All-year-round sunshine, an array of world class golf courses, and several pumping nightlife venues are just some of the features and attractions that help make the desert city of Phoenix such a popular destination, both for those who live there and the large number of visitors who arrive in the Arizona capital every year seeking fun and adventure.
A rural area in Santa Fe (Photo: Monica Argentina via Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0)
At the heart of the city’s activity is its downtown district, a bustling nexus of commerce, art, and culture that has undergone a dramatic revamp in recent years with the addition of several new mixed-use commercial buildings featuring a diverse mix of shops and restaurants. For those keen to check out some of the district’s lesser known attractions, we’ve compiled a list of Downtown Phoenix’s most unique places of interest.
The Late Works: Clyfford Still in Maryland
The Clyfford Still Museum’s new exhibition investigates the artist’s later works made after his move to rural Maryland in 1961. This marked a particularly fertile period for Still; he made over 375 works on canvas and over 1,100 works on paper, in Maryland before his death in 1980 at age 75. The exhibition includes approximately 40 paintings and 30 works on paper. It also represents the culmination of a nearly 10-year inventory, research, and conservation project in which the Museum unrolled, catalogued, and stretched many late works, most for the first time.
LOCATION Clyfford Still Museum, Denver DATES 18 September 2020 – 21 February 2020
(Photo: Clyfford Still Museum)
Bold Women. Change History
As the issue of women’s rights continue to burn brightly on the political, cultural and social landscape, this timely exhibition serves to highlight Colorado women’s struggle for suffrage and equity – a fight that led to the state becoming America’s first to extend voting rights beyond men. Exploring topics ranging from grassroots organising to the influence of news outlets and racism in political advocacy, visitors will gain a newly informed perspective on the significance and power of the right to vote.
LOCATION Center for Colorado Women’s History, Denver DATES 7 March 2020 – 28 February 20201
(Photo: Center for Colorado Women’s History)
Process and Print
Process and Print takes an in-depth look at the processes used to create fine art prints. Featuring a selection of prints from Kirkland Museum’s permanent collection, the exhibition includes original printing blocks and plates, study drawings and printing equipment. Deputy Curator Christopher Herron has selected a group of lithographs, intaglio prints, relief prints and serigraphs by Colorado and regional artists that illustrate the wide variety of images created using these processes.
LOCATION Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver DATES Through 2020
(Photo: Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art)
What’s Mined is Yours
In keeping with its commitment to preserve and interpret the rich mining history of Colorado and the American West, the Western Museum of Mining and Industry has curated a fascinating exhibition that invites visitors to discover the challenges and dangers early miners faced. Featuring an immersive walk-through mine shaft, the exhibition compels you to marvel at the brave ingenuity of a Chilean Miners Rescue Pod while learning about the ongoing significance of mining in our day to day lives.
LOCATION The Western Museum of Mining and Industry, Colorado Springs DATES Through 2020
(Photo: The Western Museum of Mining and Industry)
The Art of the Brick
LEGO bricks may be considered the preserve of children, but one artist has challenged that perception by giving the iconic toys an adult – and incredibly creative – twist. Renowned contemporary artist Nathan Sawaya has reimagined versions of famous masterpieces from art and culture, such as Van Gogh’s Starry Night and the Venus de Milo, through the medium of LEGO. Other highlights include a life-size sculpture of a man with thousands of yellow LEGO bricks cascading from his chest, and a T. rex skeleton made out of 80,000 LEGO bricks.
LOCATION Denver Museum of Nature & Science DATES xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera & Mexican Modernism
Featuring more than 150 artworks by eminent artists Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Lola Alvarez Bravo, Gunther Gerzso, María Izquierdo, Carlos Mérida, and others, this exhibition delves deep into the role that at played in the emergence of national identity and creative spirit after the end of the Mexican Revolution in 1920. The exhibition places a particular focus on important women artists during this period, including 20 of Frida Kahlo’s paintings and drawings inspired by personal experience, Mexican folk art, and a world view often known as magical realism.
LOCATION Denver Art Museum DATES 25 October 2020 – 24 January 2021
(Photo: Denver Art Museum)
Railroads and the American Industrial Landscape
The railroad has played a pivotal role in the history of central America, inspiring some of the most talented and significant artists of the 19th and 20th centuries – and among them was Ted Rose. Rose created eye-catching, mostly black-and-white photographs of American Industrial settings in the 20th century. For this exhibition, The Center for Railroad Photography & Art and the Colorado Railroad Museum have teamed up to showcase a diverse assortment of the artist’s photographs, along with selected watercolour paintings and other works.
LOCATION Colorado Railroad Museum, Golden DATES Through 31 December 2020
(Photo: Colorado Railroad Museum)
Citizenship: A Practice of Society
In 2016, in response to rising political tensions across the US and the wider world, a cohort of artists began creating a series of art pieces that addressed specific political crises, such as the opioid epidemic and Flint, Michigan’s battle for a clean water supply. This Fall several of these works, along with a number of new commissions, have been assembled and turned into an exhibition that exemplifies how artists can often act as citizens by stimulating civic engagement and debate.
LOCATION Museum of Contemporary Art Denver DATES 2 October 2020 – 14 February 2021
Mental Health: Mind Matters
This groundbreaking exhibition aims to build a greater understanding of the importance of mental health and encourage conversations around mental illness. Hands-on experiences throughout the exhibition are designed to bring visitors closer to the facts, feelings, and issues surrounding a topic that touches so many of our lives. Visitors can peer into mini-dioramas of important moments in mental health history, play a quiz to test their knowledge of common misconceptions about mental illnesses, and hear what it’s like to experience psychosis.
LOCATION Fort Collins Museum of Discovery DATES 3 October 2020 – 10 January 2021
(Photo: Fort Collins Museum of Discovery)
The Big Picture – Painting From The Universe
This exhibition features abstract paintings and drawings by the American artist John Torreano, pulling viewers into the mysteries and wonders of the cosmos aided by images from the Hubble Space Telescope. Torreano’s paintings are typically accentuated by plastic gems, wooden balls, paint, and plywood that he discovered while walking in New York City in the early 1970s, and in this exhibition the trinkets have been used to capture the universe, reflecting light and change as one moves around them.
LOCATION Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art DATES 3 September 2020 – 17 January 2020
(Photo: Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art)