a multi-day, multi-media party/creative conference/showcase called Create Denver Week. The event launched Thursday night at Battery 621! All the details about the week are on the denver.org website.

Untitled #46 (Cipher) Case Closed

Symbolism, signs, and secret messages. Everything had a hidden meaning at this Untitled #46 (Cipher). Here is a round-up of the night's events April 27.

#46_Cypher_06.jpg

I have to say, one of the best activities of the night was the scavenger hunt. Visitors were asked to track down a very secret special guest, Kagen Schaefer, our MakeARTtalk creative. As people entered the atrium, they had to solve the puzzles and match the patterns found both in Kagen’s work and in the DAM collections.

New DAM Publication Explores Western American Art's Diversity

The Petrie Institute of Western American Art at the Denver Art Museum marked its tenth anniversary in 2011. To celebrate, PIWAA enlisted 30 scholars to explore the western American art holdings in the DAM’s collection. Their research, covering everything from a portion of a New Mexican altarpiece to a magnificent Native American coat, is compiled in PIWAA’s most recent publication, Elevating Western American Art: Developing an Institute in the Cultural Capital of the Rockies.

Memories from Madeleine Albright's Visit at the DAM

Note: Karen Gilkey’s job at the Denver Art Museum is to ensure events run smoothly. Here, she shares her experience in working with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright when she was at the DAM on April 14 for a member event for the opening of Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection. The exhibition is open through June 17.

Event Details

Q&A with Yves Saint Laurent Chief Curator Florence Müller

Florence Müller had the enviable job of curating the exhibition Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective, on view through July 8 at the Denver Art Museum. She was able to sort through the entire archive of Saint Laurent’s designs and selected more than 200 outfits for the retrospective. Florence is a fashion historian, former director-curator of the Union Française des arts du Costume, curator of a number of exhibitions in France and abroad, and associate professor at the Institut Français de la Mode (IFM).