May 23, 2014 Fiber Panel Discussion

If you're in the Denver area, I don't want you to miss the opportunity to hear a great panel discussion.  In connection with Contemporary Fiber-Colorado Invitational 2014 (see below on May 7 blog post)  Surface Design Association and Studio Art Quilt Association will be hosting a panel discussion at Helikon Gallery, 3675 Wynkoop Street, Denver, 80216,  by some of the participating artists.

 Helikon Gallery, a relatively new endeavor in the RINO (River North) district of Denver is a wonderful light, bright exhibition space.  Helikon also houses artist studios and a cozy coffee bar and art store.  Hope to see you all there.

May 22, 2014 Around Denver Last Week: Myth, Memory and Metaphor

On the way to a fascinating lecture on the art and culture of Bhutan at the Denver Art Museum last week, we stopped to see a small but amusing exhibit called Drawn to Action.   The show featured posters created by Polish artists for American Westerns shown there from the mid-1960’s to mid-1970’s.  We were amused to see how artists from another country interpreted a quintessential American genre.

Jerry Flisak, El Dorado, 1973

Wikto Gorka, Kasia Ballou, 1967

Witold Janowski, Ostatni zachod slonca, 1966

Then, over the weekend, we went downtown to follow a map to the RINO (River North) Art Safari, a once/year open studio event in Denver’s latest art district.  At Plus Gallery we were really wowed by work by Kristin Stransky, a young MFA candidate at CU Denver.  Using 3-D printing, laser etching in plastic and nylon and some fine woodworking skills, her show, Common/Myth, made a very coherent statement concerning her ideas about digital memory, technology used to measure the body and digital/emotional interfaces.  She told us that the base of the two-part EmotiScan took 14 hours to print!

MRI Chest NO.1

MRI Hips NO.1

EmotiScan

Ice Cube Gallery usually features two of its artists in each show.  The Butterfly Effect with images by David Reed and Sandy and Terry Lane explored personal mythologies that they, cousins, discovered in their families.  The other half of the gallery contained small framed white cut-paper pieces and two larger wall cut-paper works by J. Diane Martonis entitled Justamere based on memories of a summer cottage in the artist’s family.

David Reed, That Which Is Lost Will Remain, 2014

J. Diane Martonis, The Chedwel Club, 2014

After a brief stop at Helikon Gallery to see an exhibit of photography from Burma, we left “the known world” to find Chestnut Place and the Ironton Gallery which has its entry through a lovely garden.  We peeked into a sculpture studio where an artist was showing his partially completed marble female figure and also into a very well-equipped wood shop.  In the gallery space was a show by Jillian Pate, Metaphorical Fugues: Exploring interconnection.  Many pieces combined steel and wood, all with wonderful textures.   The one below with detail used only steel.

5 Studies In Canonic Composition, 2014

May 7, 2014 Contemporary Fiber Show Opening Soon

Coming right up is Contemporary Fiber-Colorado Invitational 2014.  The first major exhibit of contemporary fiber at a privately owned contemporary gallery,  Contemporary Fiber opens June 5, 2014 at Helikon Gallery, 3675 Wynkoop St., Denver, with a reception from 5-10PM.  

Curated by aBuzz Gallery owner and artist Carol Ann Waugh, this group show includes art made from wood, paper, yarn and organic materials.The show continues until July 19 with a closing reception from 12-5PM.  There will also be a panel discussion on the future of fiber at Helikon Gallery, June 7, 10-noon.  

Two of my textile works, The Crossing and In the Beginning will be included in this show.  Hope to see you all there!