Led by cofounder Molly Casey, Denver art advisory firm Nine dot Arts curated and commissioned more than 700 original pieces by 31 Front Range artists to infuse Denver’s Dairy Block with a strong sense of place; their creations are displayed throughout the vibrant mixed-use area. Here, we meet a few whose work has made a splash.
Covering two adjacent walls with more than 300 framed artworks in the Maven is Travis Hetman’s Dark Matter Gathering, for which Hetman collected black-and-white photographs–some taken in downtown Denver more than a century ago. He cut tiny shapes in the images, embellishing the voids with hand-painted “dark-matter clusters,” suggesting glimpses of an alternate universe. The installation came together organically on site, its culmination in a pile on the floor a demonstration of his theory of an expanding universe that will eventually collapse on itself, literally and figuratively.
Rooted in the artist’s mestizo culture, Denver’s Emanuel Martinez’s Homage to Maize: The Staff of Life is a perfect fit for the Dairy Block’s Kachina Cantina restaurant, which takes inspiration from Mexico and the American Southwest. The mural juxtaposes blue ears of corn with a contemporary woman, her native landscape reflected in her sunglasses. Taking a cue from late Colorado muralist Allen Tupper True, Martinez painted this acrylic mural on a canvas mounted to the wall, so if the restaurant changes, the art can be preserved.
Since 2007, Denver-based crochet-street-art gang Ladies Fancywork has been yarn-bombing Front Range spots with small- and large-scale fiber installations. At Kachina Cantina, four of the society’s members wrapped a sculptural salvaged tree–reconstructed by artist Greg Elledge–with a rainbow of crocheted fibers ranging from acrylic yarn to nylon that spiral down onto the floor. The untitled piece subtly references Navajo and Pueblo weavings and the harsh beauty of the Southwestern landscape.