Everyone deserves great art as does every space, especially public ones. Art is for the people, people!
Narrative Landscape by Theresa Clowes at Civic Center Park. Photography by Third Dune Productions.
Los Supersonicos (Carlos Fresquez and Frank Zamora)
Here Comes Rusty, 2022
Fiberglass-reinforced plastic, carbon steel, paint
Art consulting services provided in collaboration with Castle Searcy
Commissioned by Delwest as part of the 1% for Art program of the Commerce City Urban Renewal Authority
Art selection committee comprised of members from the Commerce City Cultural Council and the Commerce City Historical Society: Debra Bullock, Johni Grabinski, José Guardiola, Esther Hall, Samantha Hunt and Abe and Angela Ramirez
Fabrication by Silo Workshop
Documentation by Third Dune Productions
This site-specific sculpture pays homage to Rusty the Rabbit, the mechanical lure at Mile High Greyhound Park. “Here comes Rusty” kicked off every race run at Mile High Greyhound Park for almost six decades. Yet despite coming in first place every time, Rusty never earned recognition. This long-overdue sculpture finally acknowledges Rusty as the true winner he was.
A parody of the iconic Rocky sculpture in Philadelphia, Rusty raises his arms high in victory. Los Supersonicos modeled Rusty’s plaque after the one that accompanies Rocky with a Rusty-themed modification of Sylvester Stallone’s words: “It’s not how fast you run, it’s how quick you keep moving forward—that’s how winning is done”. The sculpture’s raised platform and poles pay tribute to the Googie-style signage that dominated architectural trends during Mile High Greyhound Park’s heyday.
As seen in the Westword.
Narrative Landscape, 2019
Manipulated fabric/found objects
Commissioned by Civic Center Conservancy for Art in the Park 2019 and sponsored by Xcel Energy Foundation with advisory support from Denver Parks & Recreation and Denver Arts & Venues
Curated in collaboration with Castle Searcy
Installation assistance from Drew Austin and Katie Kruger
Documentation by Third Dune Productions
This site-specific textile installation celebrates the 100-year anniversary of Civic Center’s Greek Theater. Clowes found inspiration in the City Beautiful Movement, the Theater’s Turkey Creek sandstone structure, its Allen Tupper True murals, and the Park’s iconic place as the nucleus of Denver’s civic life. Each layer represents a quarter century of time and pays homage to Colorado’s landscape. Clowes incorporated quotes from Denver’s mayors, painted leaves collected from the Park, bottle caps symbolizing the craft beer movement, and clouds suggesting the state’s big sky into the design. The abstract, meditative installation invites viewers to slow down, look closely, and stay awhile.
The Oscar Wallpaper, 2019
PVC, cast aluminum, paint, fake flora, found plastic items
Commissioned by Downtown Denver Business Improvement District as part of the 2019 Between Us: The Downtown Denver Alleyways Project in partnership with Arts Brookfield at Republic Plaza
Curated in collaboration with Castle Searcy
Installation and fabrication assistance from Scottie Burgess, Samantha Kokesh, Tiffany Matheson, Eric Pendergraft, and Emily Zeek
Documentation by Third Dune Productions
The Oscar Wallpaper investigates not only the collision of the natural world with the domestic but also the weight of time and history in addition the intersection of the local and global.
The installation reframes and reconsiders William Morris’s botanical wallpaper motifs in three dimensions. Morris, a British artist, craftsman, writer and socialist, heavily influenced the Arts and Crafts Movement inspired by nature, pattern and grace; he remains best known for his iconic wallpaper patterns that dominated Victorian home decor. Kerrane’s piece plays with artifice in myriad ways from faux plants to toy train tracks. Her cast aluminum ropes call to mind the pulleys of the Matchless Mine as well as its shimmering lodes of silver. The classical Greek columns and archways pay homage to early photographic backdrops. The background’s peeling surface references aging wallpaper and the impermanence of not only domestic settings but life itself.
