First Friday

Two of my good friends are having a show tonight at my alum - Sliding Door Gallery on Santa Fe. Here's the info:

Kay Tuttle: Cover Stories

A show of paintings on vintage encyclopedias and a series of ink drawings on paper with the subject of animals

• Dates: May 1 –May 30, 2009
• Place: Sliding Door Art Gallery, 766 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, Co 80204
• Hours: Fridays 12-5, Saturdays 12-5, First Friday 6-10, Third Friday 5-9
• Artists Reception Saturday May 8th, 5 – 9 p.m.

The title of this series of paintings, Cover Stories, is a playful reference to the use of a set of vintage encyclopedias as the structure of the paintings. After carefully sanding the cover, Tuttle paints directly on the book. The subject matter of animals stacked upon each other references things like totem poles, folk tales, (especially the German tale The Bremen Town Musicians), and environmental concerns.

Kay Tuttle was born and raised in Colorado. She received a BFA in painting and drawing from CSU in Fort Collins and an MFA in painting from ASU in Tempe, Arizona. After graduating she taught painting and drawing at ASU. She lived abroad for several years, in both Germany, and France. She has had solo shows in France, Germany, Colorado and Arizona. She now lives in Denver and shows with Sliding Door Gallery. She was published in Issue 72 of New American Paintings and was included in the 10th Anniversary exhibition at Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle. She will be exhibiting in the Beyond the Border Art Fair Sept 2, 3, 4, 2009, in San Diego, CA.



True Love: New work by Katie Taft

Consisting of three-dimensional objects made of porcelain and a variety of textiles: leg warmers covered in barnacles, a shawl encrusted with 300 octopus suckers and a variety of other accessories and items of clothing.

• Dates: May 1 –May 30, 2009
• Place: Sliding Door Art Gallery, 766 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, Co 80204
• Hours: Fridays 12-5, Saturdays 12-5, First Friday 6-10, Third Friday 5-9
• Artists Reception Saturday May 8th, 5 – 9 p.m.

These works are love stories, both happy and sad. Making them has helped to exorcize my past and manifest the future that I want to exist. They are spells cast and objects of catharsis, they make magic happen and contain it. Some of these objects are made up of numerous almost identical pieces: the repeated action enforces a lesson learned, a tall building leapt a roadblock turning into a milestone.

Katie Taft is an artist living in Denver, Colorado and working predominantly in photography and sculpture . Her work deals with universal stories drawn from myth, folklore, philosophy and religion, and addresses how these kinds of stories manifest themselves in our modern lives. Taking inspiration from individuals around her as well as from the symbolism of animals she creates objects and images that tell the stories of her life.

Katie has shown her work in Denver, Colorado, Portland, Oregon and Santa Fe, New Mexico in the past couple of years and spends her days making art with students in the Denver Metro Area at Downtown Aurora Visual Arts and other local arts organizations. She completed a residency at PlatteForum in 2007 and was awarded Westword’s Mastermind Award in 2005.

Kristen Schiele at David B. Smith Gallery

Kristen Schiele, Industrial, Oil on Canvas, 21"x30"

Three of Swords, 2008, 48" x 46", oil on canvas

I finally got over to David B. Smith gallery to see the current group show. I really enjoyed these two pieces by Kristen Schiele and had a nice chat with Dave about gallery name change (from Limited Addiction) and all that 2009 has in store for him (books? prints? new artists! Josh Keyes show!).

If you haven't seen the show that's up right now, do. I thought it was more diverse than their previous group shows and represented a broader range of painting and sculpture - broader than the typically narrow scope of the Juxtapoz/low-brow/pop-surrealism/whateveryouwanttocallit scene that they often (perhaps unfairly) get lumped into. I'm excited to see their scope grow as their gallery grows and I'm really looking forward to their upcoming shows this year.

Opening Tonight

Sliding Door Gallery presents two solo exhibits, February 6-28, 2009

Berndt Savig

A Forced Intimacy: Recent Painting and Sculpture

On display at Sliding Door Gallery beginning February 6, 2009 are recent paintings and sculpture by Berndt Savig. Returning to the female figure and visage as the primary focus in this body of work, the paintings are psychological studies of imagined individuals with introspective, pessimistic or emotionally withdrawn demeanors. The larger scale of the paintings creates a forced intimacy with the viewer.

AND

Rachel Hawthorn

Memory Houses

Memory Houses is an in progress series of images that continues Rachel Hawthorn's exploration of the way our domestic environments shape our memories and perception. Each image features a model of a house that Rachel lived in, constructed of only the parts remembered. Anything that is
forgotten has been left out. These models were placed in the landscape and photographed from different perspectives to enhance the experience of the distances between current perception and memory of the past.

