Artist Event & Exhibition Roundup: May 2023
The word “May” comes from the Latin Maius, which most likely refers to the Greek goddess Maia. Maia represents the concept of growth, both in nature and in business.
How fitting that as the tulips and irises begin to bloom, Denver artists are also blossoming and making big things happen around the country!
This month we’ve got a wide variety of exhibitions and events taking place around town, plus national shows featuring Resident Alumni. There are also impressive accolades and accomplishments to celebrate!
Here are 12 Resident Artist and Alumni exhibitions, events, and accolades to know about this May!
Kenzie Sitterud - To Dusk, Solo Show
What: Solo Show
Where: PlatteForum Annex Gallery—575 Ringsby Ct. #103, Denver, CO 80216
When: April 28-May 27, 2023
Opening Reception: Friday, April 28, 6–8PM
About the exhibition: To Dusk, replicates the landscape of the Utah desert through material metaphor. The show utilizes industrialized packing materials, and includes an experimental soundscape, performance video art, and collaborative quilt building inspired by Sitterrud's Mormon cultural heritage, highlighting the roots of quilt making as a way of passing on legacy and creating community. Seen as a whole, the exhibition merges colliding environments and cultural influences—the powerful impact the desert had on their formative memories, and the transformative impact capitalism has on us all.
Sitterud says: “I am exploring themes of expansionism, exploitation, and the complexities relating to my own upbringing in the American West.”
About the artist: Kenzie creates immersive large-scale installations and designed experiences dealing with the unease the queer community feels navigating the heteronormative world. Their current work explores the denial of America's crumbling democracy and the resulting humanitarian crises.
Contact: sitterud.m@gmail.com
Artist website: https://www.kenziemckenzie.com/
Instagram: @kenziesitterud
Sammy Lee - Untitled: Artist Takeover at the Denver Art Museum
What: Untitled: Artist Takeover featuring Franklin Cruz and Sammy Lee
Where: Denver Art Museum—100 W 14th Ave Pkwy, Denver, CO 80204
When: Friday, April 28, 6–10PM
About the program: April’s event will be hosted by featured artists Franklin Cruz, a queer Latin poet and writer, and Sammy Lee, a South Korean visual artist specializing in cast paper and performative collaboration.
April's theme is “Projection.” Express yourself through cultural exchange to illuminate awareness and understanding, inspired by Speaking with Light: Contemporary Indigenous Photography and Near East to Far West: Fictions of French and American Colonialism.
Contributing creatives include Boog, Victor Escobedo, Katherine Flecksing, Hakeem Furious & Slam Nuba, David Grajeda Gonzalez, Grupo Tlaloc Danza Azteca, Vivian Kim, Sueyeun Juliette Lee, Lisa Li, Taylor Madgett, Jenna Manchego, Aracely Navarro, Shelsea Ochoa, Jaye Rhee, Kevin Sweet, TayTay, (She)f Penelope Wong of Yuan Wonton Food Truck, and Mark Zoleta.
About the artist: Sammy Lee is an artist based in Denver, Colorado. Lee was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, and moved to Southern California at the age of sixteen. She studied fine art and media art at UCLA and architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Contact: sammy.lee@icloud.com
Artist website: https://www.studiosmlk.com/
Instagram: @sammy_seungmin_lee
Christine Nguyen - A Centrum of Cosmic Energies Solo Show
“Whirls of Life” pastel, salt crystals, color pencils, graphite, cyanotype on stretched cotton
What: Solo Show
Where: Leon Gallery—1112 E 17th Ave, Denver, CO, 80218
When: April 29-June 10, 2023
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 29, 6–10PM
About the exhibition: A Centrum of Cosmic Energies is a collection of cyanotypes on cotton using myriad media formats such as color pencil, graphite, pastel and salt crystals. These works depict both the auras of cosmic rays and plants alike. The radiating energy surrounding both forms draw upon the connection between tiny galaxies and the plant life on earth. A ceramic series included in this exhibition also portrays an occurrence of energy in outer space inspired by ancient fossils, remnants from the sea or a discovered extra terrestrial terrain.
