Love it or leave it, no one can deny that the inaugural Biennial of the Americas gave Denverites something to talk about. Now it’s drawing to a close, but before we all move on to the next big thing, there are still a couple of days to take in the…

If you’re wondering, dear readers, this used to be the site of our On the Edge outdoors blog. But change is on the way, and this is your first look at it. We’re so thrilled to debut this new facet of Westword’s local cultural coverage that we couldn’t even wait…

There’s no better way to describe Denver mover (and Westword MasterMind) Ashara Ekundayo than the way she does it herself: “I’m an artivist,” she proclaims. Her goal has always been to instigate change through a cultural lens, taking the sting out of race issues by blazing pathways of positivity through…

As if this month’s Biennial-driven Untitled happening at the Denver Art Museum (based on the doubly delicious theme of “Two” and celebrating diptychs, artistic duos, biennials and other things that come in twos) didn’t already have enough going on inside the museum, Denver’s fashion community is going to make unplanned…

At Camp Wapiyapi, a retreat near Estes Park offering respite for kids dealing with childhood cancer, ill children and their siblings don’t escape the toll their suffering takes so much as they learn that they’re not alone with it. They get to take a break from it all and have…

Michelle Barnes might be one of Denver’s best-kept secrets. Her illustrations have graced the pages of many a national magazine, and she’s led ongoing salons and art talks, kept a gallery newsletter and been an advocate for the arts community. But within the community she’s supported so well, she’s no…

Science and sci-fi collide in What If Earth Had Two Moons?: And Nine Other Thought-Provoking Speculations on the Solar System, a new book from University of Maine professor of physics and astronomy Neil Comins that theorizes about the possibility of life on an Earth thrown willy-nilly into physical scenarios other…

A major exhalation of grief rippled through the film world on the day that Dennis Hopper died, and it must have been because he was a rebel, a troubled one molded by the influence of classic anti-hero James Dean. On screen, he fascinated people, and it was a characteristically crooked…

In one of Ravi Zupa’s bits of film minutiae, a man rises out of the sand, brushes himself off like a newborn creature and runs up a dune before dissolving back into the sand. Walking among Zupa’s prodigious artworks, currently on display at Illiterate gallery, is a little like that:…

Based on the model of the Bay Area’s Underground Farmers’ Market, the Denver Handmade Homemade Market, which hosts its third event tonight, is a prime example of people doing it themselves locally: Its premise — everyday folks sharing things they make, cook and grow, and networking in a grassroots setting…

Kickball and fundraising don’t sound like natural bed partners, but the local charity kickball league KIFAC, by means of compromise, does both things, thanks to the ingenuity of KIFAC founder Patrick Brown. After first organizing the just-for-fun recreational league eight years ago, Brown asked his teammates if they’d donate to…

There are two Amante Coffee shops in Boulder, but Amante Uptown is not only located directly en route to some of the Boulder area’s favorite mountain rides, it also snugs right up to Boulder Cycle Sports, a cyclists’ magnet by nature. No wonder serious Boulder bicyclists and teams seem to…

Between running the Aspen Filmfest in the fall and the Aspen Shortsfest in the spring, Aspen Film never really sleeps. This summer, it’s bridging the gap with New Views: Premiere Documentaries, a thoughtful series of docs that officially began a couple of weeks ago at Aspen’s annual Ideas Festival. The…

Because she hopes that one day an AIDS diagnosis need no longer be branded the end of the world, local drag queen Ginger Sexton (aka makeup artist Briceson Ducharme) is throwing the Apocalyptic Ball, an AIDS Walk Colorado benefit with an end-all theme. The event, which includes drag and burlesque…

Each and every one of Denver’s gallery districts boasts its own charms, but the Art District on Santa Fe, with its ten blocks of galleries, businesses and studios, is most likely the busiest. And now, in tandem with the Biennial, the district is hosting an internationally themed Passport to the…

It’s been four years since the Foothills Art Center last mounted the North American Sculpture Exhibition, which had previously been a biannual occurrence at the Golden gallery. But after Foothills renovated the main gallery, giving more prominence to the former church’s wall-lining stained-glass windows, FAC curator Michael Chavez thought the…

If you’ve already been to the Biennial’s fantastic Objectophilia group show, you know that the all-local YesPleaseMore pop-up shop has an annex there, where you can buy goods made from repurposed items, including paper collages by Objectophilia artist Phil Bender, Horndribble wall lamps, Mukee Design’s jewelry fashioned from recycled skateboards…

Denver is chock-full of public art, from the Civic Center to the kingdom of Stapleton, but the best way to really see it is with a docent who knows exactly where and how to find it. That’s why the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs began offering its popular and free…

It’s not hard to understand local fashion maven Brandi Shigley’s love affair with the landmark Grant-Humphreys Mansion, a picture-perfect epitome of the word “elegant” — at least as it was conceived of during history’s Belle Époque. The sweeping, thirty-room Quality Hill Beaux Arts mansion first provided the backdrop for Shigley’s…

Terry Dodd loves environmental theater, and any play performed in the lobby of the historic Barth Hotel, built in 1882 and a longtime LoDo assisted-living facility overseen by Senior Housing Options Inc., is nothing if not environmental. That’s why the local stage director thinks Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin…

Pot-culture mover Mateo Pifaaso (yes, it’s an alias, but don’t we all have something to hide?) doesn’t flinch an inch when he says that the intent of this weekend’s first-ever Rocky Mountain Cannabis Convention and Wellness Expo is to “bring a little class to the grass.” The two-day con, which…