Additionally, the installation pays homage to Oscar Wilde’s 1882 visit to Leadville, Colorado. The witty Irish poet, novelist and playwright developed a lecture tour derived from the theories of the Arts & Crafts Movements called, “The Practical Application of the Principles of the Aesthetic Theory to Exterior and Interior House Decoration, With Observations upon Dress and Personal Ornaments.” He appeared at Leadville’s Tabor Opera House and Silver Dollar Saloon, eventually winning over the miners with his hard drinking and clever repartee, becoming so popular the town named a lode of silver after him at the Matchless Mine. The railroad tracks, pulleys and cast aluminum rope directly reference Colorado’s mining history while the vibrant color palette nods to Wilde’s flamboyant style.
Born in Galway, Ireland, Kerrane received her BA in Fine Arts Degree from the University of Ulster at Belfast before immigrating to the United States where she earned her MFA from the University of New Orleans, Louisiana. Kerrane is Professor of Sculpture and Art Practices at the University of Colorado Denver, where was awarded researcher of the year in 2017, and is represented by Mai Wyn Fine Art. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally in Latvia, Italy, Austria, Mexico and Ireland.
The 2019 edition of Between Us: The Downtown Denver Alleyways Project celebrates Upper Downtown as an international business center and Denver as a world-class city with five site-specific art installations by local, female artists Sabin Aell, Lares Feliciano, Rian Kerrane, Marsha Mack and Chinn Wang. These works highlight the connections local artists have to the greater global community, redefine how people engage with urban settings and create a sense of place that goes beyond geography. The project is supported by the Downtown Denver Partnership and the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District.
To The Moon, 2019
Digital print on vinyl
Commissioned by Downtown Denver Business Improvement District as part of the 2019 Between Us: The Downtown Denver Alleyways Project in partnership with Nuveen Real Estate
Curated in collaboration with Castle Searcy
Printed and installed by Harmonic Media
Documentation by Third Dune Productions
To The Moon celebrates humanity’s propensity to strive for a better future. This digital collage combines the earthly and celestial as well as the personal and communal to dazzling effect.
Set in a surreal garden of fruits, flowers, and foliage, this work is about the future: hope, possibility, and potential. A young boy stands hand in hand with his mother as they walk towards the large and luminous moon. The mother is steadfast in her approach to this bright future; the boy looks up to her, cautious but trusting. Two magpies frame the scene, a sign of good luck that indicates joy, love, and lasting fortune. On the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, this piece represents the fear and excitement of an unknown future and the fruits of one’s labor to willingly move forward with hope.
Lares Feliciano is an artist, animator, collaborator, and curator. She holds an M.F.A in Cinema Production from San Francisco State University and a B.A. in Film & American Studies from Smith College. She is a current resident artist at RedLine Contemporary Art Center and was a participant in the Colorado Creative Industries Change Leader Institute. Her films have screened all over the world in cities such as New York, San Francisco, Berlin, London, and Melbourne. She is a member of Secret Love Collective and Program Director for Think 360 Arts for Learning.
The 2019 edition of Between Us: The Downtown Denver Alleyways Project celebrates Upper Downtown as an international business center and Denver as a world-class city with five site-specific art installations by local, female artists Sabin Aell, Lares Feliciano, Rian Kerrane, Marsha Mack, and Chinn Wang. These works highlight the connections local artists have to the greater global community, redefine how people engage with urban settings and create a sense of place that goes beyond geography. The project is supported by the Downtown Denver Partnership and the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District.
Dye-sublimated aluminum
Commissioned by Downtown Denver Business Improvement District as part of the 2019 Between Us: The Downtown Denver Alleyways Project in partnership with Holiday Inn Express Downtown Denver
Curated in collaboration with Castle Searcy
Printed by Reed Art & Imaging
Installed by Custom by Rushton, LLC
Documentation by Third Dune Productions
and the wind blows – zawau melds patterns, flora, and imagery from across the globe to celebrate our free flowing connection to nature, movement, and each other.
