5 Colorado Artists To Watch
It would be easy, says art adviser Ann Benson Reidy, to merely place pretty pictures in her clients’ homes and offices, but this industry veteran is after something more: “If I can make people weak in the knees and educate them about different genres of art—and help them move away from what their parents had to realize their own vision—well, that’s just awesome,” she says. Whether she’s hunting for early-edition photographs for private collectors or works that convey a brand’s unique ethos—her Denver-based firm just placed more than 200 pieces by Hawaii artists at the ‘A‘ali‘i tower at Honolulu’s new Ward Village community—Benson Reidy is game for a global search. “I don’t have a stable of artists,” she says. “I get to use every gallery in the world.” That said, Colorado has proven a wellspring of top talent—including these artists catching her eye now...
PHOTO COURTESY WILLIAM HAVU GALLERY
EMMETT CULLIGAN
At William Havu Gallery, Denver
“Emmett studied painting at the Art Students League of New York before pursuing his fine art degree in sculpture at the University of Colorado Denver. The magic of his abstract contemporary sculptures in steel is in his manipulation of the material. In the ‘Rubric’ series, it appears as though he has inflated this hard, unapproachable, almost mean material, giving it a curvature, softness and femininity that is very kind, forgiving and almost sensual. You just want to touch it.”
EMMETT CULLIGAN + WILLIAM T. CARSON + EMILIO LOBATO
"Nüart Gallery presents “Out of Fire," a group exhibition featuring new work by Emmett Culligan, William T. Carson, and Emilio Lobato.
The show features work of powerful materiality in which the artists use steel, coal, and rubber to create pieces of unconventional and singular artistry. Whether in Emmett Culligan’s sculptures made of inflated stainless steel, or William T. Carson’s wall pieces built primarily of coal, or Emilio Lobato’s 2-D sculptural pieces composed of rubber– in each case the artist has pushed his material beyond its conventional applications– and in the process created work that is both innovative and riveting."
Colorado Abstract +10: A Survey
The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities and Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art are proud to partner to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the 2009 book Colorado Abstract: Paintings and Sculpture, by Michael Paglia and Mary Voelz Chandler, with a foreword by Hugh Grant. This landmark publication highlighted the history and continuing tradition of abstraction by artists in the state.
The Arvada Center, in their Main Gallery, will exhibit a contemporary survey of works by artists originally included in the publication. In their Upper and Theatre Galleries, additional artists working in abstraction that have also made an impact on Colorado's art scene will be featured.
Kirkland Museum will present an exhibition of two and three-dimensional artworks created by the artists featured in the historical section of the book, tracing the history and development of this artistic style in Colorado.
Exhibition underwritten by Jodie Steeves and Nancy Terry
Learn More
Emmett Culligan's Sculpture at Cherry Hills Village
"Artist Emmett Culligan has earned a name for himself as one of Colorado’s leading contemporary sculptors. When one looks at the body of his work, this comes as no surprise. Perhaps what is more unusual is that he is not only an artist. he is a craftsman and businessman as well. Many of today’s sculptors—perhaps most—are primarily conceptual artists. They conceive of their idea, the design and materials, and then turn the concept over to an artisan who will actually fabricate the physical artwork itself. This is not true of Emmett. When it comes to the process of realizing the piece of art itself, he is hands-on. Emmett will point out that for him, art is just as much about craftsmanship and the integrity of the piece as it is about the original concept. Emmett maintains that an important aspect of the art process is lost when the sculptor is absent from the actual execution of the work of art. It is in the physical creation where the artist’s intellect and emotion meet. And, it is the artist who knows when and whether the original concept has been realized. The artist’s involvement gives the artwork its essence....
Review: Parallel Lines at Havu Gallery Is an Unseasonably Hot Show
The Metiers on the walls wrap around works by Culligan, a noted Denver sculptor. I first saw his work in the back room at Pirate in the 1990s. At the time, Culligan was still a young, emerging artist, but it was already obvious that he would rise to the top of the heap — and he has, with a number of major commissions for public art now under his belt."
West Colfax Keeps Moving
The West Colfax BID’s Art in Transit project was recently awarded the Governor’s Award for Best Use of Public Space in Durango, Colorado. The project includes artist-design bus shelters by Emmett Culligan, whose colored glasses glow brightly in the sun and complement color coordinated bus shelters, as well the custom way-finding signs by Hyperform Design Co-op. Dan Shah, Director of the BID notes, “Through these elements, the WCBID has set out to celebrate and enhance the transit experience, as well as develop greater support for pedestrian and bicycle use to connect the neighborhoods on both the north and south side of West Colfax Avenue in an integrated identity.”
Publication: North Denver Tribune
Read entire article HERE
The Mayor's Design Award Winners
"The best in architecture and exterior design throughout the mile-high city. And the winners are...
By CHL Staff
WINNER IN THE 'BUILDING WELL, LIVING WELL' CATEGORY Using intentional design, these projects promote community health through active living, access to healthy food and transit, or walkability. They take a holistic approach to the question of where we live, work and play in order to connect it to how we live, work and play, and how we can do it better."
Read complete article HERE
Publication: Coloradohomesmag.com
Sculpture at the Goodwill flagship store in Saint Paul Minnesota
New sculpture installed on University
"When people visit the new Goodwill Easter Seals store at 1239 University Ave., they will experience more than just a new place to shop and donate goods and clothing. They will be greeted by new public art, a gift to the community that reflects the positive energy of the project and the neighborhood..."
Emmett Culligan's design for 7 bus shelters on West Colfax
Check out the installation of 7 new public art bus shelters entitled "Prismatic" featuring Emmett's trademark inflated stainless steel and colored glass. All 7 bus shelters are located on West Colfax Avenue.
