This year, it will be the 10th Anniversary of MoPrint, the Biennial celebration of squishing ink onto pristine 100% rag paper with a simple brutish technology invented in 1544. Yes, Denver, the barbarians are back at the gates.If you had your heart set on flying to the coast and paying thousands for some art, you may want to stop reading now, as I’m about to tell you about $10 linocuts. Printmaking, which has been bringing original fine art to middle class homes since the Dutch ruled the world, is generally small and cheap, making it a great way to start collecting art. But remember too, that the printing press has brought down many a corrupt, would-be dictator, and perhaps they’ll do it again. To steal a line from Woody Guthrie, this machine kills fascists. But ti will also brighten your walls.
Besides, with the once hallowed Kennedy Center now converted into a Chuck E. Cheese franchise, shell shocked Americans can use some quality art, and nothing satisfies like printmaking, the art of hand pulling accessible, affordable art, that ordinary people have loved and collected since Rembrandt’s time. With the country in dark times, people know that getting out and supporting the arts together is something that the fascists hate to see. Now that Bad Bunny has perfected the art of pissing off fascists, why not put your own spin on it?
My participation includes helping to organize, offering prints in shows and sales, buying and trading for far too many prints at outrageously low prices, and of course, shop talk over micro brews. I also teach classes for beginners. The print community is alive and kicking in Colorado, and it never shuts up- why should it?
Perhaps you may like to join us. There are zillions of demos and classes on offer, and there are more places for the public to print than ever. And though some techniques require technical learning, some just don’t.
I’ll update this list of events I am personally involved in as the weeks pass, and if I’m not too busy, I’ll try to post some recommendations for other events you may find interesting just before MoPrint starts, nominally in March, but actually in February. More info is at MoPrint.org. There are flyers available at the Art Students League and Meininger and many other places now, and be aware that events often stretch from January to April, and I know of one show I’ll be in that doesn’t launch till September.
ExPRESSion, NKollectiv, 3485 S. Broadway, February 21 4-8 PM: I like to enter juried shows, to support worthy galleries, and hopefully make jurors’ jobs harder, and this time around, it’s NKollectiv, recently moved from Santa Fe Drive to a nice rambling space at 3485 S. Broadway, in Englewood’s burgeoning downtown. #nkollectiv #downtownenglewood
ASLD Print Fair, February 28 10-4, Art Students League of Denver, 200 Grant St: I’ll be in this show, mostly with work in the Press to Impress show, which opens the night before, 6-8 PM. And I’m doing a demo from 11-1 in the print room. I will have work for sale as well. A fun day!
Colorado Print Educators Show, Space Gallery, opens March 13, 6-8 PM : I’m proud to be in this show with some of the best printmakers from schools and universities around the state, and I try to save out the best of recent years’ prints to debut here, often larger work.
MoPrint Studio Tour, March 14, 10-4 PM, Studio Lunning, 21050 West 44th Ave: I work here on my larger prints, and may be doing so this day. As a bonus, you can do your grocery shopping, as it is right near Heinie’s Market, and Edward’s Meats, two wonderful specialty markets. This studio is also open Sunday, March 15, only without me. A map of all the studios open is available at MoPrint.org.
Open Portfolio, Botanic Gardens, March 28: This is the best way to jump start your collection, other than the Black Ink fundraiser (Yes! Those $10 prints! this year it’s at HiDive, April 6 ). I bring rarities and one-offs such as test proofs, monotypes I haven’t offered for sale for years, as long as they are clean and sharp. Think of this as Swedish Flat File Cleaning, I really don’t want to saddle someone who comes after me with reams of prints from 30 years, so I keep prices very low.
Colorado Around the Clock, Kirkland Museum, Sept 4: My first museum show in Denver, (I’ve been in museum shows in Pueblo, Aspen and Boulder) at the Kirkland Museum, part of the DAM, and free with your DAM membership. The show, curated by Chris Herron, offers impressions of 24 hours in the state from Colorado artists in their collection. Spoiler alert: my piece is called “November Dusk”. The show takes place in two segments, with one opening during MoPrint proper, February 26 , and another opening in September. I’m in the second, so you’ll hear more about this show later.
I’ll be at most, if not all of these events, so drop by to chat.
#MoPrint2026 #Printmaking #Monotypes #Denverart #Artstudentsleague #Asldprintfair #Openstudios #Botanicgardens #Kirklandmuseum #Coloradoart
Classes: if you are of a mind to take your Moprint participation to the next level, there are always print classes offered at the Art Students League of Denver. There will be multiple demos, as mentioned, February 28, 10-4 at the League’s Print Fair. Mine is Monotypes at 11-1. You can register right there for my next class, Monotypes for Beginners, which is a 4 week step-by-step class in print room basics beginning March 17, 1:30-5.Or you can register here
There is another class, Monotypes for Advanced Beginners, scheduled on April 28, and continuing through May, 5:30-9. That registration is here. It’s intended for people who have had printmaking experience, such as past classes, or prior print shop experience.
Already, I’ve been to several events: a nice juried national show, by Mark Lunning at Core, a 6 state juried show at Metro CVA, standout. I’ll try to return to this as the thing gets rolling. Like all great art festivals, there is way too much to see. But each door you walk through, you confirm that art and humanism will not die, simply because one party wants it to die.
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