Zawau in the title is taken from German comics and means something splashy/magical is about to happen. This work collages photography and drawing created during the artist’s international travels. Collections of imagery and cultural insight, they feed both her work and spirit. The differing energies, exchanges, landscapes, and people from each place heighten the senses and broaden one’s creativity and spirit. The process of collage mimics that of travelling: letting one moment or experience lead to and inform the next and so on. The layering of the imagery functions like the memory’s filter in the ways it covers and/or reveals. The variety of imagery references the diversity within the natural landscape, even within a small geographic area, and highlights the brilliant flux of natural energy. The organic, dynamic shapes of the work burst across the wall, stretching around the corner to beautifully beckon passersby.
Sabin Aell creates extravaganzas as a mixed media and installation artist and designer. Born and raised in Austria, she moved to Denver in 2006. She studied at the University of the Arts Linz and University of Vienna in Austria before earning a Master’s degree from the Design College for Graphic Design & Photography. Her work has been exhibited internationally in Berlin, London, Seoul, Adelaide, Stockholm, Vienna, and across the U.S. Sabin is represented by Walker Fine Art in Denver, CO.
The 2019 edition of Between Us: The Downtown Denver Alleyways Project celebrates Upper Downtown as an international business center and Denver as a world-class city with five site-specific art installations by local, female artists Sabin Aell, Lares Feliciano, Rian Kerrane, Marsha Mack, and Chinn Wang. These works highlight the connections local artists have to the greater global community, redefine how people engage with urban settings, and create a sense of place that goes beyond geography. The project is supported by the Downtown Denver Partnership and the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District.
Digital print on Dibond and steel
Commissioned by Downtown Denver Business Improvement District as part of the 2019 Between Us: The Downtown Denver Alleyways Project in partnership with Brookfield Properties
Curated in collaboration with Castle Searcy
Printed by Reed Art & Imaging
Fabrication and installation by Art Management & Planning Associates, Inc.
Documentation by Third Dune Productions
Sisterhood celebrates Denver’s global sister cities with vintage-inspired transit signs installed at a one to 2,000 scale to each city’s elevation.
Conceived after World War II, the modern concept of sister cities are meant to foster friendship and understanding among different cultures, symbolizing peace and cross-cultural exchange. Denver’s sister cities bridge four continents, eleven municipal governments, at least fifteen languages, and nearly 20 million city dwellers.
Denver’s mile-high elevation remains a key element to its identity; therefore the signs are installed according to each city’s elevation starting with Chennai, India ending with Axum, Ethiopia. The symbols on each sign refer to particular cultural and geographic elements in each city such as its coat of arms, architectural structures, or iconic landscape elements or wildlife.
Cities, Elevations, and Symbol Key
Axum, Ethiopia
6,991 feet
Ancient Obelisk of Axum built in 4th century
Star symbol from Ethiopian flag
Brest, France
338 feet
Coat of arms (half France, half Brittany)
Gallic rooster is national symbol of France
Chennai, India
22 feet
Tiger and fish from Chennai coat of arms
Lotus is national flower of India
Cuernavaca, Mexico
4,954 feet
Tree is symbol of city
Prickly pear cactus from Mexican coat of arms
Denver, Colorado
5,280 feet
Key and eagle from Denver seal
Columbine is state flower
Karmiel, Israel
1,083 feet
Red poppy from coat of arms
Olive branch representing national tree of Israel
Kunming, China
6,234 feet
Arch symbolizes Golden Horse and Green Rooster Archways in Kunming
Panda is national symbol of China
Nairobi, Kenya
5,889 feet
Shield is coat of arms
Shield with spears from flag of Kenya
Potenza, Italy
2,687 feet
Stars, lion, and ladder from coat of arms
Stars as symbol of Italy
Takayama, Japan
1,890 feet
Purple symbol from flag of Takayama
Mount Fuji is symbol of Japan
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
4,429 feet
Garuda (mythical bird in Buddhist and Hindu scriptures) from city flag
Soyombo (from Sanskrit meaning “self-created”) as national symbol of Mongolia
Chinn Wang’s work employs coded visual languages and symbolic iconography to examine, problematize, and humorize the subjective nature of personal narrative and history. She earned her MFA from the University of Wisconsin and a dual BA in Art Practice and Art History from the University of California Berkely. She is a Teaching Assistant Professor and Foundations Coordinator in the School of Art & Art History at the University of Denver and lives in Boulder, Colorado.
