It is no secret that the world’s history is largely shaped by the perspective of men, and this naturally applies to our understanding of art as well. Women have always participated in the visual arts—whether that be creating, collecting, teaching, or theorizing—yet their contributions are relegated to the sidelines while their male counterparts have been heralded as the apogee of artistic greatness. The feminist movement of the 20th century gave women the power and mobility necessary to gain recognition and respect for their cultural achievements, and the footing to express themselves and their worldview creatively. Tracy Nakayama applies “the female gaze” toward a subject that generally ignores any possible enjoyment or consumption by women—pornography—and thus flips the script on what these images look like and who they are intended for. Her series of watercolors at Dikeou Collection convey a sense of sweetness and flirtatious ease during erogenous encounters that appeal to females sexual interests, but there’s a raw edge left intact that can seduce women and men alike. Nakayama is representative of a growing number of female artists with a direct approach to nudity and sex, and who seek to disprove the notion that this kind of carnal imagery cannot exist without misogynistic undertones.

Nakayama composes her paintings like a collage, incorporating poses, objects, and scenarios she finds from her large collection of vintage pornography from the 1960s through 1980s. As a cheeky twist, she uses the faces of people she knows on her figures as a personal albeit untraditional sign of affection. For example, the face of the woman in her large painting, Football, is that of her own mother, smiling gleefully as two mustachioed men in jerseys caress her body. The woman holds a football under her arm like the player on the Heisman Trophy, hinting that she’s the one who will come out on top in this game. Perhaps her mother owned a copy of The Joy of Sex that Tracy maybe discovered during her adolescence, and the illustrations by Chris Foss ignited some inspiration for her artistic pursuits. The combination of the vintage references and sepia color schemes makes Nakayama’s work strongly reminiscent of a time when the peak of feminist action was met with a new era of free love, spawning the Sexual Revolution which motivated female artists to depict sex and sexuality in ways women never had before.

The female nude is one of the most popular subjects in the history of art, a favorite of male artists in particular. Alice Neel presented a whole new perspective on this subject by removing the sexualized and idealized views cast upon the model. Her paintings revealed not only the bodies of her sitters in a more natural way but their psychological states as well. Neel was one of the first to paint pregnant nudes, and also did a self-portrait in the nude at 80 years old. She applied the same techniques to her male nudes, too, where they exuded the same vulnerability and true to life form. This focus on gender equality is prevalent in the work of English painter Sylvia Sleigh, who made gender-reversed versions of famous paintings like Ingre’s The Turkish Bath. Sleigh’s male nudes are more idealized than Neel’s, implementing the tactics of the male gaze onto male subjects and pointing out the problems of gender bias. Joan Semmel paints nude self-portraits from her own perspective so her face is invisible, which leaves the viewer to draw their own conclusions about how identity is constructed and recognized via the normally covered and private body.

Artists like Alice Neel, Sylvia Sleigh, and Joan Semmel were key figures in the progression of the female vision and sex-positive movement in the arts, while women like Betty Tompkins and Marilyn Minter push the envelope even further by depicting sexual acts and genitalia explicitly and unapologetically. Like Semmel, Tompkins and Minter remove the identity of their figures, as well as context, putting the viewer on the spot to make their own judgment calls about what the body parts themselves represent. When reduced to individual components like a machine, these bodies are performing exactly how they’re supposed to, yet art like this is still very challenging for even the most savvy art appreciators. If placed along a spectrum, Tracy Nakayama’s watercolor collages would sit comfortably between the avant-garde nudes of Neel, Sleigh, and Semmel and the pronounced emphasis on sexual parts and performance of Tompkins and Minter. As a respectful gesture toward our diverse audience at Dikeou Collection, Nakayama’s paintings are exhibited within a special enclosed gallery. The room is like a secret little love nest where Tracy’s works can be reveled privately or in the company of that special someone. When people exit the room and shut the door, the figures in the paintings can bask privately themselves in sensual bliss.

-Hayley Richardson

We are now officially in the throws of winter. It starts out as a joyous and enchanting time of year with glittering snow and hot cocoa but eventually slumps into long cold months of dirty slush puddles and expired eggnog. Let’s face it: winter sucks. Unless, of course, you’re fortunate enough to be able to travel or live some place warm and tropical and can avoid the wintertime blues. Lawrence Seward is one of those lucky individuals who was born and raised in Hawaii. He attended school at NYU, but has since moved back to the Aloha State and now teaches at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. His artwork at Dikeou Collection gives a glimpse of the island life from a local’s perspective, which, in reality, is not all rainbows and tiki drinks like we may expect.

