While painting this mural, many thoughts went through my heart and mind.
As I paint, being present and focusing, almost meditating on each vertical line and how each line is alike, but different, unique. Unique like people, the self, soul and spirit.
As we move, walk about, we are vertical. A walk is a series of repeated movements. A walk in a straight line. Vertically we are awake, horizontally, we rest.
I thought about the viewer, who will see this and what may run through their minds. What might they think of, a serape, a blanket or see only a series of linear connected colors? Might they see it as a blanket that could metaphorically cover them, maybe as a wrapping presence?
As an artist and one who has studied and looked at many works of art, I am one who has a deep engagement with art history. I looked at the stripe in art history and the many artists who utilize the stripe in their works, like Gene Davis, the color field painter who saw and felt a repeated stripe as related to music.
I questioned, how is this connecting to and how I can be sensitive to this architectural space. This site, distant past and current.
I looked at a multitude of historic Native American blankets. I wanted to give respect to the Indigenous peoples who were here first. Striving to embrace cultural references and to honor my Indigenous past along with painting a piece that speaks to the present as well as displays a future. Create a work of art that is respected by not only the native peoples but respected by all.
A mural is a wall with a tongue, it speaks to one and all. It is a gift to the community. I hope, as one walks in and sees the mural, that they are welcomed by the embrace of what this gift is being offered.
Carlos Fresquez
December 2020
Madelyn is a fashion designer and textile artist from Denver, Colorado. She launched her brand, Rebellelion, in 2015 creating apparel that is eco-friendly and ethically made. Sustainability is at the core of every design she creates, with her upcycled denim pieces being the most popular of her work. She has shown collections at Denver Fashion Week and has been nationally recognized in publications such as Bustle, Teen Vogue, 5280, 303 Magazine, and Outfront. In sync with her design work, she hosts community events focused on sustainability such as upcycling workshops, clothing swaps, and outdoor art festivals.
@rebellelionco
Jasmine is an artist who creates drawings through a variety of media. She received her BFA from the University of West Florida, and her MFA from Colorado State University. Her works are inspired by consumerist culture and its appetite for devouring Black culture. Her artworks are often about personal contact with Eurocentrism and its effects on the marginalized. The technicolor human form is the centerpiece of her works. Using her own Creole food culture as a catalyst, her work both celebrates the many colorful aspects of Black American culture while attempting to create conservation on how it is consumed and regurgitated amongst pop-culture.
@metaphoricalmuse
Elle is an anti-disciplinary artist, writer, and educator from the occupied lands of the Hawaiian Kingdom (Honolulu, HI). Currently based in Arapaho/Cheyenne/Ute Territories (Denver, CO), they received their MFA in Choreography from the University of Colorado Boulder with a graduate certification in Emergent Technologies & Media Arts Practice, and their BA in Dance & Sociology from Wesleyan University. Elle's performance and visual works have been displayed both nationally and internationally, including the Thessaloniki Queer Arts Festival (Greece), SPEKTRUM (Berlin), the Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation (Seattle, WA), Art Gym Denver (Denver, CO), Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH), and the Ezra & Cecile Zilkha Gallery (Middletown, CT). Elle's research currently focuses on interplays between form/formlessness and being/nothingness, and physicalizing the imagination/psyche as a site for queer world-building.
@umamigoddess
Marissa is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work can be seen across the country. After graduating from the University of Hartford with a BFA, she moved on to study in Italy, an experience that continues to inform her artistic approach. Since then, her work has spanned everything from published illustrations to large scale murals, exploring the intersection between realism and fantasy.
@reveryart
Sarah explores the functionality of abstraction through a feminine, queer, and contemporary perspective. Her work investigates the intersections of painting, social practice, and meditation and their collective ability to promote self-reflection, cathartic healing, and true social change. Palmeri holds a BFA in Painting and Drawing from Louisiana State University, and an Executive Certificate of Nonprofit Management from the University of Notre Dame. She received her 200-hour yoga teacher training from Denver's Urban Sanctuary in 2022. She has been a member of Strangers Art Collective since 2015 and is a current Artist in Residence at RedLine Contemporary Art Center in Denver. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and Iceland.
@darlene_in_denver
Zoots lives and works in Denver, Colorado, and received his Masters of Fine Art from the University of Denver. Zoots’ work has been exhibited throughout the US, including the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Scope Art Fair Miami Beach, and the LA Art Show. Since 2010 he has exhibited internationally, including a site-specific installation at the Museum of Image + Sound in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Zoots has exhibited at Preteen Gallery in Mexico City and at Arcadia Missa in London. In August of 2013, Mario participated in the Biennial of the Americas.
Mario Zoots’ work is published in The Age of Collage: Contemporary Collage in Modern Art [ISBN-10: 3899554833]; this publication was released by Gestalten Berlin. Since 2015, Zoots has participated in several artist residencies, including RedLine in Denver, CO, and Dedazo in Chiapas, MX. In the summer of 2017, Zoots did a series of interventions in abandoned buildings throughout
Mexico in Chiapas and Oaxaca. Mario has taught design foundations at Metropolitan State University and Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design. Zoots is the Curatorial Manager for New Collection, a project-based art collection designed to foster artist collaboration and empower creative expression. Zoots is represented by K Contemporary in Denver, CO, and by Daniela Elbahara in Mexico City.
@zoots
I first developed an interest in photography because of my dad. He took a photography class when I was very young and he proceeded to frame out a darkroom in our basement. The first time that I saw a print develop, it looked like a magic trick. I always had my own camera, even as a child, and I eventually learned how to develop film on my own. People are my favorite subjects and I love it when I can capture a candid moment of pure emotion.
"When We Were Young" is a small collection of some of the photos that I took between 2005 and 2010. Before the era of smartphones, I made it a habit to take a digital camera with me to most places that I went. The number of shots that I could take felt unlimited when compared to film. I no longer had to ration the pictures I could take. I realized that any night or any moment could become a special occasion worth remembering. After experiencing the isolation of quarantine, the process of reviewing these pictures was a powerful reminder of the importance of social connections and an encouragement to strengthen those ties with the people around me.
Julian Wakefield
June, 2022