Vegan chili, kimchi, sourdough bread, bags, buttons, tinctures, soaps, jewelry, pitas, pastas and garden-grown spreads of granola, pies, cookies and Kombucha lined the tables as dozens of people ambled around the room listening to guitar players and admiring the clever talents of each eco-friendly crafter.

Developed and organized by Denver locals Kylie Manson, 24, and Matt Gettleman, 25, the HaHo Market is an alternative, bartering-based marketplace for community members to showcase and exchange their passions for art, crafts, music and locally produced food.

“It’s all about small producers being able to share their goods,” said Manson. “It allows people to really connect with each other and share skills and knowledge and to see that there’s this greater community of people in Denver who are making things at home and growing their own food.”

Manson and Gettleman started the HaHo Market in Boulder last May and had two events there before relocating the project to Denver where it is held once a month.

Since its formation, the number of vendors has doubled, and local consumers have increased along with the awareness and popularity of underground markets.

Bartering allowances within this system let vendors and consumers experiment with localized economics to demonstrate the potential for laissez-faire business development that includes all sizes of businesses as well as broader forms of acceptable currency.

The given prices for each product are suggested donations, and, of course, old-fashioned valuables swapping is encouraged to revive the integrity of what people can offer through exchanged craft or service.

Between the merchants themselves, all sorts of things were circulated and traded: meals for shirts, patches for tea, wool for ice cream and even haircuts for apricots.

“The purpose of our business is to earn ourselves independence from the current [economic] system,” said Ciara Dugas, 24, co-owner of The Idle Goat, where she sells homegrown vegetables, homemade masala chai and original screen-printed shirts. “It’s really important to create an alternate exchange of goods that re-localizes our economy and pulls away from a system that doesn’t favor people like us.”

The vendors at the HaHo Market come to represent their small, usually individually owned and operated businesses outside commercial markets where financial constrictions have ostracized them from participation.

“Our dream is to buy some acreage and raise food and animals that we live off of and contribute that to society,” Dugas said.

Lack of capital does not debase the quality of products at the HaHo Market. Ingredient labels for all purchasable items listing the materials and their origins are made available for the convenience and information of consumers — also to legitimize and account for the products themselves.

“For me, this is a validation of some really deep-rooted artistic inclinations that I’m not able to express otherwise,” said Labrys Weaver, 59, owner of Kurgan Farms where she produces organic ice cream, cream cheese and hand-woven rugs and blankets. “The environment here between all of us is wholesome and helpful.”

The city was ready to move. Fast, rolling rhythms from African long drums bounced between the buildings, and red, green and gold banners whipped and swirled in the high winds before sunset, July 17 at the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Amphitheater on Park Avenue West.

Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company performs the final dance at the Mile High Dance Festival July 17 in Denver. Photo by Steve Anderson

Inside the studio next door, 40 performers from five culturally and stylistically diverse Colorado dance companies prepared to take the stage before hundreds of lively community spectators to begin the first Mile High Dance Festival honoring the 40th anniversary of CPRD.

This milestone event also happened to be Robinson’s 62nd birthday, and, in her immutable fashion, she danced and swayed with the crowd from introductions to clean-up.

“My inspiration is creativity,” Robinson said. “Seeing people be creative and positive and seeing the power of action through movement is my life. It is my love.”

The free-admittance celebration was integrated into Robinson’s 16th-Annual International Summer Dance Institute, a five-week intensive dance immersion program that features a master’s week where internationally renowned instructors guest teach the students at CPRD.

The Mile High Dance Festival was conceived by Robinson and CPRD to specifically showcase Colorado dance masters. Each studio performed a brief dance set that reflects various dances of the Americas.

“I always wanted to do a festival,” Robinson said. “I’ve been doing the International Summer Dance for years, and I always bring in international artists, but I felt that we need to really focus on our local artists in this forum.”

Devin Baker, left, Christina Taylor, Kendell Dempster and Edgar Page rehearse a dance before their main performance at the Mile High Dance Festival July 17. Photo by Steve Anderson

Represented at the festival, along with CPRD, were Sweet Edge and the Hannah Kahn Dance Company, both Denver-based modern dance studios, as well as Fiesta Colorado and Groupo Folklorica Sabor Latino, specializing in traditional Mexican Folkloric, Flamenco and classical Spanish dance, respectively.

The program began with an African-inspired performance by the elite, 12-member CPRD Ensemble entitled “Move.” Six boys and six girls dressed in glamorous, red leotard costumes paired off, flipping and twirling each other in waves around the stage.

“I thought it was amazing,” said Metro senior and CPRD student Katie Rye. “I came for their performance and Robinson’s birthday. They always do such a great job.”

The second exhibition, presented by Sweet Edge, was an interpretive dance narrated by the bodies of Artistic Director Kim Olson and her performers. The piece featured interwoven moves where dancers crawled toward, leapt, fell and wrapped into each other to convey emotion with the music.

Fiesta Colorado, lead by Artistic Director Jeanette Trujillo-Lucero, took the stage in a stomping force of Mexican and Spanish traditional dance, wowing the crowd when the dancers juggled swords between their legs.