Upon entrance into Seward’s room at the collection, the viewer is confronted with an oversized self-portrait of the artist made of foam, paint, and plaster. This work was made in 2001 but titled 1989 and is meant to depict himself from that period in time. His long hair and casual flannel are indicative not only of his laid-back personality but of the easy-going environment in which he lives. A little island scene with a golden sky and palm trees is hidden inside his mouth, complete with pearly grains of sand upon his tongue, as if he carries a taste of Hawaii with him wherever he goes. Sculptural self-portraits are not very common, especially in this size, but there is a tranquil quality to this work that does not make it self-aggrandizing. The sculpture faces a wall that is hung with twelve different drawings and watercolors by Seward that depict various Hawaiian themes like sunsets, surfing, luaus, and tiki paraphernalia, but a thoughtful analysis would lead one to see that these images portray a visitor’s paradise at the local’s expense.

Barbed wire, concrete walls covered in graffiti, and steel beams frame ocean waves and sandy beaches in several of these works. The largest depicts a surfer impaled by his board and left for dead on the beach which, as Seward says “evokes suicide, sacrifice, mishap, and the death of youth.” Other drawings show ukulele players and Hula dancers from the back as they entertain a crowd of tourists, and Summer No Fun is an unsettling look at the subliminal relationship between performer and viewer in the state of Hawaii.

With her head bowed and wrists crossed behind her back, a female dancer stands on an X as if she is a target for exploitation. The palm trees are transformed from serene elements of nature into props for light fixtures, turning Hawaii’s beauty into a stage for outsiders’ amusement.

Westerners first impeded upon the Hawaiian islands and its inhabitants in 1778 when British Captain James Cook and his crew inadvertently encountered them while trying to find a Northwest passage between Europe and Asia. The Hawaiians maintained rule of their territory only by forming alliances and assimilating with colonial powers, but the indigenous kingdom was completely overthrown in the late 19th century by the United States government. Like all other ways of life, native art and culture changed with the new hierarchy.

Prior to the European arrival, traditional Hawaiian art consisted primarily of woodcarving, feather work, rock and bark painting, and tattoos. These art traditions used techniques as well as iconography and patterns that had been in practice throughout the Polynesian islands for centuries, and commonly referenced their mythology and the natural environment. With the arrival of the Europeans, the Hawaiians were introduced to painting, ceramics, sculpture, and quilt-making. While the Hawaiian artists stayed true to their artistic and cultural heritage utilizing both their established and new art making tactics, there were still colonial undertones to their work that illustrated how this outside force radicalized their way of life. Lawrence Seward brings these undertones to the forefront of his work and shows how the influence is still prevalent today.

As Westernization continues to dominate the landscape, artists to this day keep the legacy of traditional Hawaiian art making alive. Rick Makanaaloha Kia‘imeaokekanaka San Nicolas is a master at Ka Hana No'eau I Ka Hulu, which means “art of the feather.” Rick painstakingly creates capes, helmets, and leis made out of feathers that once adorned Hawaiian tribal royalty. Dalani Tanahy makes beautiful kapa, which is handmade bark cloth that is painted with natural pigments and used for quilts, clothing, and decoration. Keone Nunes is one of the few tattoo artists in the world who still uses the Polynesian “tapping” technique, known as kakau, and makes his own tools and inks.

There is no way to turn back time and prevent the West’s overtake of Hawaii, but this part of history should not be ignored especially since the ramifications are still felt today. Artists like Rick, Dalani, and Keone help keep the past alive through the native art forms not just by practicing them but by sharing their skills and experiences with others in the hopes that the next generation will continue these aspects of their heritage. Seward does the same by displaying his insights through his art, and by educating students at the University of Hawaii. Having lived both on the island and on the mainland, he has a well-rounded view of how these two parts of the United States influence one another in the 21st century.

Lawrence Seward also has beautiful project in zingmagazine issue 20 where he collaborated with John T. Koga on collage illustrations inspired by the Doris Duke Foundation of Islamic Art in Honolulu, which is worth pursuing if you want to see more cross-cultural pollination to the nth degree in the USA’s youngest state.