The 2019 edition of Between Us: The Downtown Denver Alleyways Project celebrates Upper Downtown as an international business center and Denver as a world-class city with five site-specific art installations by local, female artists Sabin Aell, Lares Feliciano, Rian Kerrane, Marsha Mack, and Chinn Wang. These works highlight the connections local artists have to the greater global community, redefine how people engage with urban settings, and create a sense of place that goes beyond geography. The project is supported by the Downtown Denver Partnership and the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District.
Marsha Mack
Digital print on Dibond
Commissioned by Downtown Denver Business Improvement District as part of the 2019 Between Us: The Downtown Denver Alleyways Project in partnership with Brookfield Properties and SP+
Curated in collaboration with Castle Searcy
Printed by Reed Art & Imaging
Installed by Custom by Rushton, LLC
Documentation by Third Dune Productions
Paper Dolls explores identity through Vietnamese objects that represent femininity and street culture while also paying homage to the traditional children’s toy and alley clotheslines.
Paper Dolls features images of the artist wearing traditional Vietnamese áo dài dresses blown up and printed onto monumental aluminum cutouts. This project investigates Asian heritage and the changeability of mixed-race identity in the United States through the lens of fashion and adornment. The áo dài is a symbol of Vietnamese femininity and is commonly worn at formal events, on holidays, or as an everyday outfit. In Paper Dolls, the white áo dài with conical nón lá hat is worn to represent youthfulness and purity. Next, stands a red and gold laced wedding áo dài with khăn đóng bridal crown. Lastly, the boldly colored and patterned blue lotus áo dài, appropriate for a mature woman, proudly finishes the trio. As is common with paper doll toys, accessories are included. A bouquet of lotus blossoms, the national flower of Vietnam, a silk fan, and the ubiquitous beeping scooter are featured. Regarding the inspiration for Paper Dolls Mack states, “Vietnamese culture, to which I experience much as a tourist, serves as magnetic fascination, comfort, and occasionally an alienating reality.” Where does identity come from and how is it formed? Does the clothing make the woman, or it is something larger?
Marsha Mack holds an MFA in Ceramics and a Certificate of Advanced Study in Women's and Gender Studies from Syracuse University, and a BFA in Ceramics from San Francisco State University. Mack's texturally rich, process-intensive sculptures and installations honor playfulness and introspection as equals. Her ongoing interest in cultural consumption and the formation of identity serves as a wellspring for visual and associative cues, giving rise to questions of personal vs universal symbol, mixed race identity, and the emotional potential of commercial products. Mack has presented projects and exhibitions with the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (Denver, CO), Black Cube Nomadic Museum (Englewood, CO), Lane Meyer Projects (Denver, CO), and the Galleries of Contemporary Art (Colorado Springs, CO).
The 2019 edition of Between Us: The Downtown Denver Alleyways Project celebrates Upper Downtown as an international business center and Denver as a world-class city with five site-specific art installations by local, female artists Sabin Aell, Lares Feliciano, Rian Kerrane, Marsha Mack, and Chinn Wang. These works highlight the connections local artists have to the greater global community, redefine how people engage with urban settings, and create a sense of place that goes beyond geography. The project is supported by the Downtown Denver Partnership and the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District.
Joshua Ware with commissioned poetry by Carolina Ebeid, J. Michael Martinez, Sueyeun Juliette Lee, and Serena Chopra
Community poetry through Lighthouse Writers Workshop by Millicent Fambrough, Noreen Gima, Martha Kalin, Brandon McWilliams, and Kathleen Willard
83”h x 110”w x 78”d
Mixed Media
Funded by P.S. You Are Here through Denver Arts & Venues
Hosted by Denver Parks & Recreation and in partnership with Curtis Park Neighbors
Curated in collaboration with Castle Searcy
Installed by Joshua Ware and Eric Dallimore
Studio space provided by GEORGIA and Sommer Browning
Documentation by Third Dune Productions
Swim Club, an initiative developed by Hey Hue and supported by a P.S. You Are Here grant through Denver Arts & Venues, aims to transform public swimming pools as a site for contemporary art and community engagement. Swim Club challenges conceptions of public art, democratizes arts experiences and engages the citizens of Denver in innovative ways. The pilot project kicked off at the Mestizo-Curtis Park swimming pool in summer 2020.
Working in collaboration with Denver Parks & Recreation and Curtis Park Neighbors, Hey Hue has commissioned local sculptor Joshua Ware and poets Carolina Ebeid, J. Michael Martinez, Sueyen Juliette Lee and Serena Chopra to create a multidisciplinary artwork for the pool that combines sculpture and poetry. Entitled DETH LIGHT VIII: 4 WAHDUR POMBS, the sculpture pays homage to bodies of water while it reframes the functionality and interactivity of public art. Additionally, the sculpture features poetry sourced from the local community via Lighthouse Writers Workshop.
About Joshua Ware
Joshua Ware is an artist and poet who was born in Cleveland, OH. His visual art has appeared in exhibitions in Denver, Boulder, Santa Ana, and the Scandinavian Collage Museum in Berkåk, Norway. Reproductions of his work have been used for book and magazines covers, and featured in print and online journals. He is also the author of Unwanted Invention / Vargtimmen and Homage to Homage to Homage to Creeley, both published by Furniture Press Books. His work has appeared in magazines such as American Letters & Commentary, Conduit, Denver Quarterly, Fence, Gulf Coast, and New American Writing. He currently lives in Denver, CO.
About Caroline Ebeid
Carolina Ebeid was born in West New York, NJ and is the author of You Ask Me to Talk About the Interior (Noemi Press, 2016). She holds a PhD from the University of Denver, and has won fellowships from CantoMundo, the Stadler Center, the NEA, as well as a residency fellowship from the Lannan Foundation. She helps edit poetry at The Rumpus, and together with her husband, poet, Jeffrey Pethybridge, and their son Patrick, helps create the online zine Visible Binary. This spring she is teaching at University of Texas, El Paso in the bilingual MFA program, the rest of the year she teaches at Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop in Denver.
About J. Michael Martinez
Longlisted for the National Book Award, selected for the National Poetry Series and a recipient of the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, J. Michael Martinez is the author of three collections of poetry. His writings have been anthologized in Ahsahta Press’ The Arcadia Project: North American Postmodern Pastoral, Rescue Press’ The New Census: 40 American Poets, and Counterpath Press’ Angels of the Americlypse: New Latin@ Writing. Visiting Assistant Professor of Poetry at St. Lawrence University, J. Michael lives in upstate NY. He was born in Greeley, CO.
About Sueyeun Juliette Lee
Sueyeun Juliette Lee is the author of five books of poetry, most recently SOLAR MAXIMUM (Futurepoem, 2015) and No Comet, That Serpent in the Sky Means Noise (Kore Press, 2017). She was a 2013 Pew Fellow in the Arts for Literature (Poetry), a featured artist for Chicago’s 2015 city-wide performance arts festival IN>TIME, and a commissioned artist for the Asian Arts Initiative‘s 25th Anniversary series, (ex)CHANGE: History Place Presence. Lee reviews contemporary poetry for The Constant Critic, a project of Fence Books and edited COROLLARY PRESS, a chapbook series dedicated to innovative multi-ethnic writing. She lives is Denver, CO where she works in the non-profit sector, promoting social and economic justice.
About Serena Chopra
Serena Chopra is a teacher, writer, dancer, filmmaker, soundscape designer and a visual and performance artist. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Denver, an MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder and was a Kundiman Fellow, a 2011-2013 Redline artist in Residence, a 2016-2017 Fulbright Scholar (Bangalore, India), and has received a month-long artist residency at Understudy Denver for September 2020. She has two books, This Human (Coconut Books 2013) and Ic (Horse Less Press 2017), as well as two films, Dogana/Chapti (2018, winner of ArtHyve's Archives as Muse Film grant, Official Selection at Frameline43, Oregon Documentary Film Festival and Seattle Queer Film Festival) and Mother Ghosting (2018). She was an 8-year company member with Evolving Doors Dance and was recently a featured artist in Harper's Bazaar (India) as well as in the Denver Westword’s “100 Colorado Creatives.” She has recent publications in Foglifter and Matters of Feminist Practice (Belladonna). In October 2020, Serena will be co-directing No Place to Go an artist-made haunted house with Kate Speer and Frankie Toan. Serena is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Seattle University.
About Lighthouse Writers Workshop
The mission of Lighthouse Writers Workshop is to provide the highest caliber of artistic education, support, and community for writers and readers in the Rocky Mountain Region and beyond. We strive to ensure that literature maintains its proper prominence in the culture, and that individuals achieve their fullest potential as artists and human beings.
About P.S. You Are
Launched in 2014, P.S. You Are Here is a citywide creative placemaking and neighborhood revitalization program that cultivates collaborative, community-led outdoor projects in Denver’s public spaces. The project funds help support creative, short-term physical improvement projects that aim to transform underutilized urban spaces to increase collaboration, honor heritage, build civic engagement, beautify neighborhoods, enrich communities and inspire long-term change.
Sandra Fettingis
Acrylic
8’h x 18’w
Fabricated by Plasticare
Installed by Art Installation Services
Commissioned by Nuveen Real Estate and CBRE for 1600 Broadway
Known for her iconic, abstract geometric style, artist Sandra Fettingis creates timeless, site-specific patterns for public art projects such as murals and installations across the nation. Her elegant, harmonious works integrate art with the surrounding built and natural environments. She combines a careful study of a location and its social fabric with creative problem solving to generate meditative yet dynamic patterns with a keen attention to detail and impeccable craftswomanship.
Born and raised in Chicago, by South American artist parents, Sandra studied at the Art Center College of Design and earned a BA from Columbia College. Since 2007, when she painted her first mural in Chicago, she has created more than 50 large-scale artworks for public and private collections. Sandra’s award-winning installation for the Colorado Convention Center, I know that you that I know, completed in 2014, propelled her into the public-facing projects she makes today. Her projects include extensive large-scale murals as well as glass windscreens for RTD’s A and EFR Lines, in addition to a four-story tall, integrated LED and aluminum wall sculpture for Denizen Denver. Her work has been exhibited locally at the Denver Art Museum, nationally as part of several mural festivals, and internationally at the Sharjah Festival in the United Arab Emirates. Sandra has been featured in publications such as Forbes, Huffington Post, Chicago Sun-Times, Design Milk, Hyperallergic, and Modern in Denver. She has earned grants from both the City of Chicago and Denver and is an alumni of RedLine, Denver’s artist residency program.
Over the course of her career, Sandra has worked with dozens of collaborators to execute her projects indoors and out. Her extensive diverse network includes lasting relationships with artists, curators, fabricators, installers, architects, and other experts. She works with this network to achieve more expansive, advanced, and visionary projects that often integrate technology and re-envision the role of art in public spaces both in and outside of Colorado.
Sandra continues to push her practice creatively and professionally by experimenting with new materials, taking on projects outside of Colorado, and pushing the visual language of abstraction through geometric minimalism. Rooted in clean, enduring design, Sandra’s handcrafted geometric patterns leverage thoughtful repetition often with organic elements nodding to plant life. She develops refined, meditative rhythms using line as a foundation. Line dominates Sandra’s practice and remains the lens through which she sees and understands the world. She hopes her viewers find moments of calm, respite and solace through her work in addition to a deeper appreciation of pattern and connection, whether in the human or natural worlds.
