Rocky Mountain Art Group

A few weekends ago, I had a chance to make it to the Pearl Street Art Festival up in Boulder. I've written about Pearl Street before and if you're looking for a place to see a lot of different types of art, Pearl Street never disappoints. Pearl Street is a great place to visit and going during the art festival can can be even better. Yes, it was the middle of July, extremely hot and the festival triples the crowd size but an art fest offers many things that typical museums and galleries do not. At an art festival you get to see a very large volume of art using a wide variety of mediums. You get to view the art up close and most all of the art is for sale. While the art at a gallery is usually for sale, you won't find the the wide variety in type of art and price of the art that you will at a festival. Most galleries and museums feel very formal , but a festival feels like a great big fun party. Festivals, galleries, museums,  they all have their pros and co...

How many of you out there remember "The Western"? I'm sure there are still some of us around, but "The Western" as a movie genre has sort of faded into history. From the beginning of film and through the late 80's and early 90's, "The Western" was one of the most popular film genres in the United States. From John's Ford's "Stagecoach" to Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven", western movies were a significant piece of American pop culture. If you have any doubt about this, just look at the example of how Steven Spielberg used his love of the western to complete his forever popular "Back to the Future" movie series in the early 90's. One of Spielberg's idols and major influences growing up, was John Ford who many consider to be the father of the Western. Some of my fondest memories growing up, are in fact centered around western movies. As a young boy, I will never forget staying up late on a Sat...

Since this was my first visit to the Clyfford Still Museum, I'm going to be writing about the museum itself and the amazing art you will find there. Still was an amazing artist, a pioneer and an extraordinary person. I think I could probably write pages and pages about him, but I would like to learn more about him first. So, for now I will write mostly about our first trip to the museum. I have been going to the Denver Art Museum for years but I never even realized that right next door, on the west side of the DAM is an amazing museum dedicated to one of the original abstract expressionists. I guess because we usually drive from the east side and park in the parking garage just east of the DAM, I never noticed the Clyfford Still Museum which opened in 2011. Fortunately my wife found out about it while looking up information on another museum and we finally got a chance visit this one of a kind art museum. Painting by Clyffford Still, from the Clyfford Still Museum, Denver CO....

Happy Father's day! Today I am re-posting one of my favorite articles from last year. It covered a trip that we took to the Forney Museum of Transportation for Father's day last year. I really enjoyed the day and writing this article and thought I would re-post if for Father's day today. Enjoy! The Art of Transportation - Re-post ( Originally posted on 6/26/2016) I might not call the act of transportation its' self an art, but some of the vehicles that were created are most definitely works of art. That's not to say that they weren't engineered and produced to accomplish the specific task of moving from one place to another.  They most definitely were, but when they were created, was there an intention of creating art? Probably not, at least in most cases. There may be a few instances in which there was original intent to create something beautiful or there was an intent to make it look nice or attractive,  but in most cases the object was to create someth...

Last fall, my family and I took a trip to Northern Colorado for one of my daughter's softball games in Ft. Collins. After the game we took a quick drive through Ft. Collins and then had lunch. Still having a few hours left in the day to do something, we remembered seeing signs near the Loveland exit for some outlet malls. After a hot day at the softball game, we thought the cool air conditioning the mall shops might be a nice choice to wrap up the day so we decided to head south 20 minutes to the Loveland exit at higway 34. Once we arrived at the Loveland exit we decided to head toward the Promenade Shops at Centerra off of Hwy. 34 and Centerra Parkway. As we drove we noticed some signs for a sculpture park and when we parked at the Macy's parking lot we saw another sign for the sculpture park so we decided to walk to the somewhat hidden path near the far corner of the lot. After a short walk down the path through some trees and bushes, it opened up to a large park area fille...

Fallen Soldiers, you were so brave For your country, your life you gave The ultimate sacrifice you made for all For our country, you bravely fall Our freedoms we owe to you every day So let us all stand proud and say Fallen soldiers, may you forever stand tall Fallen soldiers, we thank you all   "... that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain ..." -- Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

From the title, you probably think I am going to talk about a city like France, or Italy or some other European city that is chalked full of classic and modern art. No, this city is right here in the United States. While there are numerous cities in the United States that feature an abundance of art, there is no other like Las Vegas, NV. Largely known for it's gambling and wonderful shows ( which are performance art ), Las Vegas is home to one of largest varieties of art that you can find. Spend just a couple hours on the Strip and you will find art everywhere you look. Street artists everywhere. Statues, sculptures and fountains around every corner. And don't forget even the hotels and casinos themselves are works of art. Where else can you find an environment with such a variety of design and decor. For any one that has been there, you know you can spend days looking around and exploring and not even come close to seeing everything. This is city where even the signs have a ...

Since the beginning of October 2016, the Denver Art Museum has been host to an amazing exhibition of colorful creativity which helped Venice to become internationally known throughout and after the Renaissance period. The artists of this period in Venice used color and depth in a way that it had rarely been used before. Mostly religious in nature, many of the paintings were probably commissioned by the Catholic Church and one can see the true passion that the artists had when painting them. The Triumph of Venice by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni We made a visit to see "The Glory of Venice" about a month ago and it is one of the best displays of art that I have seen from this time period. Dating from the mid 1400s to the early 1500s, it is some of Venice's greatest work. It contains about 50 pieces, 19 of which come from Venice's Gallerie dell'Accademia, which houses some of the greatest collections of Venetian Renaissance art in the world. It also includes works fr...

Last week, I got a chance to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Denver. This was my first visit to MCA Denver and I was not disappointed. Aside from the wonderful art that I saw at the museum, the thing that impressed me the most about MCA Denver was its' dedication to up and coming artist and the feeling it gives as one views its' variety of galleries. Your name does not have to be Rembrandt, Picasso, Warhol, or ..., well you get the idea. Nothing against the great classic artists, we all love to look at their work, but it is nice to tour a gallery that gives a young or up and coming artist a sense that maybe their work could be shown in an awesome setting like the MCA Denver. Let me be clear, this is not a knock on the MCA or any of the artists with works there. This is a compliment to both and Rocky Mountain Art Group is very appreciative of these types of settings and all artists who give us the opportunity to see their works. Located a couple blocks f...