Before her students graced the stage skipping, spinning and kicking over each other, Hannah Kahn addressed the crowd.

James Olguin and Alisya Rodriguez of Fiesta Colorado pose for the crowd after a traditional latino dance at the Mile High Dance Festival July 17.. Photo by Steve Anderson

“My system as a choreographer is to try to make up ways to move the body that I’ve never seen before because I’m obsessed with movement,” she said.

In fascinating cultural contrast, Groupo Folklorico Sabor Latino performed a dance called “Son Jarocha Veracruzano,” which honored the Mexican-African Jarocha people of Veracruz, Mexico.

“The people in this region are very proud and unique,” said Artistic Director Lorenzo J. Ramirez. “You should feel the African influence in the foot work that we do.”

The program ended with a high-energy, West African-inspired dance by the CPRD Ensemble called “Yemaja.” As the dance progressed, Robinson invited the dancers and everyone in the crowd to come on stage to, as she said, “move with us.” Moving has always been her forte.

Beginning her career as a dance director at the fresh age of 21, Robinson had an inextinguishable passion for music and art.

“We danced wherever we could. We went to Air Force bases, Army bases, daycare centers, senior centers, and we taught at Metro for years,” she said. “We were their summer dance program, and we taught hundreds of kids that were bused in every day.”

Growing up in Five Points in the 1940s was an inspirational, alive time for art and music (especially jazz). Robinson grew up with the influences and perspectives of artists of all backgrounds.

“Jazz, I would say, was my greatest inspiration,” she said. “I think that I grew up in an extraordinary time in Denver. I remember bonfires and musicians playing in our basement — but that’s what we did; we played music, and we danced, and we sang and we created.”

Her father was an actor and loved to dance, and her mother was a musician with the San Diego Symphony. They both instilled a lifelong instinct in her to cherish and enable the music and movement of life.

“I will never stop dancing,” she said.

Experts discuss opposite topics, audience attempts to link

What do Bigfoot and the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung have in common? That was left to an audience to discuss after the July 9 Mixed Taste at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Mixed Taste, being the new form of contemporary art for the museum, is currently celebrating its sixth year with all 10 of its shows sold out. The idea behind Mixed Taste is to invite two different speakers, who are accredited in their field of research, each Friday night from June 18 to Aug. 20, and have them present information that is important for an audience to hear in one sitting. Each speaker is allowed 20 minutes to present. At the end of both rounds, the audience can then ask questions about either topic or both and attempt to sew together how they are related.

Dave Johnson, researcher for the Big Foot Field Researchers Organization, gives a presentation at the Museum of Contemporary Art's Mixed Taste series. Photo by Steve Anderson

Dave Johnson, researcher from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, spoke on the evidence that proves the existence of Bigfoot for the first 20 minutes. Nancy D. Wadsworth, assistant professor for the Department of Political Science at the University of Denver, spoke on the notable research of Jung’s psychological philosophies for the second 20 minutes.

“I’m leaving it up to you to make the connections between Jung and Bigfoot, and it is killing me to not do it!” said Wadsworth to the audience before beginning her presentation.

Johnson presented evidence for Bigfoot’s existence such as sound clips from the 1970s of researchers who, according to Johnson, interacted with a family of Bigfoots for some time. This, along with other evidence such as molds of what Johnson said are Bigfoot’s imprints, were also presented.

Johnson ended his argument stating the true evidence science needs in order to prove the existence of Bigfoot is, a body. According to Johnson, it would be cruel to kill a living Bigfoot, and their deaths happen so quickly that it is hard to find a dead Bigfoot before nature has taken its course in decomposition.

“It’s extremely rare to find the remains of a bear, and we know they exist. Animals crawl into protective places when they’re sick, and then they die there,” Johnson said.

Wadsworth spent her time discussing the three levels of consciousness Jung spent his time researching, those levels being the conscious mind, the unconscious mind and the shadow. The shadow being, according to Wadsworth, the deepest level of consciousness, which forces us to project the characteristics in ourselves we don’t agree with onto others. According to Wadsworth, Jung believed it was important for one to possess some personality trait of evil and acknowledge that it exists.

At the end of the 40 minutes, audience members took the opportunity to ask both speakers questions, drawing the conclusion that Bigfoot may be the projection of the subconscious beast that resides in man.

Milos Novotny, a Denver hydrogeologist, participated in his second Mixed Taste claiming that the shows are entertaining but not something he would attend more than twice in one summer. However, he enjoyed attempting to make the connection between Jung and Bigfoot.

“At first I thought Jung had big feet, but it’s more than that. Bigfoot is everything we deny in ourselves,” Novotny said. “Bigfoot is Jung’s Shadow, the archetype.”

Wadsworth believes the MCA’s Mixed Taste is one of the most intellectually challenging forums in Denver. According to Wadsworth, the challenge is for both the speaker, having only 20 minutes to present, and the audience, having to connect two un-relatable topics.

