Over the course of his career, Clarence Shivers (1923-2007) demonstrated a commitment to artistic experimentation, working across different media—both two- and three-dimensional—and cultivating a range of stylistic approaches.

A Tuskegee Airman—and career military person—one of Shivers’ most celebrated works is his statue dedicated to these pilots and their legacies, located at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

Joining this highly selective as well as segregated group of aviators shaped the artist’s commitment to celebrating Black experience and creativity in his work.

Shivers often returned to forms of portraiture. Whether images of friends, families, musicians, civil rights leader, or others, Shivers represented his subjects with poignant and expressive insight.

Not bound by convention, Clarence Shivers also created abstract works that demonstrate his ongoing exploration into geometric form, color, and movement.

Clarence Shivers: Experimenting with Form presents over 30 works, paintings, prints, and sculpture, that offer an expansive view of the artist’s prolific career.

Clarence Shivers: Experimenting with Form is curated by Michael Christiano, Director of Visual Arts & Museum. The exhibition is generously supported by The Anschutz Foundation.

Hương Ngô: Ungrafting

Time is crucial to Hương Ngô, who investigates the resonances of colonial histories in the present day.

She explores various aspects of Vietnamese resistance to French colonialism through archival research, and activates the historical record via imagery, language, and material matter.

For her first solo exhibition in Colorado, Ngô turns to a series of early twentieth-century photographs showing foreign trees and tree grafts planted in Vietnam by the French.

For the artist, grafting—a procedure that involves cutting and splicing different species into a single plant—serves as a powerful metaphor for the physical violence inherent in colonialism.

Ngô reproduces the archival photographs using the Van Dyke method, which was common at the time the original pictures were made, but alters the fixing process so that the new images will gradually deteriorate and darken.

Accompanying the photographs are other new works by Ngô: altered reproductions of plants that were catalogued in 1919 for a French herbarium (a collection of systematically organized dried plants) and hanging fabric works with visible sutures that are treated with iron, copper, and other materials, many of which carry particular significance in the Southwest region of the United States.

Like tree grafts, the tears in these works serve as a reminder of the violence of agricultural and mineral extraction; control of land, the artist proposes, is often accompanied by control over the land’s inhabitants.

At the same time, the mends make visible the resistance and repair that may emerge in response to such violence.

To expand on this idea, the artist will bring into the exhibition a selection of cultural heritage items from our Fine Arts Center’s permanent collection that further speak to the history of the region and its cultural intersections.

Collectively, the works in the show offer a gesture of what the artist has termed “ungrafting”: a poetic decolonial methodology that weaves together networks of care across time.

Hương Ngô: Ungrafting is curated by Katja Rivera, Curator of Contemporary Art, in collaboration with the artist. Support of the exhibition is generously provided by The Anschutz Foundation and Colorado Creative Industries.

Our emotions are pushed and pulled in its wake: foreboding, hubris, fear, anguish, then shelter and hope renewed.

This call for entries invited artists to render a natural disaster, communicating physical immensity and depth of feeling.

Representational and abstract interpretations were considered, as well as 2d and 3d mediums.

Remember that Immensity can be conveyed at any size.

Amy Guadagnoli 

For the past 25 years, Colorado native printmaker Amy C. Guadagnoli has been away from home—living and working in the communities of Austin, Texas, Bangor, Maine, and just outside of Washington, D.C. in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Throughout these diverse landscapes and climates, she’s created colorful, abstract woodblock prints depicting images transformed from her surroundings and her subconscious—landscapes of the mind that at once reflect and obscure where she has been and what she has seen.

The woodblock prints and works on paper for “Relics of Abstraction” will highlight these otherworldly realms that travel inside the artist’s mind from place to place and continue to evolve now that she has returned to her Colorado home.

Guadagnoli’s artwork investigates perception—specifically how we see, name, and construct narratives from visual stimuli, experiences, and memories.

Jerry Rhodes

“The firing process I use for my pottery is often described as Raku, but the motivation behind my use of this technique might be considered its philosophical opposite. Rather than seeking a harmonious balance or simplicity through my work, I try to achieve dynamic and imaginative results by challenging the boundaries of gravity, material science, chemistry, and sometimes, common sense. Often, I will use traditional style glazes and classic post firing reduction techniques, but other times I'll use plant food, steel wool, and horsehair during the firing, and add African porcupine quills to complete a composition. The results are usually very dramatic.”

“I also like to combine seemingly disparate elements drawn from a global, temporal, and cultural palate to form a composition. Some pieces may blend science with antiquity; Einstein’s equations for Special Relativity carved around the rim of a classic Greek form, for instance, while others may represent a cultural fusion; African and Polynesian tribal components combined into a loosely symbolic presentation. In the end, I’m not trying to resolve the different elements that go into a piece, but rather, trying to bring the composition to a point where it reaches a temporary détente within itself.”