—Hayley Richardson

Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Two people yet synonymous as one. Their souls likely entwined on some astral plane, sharing the exact same birthdates under the sign of Gemini. Since they met in 1958, the pair created artworks all across the world that are nothing short of epic, and although Jeanne-Claude sadly passed away in 2009, Christo continues projects that they conceptualized together decades ago. On November 13, Christo gave a talk presented by the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art at the Holiday Event Center, and while Jeanne-Claude was not there, he carries so much of her spirit that her presence could be felt no matter where he goes. The 300-seat venue was filled to capacity with people eager to see and hear the art legend speak about his current projects, one of which has been in progress for the state of Colorado since the 1990s, as well as early works that have left deep imprints on the trajectory of contemporary art.

At 80 years old, Christo has more energy than people less than half his age. According to the Christo and Jeanne-Claude website, he works 14 hours a day. He is constantly traveling all over the world, managing multiple projects of incredible scale, engaging with contractors, city officials, professors, museum personnel, and the public on a daily basis, and shows no signs of stopping any time soon. Right now he is focused on three upcoming installations: The Floating Piers on Lake Iseo in Italy, The Mastaba for Abu Dhabi, and Over the River in Colorado along the Arkansas River.

Christo, The Floating Piers (Project for Lake Iseo, Italy), collage 2014, 17 x 22" (43.2 x 55.9 cm), pencil, wax crayon, enamel paint, photograph by Wolfgang Volz, map, fabric sample and tape, photo: André Grossmann, © 2014 Christo. Image courtesy of www.christojeanneclaude.net

Jeanne-Claude and Christo attempted floating piers projects twice but were unsuccessful, but in 2014 he decided to give it another shot. Although the idea of floating piers was initially thought up by the two of them, this is the first major project Christo has taken on solo. In the middle of Lake Iseo is the island of Monte Isola, which is home to 2,000 inhabitants, and the only way they have access to the mainland is by boat. With the completion of the piers, locals and visitors alike will be able to walk across the lake and experience the watery traversal in a new way for the first time. He alternated between topics quickly during his talk, spending a couple minutes talking about old work before switching to something new and back and forth, but his tone and pace would change whenever he talked about The Floating Piers. He spoke with gentleness. Christo and Jeanne-Claude have a long history of creating projects in Italy together, and many of their works shared a theme involving a connection between water and earth. Perhaps The Floating Piers is like a gift to his angel. It will open June 18 through July 3, 2016

Christo, The Mastaba of Abu Dhabi (Project for United Arab Emirates), scale model 1979, 32 ½ x 96 x 96" (82.5 x 244 x 244 cm), enamel paint, wood, paint, sand and cardboard, Photo: Wolfgang Volz, © 1979 Christo. Image courtesy of www.christojeanneclaude.net

The Mastaba was conceived nearly 40 years ago, and once finished, will be the largest sculpture in the world. It will also be the only permanent Christo and Jeanne-Claude installation. He showed amazing photographs of the duo crossing the towering sand dunes of Abu Dhabi, highlighting their sense of adventure and devotion to immersing themselves in the environments where their art will be displayed. The Mastaba will be made from 410,000 multi-colored barrels and will stand at nearly 500 feet. Constructing a sculpture such as this requires impeccable planning, so they consulted four different engineering professors to prepare plans and studies and decided that the professor from Hosei University in Tokyo had the best strategies for implementation. A date is not set for when this sculpture will be built, but Christo will travel to the region next year to continue its progress.

Christo, Over the River (Project for Arkansas River, State of Colorado), drawing 2010, 13 7/8 x 15 ¼" (35.2 x 38.7 cm), pencil, pastel, charcoal and wax crayon, photo: André Grossmann, © 2010 Christo. Image courtesy of www.christojeanneclaude.net

While the audience was captivated throughout the entire talk, it is safe to say that everyone was most eager to hear about the Over the River project. Christo and Jeanne-Claude considered numerous locations for this work, and decided on Colorado’s Arkansas River in 1996. Federal permission to pursue it was granted in 2011. Over the River has been met with much excitement, as well as protest from locals and environmentalists alike, and after a hiatus in 2012, the project is again moving forward. It is likely that Christo was able to do this talk because he was in Colorado to do some related field and/or administrative work. The river rests in a valley and will be shrouded with material that is opaque when seen from the top and transparent when viewed from the bottom, and will cover 5.9-mile spans in eight different locations. Locals feared that the installation would bring too much traffic and congestion to their quiet mountain community, and environmentalists were concerned about how the river’s ecosystem would be impacted. The installation will only be up for two weeks, the material will not cause any changes in temperature or lighting to the water and land below, and everything will be cleaned up and recycled efficiently. If anything a work like this brings public awareness to the environment, and encourages people to preserve it. Citizens of Colorado have been following the Over the River project for years, and will likely draw huge crowds once it is complete, but we still have another 2 or 3 years left to wait.

