Spun: Adventures in Textiles

The Denver Art Museum takes a wide-ranging look at textiles in the campus-wide exhibition "Spun: Adventures in Textiles." The museum’s newly opened and renovated textile art galleries and its inaugural show, "Cover Story," are at the heart of this campus-wide event, and its permanent collections have inspired these additional "Spun" exhibitions:

    "Red, White and Bold: Masterworks of Navajo Design, 1840-1870" draws from the museum’s extensive collection of Navajo textiles and conveys the importance of color, pattern and an artist’s hand in the stunning cloths created during the high point of Navajo weaving, from 1840–1870.
    "Material World" offers viewers a range of work by contemporary artists who utilize fabric and related materials either directly or as a means of informing their art. New acquisitions by Shinique Smith, Leonardo Drew, Tucker Nichols and Ernesto Neto will be on view for the first time.
    "Irresistible: Multicolored Textiles from Across Asia" highlights the use of resist-dye techniques from several Asian countries examining cultural traditions.
    "Pattern Play: The Contemporary Designs of Jacqueline Groag" provides a rare opportunity to view works from one of most versatile women designers of the post WWII period, including works-on-paper alongside her lively, bold designs for furnishing textiles, dress fabrics, laminates and other decorative surfaces.
    "Common Threads: Portraits by August Sander and Seydou Keïta" allows for comparison of two bodies of work that documented social transformations in their respective countries through portraiture of everyday citizens.
    "Fashion Fusion: Native Textile Motifs in Spanish Colonial Paintings" looks at the influence textile motifs have had on other artistic mediums.
    A collaboration between Annica Cuppetelli and Cristobel Mendoza explores the intersection between craft and technology. The artwork consists of physical elastic ropes that are illuminated by glowing virtual strings. Interacting with this artwork, visitors can discover the relationship between textile, movement and technology.
    A selection of Bruce Price's works, which experiment with non-traditional drawing and collage.

There also is extensive programming encouraging visitors to join in the exploration of this vibrant medium, including a drop-in quilt studio, collaborative projects with artists and creative groups, new in-gallery opportunities supported by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef project, a dye garden, and an artist-in-residency with Marie Watt.