And for a truly unforgettable experience for all ages, check out Meow Wolf Denver's Convergence Station, the Santa Fe, New Mexico-based arts and entertainment company’s new permanent installation. Discover immersive, mind-bending art across the four alien worlds of C Street, Eemia, Ossuary and Numina. Uncover the secrets within. Inside the bustling multiverse transit station known as Convergence Station lies HELLOFOOD, an oasis of combined culinary cultures serving QDOT for 2,500 years and counting! Here, visitors can recharge from their cosmic exploration, and find sustenance in tasty treats and bold brews from local vendors.
Blockbuster Exhibitions
WHEN: Thru Feb. 5, 2023
WHERE: Denver Botanic Gardens
Artist Sammy Seung-min Lee explores the immigrant experience through cast paper sculptures of food and flora. Using traditional Korean paper-making techniques, she transforms mulberry paper into trees, fungi and table settings. Exploring traditions surrounding food and home, Lee’s works give form to the ways in which we’re anchored by friends and family and examine what it means to take root in a new and unfamiliar culture. Sammy Lee is based in Denver and was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea.
This Month
WHEN: Thru Feb. 5, 2023
WHERE: MCA DENVER — Museum of Contemporary Art Denver
This exhibition explores the aesthetic legacies and traditions of Black Culture in the African American South as seen through the lens of contemporary Black musical expression. Lauded by critics, it argues for the importance of the American South and Black culture as critical to our understanding of America’s past, present and future.
WHEN: Thru Feb. 12, 2023
WHERE: Clyfford Still Museum
In the culminating exhibition of the Clyfford Still Museum's tenth anniversary year, You Select: A Community-Curated Exhibition hands the curatorial reins to art lovers from the surrounding Denver community and beyond. This exhibit is designed to foster far-reaching engagement and appreciation of Clyfford Still’s art and artistic legacy.
WHEN: Thru Feb. 18, 2023
WHERE: Museo de las Americas
Museo de las Americas presents a new collective exhibition, Luis Barragán: a Legacy. New Works Undressing the Mexican Soul. Curated by Artemio García Uribe from Guadalajara, MX, this exhibition celebrates the legacy of one of the most iconic and well-known Mexican architects of the 20th century. With this exhibit, Museo de las Americas will explore how his influence has manifested in the work of five Mexican artists who will create a mosaic of interpretations of what Barragán and his works mean to them.
WHEN: Thru Feb. 20, 2023
WHERE: Denver Botanic Gardens
See hundreds of exotic blooms, including rare orchids from the Gardens’ collection. The Showcase is a great idea for a Valentine’s Day activity and is included with admission to the Gardens.
WHEN: Thru Feb. 26, 2023
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
This exhibition of more than 70 photographic works from a collection donated to the DAM in 2018 by Robert and Kerstin Adams explores the reciprocal relationships among artists and their creative exchange of objects. It also examines the themes of collecting, the pleasure of looking, and how diverse points of view interact to shape perspectives.
WHEN: Thru March 5, 2023
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
This exhibit features mostly site-specific, commissioned artworks by emerging artists in dialogue with the unique architecture of the DAM's Hamilton Building. The 19 participating millennial-generation artists from countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico have developed work that creates new worlds and realities, inviting spectators to engage in narratives through a multitude of media: painting, sculpture, installation, textile, video, sound, digital and performance art.
WHEN: Thru April 9, 2023
WHERE: Denver Museum of Nature & Science
With modern robotics and satellite monitoring, scientists are revealing the unseen habitats of the oceans’ most mysterious animals and mapping remote areas in unprecedented detail. See the exhibition at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
WHEN: Thru May 13, 2023
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
This exhibition takes a nuanced approach to questions of artistic voice, gender and agency through more than 100 works of painting, calligraphy and ceramics from 1600s to 1900s Japan. Many of these artworks will be on view for the first time to the public.