Christo during the Q&A session at Holiday Event Center

Christo dispelled a great amount of information during his talk, which left for a facile question-and-answer session with the audience. People wanted to know simple things, like his favorite color, if he had ever been injured during an installation, the craziest venue he ever worked at, and what advice he has for artists. A young boy asked about his childhood, and Christo gave credit to his parents for facilitating his interest in art by sending him to artist studios and classes at an early age (take note, moms and dads). He approached every person who had a question directly, microphone in hand, never once distancing himself from the crowd. His vigor and affable personality is contagious, and comes through in his (and Jeanne-Claude’s) art. Their art is personal and represents a very particular vision, but it is meant to be shared with the world. Aside from the upcoming Mastaba, all their work is temporary, which adds a sense of urgency for people to congregate and experience it together.

–Hayley Richardson

Monumental sized works like Momoyo Torimitsu’s Somehow I Don’t Feel Comfortable and Wade Guyton’s The Room Moved The Way Blocked have a bold presence at Dikeou Collection, but there are many small works that still make assertive statements. Chris Johanson’s Mountain/Fortress is one of these pieces. Made out of papier-mâché and wood, viewers must crouch down to the floor to read the text painted on the mountainside. “When you stand on top of the mountain it feels solid because it is solid. When you stand in the walled in fortress you can’t see.” This verbiage is meant to sound empowering and make the viewer feel big and inspired when they stand up after reading it, but the reality is that the words are utterly meaningless and only impress those who naively subscribe to flimsy shreds of wisdom without carrying any kind of resolve of their own. The words are also indicative of the eccentric social climate of Johanson’s childhood, when New Age movements and self-help culture rose to prominence in the late-1960s in the Bay Area of Northern California. This and other influences from growing up like comics, zines, graffiti, punk rock, and skateboarding provided a visual and cultural smorgasbord which Johanson synthesized into his own artistic style. He became synonymous with a group of artists who gained recognition in the early 1990s in San Francisco, known as the Mission School of artists. San Francisco is a very small city geographically speaking (less than 50 square miles), so to pinpoint a specific district as its emerging creative hub seems arbitrary, but the term really applies to the Northern California region as whole and has has done much to bolster the profile of many artists from the area.

Mountain/Fortress was created when Johanson’s career started to hit its stride and was exhibited in Chicago at Vendata (now Kavi Gupta Gallery) in 2001. A simultaneous exhibition at Bodybuilder and Sportsman Gallery, also in Chicago, featured a human-size fortress where people could step in and watch one of his videos. He created a human-scale version of the Mountain for the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles that same year. By creating similar works in two drastically different sizes he demonstrates how scale not only affects space but people’s relationship with the art and thus its inherent meaning and conceptual value. He achieves this through his use of materials, too. The small Mountain at Dikeou Collection is made out of paper and glue and is very fragile, whereas the bigger version of the Fortress exhibited at Sportsman is sturdy and can withstand a lot of physical impact.

Hammer Projects: Chris Johanson. Installation view at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. May 1-July 29, 2001. Photo by Joshua White.

Whether small and delicate or large and durable, Johanson creates his art with everyday materials that are common and inexpensive, or things (usually wood) that he has found and repurposed, which is a shared trait amongst other artists from the Mission School. Alicia McCarthy’s aesthetic, for example, is closely aligned with Johanson’s, and she also uses found wood as surfaces for her paintings, which gives a sculptural quality to a traditionally two-dimensional medium. Thomas Campbell creates assemblages that are comprised of fabric, old office supplies, and preserved gourds. In an area currently ruled by billionaire techies, the folksy, scrappy, rough-hewn art by Bay Area creatives is like a breath of fresh air, providing an escape from the overpriced and hyper-digital landscape.

Even though the Mission School label primarily applies to artists who work in painting and sculpture, they still engage with and absorb inspiration from people working in other creative capacities. Johanson himself exhibits interdisciplinary tendencies, and describes himself as “an all-over-the map-artist.” He provided vocals on Phil Crumar’s album, “So Unique,” and plays in bands Tina Age 13, Sun Foot, and The Deep Throats. He also created the artwork for numerous music releases, and even produced a compilation CD for zingmagazine issue 21 with San Francisco musician Mike Donovan.

