Visual art: Hot spots for your eyeballs

ART

HOT SPOTS

AOTS, Gregg Deal

Must-know venues for contemporary works, street art and everything in between

BY ANNA FIORINO | anna@csindy.com

Colorado Springs is home to a sprawling visual arts scene, and if you know where to look, you’re sure to find something you enjoy.

And take it from me: You don’t have to be familiar with “acrylic painting techniques” or “the characteristics that defined Baroque-era architecture” to appreciate what our arts scene (or any arts scene, for that matter) has to offer. So pick a place, bring a friend and “ooh” and “aah” over incredible local, regional and national talent. We’ll see you there.

Bar-K

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One of the few places in town where you can find a good martini and excellent, eclectic artwork under the same roof. Every month, independent local curator Joshua Coates finds a new (emerging or established) artist to showcase — and we have yet to be disappointed.

Cottonwood Center for the Arts

cottonwoodcenterforthearts.com

According to Jon Khoury, the executive director of the nonprofit arts organization, curating relevant and timely exhibits is one of Cottonwood’s biggest priorities. “One of our trademarks is adjustability and adaptability to circumstances that change,” he says. “[It] makes [us] more responsive to what the community is looking for expressions of. And I think that’s the secret to Cottonwood.” Memorable exhibits from the past year include Inside Voices, which featured art by incarcerated Coloradans, and Metamorphosis, which paid tribute to artists’ evolution via pairs of old and new works.

Galleries of Contemporary Art

entcenterforthearts.org/goca

With the Galleries of Contemporary Art, you have two locations to choose from: their flagship site at Ent Center for the Arts, or their Downtown satellite gallery. (And you can’t go wrong either way!) In addition to their standard art exhibitions, GOCA manages Art WithOut Limits, an ongoing project that features art outside gallery walls, and produces programs like the Artist + Critic Series, which invites artists and scholars to present lectures. New to GOCA is the Project Space Series, pop-up exhibitions that “allows flexibility in the curatorial calendar, offering artists a platform, funding, and inviting guest writers to respond to the works and add to the critical dialogue across the community.”

Art on the Streets

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This summer marks the 24th year of Art on the Streets, a Downtown Partnership program that invites artists from around the world to transform Downtown Colorado Springs into one big outdoor gallery. Keep an eye out in June for new murals, sculptures and installation works.

G44 Gallery

g44gallery.com

G44 Gallery, which is owned and curated by Gundega Stevens (and right next to Kreuser Gallery), presents monthly rotating solo shows by artists from Colorado Springs and beyond. While art style varies from artist to artist, G44 loves to showcase abstract contemporary and contemporary realism works. Don’t forget to drop by for the annual Holiday Show in December!

Knob Hill Urban Arts District

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K.H.U.A.D., a grassroots arts organization that recently acquired their nonprofit designation, is dedicated to building community through public art. Currently, the area is home to over 50 murals — a spectacular display of street art that you can drive by or walk through.

The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College

csfineartscenter.org

The FAC is a prominent cultural fixture, a popular tourist attraction … and an overall arts staple. The center, established in the early 1900s, has been celebrating the arts for over a hundred years now. Upcoming exhibitions we’re particularly excited for: Reframing Birds of America: Conversations on Audubon (April through July 2022) and Robert Blackburn & Modern American Printmaking (May through August 2022).

Manitou Art Center

manitouartcenter.org

For over 30 years, the Manitou Art Center has served as the community’s creative center. It has two main galleries, the Intemann Gallery and Hagnauer Gallery, studios, classrooms and even a PPLD library branch. Plus, everyone has the opportunity join the MAC Makerspace for access to the center’s equipment and resources (metalshop, woodshop, darkroom and more) — to make some art of their own.

kreusergallery.com

When Kreuser Gallery first opened their doors 11 years ago, they were in the Arts Depot District. Today, you’ll find the gallery on East Boulder Street, where they have month-long exhibits by a diverse mix of artists. With three exhibition rooms in the gallery space, Kreuser can spotlight up three or more artists at a time. On the roster for 2022: installation artist Su Kaiden Cho, sculpturist Sean O’Meallie and Bee Vradenburg Executive Director Claire Swinford.

The Space

thespacecos.com

Don’t let the exterior fool you; this State Farm Insurance agency doubles as an art gallery. (Which somehow makes it so much cooler, right?) Thanks to collaboration between insurance agent Rusty Fanning and curators Chelsea Boucher and Felicia Kelly, the corporate office functions as a welcoming and accessible space

New Gallery Alert: Ultra Flat Black Gallery and Lounge

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West Colorado Springs’ newest art space will be part gallery, part bar and part selfie museum — so basically, the best of all possible worlds. Rae Madigan, the curator for Ultra Flat Black, wants to promote local art; around 80 percent of featured artists will be based in the Springs, and 20 percent will be from Colorado. “I don’t want to do the same thing that has been done before,” says Madigan. “I want to keep it new. I want to keep it fresh.”

UFB will be hosting two art shows a month and partaking in First and Third Fridays; each exhibit will have both in-person and virtual viewing options. Darin Newhouse, Jay Ohh and other artists will be officially breaking in the gallery space with their group show in April. For updates, hours of operation and more info, see their Facebook page.

More Galleries We Love:

Commonwheel Artists Co-op, commonwheel.com The Machine Shop, jointhemachine.com The Studio, chefbrotherluck. com/the-studio