Fine Arts Center Blog

"How to Move a 4,000 Lb. Sculpture" on KRCC

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:53:00 +0000

In their "ongoing quest to take you behind the scenes of everything," KRCC's The Big Something posted a new audio slideshow about installation of the huge sculptures for The Baroque World of Fernando Botero, narrated by curator Tariana Navas-Nieves. One fan commented that this was the "best installment of this series yet." Watch and listen here.

Curator Blake Milteer discusses abstract art on KRCC

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:38:00 +0000

On June 4, KRCC's "The Big Something" featured FAC curator Blake Milteer discussing the work of Herbert Bayer, one of the artists from our recent exhibition, Colorado Springs Abstract. Click here for the audio slideshow about Bayer's contributions to abstract art in Colorado Springs.

Seth Godin on leadership

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:46:00 +0000

Here is another great video from TED.com, a talk by marketing guru Seth Godin, who speaks on leadership and the importance of leading a movement by challenging the status quo, building a culture and connecting with people in your tribe.

HOMEWORK: Review the FAC on travel sites

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:56:00 +0000

It's the summer travel season and we hope everyone in the Front Range takes a stay-cation and visits the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, but for everyone else, we hope they decide to visit the Springs and the FAC. Some people make those decisions on where to travel by looking at various travel guide websites. I took a spin around these sites and found out that nearly all of them have outdated information about the FAC and little or no current reviews. I will handle the outdated information; but I'd like to ask our fans to contribute a review or recommendation for the FAC on these sites. (I could do that too, but apparently that's unethical.)

Frommers.com
The geniuses at frommers.com give the FAC one star out of three. Their site doesn’t seem to be working. I’d give them one-half star.

Tripadvisor.com
One of the top travel guides online and tripadvisor.com has just one review about the FAC and it’s from July 2005 and the headline reads “very expensive.” Still the FAC ranks as the 13th most popular attraction out of 68 with a four-out-of-five rating.

Yelp.com
The FAC has earned an average of four stars out of five from the three reviews, including one written by Toonces the Driving Cat. Yelp.com is the site that is making print critics uncomfortable, but all three reviews predate our renovation and expansion.

YahooTravel.com
The FAC is listed as the 17th most popular attraction in town. One review from 2008 and it shouts “Great collection.”

Igougo.com
Click on “Write a Review” … so far no one has written a review, so if you are the first, they ask for our contact information.

Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
30 W. Dale St.
Colorado Springs, CO 80906
719.634.5581

LOOT lecture tomorrow night at the FAC ...

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:56:00 +0000

Tomorrow night is the first Thursday of June, so we're going to host our First Thursday event. It just makes sense. But we're also offering on a first come, first serve basis, tickets to a lecture in the SaGaJi Theatre by Sharon Waxman, author of Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World. PLUS, you can see our Botero exhibition, all for the same low, low price. We are partnering with the World Affairs Council and the Pikes Peak Library District on this event, so FAC Members, WAC members and PPLD card holders will all get a discounted rate for this very special three-for-one event. Bring your cards!

Video from the Opening Night of Botero

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:27:00 +0000

Using a FlipVideo camera given to the Fine Arts Center by the Bee Vradenburg Foundation, I recorded the happenings of the Opening Celebration for The Baroque World of Fernando Botero. Eschewing the interviewer-centric approach of other local arts video enterprises, I instead let the video doing the talking, utilizing the 'shaky cam' technique to capture the gritty underbelly of the affair, a technique made famous by late 1990s television crime dramas. In the middle of it all, I met a man who attended the FAC Grand Opening in 1936. Watch and enjoy.

Try a heapin' helping of Van Goghgurts

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:50:00 +0000

From our friends at americansforthearts.org ...

Vincent :30 from Americans for the Arts on Vimeo.

Dancing in a Belgian train station

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Sat, 30 May 2009 20:06:00 +0000

Check out this fun, public art, video of more than 200 dancers performing to "Do Re Mi" from 'The Sound of Music' in the Antwerp Central Station, a promotional stunt for a Belgian television program.