This was Wadsworth’s second appearance at Mixed Taste, her first being last summer when she discussed Niccolo Machiavelli. Johnson participated in his first mixed taste July 9 but believes he would return to discuss Shamanism if invited back.

Water into wine is a well-known Miracle, but now, it’s a “miracle” you can create yourself.

More than four years ago an urban winery was introduced to Colorado by the name of Water 2 Wine. It’s not your typical winery, though, because customers choose, make, bottle, cork and label their own wines.

Derek Handley, owner of Centennial's Water 2 Wine, sits in front of the store's wine selection June 18. Photo by Steve Anderson

“It’s a ‘Build-a-Bear’ for adults,” said Derek Handley, owner of Water 2 Wine in Centennial. “We get your hands dirty in the front end, then we work the wine through fermentation and filtration, then we schedule you to come back with some friends and you fill, cork and label the bottles.”

“[You can make] a little more than six gallons. It depends on how much you consume while you’re bottling,” Handley said. “We call it research and development!”

Water 2 Wine works with 100 different vineyards in 13 countries. Through distribution these vineyards sell off grapes, which are crushed.The juice and skin are shipped to the stores.

First, customers pick their wine. The flavors range from sweet, fruit compress-style wines, like peach-apricot chardonnay, to heavy cabs and blends from all over the world. Everything is available for tasting before you make it.

Next, customers mix the skin and juice with yeast and other key ingredients in large buckets. Handley and his team take over from here, allowing the grape juice to ferment. The dirty work takes 45 days, then customers come back in to bottle and cork the wine and have a glass or two. For the final step, customers apply their custom-made labels, which they design with photos, drawings and fun names.

Water 2 Wine highly encourages customers to bring in food like cheese and crackers and drink up while creating their bottles of “heavenly spirits.”

Because Water 2 Wine produces wine in-house, all of the beverages are low-sulfite and contain no histamines. Sulfites are a preservative put in wine to add shelf life, but it can give people headaches. Since Water 2 Wine goes without the sulfites, their bottles have a shelf life of two to three years

Water 2 Wine’s Centennial store has won 50 awards in four years.

“We are not a traditional winery, nor are we a wine bar; we are in between,” Handley said. “We do after-hours events, and the third Wednesday of every month, we have live music and appetizers.”

Water 2 Wine welcomes people to come in for lunch and happy hour to sip on the store’s wine without having to work for it.

“We realize that you can buy wine from wherever you want, so our relationship [with our customers] has to be better. A big part of our business is that our customers come to see us,” Handley said.

“The fun part for me is the people; that’s why I am here,” said Erin Hess, an employee at Water 2 Wine.

Handley is focused on making a great atmosphere at Water 2 Wine, a place where people can relax and enjoy a glass of wine.

“[When] people come in for a tasting I don’t want to interrupt them because they have such good conversation,” said Hess. “That’s what wine does. It just brings people together.”

Because Water 2 Wine puts such an emphasis on the atmosphere and customer service of the store they often go from stranger to client to friend with their customers quickly.

“We try to take all the snobbiness out of wine, I think people are kind of put off by that, they get bombarded with ‘you can’t have a good bottle of wine unless it’s $50 or $100’ and that’s not true,” Handley said.

Water 2 Wine is a cozy place. They consider themselves small, making 25,000 bottles in 2009. The holidays are usually the busiest with people wanting to make wine as gifts, but Water 2 Wine is a great year-round hangout.

“I really like wine. I like the social aspect of it. I like the complexity and variety of it,” Handley said. “It’s a fun business. People walk in with a smile and walk out with an even bigger one.”

Walking by booth 118, the rich earth-tone metal work combined with stainless steel ramps and falling marbles caught art enthusiasts’ eyes, but the true attraction came from the clinking and clanging as gravity forced the balls down through the artwork.

Artist Jeffrey Zachmann stands with his kinetic art July 3 at the 20th-annual Cherry Creek Arts Festival. Photo by Luke Powell

“I don’t think we need to go anywhere else today,” Rebecca Knapp, a Denver landscape architect said. “My 5 year old is transfixed! Who needs TV? We just need this in our living room.”

According to Zachmann, the kinetics of the piece work simply by gravity. Several marbles, or other spheres of similar size, are placed at the top of the piece on a stainless steel ramp. From there the balls go through a series of twists and turns while dropping from ramp to ramp until they reach the bottom of the piece where they wait patiently for a motorized lift, such as a basket, to bring them back up to the top.

It appeared like a mini rollercoaster, except these pieces have an artistic touch with varying metals creating contrast and depth in the background.

Though all of the stainless-steel ramps are created from brand-new materials, the other metals are usually scrap-metal found in junkyards. According to Zachmann, one of the larger pieces on display was created from an old corn picker found in a scrap yard. After the ramps are complete, Zachmann then adds the different pieces of scrap-metal as he sees fit.

As a child, Zachmann created similar pieces out of dirt outside his house. When studying ceramics at Morehead State University he attempted to create tracks for marbles to fall down; however, according to Zachmann, clay shrinks and cracks and is therefore unreliable. From there, Zachmann moved on to using metals. At his third art show he displayed his work at the Smithsonian, and he said it just took off from there.

