When the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council (CHAC) was founded in 1978, its purpose was simple: to create a place where Latino/a/x and Hispanic artists could display their art freely. “We weren’t allowed in galleries, or they didn’t want our type of art,” said CHAC’s Executive Director Brenda…
For more than a decade, Denver Botanic Gardens has put on an annual Día de los Muertos festival — an event so popular that the attendance had reached up to 12,000 visitors over the past few years. In 2023, however, the gardens announced that the sun has set over the iconic event and it would be…
Clyfford Still thought the best way to experience his art was by seeing it all in one place. Designed specifically to displayStill’s work, the award-winning 28,500-square-foot Clyfford Still Museum is home to about 3,125 pieces representing more than 93 percent of his lifetime of work…
One of Denver’s most inventive and established dance companies, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance (CPRD) blends dance, live music, the spoken word and customs from around the world into a holiday tradition, “Granny Dances to a Holiday Drum,” that has become a Colorado favorite. The ensemble’s home, the…
Meet a few of the people leading some of Denver’s most historic and culturally diverse communities. Cleo Parker Robinson, Founder & Artistic Director, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance A Denver native, Cleo Parker Robinson (pictured above) takes great pride in the studio, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, she…
Denver artist Pat Milbery had only 15 minutes to instruct the city’s first lady on the artistic use of spray paint. Standing on a scissor lift, they were facing a bare white wall in the Art District on Santa Fe. With smooth bursts, as media and city officials looked on, Mary Louise Lee painted an…
Denver Union Station isn’t an odd setting for an art gallery—rather, its bustling, centralized location can be a boon for artists and curators. What’s unusual about Union Hall, a nonprofit arts space that opened in the neighborhood in May 2019, is…
The first thing you notice about Yvie Oddly is her laugh: It’s deep and loud and soulful. The second is whatever dramatic, totally-different-from-anything-you’ve-seen-before outfit she’s wearing. Whether she’s painted her entire body pink to portray a glam jellyfish or she’s dressed like an…
Cowboys and American Indians abound in downtown’s American Museum of Western Art – The Anschutz Collection (AMWA), where more than 300 paintings depicting Western life from the 1820s to today are on display. That two-century span translates to a wide…
Don’t get too engrossed in your smartphone or a good book while riding Denver’s RTD light rail and commuter lines. Instead, raise your gaze, look out the windows and savor splashes of color and amazing local artistic talent along the way. It’s like…
