Museum Exhibitions
WHEN: Thru Sept. 1, 2024
WHERE: MCA DENVER — Museum of Contemporary Art Denver
Gala Porras-Kim is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work questions how knowledge is acquired and tests the potential for artworks and objects to function as meaning-makers outside of traditional museum contexts. For this exhibition, Porras-Kim extends lines of questioning into conservation, preservation and care within institutional contexts to the broader natural world and lived environment. The artworks on view distill natural processes into sculptures, paintings and drawings that will grow, evolve or degrade throughout the span of the exhibition. From sculptures rendered with salt-saturated concrete or copal resin wetted with local rainwater to paintings created from slow drips of water drawing from the museum’s humidity and projections from light refractions off of brass panels, Porras-Kim’s work imagines what might be possible if natural forces and phenomenon had the agency to self-determine.
WHEN: Thru Oct. 20, 2024
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
This exhibition was created from three projects photographer Fazal Sheikh made on the Colorado Plateau from 2017 to early 2023. Sheikh’s portraits and landscapes of displaced communities and marginalized people shed light on the far-reaching consequences of extractive industry and climate change. Through this beautiful and sometimes frightening new work, Sheikh encourages viewers to witness the consequences of the past and imagine the shape of the future.
WHEN: Thru Nov. 3, 2024
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
Have a Seat: Mexican Chair Design Today is an interactive exhibition featuring three historical artworks, 17 contemporary seats designed by 22 Mexican artists, and a site-specific art installation. Through their pioneering designs, the artists embark on a journey through history and traditions, exploring the enduring legacy of the cross-cultural world that emerged in Mexico following the Spanish conquest, which incorporated elements of Indigenous, Asian, African and European cultures and continues to inspire new types of objects and furniture for the 21st century. Have a Seat showcases furniture by contemporary Mexican designers represented in the museum’s permanent collection, including Andrés Lhima, Cecilia León de la Barra, Daniel Valero, Bárbara Sánchez-Kane, Jorge Diego Etienne and many more.
WHEN: Thru Nov. 12, 2024
WHERE: History Colorado Center
Using photos, video and first-hand personal accounts from the troops themselves, Winter Warriors: The 10th Mountain Division in World War II explores the history of the U.S. Army's first winter warfare division from its training at Camp Hale in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains through their crucial breakthrough against the Nazi German Army in the mountains of Italy. This exhibition introduces a new generation of Coloradans to this incredible story of ingenuity, perseverance, heroism and sacrifice in a deeply personal way through hundreds of photos, accounts, videos and objects from the soldiers themselves.
WHEN: Thru Nov. 15, 2024
WHERE: Denver Museum of Nature & Science
Trace the evolution of our beliefs about orcas, from fear to admiration and awe, as we discover their stunning intelligence and complex social structures. Meet a life-sized replica of an orca family as you listen to their soothing harmonies in an immersive underwater environment. Deepen your appreciation for the art of the Indigenous peoples of North America’s Northwest Coast. Discover stories that reveal a profound respect for orcas, highlighting the deep connection between humans and these powerful beings. Examine the global movement to protect our ocean ecosystems, reflect on the consequences of captivity and celebrate the future we share with the fascinating and awe-inspiring orca.
WHEN: Thru Dec. 1, 2024
WHERE: Heritage Lakewood Belmar Park, Lakewood
How do you interact with your community? Historic Lakewood residents got involved with their local schools, agricultural organizations, outdoor youth movements and many other special interest groups. Discover how making a difference in the quality of life in our city has evolved over the past century.
WHEN: Thru Dec. 28, 2024
WHERE: Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery
“Entering a performance at Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery is like stepping through a looking glass and into a sci-fi wonderland. The gallery’s Lumonics Immersed installation was originally created by the late Dorothy and Mel Tanner, pioneering light artists whose singular style fuses elements of light, music and sculptures to produce captivating experiences for the audience.” – Denver Westword
WHEN: Thru Dec. 31, 2024
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
This new exhibition features 60 objects from the museum’s permanent collection, two-thirds of which have never been shown. Throughout the museum’s history, textile arts have played a fundamental role in the development of its collecting philosophies and exhibition programs. The first textile entered the museum almost 100 years ago, and since that time, textile arts have been regular additions to the collection. Among the handful of early patrons, the Douglas Family of Evergreen, Colorado, emerged as the most steadfast donors of textiles. This exhibition highlights a selection of the family’s donations that demonstrates their celebration of traditional and living cultures and the value of exhibiting them together.
