In Colorado, art awaits around virtually every street corner, as evidenced in John Villani’s book, The 100 Best Art Towns in America, which features more Colorado towns than any other state in the nation.
A headline-grabbing addition to Denver Art Museum, which Time magazine dubbed "the most captivating new [building] to appear in the U.S. in a while," has propelled the renowned museum onto the world’s art stage. Designed by celebrated architect Daniel Liebskind, the new 146,000-square-foot wing is a jagged titanium-clad showplace for the museum’s impressive collections of Western and American Indian art. The museum also features the only Asian art collection in the Rocky Mountain region and dozens of other collections and exhibits.
Modern art aficionados are eagerly awaiting the debut of the permanent home of the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. Set to open in October 2007, the David Adjaye-designed building will provide an innovative forum for contemporary art.
Denver’s Colorado History Museum is the work of the Colorado Historical Society, whose in-depth exhibits include Tribal Paths: Colorado's American Indians, 1500 to Today and Ancient Voices: Stories of Colorado's Distant Past.
Visiting art aficionados will appreciate the Aspen Art Museum, where world-class exhibits of contemporary art make it a must-see. Housed in an historic brick building on the scenic Rio Grande Trail, the museum offers stimulating year-round programming that includes educational workshops, gallery tours by prominent artists and art talks.
In Colorado Springs, the Fine Arts Center features works by renowned artists such as Georgia O’Keefe, John Singer Sargent and John James Audubon. Its brand-new FAC Modern, which opened in April 2006, is entirely devoted to contemporary arts; collections include the work of renowned glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. Nearby, more than four thousand mining artifacts make up the collection of the Western Museum of Mining & Industry.
At the Fort Morgan Museum, the life of Big Bander Glenn Miller is captured through historical photographs, concert movie footage and sheet music. Other exhibits relate to the town’s military past and Native American history.
Visitors can glimpse Colorado’s cultural diversity in a variety of locales. Through its extensive collection of art and artifacts tracing the history of pioneering black cowboys, Denver’s Black American West Museum & Heritage Center opens the door to a little-known dimension of the Old West.
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Comments (1)
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Posted by mark christensen on November 9,2009 | 09:12 AM