Screen shot from “Encinitas Realization”

In 1993 Johanson created the short film “Encinitas Realization” which follows a surfer (played by photographer and filmmaker Tobin Yelland) as he wanders the streets with his longboard and narrates a stream of personal mantras like, “I am the king of my destiny,” and, “I am focusing my mind powers toward my nowness.” The monologue in this video is similar to the text painted on Mountain/Fortress, which Johanson describes as, “issues that I think are very serious and more than humorous.” For Johanson, finding humor in life is what helps people adhere to and rationalize their inner philosophies and dialogue.

In addition to his work in music and film, Johanson serves as a community organizer who likes to bring together and provide platforms for those whose creative voices are often muffled by those with corporate sponsorship. For the past five years he has put on Portland’s Quiet Music Festival, which has the “tradition of showcasing rare, one-of-a-kind performances interpreting low volume, deep-sonic meditations.” In 2012 he co-curated San Francisco’s Streetopia: Anti-Gentrification Art Fair which lasted for five weeks and highlighted the city’s guerrilla spaces and actions with art shows, live performances, tours, and workshops.

Chris Johanson currently lives and works in Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, but still stays true to his Mission School roots. With a consistent stream of major international exhibitions, he continues to show love and support for where he came from and is loyal to the laid-back, resourceful, and communal ethos of the Mission. New work by Johanson is currently being exhibited at Altman Siegel Gallery in the Richmond district of San Francisco through December 19. The show, called “Equations,” is demonstrative of his allegiance to simple materials, vibrant color, and contemporary existence. At Dikeou Collection, his Mountain/Fortress is like a small seed from which a major career has sprung, something the viewer can symbolically mimic they crouch down to view it and then stand up after absorbing its painted wisdom.

— Hayley Richardson

In the routine of life our surroundings coalesce into a blur of sameness. We switch into autopilot to get through another day without paying much attention to the world around us. With headphones and smart phones we disengage even further while navigating public spaces that have been passed through hundreds of times with the mindset that there is nothing new worth observing. But one day something new does appear - a colorful mural, a kinetic sculpture, music coming out of a storm drain, or a dance performance on a rooftop. This is public art, and it is here to remind us that the spaces we casually pass through are communal environments where interesting and meaningful things happen everyday. As Denver’s growth continues to accelerate, the value of public art grows along with it, putting the city’s economic, social, intellectual, and creative aptitude on display for the world to see. On May 15, Denver Arts & Venues presented its Imagine 2020 Interactive Series on Public Art, a full-day symposium with panels and presentations by artists, commissioners, curators, and educators about the city’s public art program. It was an an eye-opening event that focused on why public art is important, how it comes into being, and who is involved in the process from conception to installation.

Artist Jon Rubin delivered the keynote address, in which he talked about how he uses the audience as part of the medium of his public art. He said that public art has the ability to operate on a local level while having a global reach, which is an idea that never seemed so obvious until someone says it out loud. Rubin has first-hand experience with the global reach of local art and has done two public/participatory works in Denver: Thinking About Flying at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2012 and Playing Apart which took place throughout the downtown area in 2010. Rubin expands public art beyond materiality and turns it into something that not only redefines a space but intervenes on social interaction and gives people the opportunity to think about the spaces they occupy in unexpected ways. Denver could benefit from more public art like Rubin’s with a focus on community activity as it adds variety and spontaneity to the traditional public art forms that populate the city. The city’s sculptures and murals, though, have an important place in its local history as well as the greater history of public art in America. 

The first panel, “Public Art and the Big WHY,” moderated by Denver’s Public Art Manager Michael Chavez, delved into the origins of public art in the U.S. and how it has evolved and stays current in today’s urban planning. Art historian Marisa Lerer is a current assistant professor at Manhattan College and former lecturer at University of Denver who has done significant research on art in the public sphere. She spoke about the City Beautiful Movement of the late 19th century and its purpose in increasing civic virtue through beautiful art and architecture and how the movement influenced Denver. Mayor Robert W. Speer, in office from 1904 to 1912, was an ardent believer in the City Beautiful Movement, and launched several projects to improve the city’s landscape with a desire to transform Denver into a worldly destination. Public art in Denver did not stray far from City Beautiful standards for several decades but it is now home to public installations by notable modern and contemporary artists like Herbert Bayer, Mark di Suvero, Claes Oldenburg, and Luis Jiménez. These works expose locals and visitors alike to unusual ideas in familiar spaces, thus making the art relatable, accessible, and part of everyday life. 