Zachmann has pieces on display and is known worldwide. He said his most notable piece is on display at the Brisbane Airport in Australia. That particular piece is about 10-feet high, six-feet wide, took almost six months to create and has been on display for just more than a year.

Another notable Zachmann created is stationed at the children’s museum in Pueblo and is 12-feet tall.

Smaller pieces, such as the ones that hung from the walls in Zachmann’s booth, are anywhere from two to four-feet tall and two to four-feet wide. According to Zachmann, all pieces are one of a kind, handcrafted by himself and can take anywhere from two days to two weeks to create. However, larger piece, such as the ones in Australia and Pueblo took months to assemble.

Children watch Jeffrey Zachmann's active art July 3 at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival. Photo by Luke Powell

“I just love doing this stuff,” Said Zachmann.

Zachmann attends many art festivals throughout the year across the nation and enjoys it the most when art enthusiasts travel to visit him.

“It always amazes me,” Zachmann said. According to Zachmann, visitors from places such as New York and Wisconsin will show up randomly to see his pieces.

Zachmann, however, said what truly inspires him is clients contacting him years later to describe all of the new things they are still discovering with the pieces he created.

Zachmann has had a display six years at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, although not consecutive. He attended in 2009 and placed third in metalwork; previous to that, however, it had been several years since his attendance.

Zachmann hopes to return to the festival next year for a seventh round of displaying his kinetic art. Zachmann believes the festival is one of his favorites to attend.

“There are great people who both attended and work the festival,” Zachman said. “It’s a lot of fun to be here and people buy art!”

Local artist draws inspirations from the ups and downs in life

In the far left corner of the brand new BOOM Gallery on South Pearl Street, bright bursts of orange and patterned fabrics cut into teardrop-shapes sprawl like a lily pad over the concrete floor, shooting wildly up the walls and baseboards in all directions.

This untitled installation is the newest of 16 pieces created by Suchitra Mattai specifically for her surreal Spring 2010 exhibition, Hypomania.

Artist Suchitra Mattai poses in front of one of her "psychological and topographical" pieces of art June 22 at BOOM Art Gallery on South Pearl Street and Louisiana. Photo by Luke Powell

The title Hypomania refers to a limbo-like psychological state during which a person can experience the effects of mania illustrated by the emotional dualism of bipolarity.

“I found it to be an appropriate title for this body of work because the pieces explore the relationship between the psychological and the topographical,” Mattai said. “The intense colors, fractured landscapes and distorted realities are meant to relate to this particular psychological state.”

Mattai’s conceptual perspective of bipolar disorder stems from her personal experience with the condition. The puzzling scenes and settings in her collection allude to devastating natural disasters which are interwoven with associative symbols of powerlessness and confusion — a relatable, moving interpretation.

Mattai spent many hours developing her untitled, free-form piece into the characteristic cornerstone of her exhibit, spotlighting her dominant themes of disorientation and abstraction.

“I’m most excited and most critical about that piece,” she said.

A lifelong artist, Mattai began her professional career in 2003 after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia with her Master of Fine Arts, specializing in painting and drawing. Her work has been featured in New American Paintings, a bimonthly exhibition journal that showcases only 40 painters per issue.

Additionally, Mattai was accepted into the Drawing Center’s Viewing Program and Artist Registry in New York. She has shown her art in Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Denver.

“I love her work,” said Wynne Reynolds, a Denver artist also represented through BOOM Gallery. “Her palette is so interesting to me. I don’t consider my own colors to be bright, but, these really bright, bright greens and brilliant oranges are just striking to me.”

Full of electric colors, Mattai’s paintings are like vibrant dreams where detached thoughts blend together, creating harmony and vision in chaos.

“My wife’s work has … kind of engaged a playful dialogue between these disparate concepts,” said Mattai’s husband of eight years, Adam Graves, a philosophy professor at Metro. “She uses abstract landscapes but tries to imbue them with certain features that have a psychological bend.”

Graves, acting as Mattai’s most supportive yet harshest critic, actively discusses her art and helps her to develop her inspirations cohesively.

Coupled with their two sons, Devananda, 5, and Dhilan, 2, family and motherhood has absolutely impacted the imagery of her art in the liberal utilization of fairytale elements and mythical structuring.

There is no single inspiration from which Mattai operates. The central elements in her work are drawn from a collective bank of her memories, folklore and popular culture, which she codes in her own language of symbolism and translates to the canvas in exciting, energetic and thought-provoking forms.

International transience is one deep-rooted explanation of influence over her work. Mattai has lived in Guyana, India, Canada and the U.S.

“Living within multiple cultural spheres has placed me in a state of disorientation, and I want to express both the positive and negative effects of this,” said Mattai. “The landscapes are often from places I’ve visited or lived in, and the ornamental elements are intuitive but rooted in South Asian textile designs.”

Mattai’s work can be viewed on her personal website, suchitramattai.com and purchased at boomgallery.com.

For some, it is a sense of accomplishment, and for others it is simply about who they are.