About the artist: Christine Nguyen was born and raised in California and currently resides in Aurora, Colorado and also works in Long Beach, California. She is a lover of animals, plants, and nature. She received her B.F.A from California State University, Long Beach and M.F.A from University of California, Irvine. Exhibitions of her work have been shown nationally and internationally.
Contact: hello@christinenguyen.art
Artist website: https://www.christinenguyen.art/
Instagram: @seamoonshe
Sam Grabowska - Intake Solo Show
What: Solo Show
Where: Understudy—890 C 14th St, Denver, CO, 80202
When: May 5-28, 2023
Opening Reception: Friday, May 5, 6-9PM
About the exhibition: Intake is an interactive installation centered on the domains of psychological care, self-made space, and psychogeography. Half tongue-in-cheek, half earnest attempt, the project invites you to create your own “care environment.” Using AI-generated video, looped audio, and 3D modeling, a custom mixed-reality environment will be generated to respond to your specific preferences.
About the artist: Dr. Sam Grabowska is a child of immigrants, a recovering academic, and a conjurer of spaces. In their current art practice, Grabowska combines corporeal traces such as human hair and animal sinew, with industrial building materials like concrete and PVC conduit to create sculptures where bodies, real or imagined, can seek refuge from emotional trauma. The work emerges from the intersection of the human body and architectural language.
Contact: manifolding@gmail.com
Artist website: https://www.manifolding.com/
Instagram: @sam_grabowska
Jodi Stuart - Solo Exhibition & Installation
Image courtesy of the artist
What: Solo Show
Where: Alto Gallery at ArtPark Denver—1900 35th Street, Denver, CO, 80205
When: May 5–27, 2023
Opening Reception: Friday, May 5, 6-9PM
Live art demonstration: Saturday, May 20, 12-3PM
About the exhibition: Stuart’s woven sculptural forms are made using the plastic filaments intended for 3d digital printing. By using a ‘3d-pen’ Stuart has replaced the computer with the human hand in a nostalgic gesture towards tactile experience. Her combination of two-dimensional background prints and three-dimensional forms combines to activate an uneasy virtual/optical space between the two formats. A space where craft traditions such as weaving, knitting and basket-making are juxtaposed with abstracted virtual space and biomorphic forms.
About the artist: Through her practice, Jodi Stuart explores aspects of virtual culture in relation to its aesthetic of hyper-stimulation and sensory overload. Her works plays on aspects of the virtual versus the physical, using the tools and materials of high-tech/digital culture combined with the handmade and tactile. She aims to create works that simultaneously allude to craft traditions, weaving, knitting, basket making; as well as virtual space, neural networks, cloud computing, and biomimicry.
Contact: stuart.jodi@gmail.com
Artist website: http://www.jodistuart.com/
Instagram: @stuart.jodi
Jeff Page - J U N K D R A W E R DIY Underground Queer Party
What: Underground party
Where: TBA. An email will announce the address of the location near downtown Denver a few days before the event.
When: May 6, 10PM - May 7, 4AM
Tickets can be purchased here >
About the event: Junk Drawer is a DIY underground queer party featuring Club Chow from Chicago and Denver's darling, wngdu. Video projections and bespoke decor will be in effect. Looks encouraged but not required.
About the artist: Jeff is a Denver-based multi-disciplinary artist and community/culture organizer. He has a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and an MFA from UC Santa Barbara. He works in digital video, painting, collage, performance and installation.
Contact: jeff.page@gmail.com
Artist website: https://www.jeffpagestudio.com/
Instagram: @jeff__page
Tony Ortega - The Elastic Mind Group Show
To preview the video go to this link
What: The Elastic Mind
Where: South Campus Art Gallery, Broward College—111 East Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 33301
When: April 20-September 28, 2023
About the exhibition: The Elastic Mind is an art exhibition conceived and curated by Kohl King, showcasing a variety of digital and video artworks from selected artists from around the globe. The exhibition creatively addresses and/ or relates to the theme of the Elastic Mind, which is a psychological term that refers to the ability to think non-linearly and be fluid to survive in times of rapid change and uncertainty.
Tony Ortega will have his video “e-Spaghetti Western” included in this show.