“Each piece I create is unique, each one represents a new and exhilarating learning experience, and every one is an adventure.”

Join us throughout April at 4 different locations, to celebrate National Poetry Month with art and sharing of the written word/poetry.

This exhibit collaborates artists, poets, authors, musicians and venues, and at each venue reception is a live poetry/open mic.

Please join us at each reception and share your beautiful written word.

Everyone is welcome to attend and encouraged to share!

Hooked on Books Downtown:

1st Friday April 5, 2024, 5-7 p.m.

12 East Bijou, CS 80903

Phone: (719) 419-7660

Rico’s Café

2nd Tuesday, April 9, 2024 6-8 p.m.

322 N. Tejon St. CS 80903

(719)578-5549

Additional Open Mic Nights on the 3rd Tuesdays on April 16, May 21, and June 18, 6-8 p.m.

Sand Creek Library:

2nd Saturday, April 13, 2024

Open House is 10-Noon,

Artist may read in the recording studio from Noon – 1 or 2

1821 S Academy Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO 80916

Academy Art & Frame Co:

3rd Friday, April 19, 2024, 4-7 p.m.

7560 N. Academy Blvd. CS 80920 Phone:

(719) 265-6694

Deep purple crocus pop their heads up and white poppies peek through the soil in a colorful dance at your feet in Colorado gardens.

The walls at Laura Reilly Fine Art Gallery and Studio are blooming with early spring flowers and enchanting blooms during her April show “Signs of Spring”.

Opening April 5th during April First Friday Art Walk in Old Colorado City.

The show runs through the end of April.

An Eco Art Installation

All artist profits from this exhibit will be donated to The Nature Conservancy

About the Exhibit:
The organic shapes and eco themes explore nature, time, and the changing climate in a place where art and writing can cross-pollinate.

Forests have a very storied feeling for the artist and each tree-inspired piece is a word, a sentence, a question, or a paragraph.

Together they create a visual novel (or short story) which is created with a variety of mixed-media, including recycled paper, drawing materials, water-based paint, found objects, and treasures from the natural world.

About the Artist:

Gail M. Nelson is an eco artist creating at the intersection of multi-media, ecology, and repurposing.

She graduated with a Master’s degree in fine art from Colorado State University.

Gail considers her art practice to be her volunteer work and the net proceeds will be donated to organizations benefiting the environment and conservation efforts.

She makes her home with her husband and dogs in the mountains of Colorado where they are pursuing a more sustainable lifestyle.

My hope in this show is to give you a ‘local only’ view that will inspire a sense of renewed romance.

This body of work also encapsulates the fact that the garden is a shared experience for our community.

Many of the reference photos for these paintings are from photographers, rock climbers, and fellow local enthusiasts.

May these paintings reinvigorate your love of our garden and may inspire you to go paint.

As you meditate on this vistas, may you hear the whispers of glory.

Music:

Live music by indie folk singer-songwriter Curtis Boucher Exhibit on display through April 26th.

Join us for a three-hour culinary adventure featuring tastings at four to five locally-owned destinations in Downtown Colorado Springs!

Each tour features a carefully planned itinerary that will make you feel (and eat!) like a local.

From hand-tossed pizza, to 100% Colorado beef sliders, to creamy mountain-churned ice cream, everyone in your group will discover something they love!

Along the way, your expert Tour Leader will entertain you with historical storytelling and insider tips to find the best local food and drink. Upgrade your ticket to include three drink pairings for only $18 (ages 21+ only).

Tours only accommodate 12 guests, so sign up today before it sells out!

This is the perfect (and most delicious!) way to explore Colorado Springs.

Realistic art is the pinnacle of fine art and the instrument of master artists.

This exhibit features two master artists and extraordinary masterpieces.

Perfect for new and established art collectors.

Whether you are a true artist at heart or just love to doodle, come try your skills at our Therapeutic Thursdays Adult Coloring Night!

Every week we will have new (NSFC) coloring pages available - there are some kid-safe coloring sheets as well.

Looking for something to do Thursday nights? Get your friends and come down to OCC Brewing for Trivia Night! Every Thursday, we'll be hosting This is a Clue Trivia! Great beer, delicious food, awesome prizes, and fun! What more do you need?

Directed by Michael Burke, written by William Shakespeare

Beware, my lord, of jealousy... Against all odds, a Black man climbs the social ladder of a rigidly homogenous Venice—finding success in politics, military efforts, and even love.

At his side, a woman born to status holds firm in her agency, even as her world reduces her to a symbol.

In the words of the director: “balanced atop a knife’s edge between devotion and destruction, this timeless and timely classic challenges all of us to witness how deceptively easy it is to destroy a life when loyalty is tantamount to love, and the world refuses to see beyond ‘us’ versus ‘“them.’”

For the first time, Theatreworks welcomes director Mikael Burke (Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Yale Rep) to helm this essential Shakespearean tragedy not seen on our stage since 1988.

Westside Community Center is excited to open our multipurpose room for homeschoolers to join together for fun and socialization!

Please bring play equipment to share.

WCC will not be providing equipment.

No payment required

All ages welcome

*Please note that this activity may not occur on Mondays/Fridays that a Federal Holiday occurs on.

Join us for an evening of two new exhibits to view, and live music by folk singer-songwriter Curtis Boucher.

About the Exhibit:

If you've lived here for a while you likely have suffered from garden amnesia.

It's so easy to forget the wonder that resides in our backyard.

The red rocks are so quiet and regal, the understated gorgeous prairie grasses that cozy in beside them, and the skies sprinkled with spontaneous sunsets.

As humans, we are quick to forget. Painting this show helped crack open the door to the garden with a new experience.

It caused me to take another loop around the park or plan an extra hike.

It encouraged me to explore new paths and viewpoints that I might not otherwise have taken.

The garden did not disappoint, revealing new layers, new ridges, and new glows in the various nooks and keyholes of the rocks.

My hope in this show is to give you a ‘local only’ view that will inspire a sense of renewed romance.

This body of work also encapsulates the fact that the garden is a shared experience for our community.

Many of the reference photos for these paintings are from photographers, rock climbers, and fellow local enthusiasts.

May these paintings reinvigorate your love of our garden and may inspire you to go paint.

As you meditate on this vistas, may you hear the whispers of glory.

About the Artist:

Melinda enjoys the elusive challenge of translating what catches the eye into a moment captured on canvas.

She is spurred forward by the allure of all there is to see and learn.

Melinda has found that creating art allows for an opportunity to explore time standing still, and a glimpse into eternity.

When she senses those moments of endlessness, she hears the whispers of better things to come.

Her hope is when she paints she can give a sense of delight to the viewer.

She has a Masters in Art Education from the University of Florida.

Melinda paints impressionistic contemporary landscapes in oils and watercolor.

Her goal is to inspire more people to paint the great outdoors in Colorado Springs.

One of the ways she is working on that is by teaching watercolor classes at Surface Gallery.

She is inspired by her students and excited by what the next horizon will bring.

The Dance Composition II students at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs have spent their spring semester to create an original composition featuring the intriguing phase shift (wattling), created by Martha Russo. This performance will be once in a lifetime and site-specific.

The Visual and Preforming Arts Festival is an annual festival that celebrates the creativity and diversity within the UCCS community.

The wattles dance is a proud feature in the years festival witch has been titled "Break Free" to encourage artists and students alike to break free from whatever hold them back and to try new things.

Explore Downtown Colorado Springs' cocktail scene on this roving walking tour!

You'll experience four different drinks from four different locations, each with their own vibe.

We'll visit a speakeasy while it's closed to the public and enjoy a demonstration on a delicious prohibition cocktail.

You'll also be served a savory or sweet appetizer to compliment each of your drinks.

Finally, one of our expert Tour Leaders will also share scandalous stories of the Wild West and Prohibition along the way, making this an unforgettable experience!

This tour is perfect for bachelor/bachelorette, birthday, retirement, or promotion parties!

Join us for an immersive sushi-making experience led by one of Bon Appetit’s finest sushi chefs!

Participants will prepare three dishes: tuna sashimi/nigiri, a spicy tuna roll, and a California roll.

When it’s time for the taste test, participants will pick a unique sushi platter and mini soy sauce dish made by CC clay artists to plate up their masterpieces and later take home.

Ages 14+

[less-]

The community is cordially invited to enjoy the final performances of Rampart HS Winter Guard’s show, “Instructions for a Bad Day”, and Academy School District 20 (combined schools — Rampart HS and Air Academy HS) Winter Percussion’s show, “Twisted”.

Free and open to the public!

Donations to our winter ensembles will be gratefully accepted.

Join us at Rico's Cafe for live music with Frank Moore!

He has been a performing artist in Colorado Springs since 1973 and lived there since 1962.

In addition to original songs, Frank covers songs from a decades wide range of folk artists.

He has performed at many clubs and has completed two previous recording projects.

Frank has performed with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic featuring the song “Fire on the Mountain”.

“Fire on the Mountain” was composed by Frank, a Mountain Shadows resident, as a result of his experience during the fire and the emotional experiences of his neighbors, some of whom lost their homes as a result.

This recording is available for sale at his shows.

In 2015, Frank released his second full length CD, of all original material, entitled “Another Colorado Morning”. The CD was co-produced with Phil Volan and features several prominent local musicians.

He promoted It’s release in concert at the Studio Bee in the Pikes Peak Center in Colorado Springs.