Visual Arts
Adam Lerner is mixing tastes at MCA Denver
Fact: MCA Denver Director Adam Lerner grew up in Queens, New York, in a family of Jewish immigrants who square danced competitively. As the youngest dancer at the AL'e'MO Squares square dance club,…
The weird world of Andrew Novick: Blood, pancakes and punk rock
"If I'm not back in a few hours," I said to my husband on an otherwise ordinary Saturday, "let the police know I was having coffee with the man who makes art out of human blood." My fears were put to…
Meet Brian Corrigan, Denver's "Oh Heck Yeah" phenom
It was during an unlikely -- and very cool -- marriage of something Pong and Space Invaders-like in downtown Denver last year when Brian Corrigan had himself an "aha!" moment. It was Create Denver…
If you heart local, you will love I Heart Denver
The idea of selling merchandise that celebrates a place is not new -- especially along Denver's 16th Street Mall. But Samuel Schimek has come up with a new and hip model for locally made goods that…
Guerilla Gardening with Jolt, Denver Street Artist Deluxe
This is a story about a graffiti artist. A graffiti artist who, by his own admission, has found various additional outlets for his talent. He's done commercial work, he's been commissioned to create…
Life Hacks with Mar Williams
Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves, but Marlana Williams -- Mar, for short -- prefers to wear her hacks on her sleeves. Her tattoo sleeves, that is. The most surprising thing about…
John Haywood re-paints the narrative of what it means to be Appalachian and to be an artist
John Haywood grew up in the Appalachian region of southeastern Kentucky with dreams of becoming a rock star. But mountain folk don't become rock stars. Mountain folk don't even go to college.…
Clement Brown, Jr. celebrates Fashion, Arts, Music & Entertainment in an underserved area of Detroit
The west side neighborhood around the intersection of Joy Rd. and Meyers in Detroit can be a tough place, but theFAME Shop, located at 10608 Joy Road, is a brightening presence. FAME…
Joan Vorderbruggen is the one-woman powerhouse behind Minneapolis's Made Here
There's really no better word that can be used to accurately describe Joan Vorderbruggen than "dynamic." Vorderbruggen has a dynamic personality that she is able to use to lead dynamic public art…
How public art builds safer, stronger neighborhoods
In April of 2014, Damian Woetzel and the Aspen Institute Arts Program convened a Strategy Group in Detroit. This convening brought together local and national experts: artists and leaders in arts,…
PAR Projects is building a home for arts education and programming in Cincinnati's Northside
Things don't always work out the way you plan, but they do tend to work out the way they're supposed to. Jonathan Sears is the co-founder of Professional Artistic Research (PAR) Projects, though he…
Artists as community leaders
What a journey! Three years ago, Springboard for the Arts launched Irrigate, a creative placemaking project in partnership with the City of Saint Paul and the Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support…
Revitalizing Baltimore's Station North with art and design
These stories are brought to you by a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the NEA’s Our Town program. How can a distressed urban area capitalize on its creative artists,…
Artist/educator Asia Ward: Creating the unexpected through a singular blend of art and science
Bre McGee Science, magic, memory and art: These are among the tools artist and educator Asia Ward brings to her work. She’s a longtime developer of educational experiences for the Learning…
Hunter Franks leads simple steps of creativity to inspire big change in Akron
This story was originally published on Knight Blog here. Artist Hunter Franks uses people as his medium to break down barriers and make neighborhoods more neighborly. It’s simple, really. He invites…
St. Paul City Artist Amanda Lovelee inspires joyful connections
Amanda Lovelee’s life and work have taken her all over the world. A native of upstate New York, she graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, has traveled extensively…
Bunker Projects is an experimental gallery and live/work space for artists to engage the community
Artists Jessie Rommelt, Abagail Beddall, and Cecilia Ebitz all graduated from Penn State University in 2011. The three friends decided to head over to Pittsburgh afterwards, the closest city with an…
Viviane Le Courtois creates processes and Processus
Viviane Le Courtois is a Denver-based multi-media artist from Brittany, France. Her work ranges from etchings and drawings to video to interactive installation pieces that go outside of the studio…
Artists U teaches artists how to make a life
The hardest thing about making a life as an artist is actually making a life as an artist. That's where Artists U comes in. Andrew Simonet is a choreographer and a writer who directed the Headlong…
Of corn and men: Yvonne Escalante explores themes of social and environmental justice through corn
Corn: it's a rather pedestrian agricultural product. Chances are, you probably don't think too much about corn as you go about your daily life. You buy ears of corn for your summer barbecues. You…
Public art as social activism: Ta-coumba Aiken creates art that heals the heart and soul
Ta-coumba Aiken grew up in Evanston, Illinois during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement, the rise of the Black Panther Party and Black Power, and the prominence of the NAACP's civil rights…
The McColl Center offers urban residencies to socially-conscious artists
What is "environmental art"? Specifically, environmental art is public art that mitigates some sort of environmental issue at its location site. But in a more general sense, environmental art…
The Porch Light Program takes the transformative power of art to the streets
The Porch Light Program is a program of the City of Philadelphia's Mural Arts, a citywide transformative arts project that has been ongoing for 30 years. Porch Light takes the idea of the…
Grizzly Grizzly is an artist collective focused on citywide collaboration
When it comes to identifying which arts organization is behind what art project in the city of Philadelphia, attributions can get a little tricky. While artists today are generally known to proffer a…
ZERO1 is where art and technology converge
ZERO1: The Art & Technology Network in San Jose is where art meets technology to shape the future. It is a nonprofit art and technology organization with the mission of providing a platform for…
Don't call it graffiti: Daniel Fila is a professional fine artist who paints murals all over Miami
Before Art Basel made Miami Beach a world-renowned destination for modern and contemporary art, artists like Daniel Fila were laying the groundwork for Miami's exploding street art scene. "In the…
A picture is worth a thousand words: Jai Tanju gives a personal touch to digital works
If you scroll through photographer Jai Tanju's tumblr page, you'll find exactly the kinds of images you would expect to see from someone who got his start in skateboarding photography: boards in…
Annabel Manning's work as a participatory artist gives voice to the silent, suppressed, invisible
In September 2001, Annabel Manning had been living in New York for over 15 years. After 9/11, she decided to move to Pennsylvania and work on a farm. That was 12 years ago, and she speaks haltingly…
Oskar Ly's work reconciles her identities as a Second-Generation-Hmong-Queer-Asian-Woman-Artist
There are roughly 30,000 Hmong-Americans living in Saint Paul, Minnesota today, more than any other city in the country. The Twin Cities Metro area has a Hmong population of 64,000. While those may…