Botero exhibition getting some ink

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:54:00 +0000

The Fine Arts Center’s exhibition, The Baroque World of Fernando Botero, is causing a stir, featured on the cover of The Independent, the cover of the Go!, the top story on the Denver Post’s Entertainment section and on page 1A of today’s Gazette. The FAC hasn’t been on both local covers in the same week since the Extremely Grand Opening in August of 2007.

The Opening Celebration is tonight from 5-8 p.m. We invite you all to join us. FAC members can attend the Opening and every day of the exhibit for free.

The Independent
“Their breadth is stunningly majestic. Years from now, locals will still talk about the FAC hosting this show.”

Denver Post
“But Los Angeles' and New York's loss is Colorado's gain, because this exhaustive exhibition makes clear that it is time for a major reconsideration of this doggedly independent-minded artist … Indeed, the Botero that emerges via this exhibition, which will surely draw visitors from along the Front Range, is a surprisingly complex … “

Gazette
“As you walk through the three sprawling galleries, it feels much like the Louvre - room upon room of palace-ready paintings … “

Westword
“ … formidable, big-boned, larger than life and literally two tons of fun.”

Interview with artist Sushe Felix

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:50:00 +0000

Last week, popular Colorado artist (and former Bemis School of Art student) Sushe Felix chatted with FOX 21's Meaghan Collier beside one of her pieces on display in the FAC galleries. Listen to the artist discuss her work, her experiences at Bemis, and the importance of art education.

A tour of artist Pat Musick's home - from KRCC

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:45:00 +0000

KRCC just debuted a new web-only feature called The Big Something. The first story was on a Colorado Springs artist with ties to the Fine Arts Center, Archie Musick, and his eclectic Garden of the Gods house. Click here for a guided audio slideshow of the local architectural gem, narrated by the artist's daughter (and owner of the home) Pat Musick.

Whimsical wedding at the FAC

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:18:00 +0000

Ever wonder what a wedding would look like at the Fine Arts Center? Well, a great wedding took place at the FAC recently and we've got the photos to prove it. Check out this whimsical wedding at Style Me Pretty, the ultimate wedding blog.

FAC hauls in 13 Gazette 'best of' awards

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:36:00 +0000

The Fine Arts Center took home 13 'Best of' awards from the Gazette. Congratulations to all!

Best Art Museum
Fine Arts Center (Readers' Choice)
When it comes to the Fine Arts Center, Lee Bowers sums it up quite nicely: "Um. Wow!" After a $28.4 million renovation in 2006, the facility boasts both architect John Gaw Meem's stately Pueblo style and airy public spaces able to accommodate the enormous as well as the intimate. Voters cited the free admission days, Dale Chihuly's chandeliers, a solid permanent collection and ambitious traveling shows as reasons to visit again and again. "Better than the Denver Art Museum," wrote one fan, "who needs angled walls?"

Best Local Exhibit
Colorado Springs Abstract (Gazette Pick)
The scope of this 80-piece survey is ambitious - from turn-of-the-century experimentation to contemporary renderings. Sure, there are heavy hitters, such as the tasty Motherwells you can spot from the broad doorway of the Fine Arts Center's El Pomar Gallery. But the real treat is to see local artists Betty Ross, Holly Parker, Bill Burgess and others hang in this august setting.

Best Museum Exhibit
Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe (Readers' Choice)
Despite a year of blockbusters at the Fine Arts Center - from an impressionists show in January to Pablo Picasso in July - this tightly focused traveling exhibit stood out with voters. Not unlike the delicious Ms. Monroe herself. The April 2008 offering included 300 Monroe-related photographs and works by such artists as Andy Warhol, Richard Avedon and Henri Cartier-Bresson as well as 15 local artists invited to participate in the show. It was fun, sexy, sad and, ultimately, a testament to our obsession with the unattainable.

Best Traveling Exhibit
Mikel Glass: The Discarded (Gazette Pick)
It's big ideas in small packages. Sometimes literally. In this sprawling exhibition, the New York artist creates say-what facsimiles of throw-away objects as well as exquisitely painted canvases that play with notions of realism and the nature of art. All of this at our local museum. Amazing.

