Vance Kirkland Museum

Today, I spent 45 minutes and $7 at the Kirkland Museum downtown.  I used to walk by the museum and former art studio every day on my way to work when I lived in Cheesman Park and worked downtown.  It always stood out because it's flanked by rows of shops (Fashion Nation, Wax Trax).

I don't know much about Mr. Kirkland, although I assume we have him to thank for all the yummy snacks at Target* (*not my joke, but I thought it was funny).  I know he headed up the art school at DU for a good long while.  (In fact--I saw the name Elizabeth Yanish Shwayder on a couple of sculptures--I presume the DU art building is named for her.)  I also know he was a huge supporter (and teacher) of the Colorado art scene for the better part of the 20th century. 

The museum contains a ton of Kirkland's works which span a bunch of different styles.

This is the first one that really caught my eye.  It's called Red Rocks (1942).  It totally reminds me of this painting:

which is Georgia O'Keefe, about the same time period.


This also caught my eye, but I forgot to get the name of it.  "Dreams of Something":

The white clouds had tiny bubbles in them and gave the effect of being smoke trapped in between the painting and a layer of glass.

But this was my favorite.  It's "The Mystery of Explosions On The Sun Six Billion years B.C.".  It's from Kirkland's The Dot Paintings/ Energy in Space Abstractions period.  I saw this on the website and that's what made me want to go to the museum.

There was also a unique display of Kirkland's studio setup:

"To create large, abstract paintings with his unique oil and water mixtures and later dots, Vance Kirkland had to place them flat on a table.  Since he then could not reach the center of a painting (he was 5'2"), nor could he bend over a painting for 10 hours a day, he lay across straps that were strung from the ceiling, about 1 1/2 feet above the painting.  He would already have attached skateboards to the painting's wooden stretcher... and could take a cane or hook and pull the painting back and forth.  He also could lie in either direction in the straps.  ...he did not like to think of his paintings as directional, as having a bottom.  'There is no up or down in space,; Kirkland stated, 'and this is as close as I'll ever get to being an astronaut.'  For the same directional reason, he hated to sign [these] paintings."

Besides the prolific works of VK, the museum has a sh*t ton of pottery and decorative arts.  There are furniture pieces everywhere and the long-winded docent who greeted me at the door thought to warn me not to sit on any of them. 

Like I said, I made it through in 45 minutes, but I tend to go pretty quickly through museums, only stopping for what catches my eye, AND I was alone, so I am thinking some more thoughtful peeps could spend a couple hours there (there is also an hour long video program in the basement).  I would definitely recommend going during a weekday as it was awesome to have the place virtually to myself (and able to snap a few pics I'm sure the docent wouldn't have been happy about). 

I was also impressed at how much art the museum has NOT on display:

A woman who followed me out asked where Colfax was and whether there'd be a place to get coffee, so I directed her to the Tattered Cover at the old Lowenstein (*whispered* Lowenstein) Theatre about 12 blocks east.  (There were also a couple of set designs by none other than Mr. Lowenstein in the museum.  Apparently he used them to get into Yale's MFA program without an undergraduate degree.  He was then asked by Helen Bonfils to work for her theatre company...  etc., etc.)

Maybe I shall revisit the ol' TC one of these days since I haven't been there in a while...