An Afternoon Visit To The DAM

Yesterday afternoon I went to the Denver Art Museum (the DAM), seen in the photograph on the left, to look around for a few hours and escape the 90-degree temperatures Denver has been experiencing for most of last month. The last time I was there it was to see The Honest Eye: Camille Pissarro's Impressionism, which was a truly excellent exhibit that took place last fall. This time the two major exhibition spaces were closed, and the top exhibits yesterday seemed to be "Knife Fork Spoon, Everyday Tools, Extraordinary Design," and "Conversation Pieces, Stories from the Fashion Archives," both of which I really don't consider art. That evening "Untitled: Artist Takeover," the museum's after-hours quarterly program with local artists and "one-of-a-kind experiences" was going to take place, but I had no intention of staying for that. This event replaced what was once called Final Fridays, which took place monthly and featured a buffet table, a cash bar, and lots of fun talks and tours, many of them quite funny. On one tour I joined, the two guides took us through the Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery and gave us a hilarious interpretation of various artworks. And a pair of comedians would put on a monthly show, portraying the two subjects in the painting titled Self-Portrait with Swimming Coach Charlie Sava. Then the free buffet table went away, the event went from monthly to quarterly, and the discussions turned very serious. After attending this new event several times, hoping to see a return to a more lighthearted evening, I gave up and never went back.

I did very much like an exhibit I saw yesterday called The Tangled Self, seen in the photograph on the right, which I thought was geared towards children, but later learned was designed to "make our inner monsters more approachable." The artist, Sadie Young, graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver with a BFA and a background in psychology, and soon after founded Spectra Art Space, a woman-owned art gallery and immersive art space. I don't know about walking into the mouths of towering monsters and having it tame feelings like rage, grief, fear, and shame, but that exhibit did make me smile, which I have to admit does tame rage, grief, fear, and shame, at least for a little while.

The Denver Art Museum is most famous for its Native American and Western American art, but as I recall, years ago, their collection of Impressionist painting was fairly limited. However, a while back, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Fredrick C. Hamilton, loaned his collection of Impressionist paintings to the museum for a special exhibition. When the exhibit was about to end, the museum asked if they could keep them. Hamilton, no doubt thinking about how high his insurance premiums were with a house full of Impressionist paintings, said he was willing to donate those paintings if the museum made copies of them to replace the originals, which they happily did. And now the museum has an entire gallery of Impressionist paintings in the Hamilton Building, as seen in the photograph on the left. All in all, a fun day at the DAM, despite the lack of a major exhibition.

Eyes On Alameda

It has been a while since I have driven north on Denver's Pearl Street as it crosses East Alameda Avenue. And so yesterday afternoon, as I approached that intersection, I noticed for the first time the building in the photograph on the left with the huge eyes staring out at you. I like this mural very much. It is very understated in its colors and makes you smile as you look at it while waiting for the light to change.  This building is an older, tree-lined neighborhood and this mural seems to fit right in. There are not that many murals on the buildings in this particular locale, which gives this one more impact when you come across it.

As opposed to the murals in Denver's River North (RiNo) neighborhood, which are everywhere, all of them with very vivid colors, often with messages, such as the one in the photograph on the right.  RiNo is Hipster Central, with lots of bars and brewpubs and very expensive apartments catering to the younger crowd. In fact, I read an article on my web browser that lists RiNo as one of the coolest neighborhoods in the city. In other words, a place that expects exactly that kind of art. Different neighborhoods, different murals, but all of them interesting.

Keeping Track Of Important Chicago Moments With The CTA Historical Calendar

As regular blog readers know, I just love the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) Historical Calendar. It comes out each year on January 1st and has great photographs of Chicago and its various forms of public transportation from years past. And this month the featured photo is of the opening of the new State Street Bridge back in 1949, as seen in the photograph above. It shows a large crowd on that bridge surrounding a "Green Hornet" streetcar, one of many that went into service back in 1948. Sadly, streetcar service ended in Chicago in 1958, the year I entered kindergarten at Fort Dearborn Grammar School in the South Side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago. And if I ever rode one of those streetcars, I can't remember it. Yet another opportunity to experience a part of Chicago history thwarted. And by the way, there are still 5 months of historic photographs left to see on the 2026 edition of the CTA Historical Calendar. Be sure to download a copy at https://www.transitchicago.com/historicalcalendar/.

Hemingway Days! Missed It Again...