About the artist: Tony Ortega holds an MFA in drawing and painting from the University of Colorado and is currently a professor for Regis University. He is the recipient of the coveted Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts (1999) and the Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts (1998). Tony Ortega’s lifelong goal is to contribute to a better understanding of cultural diversity by addressing the culture, history and experiences of Chicanos/Latinos through his art.
Contact: tortegaartist@cs.com
Artist site: http://www.tonyortega.net/
Instagram: @tortegaartist
Ana María Hernando - Narrative Threads: Fiber Art Today Group Show
What: Group Show
Where: Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University—6100 Main Street, MS-480, Houston, TX 77005
When: January 13-May 13, 2023
About the exhibition:
Celebrating a new generation of international artists at the forefront of fiber arts, Narrative Threads: Fiber Art Today includes work by twenty-two artists including Igshaan Adams, Hangama Amiri, Felipe Baeza, Diedrick Brackens, Josh Faught, Christina Forrer, Orly Genger, Ana María Hernando, Woomin Kim, Eric N. Mack, María Nepomuceno, Ernesto Neto, Nnenna Okore, Patrick Quarm, Chiharu Shiota, Do Ho Suh, Sagarika Sundaram, Ardeshir Tabrizi, Marie Watt, Qualeasha Wood, Billie Zangewa, and Sarah Zapata.
The artists featured in the exhibition speak to contemporary issues of identity, gender, race, sexuality, and power through a medium with deep, multicultural roots that predate written history.
About the artist: Ana María Hernando, from Argentina and based in Colorado, is a multidisciplinary artist. She is interested in making the invisible visible, and devotedly explores the sacred feminine through women's rich histories, their daily lives and relationship to hand-worked textiles and wares. In her installations, Ana María uses textiles in abundance, and includes the work of women from around Latin America and beyond, from embroideries of cloistered nuns in Buenos Aires, to mountains of tulle, to the weavings and wares of Peruvian women from the mountains.
Contact: ahernando8@gmail.com
Artist website: https://www.anamariahernando.com/
Instagram: @anamariahernandoart
Christine Nguyen - Sky, Shadow, and Bonsai Solo Show
Image courtesy of artist
What: Solo Show
Where: Pacific Bonsai Museum—2515 South 336th St, Federal Way, WA, 98003
When: May 13-September 10, 2023
About the exhibition: Artist Christine Nguyen draws inspiration from the natural world, science, and the cosmos, envisioning their interconnectivity in unique ways. Her fascination with nature's complexity is rooted in 19th-century naturalists' belief in the direct link between the earth and celestial space. Collaborating with the Pacific Bonsai Museum, she created cyanotypes of their bonsai, The process of cyanotypes, much like photosynthesis, demonstrates the power of light energy in triggering chemical reactions that create new compounds, emphasizing the fundamental interdependence of all living and non-living things in the natural world.
Awards & Accolades
Ana María Hernando selected to represent Colorado at the National Museum of Women in the Arts
Where: National Museum of Women in the Arts—1250 New York Ave. NW Washington, DC, 20005
When: April 14-August 4, 2024
What: One of the first major exhibitions to follow NMWA’s reopening after renovation, New Worlds will immerse visitors in the museum’s renewed spaces. It is the seventh and largest installment of the museum’s Women to Watch exhibition series. Presented every three years, Women to Watch is a dynamic collaboration between the museum and its network of outreach committees. The committees participating in New Worlds worked with curators in their regions to create shortlists of artists. From this list, NMWA curators selected the artists and works to exhibit at the museum in 2024.
Sarah Bowling to receive her MFA from Carnegie Mellon University in May
About the artist: Sarah Bowling’s interests center around the malleability of bodies; the continuous cycle of becoming, both physically and emotionally; and the interior landscapes of memory and desire. She uses painting, sculpture, and bodybuilding to explore the degree to which “bodies” can be pushed and manipulated while still maintaining their essential integrity. Her work delves into the emotional and physical thresholds and boundaries that define us.
Contact: sarahcbowling@gmail.com
Artist site: http://www.sarahcbowling.com/
Instagram: @_sarahbowling_
Sam Grabowska receives Swedish Residency
Sam Grabowska has been invited to be one of six participants of the Rejmyre Art Lab residency dedicated to art practice and research on the theme of “refuging.”