After several days of eye-opening vistas, one of my last stops in the southwestern corner of Colorado was a visit to the Southern Ute Museum and Cultural Center in Ignacio. If only this week held such beauty. Many years ago I spent a couple of days on the Southern Ute Reservation interviewing a well-known legislator …
Continue reading "Serenity and strife: a museum deftly handles both"
On Saturday, September 28, from 10 a.m. to noon, a panel discussion will focus on “Colorado Abstract +10,” an exhibition now filling the Arvada Center. This is 10 years after the original exhibition that was based on the book Colorado Abstract: Paintings and Sculpture. The book was organized by art and architecture writer and historian …
Continue reading "It’s a fine show, following in the footsteps of 10 years ago"
After two days of driving from Denver to Durango – and back – and a day between of wandering around in southwestern Colorado to visit various places, it’s good to be home. But the towns in that corner of the state are quite something, with galleries, interesting restaurants, and museums. It is apparent that the …
Last night, Denver City Council approved the draft plan for development on the campus, where some 800 residential units could be built. More than 40 people spoke for and against the plan, and there were a lot of questions. (The only “no” vote came from City Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca; Councilman Chris Herndon was not there …
For anyone who grew up in a part of the country that experienced numerous and terrible tornadoes, it always seemed like mobile home parks often took the biggest hits. Why would people live there, I’d hear people say. Well, because those homes are affordable. In Colorado, “affordable” is now a diminishing situation. Like all of …
With concrete seeming to be spreading like wildfire across Colorado, it’s worth a shout-out to the fact that ranch in Trinidad is now Colorado’s 42ndstate park. This is something to celebrate. It’s good news because the state’s growth means that after work is done on the park (and it will take a bit of time) …
Demolition/preservation/landmarking fatigue can set in when it’s been a summer of battles. But if that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes. Some people just do not get the fact that some neighborhoods -- neighbors -- are tired of being pushed around and suddenly awash in a sea of ugliness around them. And sometimes they …
Continue reading "A one-two punch, or maybe just a time out for preservation"
With temperatures rising, people are investigating how heat has an impact on various neighborhoods. The story on NPR last week, offered listeners and readers an opportunity to choose their city to study maps that pinpointed neighborhoods facing different levels of problems because of the heat. These maps are kinetic, showing heat, and non-heat, although there …
Continue reading "When maps tell a story of heat and poverty"
Or just pick up a giant photograph. Actually, art handlers know what they are doing, but it’s difficult, even dangerous work. Anytime I visit a gallery or museum, I wonder how something huge actually gets put in place, like the 1999 untitled sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor in the Denver Art Museum, which is part …
Continue reading "Tote that barge, lift that bale. Haul that painting."
A revealing story from Kaiser Health News was published this morning in The Denver Post. It is a good read, and will either raise your hackles because a hospital system – Centura Health -- does not follow a law in Colorado, or you will feel that the call of angel wings actually means something. I’m …
Continue reading "That is, if you wish to proceed with assisted suicide"
Chandler in Denver 