WHEN: Thru Dec. 31, 2024
WHERE: Museum of Illusions
Discover a brilliant collection of perspective-changing rooms, enthralling installations, and spellbinding images. The mesmerizing exhibits will teach you that nothing is ever quite as it seems, especially in the Museum of Illusions Denver.
WHEN: Thru Dec. 31, 2024
WHERE: History Colorado Center
Danielle SeeWalker is a Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta citizen from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. She is an artist, writer, activist and boy mom of two, based in Denver. This exhibition uses storytelling to explore a variety of issues important to Indigenous peoples and communities. Striking nineteenth-century hair ornaments, beaded spoons and moccasins are paired with SeeWalker’s art in ways that illuminate censored and erased histories.
WHEN: Thru Jan. 1, 2025
WHERE: Denver Art Museum
Design is all around us. Whether it takes the form of objects and spaces, images and interactions, or systems and processes, design shapes our lives in fundamental ways. But what shapes design? A series of thematic installations drawn primarily from the architecture and design collection, By Design: Stories and Ideas Behind Objects illustrates the abundance and versatility of approaches to design.
WHEN: Thru Jan. 5, 2025
WHERE: Denver Museum of Nature & Science
Explore the captivating and often paradoxical world of nature’s toxic arsenal in The Power of Poison. Encounter the many plants and animals living deep in the Colombian forest that use poison as a vital tool for defense and survival. With live performances and interactive dioramas, dive deep into familiar tales of illness, enchantment and death by poison. Find out how studying poison’s effects on human cells can help scientists figure out how to protect, repair and heal our own bodies and improve our health. Whether used as a defense against predators, a source of magical strength or a lifesaving medical treatment, The Power of Poison is sure to surprise you at every turn!
WHEN: Thru Jan. 12, 2025
WHERE: Clyfford Still Museum
Clyfford Still withdrew his paintings from the Betty Parsons Gallery in 1951, refusing to participate in a market prioritizing the fame of an artist and the price of their artworks. The following year, he surprised many by agreeing to participate in a group show at the Museum of Modern Art. His rationale for doing so was because the curator, Dorothy Miller, agreed to show Still’s works together in their own gallery. As Still saw it, his work could be viewed on its own terms and not in direct comparison to other artists—but visitors could still see the scope of American painting in the mid-century. Even with his turn away from the art world, Still saw himself participating in something larger and remained in dialogue with his contemporaries. This exhibition considers the nuanced ways in which Clyfford Still was part of an artists’ community in the late 1940s and early 1950s, despite his protestations to the contrary, and how his paintings, through their scale and composition, promote ideas of community.
WHEN: Thru Jan. 12, 2025
WHERE: Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
Vanity & Vice: American Art Deco explores the dynamic designs that emerged during the rebellious years of 1920–1933. American women were enjoying more independence inside and outside the home. Cutting hair into a chic bob, wearing rouge on lips and cheeks, hosting cocktail parties, and publicly consuming alcohol and tobacco all reinforced what it meant to be a modern woman. American designers and manufacturers responded to these societal changes with fashionable perfume atomizers and vanity sets and drinking and smoking accessories in the latest styles. This exhibition invites visitors into two distinct spaces occupied by a progressive Prohibition-era woman: her boudoir and a speakeasy. Explore the Art Deco objects that filled these rooms and how they reflect a time of freedom and change.
WHEN: Thru Jan. 27, 2025
WHERE: History Colorado Center
This exhibition focuses on the many uses and importance of the Colorado River, taking visitors inside majestic canyons and atop the most awe-inspiring vistas along the Yampa, Gunnison and Dolores Rivers as they flow toward their confluence with the Colorado. Flow: On the River with John Fielder features a number of iconic large-format Fielder prints, as well as quotes from the renowned landscape photographer gathered carefully from his publications and interviews over the years.
WHEN: Thru March 30, 2025
WHERE: Center for Colorado Women's History
Rumors of Bloomers explores women’s experiences as expressed through undergarments. Using rarely displayed objects – such as corsets, bloomers, swimming costumes, petticoats and Mother Hubbard gowns – the exhibition highlights the ways “unmentionables” have given form and shape to bodies, while also expressing identity, autonomy, agency, and protest.