West Colfax corridor in Denver gets colorful new bus shelters, signs
Happen to notice West Colfax looking more colorful lately? The West Colfax Business Improvement District recently finished installing new bus shelters and signs.
The new shelters are colored in rainbow order and were donated by the Regional Transportation District. Professional artist Emmett Culligan did the artwork. There are seven shelters along the corridor, which spans from Federal to Sheridan Boulevard.
Review: The Arvada Center takes a leap outside with Unbound: Sculpture in the Field
Michael Paglia's review of the Unbound: Sculpture in the Field.
"The Arvada Center is hosting four strong exhibits right now, all part of the Unbound series. But I will focus on just one here: Unbound: Sculpture in the Field. (I'll discuss the others later this summer.) The show is highly visible -- you can even catch a glimpse from the car -- and it represents a genuine expansion of the center's available art space.
The facility sits on a very large site, something that allowed exhibitions director Collin Parson to imagine using a small part of it -- a seventeen-acre field just to the south of the complex -- as a xeric sculpture garden. Given all that empty space, it's an obvious thing to do, but he's the first to pull it off since the center opened, in 1976... Continue reading article here."
Unbound: Sculpture In the Field
Installation of Unbound: Sculpture In the Field begins. Emmett will have two scuplutes at this outdoor exhibition.
"The Arvada Center Gallery staff has been hard at work preparing for this summer’s outdoor exhibition
Unbound: Sculpture in the Fieldin partnership with the Museum of Outdoor Arts."
Read entire article here.
Emilio Lobato and Emmett Culligan get in shape at Havu
“Rubric #1,” by Emmett Culligan, stainless steel and rhyolite.
"Anyone visiting the William Havu Gallery right now will be thinking about constructivism — or at least the idea of making things through the assembly of rectilinear shapes — even before they get to the building and the exhibit inside. That's because of the construction site right across the street from the gallery. In recent months, half a block's worth of buildings have been cleared to provide space for a planned high-rise called EnV. The design of the building reveals a handsome neo-modernist tower with lots of geometric handling of both surfaces and details. From the drawings produced by the Denver office of Page Southerland Page, EnV promises to be an aesthetic antidote to the Prado, which is just down the block and is definitely one of the ugliest high-rises ever erected in Colorado..."
The West Colfax BID (with help from WeCAN) has selected a design for 6 new bus shelters on West Colfax by Denver artist Emmett Culligan.
"The West Colfax BID (with help from WeCAN) has selected a design for 6 new bus shelters on West Colfax by Denver artist Emmett Culligan.
For the design, Culligan has drawn on both West Colfax's transportation history and its diversity. In the inflated stainless steel corner columns, he seeks to call to mind the "essence of car culture", while each of six shelters features a different colored glass, evoking the ethnic and cultural diversity of the area. Culligan designed the shelter retrofits with functionality for riders as prime consideration, as reflected in the fully enclosed glass structures, capped by a translucent roof to allow for night-time ambient light. The simplicity of the design and the ability to create a strong sense of continuity through the district were also important considerations in the selection."
Sculpture takes center stage at the Botanic Gardens and MCA Denver (Denver Westward Publication)
"For every artist doing three-dimensional pieces in Colorado, there are a hundred more working in two dimensions. That makes a pair of current shows featuring sculpture and installations something special.
First up is Catalyst, an enchanting outdoor exhibit at the Denver Botanic Gardens that is chock-full of impressive sculptures. Catalyst was ably organized by Lisa Eldred, the director of exhibitions at the DBG, who took a "snapshot" of a slice of Colorado's contemporary sculpture scene as exemplified by a dozen of the state's best three-dimensional artists.
The grounds of the DBG, perfectly accented by the Victor Hornbein-designed conservatory, are the ideal place to display outdoor sculptures. There's plenty of room to accommodate the artwork: 23 acres covered in meandering paths lined with flowers, bushes, trees and all manner of landscaping. With this labyrinthine maze, many areas are obscured by the plantings, so it makes sense to get a map of Catalyst before setting off...
...Resembling giant game pieces that have been casually tossed on the ground are the three simple truncated cones of stone and steel from Emmett Culligan's "Crew" series.
Most of the artists are represented by signature works, but a couple have created unexpected pieces, notably the organic abstraction by Andy Miller and the funky neo-pop Maker's Mark bottles by Terry Maker.
I've walked through Catalyst twice and loved it both times. With fall approaching and the leaves about to turn, it's the ideal time to check it out."
RTD art: Emmett Culligan's "Plow" at the County Line station (Denver Westward Publication)
"Let's make a gigantic agricultural plowshare," is the thought that inspired artist Emmett Culligan to create "Plow," the large sculpture that resides at the County Line light-rail station. Culligan answered a few questions about this piece in our latest installment of our RTD art series and discussed the purpose he hopes it serves.
New Public Art Sculptures on View at PACE Center and O’Brien Park
"PACE is proud to announce that Denver artist Emmett Culligan has donated his piece titled “Colid #7” to the PACE Center. The sculpture, which is placed on Pine Drive at the western entrance to PACE, becomes the 16th piece in the Town’s permanent public art collection. The community is invited to meet the artist and join in a dedication reception on June 20th 6-8 p.m. during the Third Thursday Art Walk."
Catalyst: Colorado Sculpture
Emmett is one of the participating sculptors at the Denver Botanic Gardens for the outdoor group exhibition held from May 4, 2013 - January 12, 2014.
Click here to see a photo gallery of my work at the Denver Botanic Gardens.