Artist Chelsea Hart in her studio.
About the Mural
The Denver Art Museum Mural Project aims to celebrate Denver’s longstanding mural tradition by highlighting local creative community in a project that welcomes visitors of all ages and backgrounds.
Denver-based painter and muralist Chelsea Hart was selected to create a new mural for the Sie Welcome Center entitled Collecting Dreams. The selection followed a request for proposals process calling for submissions to create a large-scale mural telling a story of the Denver metro area.
Working with the community, Hart created a series of “Dream Boxes” for Denverites to anonymously submit their dreams of the city. The collected dreams were used by the artist to develop a design for the mural. As Hart states, the final mural design “tells the story of our residents on a deep, creative, and inspirational level.”
Each illustration in Collecting Dreams represents a theme drawn directly from the community’s feedback. Together, they tell the story of Denverites in a playful, vibrant design. This bold and eye-catching mural celebrates Denver’s diverse voices while reminding us of the threads that unite us.
Past Murals
Denver-based artists Emily Hope Dobkin and Olive Moya were selected to create the first mural on the main level of the Martin Building, entitled I Invent It, My Hands Draw a Cloud. The mural was on view from 2020 to 2024.
The selection followed a request for proposals process calling for submissions to create a large-scale mural telling a story of the Denver metro area’s creative scene. The piece served as a beacon of welcoming to students, families, and visitors of all ages.
According to the artists, the large idea behind the piece, nestled in a 12-foot by 28-foot space in the museum’s main Duncan Hall, was focused on the comfort of belonging under the same sky. The artists wanted the mural to evoke a sensation similar to astronauts viewing the earth from space and feeling united in humanity’s existence on this planet, with the clouds as a haven of acceptance and solidarity. Photographs for I Invent It, My Hands Draw a Cloud were sourced from the community to show differing perspectives of the shared sky. The bond of the collective was demonstrated through these contributions of individual experience.