WHEN: July 28, 2024–June 1, 2025
WHERE: Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
The Life and Art of Tokio Ueyama features more than 40 paintings loaned to the museum by the Japanese American National Museum and Ueyama’s family, whose combined efforts to preserve his work have allowed the story of this accomplished and cosmopolitan artist to be told at the DAM for the first time. Born in Japan, Tokio Ueyama moved to the United States in 1908 at age 18, where he made a home until his death in 1954. This exhibition tells the story of Ueyama’s life, including his early days as an art student in San Francisco, Southern California, and Philadelphia; his travels abroad in Europe and Mexico; his role as artist and community member in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles; and his unconstitutional incarceration during World War II at the Granada Relocation Center, now the Amache National Historic Site, in southeast Colorado.
WHEN: Aug. 2–Sept. 22, 2024
WHERE: Museo de las Americas
Born in Mexico and raised in East Los Angeles, Anthony Quinn, a two-time Oscar winner, was a legendary actor. This pop-up exhibition offers a glimpse into his lesser-known passion for drawing, painting, and sculpting, highlighting his legacy as a prolific visual artist focused on themes of identity and vocation.
Sports
WHEN: Aug. 26–29, 2024
WHERE: Coors Field - Home of the Colorado Rockies
Kick off the holiday weekend at Coors Field as the Colorado Rockies take on the Miami Marlins!
WHEN: Aug. 30–Sept. 1, 2024
WHERE: Coors Field - Home of the Colorado Rockies
Cheer on the Colorado Rockies as they battle it out against the Baltimore Orioles.
Outdoor Fun
Head to the only downtown theme and water park in the country for roller coasters, water slides, family entertainment and much more! Look for fireworks at 9 p.m. (as the park closes for the day) on Sept. 1, 2024.
Beat the heat, relax in the park's beautifully landscaped 64 acres — and ride some serious waterslides.
Carved from towering red rock monuments, Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre in Morrison is one of the world's most renowned concert venues. The surrounding park has hiking trails that weave in, around and over the colorful red rocks.
The Mile High City's more than 20 farmers' markets aren't just about locally grown produce, delicious baked goods and prepared foods — though you'll find those in abundance! Each market is a festive, weekly street fair, many with live entertainment and family-friendly activities.
With over 3,500 animals on 84 gorgeous acres, Denver Zoo is an amazing experience year-round. Your donation helps to provide world-class care for the lions, giraffes and elephants, as well as other wild animals and wild places, from the Rockies to Mongolia.
One of the top five botanic gardens in the nation, Denver Botanic Gardens is an oasis in the city, offering year-round events, a children’s garden, lifelong-learning opportunities and research to preserve Colorado’s precious natural resources. Meanwhile, Chatfield Farms, located in nearby Littleton, takes pride in its exemplary nature preserve and gardens. Located on 750 acres, this picturesque site includes display gardens and a historical farm with a rustic barn.
No matter where you find yourself in The Mile High City, you’re likely only a few steps away from a lush and relaxing green space. Memorial Day weekend is the perfect time to explore Denver's more than 5,000 acres of traditional parks and parkways, as well as an additional 14,000 acres of spectacular mountain parks in neighboring counties that are maintained by the City and County of Denver.
If you’re looking for a quiet spot to have a picnic, take in great views or experience a different side of the city, check out these lesser-known Denver parks.
Take a two-wheeled tour through the heart of the city along this beautiful river. You'll cruise by some of the city's biggest attractions.
Denver is a city with boundless outdoor fun and has an ideal location next to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. While The Mile High City is conveniently close to major peaks for hiking, there's actually no need to head into the mountains when Denver's regional trail system encompasses hundreds of miles for all ages and abilities to explore.
Many people think that Denver’s prettiest, closest and most accessible bit of mountain scenery is Waterton Canyon. This is the start of the famous Colorado Trail, one of the great long-distance hikes (or mountain bike rides) of the Rocky Mountains.
Denver is home to dozens of pet-friendly activities and destinations, including dog-friendly hotels and dog parks. Find the best on-leash and off-leash fun for your best friend.
Urban Exploration
Denver street artists have been busy brightening (and enlightening) the urban landscape for decades by making canvases of the city’s alleyways, building exteriors, warehouses, garage doors and storefronts. Grab your camera and take a stroll past some of the city's favorite murals.
There’s no better way to soak up summer than on one of The Mile High City’s splendid patios. From skyward rooftop terraces to lushly landscaped gardens, these are the ultimate spots to eat and drink alfresco in Denver.
Denver is a mecca for craft beer. But with 100 brewpubs, breweries and tap rooms in the metro area, where do you begin? Let the Denver Beer Trail be your guide with this sampling and interactive map.
