Living in Colorado, it is relatively easy to drive down and spend a long weekend in Santa Fe to experience all the art that abounds there. Right now though, it is too easy as there is a wonderful exhibition featuring Georgia O’Keeffe  at the DAM Denver Art Museum. I love the museum in Santa Fe dedicated to her, the O’Keeffe Museum but this show at the DAM is nicely done and features rarely seen works.

Many of her kachina doll paintings were shown along with a collection of antique kachina dolls. Landscapes, still life and her signature florals round out the show along with a video about her. Worth the visit, so go!!

WHAT: Georgia O’Keeffe Paintings Exhibit

WHEN: Feb 10, 2013-April 28 2013, regular museum hours

WHERE: 100W 14th Pkway, Denver, CO 80204

Don’t throw that chair out, it could become a piece of art! Really interesting furniture remnant animals created by Marc Sparfel. 

Colorado is becoming quite a hotbed of local talent for people who handmake, from do it yourselfers  to the from scratch foodies, the home grown/home made culture is in full effect here. Happier than ever to call this mountain state home.

We have our own plethora of fabulous events and local haunts in Boulder:

Quench your taste with artisanal foods at:  Eat Private Chef & Catering, Black Cat, Mile High Swappers & Cured a cheese and charcuterie haven.

Buy raw materials and supplies at: Shuttles Spindles & Skeins, Two Hands Paperie, Fabricate, Elfreide’s, McGuckins, Guiry’s or ReSource Yard.

Take classes for handmade at: Common Threads, Factory Made or the Boulder Pottery Guild.

Buy handmade goods at: Firefly Handmade Markets and Boulder Arts & Crafts.

In Denver:

Experience artisanal, homemade foods at: Bittersweet, Il Mondo Vecchio, Denver Urban Homesteading Market &Denver Handmade Homemade Market.

Buy raw materials and supplies at: Fancy Tiger, Meiningers, Denver Fabrics

Take classes for handmade at: The Lamb Shop, Fabric Bliss, Wild Yarns, The Tiger

Buy handmade goods at: MegaFauna, Thread, Art By Craft, Fancy Tiger Holiday Handmade

Mike Urban welds the most enchanting dinosaur sculptures for the yard or garden from bits of metal. Reclaimed scraps from tractors, shovels and other implements give the dinosaurs even more charm.

Mike Urban

I am very pleased to have been included as an artist in the 1st Annual Bike Arts Exhibit at the Dairy Center for the Arts. The event was packed with patrons.

Aussie assemblage artist Brett Coelho has installations in New York‚ Sydney and Melbourne.

He has had numerous solo exhibitions in Melbourne and Sydney and is represented in several prominent private Australian collections. A love of nature is at the heart of Bretts’ work. He is inspired by Rosalie Gascoigne and the boldness of aboriginal art, its’ sense of craft and humble simplicity. “I love spending days roaming around the countryside‚ bartering with local farmers and collecting objects whose color or texture interest me. This work is about celebrating the ordinary, finding beauty in the most unlikely of places”

Its Open Studios season again! I frequent this every year, but this time I will visit the studios of Patricia Chapman–assemblage art, Rebecca DiDomenico-mixed media, Alix Christian-encaustic, Dawn Spencer Hurwitz-ethereal painting and Kristin Fitzgerrell-assemblage art. Happy October!

Julia Strand is an artist and scientist living and working in Minnesota. All pieces featured on Hokey Stokes are her work. It is breathtaking!

Finished a terrific tour of Aspen by BMoCA in Boulder. Surpassed any expectation that I might have had. The group met up at the Vicki & Kent Logan Collection in Vail. The Logans have generously donated their self curated and built museum that is adjacent to their home to the DAM. After perosing their jaw dropping collection and kicking off the tour to an amazing start, we drove on to Aspen.

Over the next couple of days, we visited the infamous Anderson Ranch and participated in their annual art auction. We saw two more private collections in personal homes and also toured the wonderful Aspen Art Museum (which is currently building themselves a new facility in downtown Aspen).

Who said Colorado wasn’t an art hub?

Boulder Inspired is a great local series of events bringing the creative community together by sharing ideas, inspiration and conversation. I went to the first event this morning and met Kyle and her amazing Movable Type Truck. Her stop in Boulder to share her mobile letterpress workshop was part of her ongoing, cross-country adventure in her delivery truck turned home. Equipped with two small presses, she gave demos, showed methods of printing and shared a little bit of letterpress history with us.

Can’t wait to experience more Boulder Inspired events!