November 2012: Dana Schutz: If the Face Had Wheels Opens, Becoming Van Gogh, Denver Arts Week, Laura Letinsky On View and Other Highlights

Opening November 11 at the Denver Art Museum (DAM), Dana Schutz: If the Face Had Wheels is the first 10-year survey of one of the most prominent young artists of the past decade. Schutz’s work combines fantasy and reality, humor and horror, to create figurative paintings that abound with expressionist energy. Her distinctive visual style is characterized by vibrant color and raw and tactile brushwork. Schutz’s subjects spring from an absurdist sensibility as she invents imaginary stories or hypothetical situations that are bizarre and impossible, yet oddly compelling. The exhibition features approximately 30 paintings and 8 drawings created since 2001 and will include work from each of her inventive series. Dana Schutz: If the Face Had Wheels will be on view at the DAM through January 13, 2013. The exhibition is included in museum admission.

 

Logan Lecture: Dana Schutz

November 7, 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:15 p.m.)

Dana Schutz is renowned for her quirky imagination, strong subject matter and vibrant color palette. Tickets are $8 students, $12 DAM Contemporaries members and artists, $15 DAM members, $18 non-members. For details or to purchase tickets, call 720-913-0130. Sponsored by Vicki and Kent Logan and DAM Contemporaries, a DAM support group.

 

Special programming complements Becoming Van Gogh

The highly anticipated Becoming Van Gogh, an in-depth exploration of Vincent van Gogh’s unconventional path to becoming one of the world’s most recognizable artists, is now on view in a world-exclusive engagement at the DAM through January 20. The exhibition, which examines critical steps in the largely self-taught artist’s evolution through more than 70 paintings and drawings by Van Gogh, along with works by artists he responded to, is complemented by lectures, programs and demonstrations offered in conjunction with this unique exhibition. Timed and dated tickets are required for Becoming Van Gogh. Tickets are available online at www.VanGoghDenver.com, at the museum and by phone at 720-913-0130 (service fee added to phone orders.)

 

Fauré Requiem

Van Gogh: The Paris Years Through Music

November 2, 3 and 4

Boettcher Concert Hall, 1100 14th St., Denver

This special collaboration between the DAM and the Colorado Symphony includes a pre-concert talk by Becoming Van Gogh curator Timothy J. Standring and projected images of works from the exhibition, which focuses on the artist’s years in Paris. These beautiful images provide a stunning visual backdrop to a program featuring music that recreates the bohemian atmosphere of the era's salons, concert halls and music. During this prolific period, Paris was buzzing about fresh, emerging artistic trends and Gabriel Fauré and Camille Saint-Saëns were in their prime, producing respectively Pavane and Third Violin Concerto. Both works are on the program for this special collaboration as well as Erik Satie's Jack in the Box and Fauré’s Requiem. At evening performances on November 2 and 3 the pre-concert talk starts at 6:30 p.m.; November 4 is a matinee with the pre-concert talk at 1:30 p.m. Single tickets for the performances can be purchased at the Boettcher Concert Hall box office at 1000 14th Street, Denver, online at www.coloradosymphony.org or by calling 303-623-7876.

 

Behind the Scenes at the DAM: Becoming Van Gogh

November 7, 7 p.m.

Tattered Cover Book Store—Historic LoDo

1628 16th Street, Denver

Join Timothy Standring, curator of Becoming Van Gogh, the DAM’s world-exclusive exhibition that has been years in the making. Hear behind-the-scenes stories about planning the exhibition and negotiating loans from more than 60 public and private collections, including traveling around the world. Free, but seating is limited. First-come basis. For more information, call the Tattered Cover Book Store at 303-436-1070.

 

Van Gogh and the Light of God

November 15, 6–7:30 p.m. (doors open at 5 p.m.)

Vincent van Gogh began his artistic career after first attempting to follow in his father's footsteps as a Protestant minister and missionary. Wall Street Journal art writer Jonathan Lopez, author of a forthcoming book on Van Gogh, discusses the painter's spiritual journey and asks what it means to look at art in the light of God. Tickets are $5 for students, $8 for DAM members, $10 for others. For details, e-mail kbonk@denverartmuseum.org or call 720-913-0099.

 

Paint Studio and Weekend Artist Demonstrations

Visitors can dive into the creative process behind assorted techniques and mediums in the Paint Studio, see tools used by artists and photographs of their workspaces at the Studio Walk, play with paint or contribute to a larger-than-life masterpiece in our newest studio. Each weekend local artists will demonstrate different painting techniques in a variety of mediums. Free with general admission. No reservations required.

Demonstrations in November

Sarah Fox: Painting with Acrylic & Color — November 3 and 4, 10 and 11

Chuck Ceraso: Oil Painting — November 17 and 18, 24 and 25

 

Denver Arts Week and Night at the Museums

November 3, 5–10 p.m.

The museum will be open late and general admission is free to celebrate Night at the Museums. Part of Denver Arts Week, Night at the Museums is a special evening when Denver’s top museums open their doors from 5 to 10 p.m., offering events and fun for free.