Caryn Champine, Planning Services Director of Denver, talked about the importance of public art in neighborhood planning, and how public art can be used to distinguish the unique characteristics of each neighborhood and also help the local population navigate their neighborhoods more effectively. She focused on Globeville, a community of historical significance and industry that needed some infrastructure improvements, particularly traffic operations and road maintenance. By integrating public art with city planning, Globeville has been able to meet the needs of its citizens while maintaining its unique physical attributes and establishing a strong sense of place. 

Architectural designer Beth Rosenthal expanded upon some of the ideas that Caryn addressed by pointing out that keeping a sense of authenticity becomes more and more crucial as cities grow. The town square, a place that was once the central area where people gathered to share information and ideas, is gradually becoming a fixture of a bygone era, and she proposes that the town square needs to be reimagined as something that can exist in multiple spaces as well as ephemeral spaces. Public art serves as an important identifying feature of these spaces and encourages dialogue and exchange like the town square once did. Mosenthal challenged the audience to imagine what Denver would look like without its public art, and that vision would be pretty desolate and contradictory to the to progress we strive for. 

The second panel “From the Studio to the Street: Several Journeys Toward Making Public Art,” allowed Colorado artists Wopo Holup, Sandra Fettingis, and Randy Marold to talk candidly about their experiences creating art for the public domain. Mandy Renaud, the Public Art Coordinator for Denver International Airport was also part of the discussion, which was moderated by Martha Weidmann, co-founder of NINE dot ARTS consulting company. The artists said they got into public art for different reasons - either by intentionally applying for opportunities, winning a prize, or by the sheer luck of being at the right place at the right time. An important topic of discussion was the difference between public art and art in public space, which is that art in public space can be of any genre while public art is a genre of its own. It involves different strategies, is a slower process, and requires working with numerous people and entities as opposed to the solitary artist working in the studio. Some studio art has the ability to transition easily from the gallery to the public realm, but when an artist works with the intention of having their art exist in public during the entire creation process then it tends be much more effective. Public artists create for an audience that does not always “speak the same language” as those who are more acclimated to being in the presence of art, and when they work they consciously leave room for the unknown. This panel revealed that public artists maintain an important balance between manifesting their own vision and fostering a vision for the community as well. 

After a nice lunch with different community-led discussion tables, it was time to move into the second half of the symposium with “Public Art 301: From Application to Installation.” This panel started with a question for the audience: Who here is an artist? More than half raised their hands. Although this panel focused on the details of how to apply for a public art project, it offered tips and insider information that would be helpful to an artist working on any application, whether it be for school, a residency, a call for an entry, or an award. Presenters Rudi Cerri, the Public Art Administrator for Denver Arts & Venues, Raquel Vasquez of WESTAF, and RTD’s Public Art Manager Brenda Tierney shared all the Do’s and Don’ts of the public art application and implementation process, from selecting the best images for your proposal to answering standard jury questions and working with contractors and fabricators. This advice from the people who help curate Denver’s art landscape pushed the door open even further when it comes to transparency for artists, who may feel overwhelmed or confused about how to get their ideas off the ground. It also reinforced the central theme that public art is for everyone and that the process should be as open as the product. 

The fourth and final panel, “Public Art and Social Practice,” moderated by Zoe Larkins, Curatorial Assistant of Modern & Contemporary Art at Denver Art Museum, shifted the focus from applications and carefully orchestrated fabrications and installations to public art that is spontaneous and ephemeral. Two of the panelists, Yumi Roth and Connor McGarrigle, have each done public art projects that analyzes the “lay of the land” rather than focusing on one specific site, and how residents navigate their city and personally identify with its greatest landmarks and remote corners. The other two panelists, graffiti muralist Gamma and the yarn bombing members of Ladies Fancywork Society, make public art with a temporary lifespan but that appears frequently enough to qualify as a fixture in Denver’s public art repertoire. Because all of these people have made art that focuses on immediate issues and interaction, documentation is tantamount to the longevity of their work. Photographs, videos, and writings are the primary ways to document artwork, but the panelists are more interested in art that creates a story - something that will live in the minds of the people who experience it first hand and can contribute to its legacy by talking about it with others. 

There was much enthusiasm, passion, honesty, and insight throughout the entire span of the symposium, and that is all thanks in part to the diversity of the discussion topics and the panelists. This was a nine hour event, and there was hardly a lull that led to boredom or distraction. Public art is something that I appreciate, but I never realized how much energy and excitement is involved until I was in a room full of people who help create it. As part of Imagine 2020’s arts and cultural plan, this symposium showed that Denver is well on its way to becoming a global creative destination if this momentum continues. 

-Hayley Richardson