Best Use of Multimedia
Mikel Glass: The Discarded (Gazette Pick)
It's hard to get your mind around New York realist Mikel Glass' curious work, which ran Jan. 17-April 19 at the Fine Arts Center. That's especially true of the series of handmade boxes that ape throw-away objects, such as express-mail boxes, with such detail that you can't tell the difference. Recognizing that the best convincer - touching it and seeing the wooden back - wasn't possible, the arts center put together a smart array of online and gallery media - including a slide show, a video on how he makes these pieces and an interview with the artist - to telegraph just how artful this heady work really is.

Best Artist You Do Not Understand
Tom McElroy (Gazette Pick)
If you walked into Tom McElroy's recent exhibition at the FAC Modern, "Atomic Elroy's Hometown," you may have been puzzled. But you were unlikely to miss that, like much of his work, this video and installation piece is smart and meaningful, the pearl inside a particularly petulant oyster. To understand McElroy, you needed to spend time with the piece, wading into his complicated relationship with his hometown, Colorado Springs, and his love affair with the slippery nature of dadaism.

Best Musical
The Full Monty (Readers' Choice)
Fans couldn't stop laughing. They loved the singing, acting and special "ladies night" production. Some thought it should have gotten even more exposure, if you know what we mean.

Best Musical
Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Gazette Pick)
Colorful costumes, a sparkling cast and one show-stopping number after another combined to captivate adults while introducing a new, young audience to the magic of theater.

Best Costumes
Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Gazette Pick)
How do you bring a wardrobe, a candelabra and a houseful of everyday objects to life? Easily, if you've got Elizabeth Fry's keen imagination and eye for detail. Why, she made even the Beast endearing.

Best Choreography
The Full Monty (Gazette Pick)
Mary Ripper Baker's dance numbers are always a joy to watch, but in this testosterone-driven musical she really outdid herself, rocking the house with her contagiously energetic choreography.

Best Youth Show
Working (Gazette Pick)
Recognized for its intensive training program in the dramatic arts, The Youth Rep showed with this ode to American workers that it could produce work as polished and mature as any professional theater company.

Best Romantic Restaurant
Cafe 36 (Gazette Pick)
When this restaurant opened in the wake of the nifty Fine Arts Center expansion, it served some pretty food that was also pretty bad. But since Garden of the Gods Gourmet took over, the cafe which is now open for dinner and happy hour tapas as well as lunch, it has landed among the top lunch spots in town. The limited but creative menu is complemented by a romantic setting, particularly on the patio overlooking Pikes Peak.

Best Volunteer
Mary Lou Roesler, FAC docent (Readers' Choice)

Sally Hybl interview uncut

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:56:00 +0000

Watch FOX 21's Meaghan Collier interviewing local actress Sally Lewis Hybl about her role in the FAC's production of the classic musical, The Music Man, playing through May 31.

Two reviews for the FAC in the Denver Post

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:15:00 +0000

John Moore reviewed the laugh out loud comedy, Lend Me a Tenor, and Kyle MacMillan reviewed the expansion exhibition, Colorado Springs Abstract, in last Friday's edition of the Denver Post (March 27). Two positive reviews in the Denver Post on one day, that's a rare treat.

Gazette: Puzzling, dazzling abstract art

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:57:00 +0000

The Gazette reviewed Colorado Springs Abstract. T.D. Mobley-Martinez writes, "There are works here that are simply beautiful, a quality that for some viewers has meaning enough. Dawn Wilde's recent large-scale paintings are a riot of color, movement and organic form. Like Wilde's work, Corey Drieth's gemlike pieces of pigment on wood planks are strangely poetic, but with the quiet simplicity of a Zen koan. The same is true of Holly Parker's imagistic imprints of found pools of oil and dirt, called "Untitled (Roman Buses I-IIIV)."

"At the center of it all, Bill Burgess' sculptures demand attention. Some are gritty; some are sleek and invite a caress. Exquisite."

FAC Facebook fans list tops 400

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:50:00 +0000

The Fine Arts Center has a Facebook page ... who doesn't these days ... and the number of fans accumulated has surpassed 400. And we're hoping for more. We also have a Facebook page for our Theatre Company and soon will debut a page built especially for Bemis Alumni. Have you taken a class at Bemis or taught a class? We are rounding up the alumni, so if you want to know more, send us a note. The page will be up in about a week. Stay tuned.