Throughout Denver Arts Week, November 2–10, the DAM is offering $3 off full-price adult tickets to Becoming Van Gogh (discount code DAW). During Night at the Museums, November 3, a $5 discount will be offered on full-price adult tickets to see Becoming Van Gogh from 5 to 10 p.m. (discount code NIGHT). For more information, visit www.denverartmuseum.org or call 720-913-0130.

 

Create Playdate: Splatter

November 14, 11 a.m.–1 p.m.

Drop in with your little ones, aged 3 to 5, and meet up with other tots and their grown-ups as we are inspired by Van Gogh’s paintings. Make your own masterpiece, listen to stories, and play art games in the galleries. Free with museum admission; children 5 and under are always free. Reservations are not required. For more information, e-mail familyprograms@denverartmuseum.org or call 720-913-0130.

 

CelebrARTE: Creativo

November 18, 1–4 p.m.

Bring toda la familia and drop-in anytime to the DAM’s new monthly, bilingual program. At CelebrARTE: Creativo, vengan y celebren the passion, inspiration, and dedication it takes to be un creativo, like Van Gogh. Toda la familia will see the DAM's collections in new ways by making with artists and participating in creative activities—y bilingüe. Vamos a ver—see what you can become when you are inspired. All CelebrARTE activities are included in general admission. Reservations are not required. For more information, contact Madalena Salazar at msalazar@denverartmuseum.org or 720-913-0054.

 

Laura Letinsky: Still Life Photographs, 1997–2012, Opening October 28

Laura Letinsky’s still life photographs have evolved from studies in melancholy and absence to subtle, yet surprising, explorations of perception, color and space.  Wavering between flatness and volume, story and metaphor, these photographs contain mysteries that challenge viewers to keep looking and asking questions about how we see. This survey exhibition traces the paths Letinsky followed in her work from the late 1990s until today.

On view in the level seven photography gallery, Laura Letinsky: Still Life Photographs, 1997–2012, will be on view through March 24, 2013. The exhibition is included in general admission.

 

Conversation with Curator: Laura Letinsky, Still Life Photographs, 1997-2012

November 2, 4 p.m.

Join curator Eric Paddock for a discussion about perception, color and space in the still-life photographs of Laura Letinsky. Conversations with Curators feature lively discussions with different curators on the first Friday of every month. Free with general admission and no reservations are needed. Meet at 4 p.m. in the photography gallery on level seven of the North Building. For information, call 720-913-0130.

 

2012 Mayer Center Symposium: Festivals and Daily Life in the Arts of Colonial Latin America

November 2 and 3, 9:30 a.m.–5 p.m. and 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

The papers presented at this year’s symposium will address the spectrum of daily life in colonial Latin America with topics as diverse as details of women's clothing and household furniture to grand pageants celebrating the arrival of new viceroys and mourning the deaths of Spanish royalty. Specialists in the arts and history of Latin America will travel from Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and across the United States to present recent research. Tickets range from $20 (student) to $80. For details, contact mayercenter@denverartmuseum.org or 720-913-0156. Sponsored by the Mayer Center for Pre-Columbian & Spanish Colonial Art at the Denver Art Museum.

 

Last Chance to See Mud to Masterpiece: Mexican Colonial Ceramics, Sleight of Hand and Scapes

Closing November 13 and 25

Mud to Masterpiece: Mexican Colonial Ceramics explores the era of global trade and its effect on traditional Mexican earthenware, Chinese porcelain and Mexican majolica. Between 1521 and 1821, the ancient Mexican ceramic art of unglazed, low-fired earthenware was exported to Spain where it became quite fashionable. In return, Spanish artists introduced the potter’s wheel and high-fired hard glazes to Mexico, producing a pottery known as majolica. Trade brought Chinese porcelain to Mexico and its decorative motifs influenced both native earthenware and Mexican majolica. More than 30 pieces of Chinese porcelain, Mexican earthenware and Mexican majolica are on view alongside Mexican colonial paintings that depict the use of ceramics in daily life. On view in the level four New World galleries in the North Building.

Time is running out to meet 14 contemporary artists whose works surprise the eye while challenging and intriguing your powers of perception in Sleight of Hand. These artists push time-honored textile techniques—embroidery, quilting, weaving, netting, crochet, coiling and ikat—to unexpected extremes and invent new methods to achieve their creative vision. On view in the level six Neusteter Textile gallery in the North Building.

Scapes presents an array of drawings focused on landscapes, seascapes, even skyscapes and dreamscapes. Some works convey a sense of place using no more than a simple graphic line, while others inject atmospheric effects. Escape to worlds envisioned by 16 contemporary masters before they disappear. On view in the level three works-on-paper gallery in the Hamilton Building.

 

Free First Saturday

November 3, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

On the first Saturday of every month, you can enjoy our art collections and non-ticketed exhibitions without spending a dime! Free general admission tickets are available on-site starting at 10 a.m. Free First Saturdays are sponsored by Target and made possible by the citizens who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD).