03 18 WALKDENVER TO INSTALL ARTWORK ALONG COLFAX By Stacey McDole WalkDenver and Denver Vision Zero Coalition are having a pretty good year, so far. Recently, the nonprofit WalkDenver named Jill Locantore, its previous Associate Director, as Executive Director. She succeeds Gosia Kung, who stepped down in late 2017, as WalkDenver’s first Executive Director. In addition to a change in leadership, WalkDenver received a $10,000 grant towards a community art project from Denver art program “P.S. You Are Here,” a collaborative initiative between Mayor Michael Hancock and Denver Arts & Venues launched in April 2014, to fund its Vision Zero Community Art Project. According to its website, “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.” This is exactly what the Vision Zero project aims to do. The Vision Zero Community Art Project, led by the Denver Vision Zero Coalition—a group of organizations like WalkDenver who support Mayor Hancock’s adopted Vision Zero program to decrease traffic-related deaths and injuries— have been working on an art installation for the Colfax corridor. Denver muralist Pat Milbery and East High School art students are designing a mural to raise awareness about traffic safety. Milbery and the students will welcome input from the community to help settle on a design. The Vision Zero Community Art Project aims to address issues of traffic safety along Denver’s Colfax corridor by installing these murals in areas of high pedestrian and vehicle interactions.
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A pedestrian makes his way east along Colfax Avenue toward Franklin Street. In the background, in the middle of Colfax Avenue, one can see a clearly marked pedestrian island. Photo by Haines Eason. Community engagement will target neighborhood residents, business owners and patrons, as well as families of the victims, who are the real impetus behind the project. Community members have been asked to share their personal stories and to assist with artistic design and installation. “Colfax is part of Denver's "High Injury Network" [or HINs]— the five percent of the streets where 50 percent of the traffic fatalities occur. And the intersection with Franklin and Park is particularly dangerous, especially for people walking,” Locantore says.
Smaller-scale projects such as sidewalk stencils and artistic street signs will also be installed in high-impact areas. “Regarding the Vision Zero Community Art Project, we have a candidate location for the first mural on East Colfax which we hope to finalize soon, and [we hope to install it] by April of this year,” says Locantore. The project’s goals are to bring the community together to create public art installations that raise CONTINUED ON 11
SEE MORE OF THE OLD KIRKLAND AT THE NEW KIRKLAND New location greatly expands viewable holdings By Haines Eason There’s no doubt Denver is more and more on the map as attested by the seemingly endless stream of newcomers bent on making a go of it here. But what about when it comes to the city as a travel destination in of itself? In recent years, some might have considered stopping over for a brewery or pot-shop tour before hitting some mountain powder, but recently The New York
Councilwoman Robin Kniech talks gentrification and remedies.
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Times gave the city itself a nod—or gave the Golden Triangle one when it put the neighborhood on its “52 places to go in 2018” list. Just what was it about the Triangle that caught the Times’ eye? The newly expanded Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, set to reopen its doors March 10. “I keep saying this is my favorite room or this is my favorite room,” says Renée Albiston, marketing and outreach manager for the Kirkland. “The fact is you are never bored visiting our museum; there is a new surprise at every corner, and the unique salon-style display appeals to even the grumpiest non-museum goer.” Albiston is on to something. The Kirkland is fairly unique in that it is a museum of art and design with much
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Local high schooler interviews new East High Kenyan student about his experiences.
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of the holdings comprised of functional decorative objects: furniture, silver and dishware, timepieces and more. Complementing these are paintings and sculpture—original works by Vance Kirkland and both Colorado and regional visual artists. But just what is salon-style display? “Many museums will feature single items on pedestals, a single cup on a pedestal,” Albiston explains. “We feature vignettes. Our founding Director and Curator Hugh Grant displays in vignette or salon style because he wants visitors to get an understanding and feel for how these objects CONTINUED ON 10
We take a deep dive into the Degas exhibit now open at the Denver Art Museum.
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