PrideFest will celebrate its 35 years in Denver June 19 and 20. The event celebrates both the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community and what they have accomplished.

Alexia Gayton waits for the Denver PrideFest Parade to start Sunday, June 28, 2009, at Cheesman Park. Gayton rode on a float by El Potrero, a Mexican restaurant and night club located in Glendale. Photo by Leah Millis

“PrideFest is a weekend where the GLBTQIA (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and allies) community and their families can come together to celebrate pride in who we are as human beings and also have a lot of fun doing it!” said Lakewood resident  Dave Adams .

It’s been 36 years since the raid at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in New York City. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the first parade and festival to celebrate the liberation that Stonewall began for the GLBT community.

For many, it’s a celebration of friends, even if they themselves are not specifically recognized.

“I am going to PrideFest to show my support to all of those people in the world that get up every morning and have to fight just to be who they are,” said Denver resident Nicole Dukups. “Even in this day and age there is still discrimination, and PrideFest is just a small step to opening peoples minds to help end it.”

While the GLBT community still faces discrimination, groups like PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), act as a strong support support system.

“I have always gone to events in support of the GLBT community even though by definition I am straight,” said Denver resident Natasha Alekzander.  “I see gay rights as being synonymous to the women’s rights movement. Gay men, and men in general, are called derogatory names whenever they take on any type of femininity. So that means being feminine in and of itself is a bad thing in our culture. Gender roles affect us all.”

With so many different people supporting the community, it is bound to be a good time with nothing but love and support surrounding Civic Center Park.

“It is like a holiday for GLBT people,” said medical student Josephine Brissette.  “It is a special event where we can go and feel safe, meet up with friends we have not seen in a while and show support for each other.”

PrideFest is a time to celebrate every person, no matter who you are.

“I will go for the sense of equality, the idea of celebrating who you are, in whatever form that may be,” said Denver resident Brian Son.  “A day of enjoying life, taking in the beautiful weather and being open.”

The four city blocks of Larimer Square were packed June 5 and 6 with thousands of pedestrians tip-toeing between the large squares of chalk art pieces, stopping every so often to point with awe at an artist and their creation.

Stephanie Andres talks to passers-by as she draws a self portrait June 6 at the eighth-annual Denver Chalk Art Festival on Larimer. Photo by Tiffany Kassab

For Manea Von Griffyn, a chalk artist, poet and spiritual leader, this was her fifth year at the festival, and she spent the two days re-creating a piece by Leonid Afremov titled Blue Rhapsody. According to Griffyn, she chose this piece because she wanted something colorful. Griffyn’s re-creation was only a general inspiration, as she put it, because the original painting used oil, and chalk does not work quite the same as the original medium.

Griffyn’s work has also been found amongst the concrete of Auraria Campus. She has created many pieces on campus for different events, her most recent piece being a portrait of a Metro Student Government Assembly presidential candidate C.J. Garbo and vice presidential candidate David Crumbaker in April.

Griffyn enjoys participating in the festival each year because, according to her, she doesn’t like to be isolated, and with her love for art she can share her passion for people and chalk art at the same time.

“I’m addicted to chalk art,” Griffyn said.

The Denver Chalk Art Festival is hosted each year by the Larimer Art Association, a non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to promoting art awareness and education to the Denver community, while also creating cooperative art programming for up-and-coming artists. In order to gain donations, the artists at the festival were sponsored by varying businesses in the Denver metro area.

Nini Eckels, a chalk artist who also paints pet portraits and works with art restoration, had three squares with chalk art creations in order to increase her sponsorship.

“The sponsors are the big guys,” Eckels said.

Eckels believes that due to the economy, people can’t or don’t wish to participate in charitable organizations; the festival provides a way for the community to participate in a charitable event without having to donate unless they wish to.

However, according to Eckels, the best part about the festival is the participation from children. Eckels believes children are lacking art in school, and the festival is a great outlet for children to view and create art.

Manea Von Griffyn sits in shock after spilling chalk dust over the corner of her newly finished piece June 6 at the Denver Chalk Art Festival. Photo by Tiffany Kassab

“The kids are really getting the benefit from it,” said James Brinkman, another artist working with Eckels.

The Denver Art Festival provided a sectioned-off kids corner where children could create their own chalk designs free of charge. Along with the four covered pavement blocks of Larimer, the festival provided different types of entertainment like wine tastings and different kiosk that sold hand-blown glass and other amusing merchandise. Also, for the first time, the festival had a stage with many live bands provided by the Denver Theater District.

The festival attracted art enthusiasts from all over Colorado. Steve Grant and his wife Stephanie, both having a passion for different forms of art, journeyed down from Longmont to see the chalk creations.

“This is amazing talent and we love that visual and musical art are combined,” Steve Grant said referring to the live music. “Most people think that art is dead, but then thousands of people come out to see it.”

Debbie Freiheit stands in front of a piece re-created by ManeaVon Griffyn, a chalk artist, June 6, at the Denver Chalk Art Festival. Photo by Tiffany Kassab

Both artist and enthusiast had the opportunity to vote on a square they thought to be the most outstanding, and awards, plaques donated by sponsors, were handed out on the final day of the festival.