Hemingway Days took place this past weekend down in Key West, Florida. This is an annual event celebrating the life of Ernest Hemingway, who lived in Key West back in the 1930s. The festival features all kinds of activities and contests, including the Hemingway Look-Alike Contest at Sloppy Joe's Bar, where he used to drink, and the Running of the Bulls, seen in the photograph above, which I obtained courtesy of WLRN, a Public Radio and Television Station that serves South Florida. The last two years, my sister Susan and I have been in Florida during Hemingway Days but never attended. I have been tempted to go, but Stuart, Florida is a 5-hour drive from Key West, there are no Motel 6s in that town, and even the modest places are something like $300 a night during that particular weekend. Not to mention having to deal with big crowds. All of which tempers my enthusiasm. On the bright side, all the local television newscasts in the Sunshine State cover the event, and you can see the highlights on the 11:00 o'clock news. Just like being there, and much cheaper. However, here in Denver, the local news broadcasts don't mention Hemingway Days at all. What gives with that?

The 13th Annual Cheesman Park Art Fest

The 13th Annual Cheesman Park Art Fest took place this past weekend here in Denver. I've always liked this festival, which takes place in such a pleasant setting, as seen in the photograph on the left, but have not attended it for the past two years because my sister Susan and I were in Stuart, Florida, escaping Denver's brutal hot weather. This year, however, we were here in Denver and able to attend. It was enjoyable, but as usual, very hot. In fact, a local television news station covered the event, but only focused on how the artists were coping with the heat. Quite well, I would say, since most of them were in the shade, under the canopies over their booths, with portable fans helping to cool them off, while the art patrons had to deal with 103-degree temperatures under a cloudless sky. But I'm not complaining. It was definitely worth visiting. There were 150 artists from across the country, as well as a stage with live music. The Delta Sonics, who were at the Centennial Fine Art Festival back in May, were playing their blues music at this event, too. They are really quite good, and I recognized them immediately as we passed by the stage.

Someone else at this festival who I recognized was Spenser Yowell, who was also at the Pearl Street Art Fest in Boulder. He is from Wyoming, and his photographs of animals in the wild are quite good, especially his portraits of bears and moose (mooses?). Check out his work at https://www.truvirtuephotography.com/. Another photographer at the show was Greg Davis, a National Geographic published photographer from Texas. His work focuses mostly on people and cultures from across the world. I am pretty sure I have seen his work before, especially his photographs from India and Cuba. I immediately recognized the photograph of an older Cuban woman smoking a huge cigar as I passed by his booth, which always makes me smile. His work can be found at https://gregdavisphotography.com/. All in all, a very pleasant Saturday afternoon indeed.

My Parent's 86th Wedding Anniversary

This would have been my parent's, Nelson and Mary's, 86th wedding anniversary if they were still alive today. They were married at what was known in the family as "Uncle John's farmhouse" in Geneva, Illinois, back in 1940, and seen in the photograph on the left that shows my parents walking out of that house right after the wedding. It was a location my mother wasn't crazy about, which I inadvertently discovered could still be a sensitive issue even after 75 years when I mentioned that to my Uncle Jack 10 years or so ago. But that is another story. That farm was owned by my Grandfather Hoyt's brother-in-law, John Tallman, who was also a plumber and whose shop later became the Mill Race Inn, a popular restaurant in Geneva that closed back in 2011 after being in business for 78 years. In any case, I have an 8mm film of that wedding, in color no less, that I have kept in a cigar box for decades. When I finally decided to do something with it, my friend Mark recommended I take it to someone he knew at the University of Denver, who converted it into a digital copy for me. Which I unfortunately cannot upload to this blog, since it exceeds the 100mb limit. Sorry about that. You'll just have to live with the photo. And I do know what a big disappointment that is. Everyone enjoys looking at other people's wedding videos. The longer the better!

Grin And Bear It

An acquaintance of my friend Stuart went on a 3-day camping trip here in Colorado with two of her friends last week, and the very first night they had their food stolen by bears. Unfortunately, one of those bears was able to get into that friend's car and caused $8,000 worth of damage. They went into town and purchased more food, but the bears came back the next night and took that food, too. But she did manage to take the photograph on the left of one of the perpetrators. And I must say, I am a bit jealous. I have never seen a bear in the woods before and have always hoped to get a photograph just like that one. But of course, if the price to get it was $8,000 damage to my car, I would just as soon skip that particular life goal. I don't know what happened the third night, but since she was able to get an estimate on the damage to her car, I assume all three survived with limbs intact. Bear sightings are by no means rare this year. Due to severe drought conditions, thanks to record low snowpack, the berries, fruits, and grasses, among other things they eat, are in short supply, leading to many bears heading to Denver's suburbs in search of food. There have been sightings in Keenesburg, which is way the hell out on the Eastern Plains, Wheat Ridge, which borders Denver, Arvada, Louisville, and Broomfield, all 3 in the northern suburbs, as well as all over Dougles County, including Castle Pines and Roxborough to the south of Denver. Colorado Parks and Wildlife stress the need to secure trash, remove bird feeders, keep garage doors closed, store pet food and grills indoors, and in general not leave out anything bears might want to eat, such as young children. Wise advice. And by the way, it was Stuart who came up with the phrase "Grin and Bear it." Hopefully that was not what he said to his friend after she told him about the 8K damage to her car.