As a museum educator, I find most of my days at work to be wonderful, but, every once in a while, my job provides me with some truly extraordinary experiences. Like when eight Colorado Scholastics winners were chosen by the Denver Art Museum for an “artist encounter” with our current Native Arts Artist in Residence, Rose B. Simpson. The artist encounter on March 24 was a rare opportunity for these young sculptors to speak with Rose, tour her works on view, and spend a little time in her studio creating. (Photos in slide show below.)
On March 11, the DAM and Children’s Hospital Colorado hosted a painting party at the hospital campus in Aurora for patients, families, and staff. Participants created paintings in the style of Jackson Pollock to celebrate the opening of Modern Masters: 20th Century Icons from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Pollock is known for dripping, splattering, and pouring paint that created larger-than-life works of art.
It is through monthly partnerships with artists that CelebrARTE really shines. It is exciting to me to be able to scour Denver’s creative community for the next maestro. As it turns out, this month’s artist, Leticia Tanguma, was hidden right under my nose–her other work is as a security guard for the DAM. You are probably familiar with her artwork. She has assisted her father on several projects, including murals at Denver International Airport. I asked her to tell us more about herself, her artwork, and her inspirations.
The Shop at the Denver Art Museum is now featuring greeting cards from Art by Adelyn, a nonprofit organization benefiting the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital Colorado.
We asked our staff to share their 2014 resolutions, aspirations, and inspirations. Check out the video below. As always, we want to hear what you’re up to. Share your inspirations and goals for 2014 using #DAMinspiration on Facebook and Twitter.
Exciting news for anyone who loves designing, tinkering, hammering things together, museums, and people: The DAM is looking for Front Range area architects or artists to design a sculptural installation for Martin Plaza next summer. During the summer of 2014, the DAM will be showcasing several exhibitions and programs related to the idea of sculpture. This outdoor project is meant to complement the museum’s offerings, while also adding a knock-your-socks-off, interactive feature to the larger Civic Center complex.
Perhaps no one will miss Nick Cave: Sojourn as much as five-year-old Pascal Spangenberg. On September 22, the final day of the exhibition; Pascal and his mother Tara were the last visitors in the gallery. As they were leaving, Tara reminded Pascal that this was their last visit. Pascal, though sad, remained positive and said, “there’s still one Soundsuit left- it’s me!”
At Nick Cave's June 29 Untitled performance young artist Pascal Spangenberg shared his very own Soundsuit and designs with the artist. I’m overjoyed to say that the story of Pascal and his Soundsuits does not end there.
Last month we hosted our first round of Tactile Tables in the Cover Story textile gallery. It was such a delight to finally watch visitors touch and interact with these objects, after months of planning. The development tactile programming is unique; here is a peek into the process.
The Denver Art Museum was a hive of activity on June 28 during the final Friday Untitled event. We had just finished an incredible performance lab featuring artist Nick Cave, three local dance companies, 15 community performers, an improv music group, and a DJ. For me, the most memorable moment of the night happened as things were drawing to a close.
Nick Cave transforms mundane, often-overlooked, and under-appreciated bric-a-brac into objects of undeniable aesthetic value that ask us, as viewers, to reconsider how we see the world we live in. In the spirit of this approach, we decided to pose a handful of questions to Cave that might seem at first to be simple or strange, but in the end yield surprising insights. Dozens of artworks that Cave created are on view in Nick Cave: Sojourn now.
Denver Art Museum: Do you have a favorite word? If so, what is it, and what do you like about it?
Recently, I came across the work of a local fashion designer and blogger Tess Vigil. As it turns out, her father, Angel Vigil, has been a partner-artist with Denver Art Museum’s CelebrARTE program. Since our upcoming CelebrARTE theme is Traje, outfits have been on my mind. I asked her to style an outfit inspired by the campus-wide summer exhibition Spun: Adventures in Textiles.
Madalena Salazar: Hi, Tess. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.