FOX 21 Morning News "Shout Out"

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:42:00 +0000

FOX 21 Morning News previewed Lend Me A Tenor on the air on March 20. “It seems every time we turn around these days there is something else that is depressing. One thing that seems to be missing is laughter,” says Theatre Company Producing Artistic Director, Alan Osburn. “This is a funny play. Laugh out loud funny. If you want to get away from all of this depressing news for a while come see this play. You will have a great time."

Watch the video here.

Indy: Lend Me An Ex-Rocker

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:22:00 +0000

The Independent previewed Lend Me A Tenor: ""It's fast-paced, hilarious and everyone has to be on their game for it to work," says Brian McClure, who plays Max ... With his boyish smile and contagious energy, you'd never guess McClure is almost 35. While he broke into theater as a chorus member in the Fine Arts Center's Damn Yankees in 2003, his performance education has really come from singing in bands. For seven years, he was lead singer of Head Full of Zombies, the local cover band that's won multiple Best Of Colorado Springs awards in the Independent's annual readers' poll."

Gazette: A hilarious peek behind the scenes

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:28:00 +0000

The Gazette preview of Lend Me a Tenor: "Take one divo, add the traditional soprano diva, Diana, played by Nan Rubley of the Opera Theatre of the Rockies and the Colorado Opera Festival; Brian McClure, lead singer of the local band Head Full of Zombies, as aspiring tenor Max; and FAC favorite Brantley Scott Haines as the bumbling bellhop. Shake with an accidental drugging, mistaken identities, half-dressed women and lots of slamming doors."

Colorado Culture Cast features Mikel Glass

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:12:00 +0000

Colorado Culture Cast's Craig Richardson visited Mikel Glass The Discarded as the exhibition was being installed and spoke with curator Blake Milteer, FAC Board of Trustees member Ron Brasch and the artist, Mikel Glass. Watch the video here.

The Opening Celebration for Mikel Glass The Discarded, as well as Colorado Springs Abstract and The Taos Society of Artists, will be held this Friday, Feb. 27, from 5 to 8 p.m.

The Full Monty on Colorado Culture Cast

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:01:00 +0000

Watch Colorado Culture Cast producer Craig Richardson speak with Full Monty director Alan Osburn and actors Cory Moosman and Nick Madson about the musical comedy. The Full Monty runs through Feb. 15.

Westword previews ATOMICELROY'S HOMETOWN at the MODERN

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:55:00 +0000

"Atomic Elroy (aka Tom McElroy), a fixture in the Colorado Springs art community, isn’t an easy person to explain. A one-man artistic mover and shaker, he puts you in mind of a Phil Bender, but...a Phil Bender in Colorado Springs," says Denver entertainment weekly, Westword. In this preview, AE describes himself as a "lone voice in the forest" and an "artistic salmon floating up the stream."

He won't be alone this Friday, Feb. 6, for the Opening Celebration of ATOMICELROY'S HOMETOWN at the FAC MODERN in the Plaza of the Rockies as part of the First Friday Art Walk. Admission is free and the public is welcome from 5-8 p.m.

Atomic Elroy interview on KRCC

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:23:00 +0000

Listen to an interview with Tom McElroy (aka Atomic Elroy) from KRCC. ATOMICELROY'S HOMETOWN - an exhibition of video, installation and performance art - is on display now at the FAC MODERN, and the opening celebration is 5-8 p.m. this Friday, Feb. 6.

Download (3:55) Listen on KRCC

Gazette: Charismatic cast keeps audience boisterous

fac@csfineartscenter.org (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:45:00 +0000

Read the Gazette's Todd Wallinger's review of the Fine Arts Center's The Full Monty:
How far would you go to provide for your family? In these troubled times, it's a question more and more people are forced to face. Fortunately, it's also a question that can lead to an abundance of laughter - and some revealing performances - as the Fine Arts Center's production of "The Full Monty" proves.

"Terrence McNally's dialogue comes fast and funny, while David Yazbek's driving, pop-infused songs keep the energy - and laugh - levels high."