Come Face to Face with Painters, Portraits & People at Untitled #71

Update: Download the program (PDF) for Friday, September 26.

At Untitled #71 (Face Time) take a deep dive into the art of portraiture and chat with local and national artists.

First up: take a look at different methods and media of portraiture. Denver-based artist Daniel Sprick gives you the inside scoop on the new exhibition of his hyper-realistic paintings, called Daniel Sprick’s Fictions: Recent Works. From a contemporary master to old masters, DAM curator Angelica Daneo tours the “Portraits & People” gallery in the museum’s permanent collection, shedding light on the conventions, customs and codes of European portraiture from the sixteenth-nineteenth centuries. Then become a master of the art form in your own right. Take a mini-drawing lesson with artist Jeneve Parrish and sketch a self-portrait.

While you’re at it, check out three other portraiture traditions: forensic artist Cynthia Marsh shares tips for expertly describing facial features on a Detour of Daniel Sprick’s Fictions. Then put your newfound skills distinguishing eye shapes and jaw lines to use helping Cynthia create a composite portrait from collective memory. Tom Fesing of the United States Mint chats about how portraits have been historically used on currency and coins and reveals what it takes for a person’s mug to get minted. Tattoo artist Ryan Willard of Marion Street Tattoo has created a new, art-inspired design. Watch one lucky duck (who already has been identified) get his latest creation tattooed live, then chat with Ryan about his creative process.

We’re also taking tonight’s theme at its word and will literally be Face Timing with Native Arts artist-in-residence Jeffrey Gibson (who will be in New York the night of the event). Chat with Jeffrey about his latest project, a film about the DAM, and contribute a few stitches to his community-crafted beaded punching bag. Then discuss personal technologies (like smartphones and Facebook), along with the associated possibilities and perils with Warm Cookies of the Revolution and the ACLU of Colorado. The Arapahoe Library District has even got Google Glass for you to try out!

And be sure to spend some non-technological “face time” with some Untitled favorites. Hang out backstage with Buntport Theater’s Joan and Charlie—after the latest episode of “Joan and Charlie Discuss Tonight’s Theme,” stay tuned for an after show where they’ll dish, tell all, and answer your burning questions.

See you at Untitled #71 (Face Time). For more info, check out our Facebook event listing.

Image credit: Daniel Sprick, Ketsia, 2013. Oil on board; 26 x 18 in. © 2014 Daniel Sprick. Courtesy of Mitchell and Weed Collection. Photograph by Wes Magyar and WM Artist Services.