Though most artists want their creation to be recognized, for some artists like Eckles, who has returned to the festival seven years in a row and produced more chalk designs in order to gain more sponsorships, this event was really about creating beautiful art pieces, sharing those pieces and giving back to the art community.

You have just walked into Immersion, an art show  in north Denver that combines music, water, light and sculptures to create a “multi-sensory experience like no other,” as the event’s tagline read.

Immersion takes place at the Lumonics Light and Sound Gallery and is a collection of art from husband-and-wife team Dorothy and Mel Tanner. Mel Tanner died in 1993, but Dorothy continues to create art and celebrates it at shows.

The event begins with a 30-minute guided meditation followed by a blast of techno music and drinks from the bar to enhance the viewing of the vibrant art.

Angie Johnston, 25, said she heard of the event on Facebook.

“I love the art; I could look at this stuff all day long,” she said. “I like the way they are three-dimensional and lit up. When you get far away it looks like one picture, and when you get closer it’s a totally different picture.”

“It’s amazing. I can’t believe some of the pieces in here,” Kyle Signs, 22, said.

They both agreed the meditation helps to open one’s senses for better viewing of the art.

The lady behind the art, Dorothy Tanner, is a Brooklyn, N.Y. native. She and her late husband established studios in New York City, Miami and the newest studio in Denver.

Tanner said Immersion was created for people who honor spirituality and positive change.

Lumonics Light and Sound Gallery offers a variety of shows and events incorporating the art of the Tanners. The studio can be rented and can easily be turned into a dance floor with a DJ and drinks to encourage a party atmosphere.

For more information and a list of upcoming events, check out Lumonics Light and Sound Gallery’s website.

The weekly event, “Poetry in Motion,” is organized by Open Eyes Production and brings artists of all backgrounds together to improve stage skills and broaden their understanding of real issues that real people experience every day. Hashim Hakim, who helps organize the event, encouraged anybody who wants to develop stage presence and to expand his or her talents to become involved with the event.

“I think with poetry, [we] aren’t worried about rhyming, and you get your message out more,” said R&B songwriter and rapper O-Gill, who capped off the night with several hip-hop tracks. “I’m somewhat reserved and quiet, but my influence comes from everyday life, interactions with people.” O-Gill came in contact with Hakim for a contest several weeks ago, and has since been encouraged to participate in the weekly poetry slam.

“We come on stage, and we master craft,” Hakim said about those who participate in the event. “Some of us are dancers; some of us are musicians and some of us are poets … we need a venue to keep us going.”

Beyond helping with the organization of the event, Hakim acts as emcee, entertaining the crowd with rap freestyles, poems and of course, an incredible stage presence that forces you to watch his every move. Hakim’s influence is seen through the poets and artists that participate in the event, as well as the attendees.

“You all in the audience want to relate to the poet,” Hakim said prior to the first performer’s act. “You better relate to the audience. We come from all walks of life and try to bring that to the audience.”

Hakim’s message was heard by the audience April 22 and re-enforced by each artist who came to the stage and shared a story. Through music or poetry each individual expressed their feelings on sex, race, war, history and every day experiences.

“It’s everyday life; it’s anything I experience,” said the artist “Mahogany,” who was encouraged to share a small rap sample and a few poems with the audience after a freestyle by Hakim. “Mahogany” and several other of the poets expressed feelings of how their worldviews, and how they use spoken word to share those perspectives. “The approach is stays the same, but the internal perception is different. Anything is inspiring,” she continued.

During the slate of performances on April 22 internationally-known poet Lucifury graced the stage. Lucifury has participated in poetry events across the world and is currently working with Hakim in producing the play “On the Grove,” which will open June 25 at Auraria. He has used his theater performance degree from Florida A&M to improve his speaking skills and his ability to effectively use spoken word. Lucifury made it apparent to the audience the importance of understanding history and how that understanding can help develop perceptive worldviews.

“I try to change paradigms and orchestrate three-minute paradigm shifts,” Lucifury said about his poetry. “A lot of the things people suffer from are [their] perception of reality.”

Throughout the night the audience received insight about current events, sex and how understanding of history can change the role an individual plays in the world. The artists relayed to the audience their goal to not only be entertaining, but enlightening as well.

“I’m 3-dimensional when it comes to poetry,” Mahogany said. “People don’t know what to expect from me; [I may be] funny, spiritual or sexual.”

The diversity among artists was extremely important for the artists’ message to be effectively understood, but the larger goals of each artist were the same — to inform the audience and share their perspectives. Whether it is to inform others about sexual and racial attitudes or to express frustration with the current political system, the poets, artists and audience all shared a common understanding for each other.

“Racism doesn’t effect me, it affects the ignorant, not the educated,” Hakim said about racial affairs in the U.S. and in the world. “It’s the educated versus the ignorant.”