WHEN: Thru May 28, 2023
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
Open a window into the artistic and utilitarian innovations of weavers, domestic consumption and the cross-cultural exchanges between present-day Turkey, Iran and the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) from the 1500s to the 1900s. The stories in Rugged Beauty showcase the living traditions of western Asia, a vast and culturally rich region of the world. Each of the more than 40 objects on display were made by hand, predominantly dyed by hand, and hand-woven using the knotted-pile weaving technique. Although the individual identities of the makers are mostly unknown, the rugs' designs of rich colors, intricate patterns and complex symbols reveal a deep history of trade, diplomacy and foreign relationships.
WHEN: Thru May 29, 2023
WHERE: Denver Botanic Gardens
Contemporary artist Melanie Yazzie was born in northeastern Arizona to a family from the Salt Water and Bitter Water Diné (Navajo) clans. In this exhibit, she weaves together nature and narrative in multi-layered prints, paintings and sculptures to explore the experiences that shaped her. Yazzie employs iconography featuring animal, plants, land maps and female figures to tell a story that is deeply personal but also communal in nature. Her work conveys qualities of wonder and healing, while encouraging viewers to engage with complex Indigenous experiences.
WHEN: Thru June 18, 2023
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
Lares Feliciano's Memory Mirror is an immersive installation that invites visitors to explore their relationship with memory through animation, dioramas and interactive storytelling. Designed to evoke the memory of a relative's living room, this exhibition will transform the museum's Precourt Family Discovery Hall into a surreal domestic den that is both familiar and fantastic.
WHEN: Thru June 30, 2023
WHERE: History Colorado Center
LGBTQ+ people have always been part of Colorado communities. They have pushed against stereotypes, transforming the way mainstream society views them. Rainbows & Revolutions is about more than just Pride — the exhibit explores how LGBTQ+ people’s very existence in Colorado has been a rebellious act beyond the rainbow, from quiet assertions of identity to loud and proud demonstrations for civil rights and equality.
WHEN: Thru Sept. 30, 2023
WHERE: History Colorado Center
Return of the Corn Mothers marks a three-year effort to honor 22 new Corn Mothers in 2022. What began in 2007 with a small grant from the Rocky Mountain Women’s Institute and eight local women has now expanded to include more than 70 women. Join in the rich tradition of honoring Southwest women through this revitalized exhibit.
WHEN: Thru Nov. 1, 2023
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
The 23 ink paintings featured in this exhibit showcase some of the most important artists in twentieth-century China, including Zhang Daqian, Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, Wu Changshuo and Wu Guanzhong. The collection includes examples by teachers and students, friends and colleagues. The artists come from very different backgrounds: some traveled to Europe to study Western art, some went to Japan to study Japanese art and Western art as filtered through Japanese experience, and others never went abroad. Nevertheless, all were well versed in traditional Chinese ink art.
WHEN: Thru Dec. 30, 2023
WHERE: Golden History Museum & Park, Golden
Seeking additional income for her family, homemaker-turned-entrepreneur Dorothy Harmsen heard about people making a fortune in Florida selling ice cream from newly invented soft serve machines. In 1949, Harmsen rented a store in downtown Golden and made a down payment on a new machine. Within a few years, she and her husband, Bill, built one of the most iconic confectionery companies in the world.
WHEN: Thru Dec. 30, 2023
WHERE: Golden History Museum & Park, Golden
Epic Events walks you through over three dozen moments that shaped Golden’s past. Those times range from big to small, happy to sad. Some are memorable and some are best forgotten. Step inside this exhibit and feel what it’s like to live through 150 years in Golden.
WHEN: Thru Dec. 30, 2023
WHERE: Golden History Museum & Park, Golden
People are the ingredient that makes Golden a vibrant community. Over the years, so many have called the area home, from nomadic Native Americans, adventurous miners and cunning politicians, to innovative business owners, hard-working students and curious tourists. Their interesting stories make for a rich history. Learn the biographical highlights of some little-known characters, like beloved educator Gertrude Bell, Olympic athlete Lindsey Horan and many more.
WHEN: Thru Dec. 30, 2023
WHERE: Golden History Museum & Park, Golden
Old signs are powerful evidence of the changes Golden has experienced. Simply put, signs are visual graphics we use to communicate information to each other. We’ve used them for thousands of years, and if you stop and look around, they’re everywhere. The permanent City of Golden collection currently cares for more than two dozen commercial and business signs.
WHEN: Thru Jan. 1, 2024
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
A series of thematic installations drawn primarily from the architecture and design collection, this exhibition illustrates the abundance and versatility of approaches to design. How does it come into being? Who creates it and for what purpose? What trends inspire it? And how does it serve society?
WHEN: Thru Jan. 10, 2024
WHERE: History Colorado Center
Over the course of his career, Robert Weinberg captured images of those who left their mark on Denver. Best known for his work with the Intermountain Jewish News, Weinberg focused on portraits of people in the Denver community. Weinberg's photography adds a valuable dimension to the visual record of the Mile High City during the 1980s and 1990s. Now legally blind, Weinberg created braille labels to accompany his work, ensuring that his photographs are accessible to all. He continues to advocate for the visually impaired community by promoting organizations to assist people with low vision to live independently.
WHEN: Thru July 19, 2024
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
Gio Ponti was one of the most inventive Italian architects and designers of his time. For more than 60 years, Ponti’s exuberant approach found expression in public and private commissions from buildings, interiors and furniture to glass, ceramics and flatware, influencing international design for more than 50 years.
WHEN: Feb. 3–July 30, 2023
WHERE: Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, Colorado Springs
In the first museum solo exhibition by the award-winning inter-disciplinary artist Eiko Otake, the artist's experimental, movement-based art practice engages and pushes traditions of dance, exploring themes of mortality, time and place. The Fine Art Center’s exhibition foregrounds Otake’s recent film and video works, which have developed alongside her dance, choreography and performance installations. The works feature a body as it moves in and through various places, including the urban infrastructure of Tokyo and New York, irradiated post-nuclear disaster Fukushima, and the vast landscapes of Wyoming and California. Viewers are strongly encouraged to return, as select media will rotate over the course of the exhibition in recognition of changing seasons.
WHEN: Feb. 15–May 28, 2023
WHERE: Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
Vance Kirkland was among the most important Colorado and regional painters of the 20th century. During the last half of his career, Kirkland’s paintings made a break from the earthly environment and explored outer space, first with his Nebulae paintings, beginning in 1954 pre-Sputnik, using his unique mixtures of oil paint and water. His imagination led him to create numerous series depicting the evolution and expansion of his own universe, culminating in his vibrant Dot Paintings. The museum's first temporary exhibition of Kirkland’s work in 20 years will feature examples from eight series of the visions of his cosmos from 1954 to 1981. The exhibition includes some of the artist’s impressive large-scale paintings, seldom seen on public display. A lecture on Vance Kirkland will accompany the exhibition.
WHEN: Feb. 16–May 29, 2023
WHERE: 3900 Elati St.
This innovative celebration takes you inside the greatest films of Walt Disney Animation Studios, from their very earliest, groundbreaking features to the beloved hit movies of today. Imagine stepping into the Casita with Mirabel from "Encanto," or being at Pride Rock as Rafiki presents Simba. Imagine hopping on a train with Judy Hopps and going into "Zootopia," or taking a magic carpet ride with Aladdin and Jasmine. Now you can! Step into the art and legacy of Walt Disney Animation Studios.
WHEN: Feb. 17–Sept. 10, 2023
WHERE: Clyfford Still Museum
Awful Bigness fills the museum’s largest, skylit galleries and celebrates Still’s biggest, most ambitious works. This installation follows a chronological display of Still’s works in the museum's first four rooms, offering an overview of Still’s groundbreaking path to abstraction.
WHEN: Feb. 24–May 27, 2023
WHERE: MCA DENVER — Museum of Contemporary Art Denver
This juried group exhibition is a collaboration with RedLine Contemporary Art Center to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary of artist residencies and fostering education and engagement between artists and communities to create positive social change. It reflects the current creative practice of artists living in Colorado, as well as artists who have recently lived in the Denver area. Breakthroughs will present artworks made within the last two years, the majority of which will be on view for the first time in Denver.
WHEN: Feb. 26–June 18, 2023
WHERE: Denver Botanic Gardens
Textile sculptor Tamara Kostianovsky presents 13 large-scale sculptures of tropical birds, flora and tree stumps. The works draw inspiration from her childhood home in Argentina and seek to envision a utopian future restored from past and present exploitation. Repurposing clothing from her own wardrobe as well as clothes, linens, upholstery and towels from family and friends, Kostianovsky forges connections to loved ones and childhood memories.
Coming Soon
WHEN: March 16–Aug. 20, 2023
WHERE: Museo de las Americas
An identity story of the anxiety and the calm of the Colombian territory, this exhibition weaves a possible fabric about the complexities of the land as a point of divergence between the sacred and the mercantile. Exhausted from development driven by selfish interests, the alteration of the rivers, and the uneven expansion of the tombs of war, Colombia has reached a historical crossroads.
WHEN: April 16–30, 2023
WHERE: History Colorado Center
History Colorado, in collaboration with the Japanese Arts Network and Asian Pacific Islander (API) community, is pleased to share this visual art and storytelling exhibition celebrating Colorado's Asian Food Culture. Artists and community members highlight the importance of food and food legacy as it continues to be passed down through generations.
WHEN: June 11–Oct. 1, 2023
WHERE: Denver Botanic Gardens
Discover the early work of renowned landscape photographer Ansel Adams with photos of the American West. Known best for his high-contrast photos made in the 1970s and 1980s, Adams’ earlier prints feature a softer focus, smaller scale and warmer tones, providing a glimpse into the evolution of the photographer’s signature style. The exhibition features 39 vintage photographs, including some of his best-known works. Adams was a giant in the field of landscape photography, using his art to celebrate and protect the West.
WHEN: June 11–Oct. 1, 2023
WHERE: Denver Botanic Gardens
Justin Favela's large-scale piñata-paper installations exist at the intersection of cultural identity and pop culture. Vibrant and immersive, Vistas in Color honors and celebrates the sweeping desert landscapes of the U.S. and Mexico and the role that they have played in Latinx identity. A tissue paper floor-to-ceiling mural, created specifically for the Gardens’ exhibition, combines imagery from desert landscapes. The single panoramic image wraps the walls of the entire ellipse-shaped gallery. Plants from different deserts are featured, as well as plants from the artist’s own home and photos. Favela is a Latinx and first-generation American artist based in Las Vegas.
WHEN: June 21–Oct. 1, 2023
WHERE: Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
Kirkland Museum will host an exhibition of work by longtime Colorado artist and educator Dave Yust. The show, organized by the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery in Lindsborg, Kansas, will feature the artist’s most recent work and will be supplemented when it comes to Kirkland Museum with historical pieces from the museum’s permanent collection.
WHEN: July 2–Nov. 5, 2023
WHERE: Denver Botanic Gardens
Rich and alluring, the striking blue color known as indigo has served as inspiration for weavers, dyers, designers and sculptors across the globe. This exhibition features contemporary artists from the United States, Nigeria, Japan, South Korea and beyond. Indigo dye is derived from a variety of plants, most often true indigo (Indigofera tinctoria), Japanese indigo (Persicaria tinctoria) and woad (Isatis tinctoria). With a complex history that spans millennia and traverses thousands of miles, indigo holds an influential place in global art, trade and culture. Several large-scale installations are presented, including indigo-dyed yarn by local artist Theresa Clowes and indigo-dyed fabric by Rowland Ricketts, as well as a denim quilt by Anissa Mack and small sculptures by Luisa Uribe.