Sliding Door Gallery

766 Santa Fe Drive

Denver, CO

~~~~~~~~~~~

Open First Friday 5 to 10

Open Third Friday 12 to 8

Open other Fridays and all Saturdays 12 to 5

AND by appointment: Berndt Savig 303.562.5097 or Rachel Hawthorn at 303.521.5012

Sliding Door Gallery has moved! Join us next First Friday, February 6, at our new home, at 766 Santa Fe Drive, Denver!

Opening tonight

My former co-op friends at Sliding Door Gallery have an opening tonight along with loads more for First Friday. Most the snow has melted, so why not come out and check it out?

Also - here's the news from Plus Gallery for First Friday:

"Plus Gallery will be open into the evening this Friday December 5th for First Friday till 8pm. We have changed up the artwork in our temporary space, pulling out some favorite works such as Dave Yust's amazing "Circular Composition #70" which is one of the last remaining dimensional canvases available from the artist, a terrific large-scale canvas from Bruce Price circa 2001, Jeff Strahl's large-scale photograph "Prague" from his Europium series, a trio of Lenka Konopasek's "Dusty Air" series paintings, brand new works from Jonathan Saiz and Travis Egedy and a number of other gems to freshen the month of December. We still have a few of our t-shirts left, as well as select works from last months "small works" exhibition. Our neighbors at the MCA will be hosting their regular first friday features "Top 10 & WITY cocktails" at 6:30pm with a focus on top 10 gifts to help the planet and "Open Shelf Films" at 7:30pm with the film "Run Lola Run.""

This Friday (Tomorrow!)

This Friday - September 5th, is an action packed art-filled day. Here's the breakdown:

Paralleled III - Opening at RMCAD from 6-9 pm - featuring work by yours truly (one piece never before exhibited)

Justin Fields and Karl Heinz-Dukstein at Sliding Door Gallery from 6-10 pm

Jeff Page (who's made a new installation for this opening) and 18 other Redline artists - from 7-11 pm.

So it looks like if you see these shows in this order you should be fine - each one is running a little longer than the previous one (9 pm, 10 pm, 11 pm).

Landscape and Memory

Tonight at Sliding Door Gallery

“Landscape and Memory”

Recent paintings by Berndt Savig

These paintings revolve around how landscape for me personally is often associated with individuals I have known or still know. I often think of certain people when I see images of or am in certain environments. Sometimes this connection is very concrete and specific. For example, a certain river or a certain hill will remind me of someone I knew at a particular point in my life. Sometimes this is because both of us were at that place together at some time, or in some cases, I think that person would relate to that location. Even if the relationship with that person ends or changes, the link to that landscape continues to exist.

Sometimes the connection between someone from my life is not tied to a specific location but a type of place. Maybe a smoky bar or a cityscape at night will trigger a memory of someone.

The paintings in this show are gouache on board or paper and painted from life, photographs or memory.

Opening reception: Friday May 2, 6 – 10 pm

Draw Rings II

Travis Egedy and Rhinoceropolis present

DRAW RINGS II
"THE RETURN"


a showcase of Denver's emerging artistic talent.


Friday, April 4th
6pm- infinity
3553 brighton blvd

featuring
but not limited to:

HELEN LOGAN
JUSTIN BEARD
ALICIA ORDAL
JUSTIN SIMONI
STERLING CRISPIN
XI ZHANG
MARTIN GARDEA
TRAVIS EGEDY
HARRY C.
WALTERS
MARIO ZOOTS
BRITTANY GOULD
MILTON MELVIN CROISSANT III
LEAFE ZALES
BRUCE PRICE
ELIZABETH ECKLAND
DREW ENGLANDER
SEAN HUDSON
DOUGLAS HAWKINSON
THOMAS KINCADE
MARK COLEMAN
ETHAN GARTON

A group show of 22 of denver's most talented young artists showing in one space, on one night? Are we crazy? Why, yes, we are!

This is the second installment of the Draw Rings group exhibition, after the unprecedented success of last year's Draw Rings, there was no other option but for, "the return." At the core of Draw Ring's aesthetic and conceptual goal, is the idea to allow an avenue for experimental talent and pure creative expression to have complete freedom, without concern for commercial viability. Draw rings is a social event and situational performance that attempts to operate completely outside of the established, more conservative Denver art market.

New Sliding Door Gallery Exhibition Coming Together

I just made the sign for the gallery (on an old painting) and I'm getting some flyers/posters printed soon. Here's the poster:
We got a lot of exciting work for the show and it should prove to be a great First Friday - I will have work in this show and the "Transmute" show at Object+Thought here in Denver.

Sneak Peek; Nathan Abels, "Last Seen" Exhibition

OPENING TONIGHT!
6-10 PM
Sliding Door Gallery
554 Santa Fe Drive
Denver, Colorado
80204

Denver First Friday : March

In a new, monthly segment I will be covering the highlights of the "First Friday" gallery exhibitions in Denver. By far, the most memorable gallery of the night was the inaugural group show of the "Limited Addiction Gallery." I generally refer to the genre of art they exhibited as the "Juxtapoz"-type art or west-coast art - though it does not consider every work being shown, those of you familiar with the magazine might understand the reference or genre. Their own description of what they show is "otherwise labeled Pop-Surrealism, Urban Contemporary and 21st Century Figurative Art." The gallery was packed (both with art and attendees) and represented many great artists from across the country including Tim Biskup, Dalek, Audrey Kawasaki, Dan McCarthy, Tra Selhtrow, Jeff Soto, and more. *Check the links to Dan McCarthy and Tra Selhtrow especially - they have great limited edition silk-screened prints available online for very reasonable prices*

The walls at Limited Addiction were hung salon-style, often four or five pieces high but there was enough similarity of genre to keep it from feeling disorganized or cluttered. I'm looking forward to future shows there. We have now added this signed print from Audrey Kawasaki to our collection:

Mia & Mai

giclee print on archival paper
13" x 22" on a 15" x 24" sheet
signed and numbered
limited edition of 100

The work of Josh Keyes at Limited Addiction Gallery was also quite interesting. It has a science text-book diagram type of feel. I especially liked these pieces:

"Interlock #3", 12"x9", 2007, pencil and gouache on bristol board


"Envelop #1", 2007, 9"x12", pencil and gouache on bristol board

Another artist worth mentioning from last night was Armin Muhsam - whose work can be seen at the Kanon Gallery on Santa Fe Blvd. I was especially taken back by this piece:

Armin Muhsam
"Recent Earthworks"
16x48 Oil on Panel(s)

There was also a strong opening by Tracy Barnes and Eric Havelock-Bailie a the Sliding Door Gallery. Being the most recent addition to the Sliding Door co-op, I was glad to see a good turn-out and well planned show. Here are a few shots of the opening: