Denver calling...

The following four posts refer to my recent visit to Denver, CO.

 Denver called...invited to a wedding, Julie Ressler, Director Wilmette Arts Guild, Mary Carmen Olvera, Director-artist for the Zacatlan Mural Project and Dick Davis, donor-advisor all came together and took advantage of their time as a three-some visiting Denver. 

Clyfford Still Museum

We first visited the Clyfford Still Museum, a grand experience to view the work of one artist, his art and his evolution as an artist from his youthful sketches and realistic paintings to abstract maturity. 

American Museum of Western Art

We headed for The American Museum of Western Art and found ourselves across the street from the Brown Palace, which stirred our curiosity, and we satisfied ourself with a visit. The American Museum of Western  Art is one themed, all western as its name and as glorious as the Technicolor cowboy movies we enjoyed in our youth. 

The Preservery

We ate lunch at Preservery, a cafe in the RINO District (River North), a fast growing area redefining itself from warehouses and graffitized  alleyways to the arts, cafes, micro breweries and new condos for the Millennials.

The Palace Arms at the Brown Palace

The Palace Arms has a posh, old-world ambiance that provides a charming, cozy and superior dining experience. Conscious effort is put into assuring all organic, local farm-to-table, humanely raised and GMO-free foods as much as possible. The Palace Arms’ multiple-award-winning wine list is one of the largest in the world and makes our wine-pairing menu opulent. Our versatile private dining room, The Independence Room, allows you to host a rehearsal dinner, hold a business meeting, celebrate a special occasion, or go for a night out on the town. 

The American Museum of Western Art, Denver, CO

The artwork on view at the American Museum of Western Art represents a cross section of paintings that survey the art of the American West from the early 19th century through the age of industrialization.  During the relatively short period of history illustrated by this collection, the West was transformed from Indian territory unknown to most inhabitants of the eastern United States into a settled region.  Within only 90 years after the Louisiana Purchase, the “Old West” of Indian buffalo hunters, mountain men, pioneers, gold-seekers, and open-range cowboys had passed into history.

The Anschutz Collection surveys the history of the development of American Art as it pertains to the West and provides examples from all of the schools that contributed to that development. 

Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO

Considered one of the most important painters of the 20th century, Clyfford Still (1904–1980) was among the first generation of Abstract Expressionist artists who developed a new and powerful approach to painting in the years immediately following World War II.

After the artist’s death in 1980, the Clyfford Still Estate was sealed off from public and scholarly view. Still’s will stipulated that his estate be given in its entirety to an American city willing to establish a permanent museum dedicated solely to his work, ensuring its survival for exhibition and study. In August 2004, the City of Denver, under the leadership of then Mayor John W. Hickenlooper, was selected by Still’s wife

Clyfford Still was among the first generation of Abstract Expressionists who developed a new, powerful approach to painting in the years immediately following World War II. Still’s contemporaries included Philip Guston, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko. Though the styles and approaches of these artists varied considerably, Abstract Expressionism is marked by abstract forms, expressive brushwork, and monumental scale, all of which were used to convey universal themes about creation, life, struggle, and death (“the human condition”), themes that took on a considerable relevance during and after World War II.

Early Clyfford Still

Clyfford Still

Clyfford Still Museum

 

American Gothic...Grant Wood... interpreted?

Artist at work - fun project

Wall Project: Volunteers are given a square to copy on the wall, over 1000 squares, which like a jigsaw, when finished, a picture will emerge.

The Preservery, Denver, CO

Farmhouse chic meets industrial grit at this RiNo warehouse turned community hub, featuring a counter-serve New American eatery and bakery whose menu is inspired in part by the products for sale at the on-site market. The full bar dispenses craft cocktails and local brews for a crowd that, come evening, gathers for the 
live music lineup. 

Preservery Cafe... lunch in RiNO Warehouse... River North

Artist at play.

RiNo District, Alley Art

Black American West Museum, we weren't lucky it was closed.