Brewmaster Todd Usry holds a six pack of Lucky U at Breckenridge Brewery April 23 in Denver. Usry, who is also the general manager and director of the brewery, recreated the original Tivoli brew into an India Pale Ale. Photo by Tiffany Kassab

Lucky U, a beer once brewed in the Tivoli by the Tivoli Union Brewing Company, is making a comeback thanks to Breckenridge Brewery which believes “we all make our own luck.”

Before the Tivoli hosted fast food chains, study lounges, book stores and other student necessities, it housed a brewery originally owned by German immigrants, who, like most new Americans, aspired to success. The Tivoli Union Brewery Co. created their success with many beers — one being Lucky U Denver Special Bitter.

Todd Usry, director, brewmaster and general manager of Breckenridge Brewery, was inspired by the Tivoli Union Brewery Co. after searching for a new beer that would give back to the community. It was with this inspiration that Usry recreated Lucky U into an India Pale Ale.

According to Usry, Breckenridge Brewery wanted to create a beer that would not only pay tribute to old Colorado brewing traditions, but also deliver funds back to the Denver community.

With Lucky U IPA, they accomplished both. The recreation of Lucky U pays tribute to the old Colorado brewing company, and 5 percent of the proceeds from each sale of the beer go to the Tivoli Preservation Foundation — an organization created by Breckenridge Brewery — which maintains the revitalization and façade of the Tivoli building.

“I love the way they use that building; that’s what inspired me,” Usry said, referring to the Tivoli student center. “It really is a cool building. I mean, students are sleeping in there and everything.”

Todd Tevo, marketing director for Breckenridge Brewery, said Lucky U was released as a draft-only beer in July 2009 and further released for sale in 12-ounce bottles, cans, etc. in October 2009. It has since been distributed to 650 local liquor stores and 40 different restaurants in Denver, including all Breckenridge Brewery locations.

Usry, when developing the idea to recreate Lucky U, sat down with Teb Blackwell, tenant relations coordinator and Dave Caldwell, finance and program director for the Auraria Higher Education Center, to discuss the idea of proceeds going toward the preservation of the Tivoli. Both Blackwell and Caldwell believed in Breckenridge Brewery’s plan and approved it.

“I thought it was a great idea to partner with someone who is interested in preserving the Tivoli,” Caldwell said.

Tevo said the marketing team purchased the rights to a photograph from the Colorado Historic Society of a beer delivery wagon displaying “Tivoli Union Brewing Co.,” which is now printed on the

bottom of every six pack of Lucky U — another way to show the history of the beer. Also printed across every Lucky U label is the slogan “A hoppy homage to a Denver landmark — The Tivoli Brewing Company,” with the Tivoli logo displayed in the center.

According to Caldwell, AHEC’s representative at the Attorney General’s office created a licensing agreement which allows Breckenridge Brewery to utilize the Tivoli logo on all packaging for Lucky U IPA. In turn, Breckenridge Brewery will offer 5 percent of gross profit from Lucky U as a logo fee, which will be used by the Tivoli Preservation Foundation as needed to maintain the integrity of the building. No funds have been distributed yet because the agreement between the brewery and AHEC is still pending approval, but Usry said he is keeping track of the funds.

Although Usry cannot say for certain how much funding has actually accumulated for the Tivoli Preservation Foundation until the end of the brewery’s sales year in July or August, Lucky U has acquired an estimated $1,000-3,000 a month since Lucky U’s inception.

Usry believes not only will the Preservation Foundation keep the Tivoli maintained and well-managed, but it will also keep it a desirable place for students. The main goal, of course, is to preserve the foundation and integrity of the building.

“I want to put a band in the opera house of that building and do a huge Lucky U blowout party,” Usry said. “Maybe we could issue the first check at the blowout party, maybe.”

But an early-80s influx of economic development seed money from then-Denver Mayor Federico Peña’s office sparked the start of an art gallery/studio/architecture office revival along that forlorn stretch that had been a main Denver business hub before the post-World War II exodus to the ’burbs sent many commercial neighborhoods like that into decline. After some false starts and stops, that revival continues today — despite some vacant storefronts of former galleries that fell victim to the current soft economy.

The Santa Fe Drive story is a familiar one in urban America. A once-thriving area goes to hell and nobody will touch it; least of all banks who engage in the self-fulfilling practice of “redlining,” or refusing redevelopment funds to an area they’ve deemed to be deteriorating. So the area deteriorates — surprise! — further and bank lending geniuses applaud their foresight.

Fast forward to April 16, 2010. It’s Friday night and the 800 and 900 blocks of Santa Fe Drive — now a gumbo of storefront studios, recent galleries and old-line neighborhood fixtures like Jig’s Barber Shop and Swift’s restaurant — are beginning to draw the usual suspects. And it’s not even a “First Friday” when all the galleries are open and the street becomes an eclectic amalgam of gallery-hoppers, scene-sniffers and assorted arts wannabes.

Just east of Santa Fe at 9th, people milling outside the CORE gallery — smoking and on their cell phones — are a tad different from the main run of gallery hoppers along Santa Fe, who take pains not to look mainstream. Outside CORE — and inside the gallery that’s already crowded at 7:15 — there are kids, teens, grandmother and parent-types mixing easily with the wine-and-cheese crowd that are gallery-opening fixtures. And if the crowd is less than predictable, so is the CORE gallery itself.

Inside, about 100 art pieces — running from heavy sculpture to oil and acrylic paintings to high-contrast photos, delicate constructions to a South Seas aboriginal mask made of “found’’ materials — make up this year’s annual “WOW” (aka “Wide Open Whatever”) show. The artists, all local, range from age 15 to post-retirement. And since this is a “community outreach” show, only a few of those represented are professional artists.

“It’s a juried show and we get work from people who range from pretty good to very good, although some may never show anywhere else,” said four-year co-op member Claudia Roulier, who helped organize and set up the “WOW” show.

At a time when some galleries enjoy the longevity of an NFL running back, the CORE gallery, operated as a co-op with 24 members, has been around — in various Upper Larimer, Highland, LoDo and other locales — for 29 years.

After being priced out of several locations, including one on Wazee Street in LoDo, CORE moved into the 900 Santa Fe space about six years ago.

Being a co-operative rather than a “commercial” gallery means members pay dues that cover the rent and share work and maintenance details. Among the returns is an annual show of their own, for each member, covering half the gallery three times a year, said artist Brianna Mantray, a co-op member for more than three years. “This is the best spot on Santa Fe, and I love working here,” added the professional artist working in oil paintings and bronze sculptures.

Bruce Clark, one of the founding four co-op members, whose art is in oils on canvas and on wood, estimated that CORE has inspired a half-dozen galleries now in the Santa Fe arts district to operate along similar co-op lines. He also said CORE’s odyssey through many locales is the dynamic behind those moves.

“When developers and landlords can’t rent to anyone else, they’ll rent to artists,” Clark said, by way of relating a mixed-blessing process. “People take notice and, along with the galleries and artist spaces, restaurants and cafe start coming in. It has happened along Santa Fe. The area becomes chic, rents go up and — if you’re lucky — the people who made the place attractive don’t get priced out. I’ve seen long-time businesses here get squeezed out by landlords who could only see dollar signs. We (the co-op) were fortunate to have signed a new, five-year lease, with our landlord, Jeannie King, a former commercial gallery owner herself. There’s been talk of rent control, but whether that actually happens remains to be seen.”

“I’m fortunate to have a studio space adjacent to this gallery and I consider it still affordable. Santa Fe Drive now has one of the highest concentrations of galleries in the U.S. and — still — our rent hasn’t gone up,” said CORE co-op member Maggie Lawless, who works in oil on canvas and ink on heavy paper.

Trina Magness performs as "Ma" April 22 during a dress rehearsal for "Mouse in a Jar" at the BINDERY Space. Photo by Drew Jaynes

It takes place in a warehouse with a small “stage” area set up with dirt, wooden poles and gauze strips tied from pole to pole. The actors are dressed in dirty pajamas and have messy hair and nowhere to sleep. This is the stage of “Mouse in a Jar,” a show put on by the LIDA Project.

Experimental theater, multimedia art and a non-traditional message are what the LIDA Project is trying to promote.

Brian Freeland founded the LIDA Project in 1995. He said the idea came to him when he returned to Denver after living in New York for a period of time. When he came back he felt there was a lack of thinking-outside-the-box type of work.

“There were few companies that tackled anything out of the norm,” Freeland said. “It was a void when it didn’t appear, [so] we started it ourselves.”

Thus, he and a few other founders began performing outside coffee shops, at parks and in mostly public areas in Denver.

The name LIDA comes from a Cold War mind-control operation. Freeland said the operation involved a series of projects testing low frequency waves to control the mind. He thinks the LIDA Project touches on that aspect in that the productions are experimental, but it is also simply a name.

Currently the LIDA Project is showing “Mouse in a Jar,” written by Martyna Majok. The play is a story of the relationships of an illegal immigrant mother and her daughters.

Julie Rada, director of “Mouse in a Jar,” said the play is meant to internationalize what it means to be illegal. It also touches on what happens to people suffering from Stockholm syndrome.

Alison Nieshi attended the opening night of “Mouse in a Jar” April 24 and said the play was less abstract than their shows usually are.

“It was very analytical of a mother-daughter relationship,” Nieshi said.

Rada said the group normally specializes in doing collaborative work that takes longer than traditional play rehearsals.

“It’s rare for us to do scripted work,” Rada said.

Although it is unusual for the group to do scripted work, Freeland said when the LIDA Project received this script, it just felt right.

“It felt familiar, comfortable, something we do in-house. It wasn’t something we had originated, [but] it felt like it fit,” Freeland said.

Freeland said one of the group’s missions is to challenge stereotypes and perceptions of normal theater, and he thinks it is important for people to experience a non-traditional type of theater and also get a taste of a live event.

“It compares to nothing else; it’s its own life form,” Freeland said.

Since the group has made its way from doing theater outside coffee shops to various places in the Denver area, it now calls the BINDERY Space off 22nd Street and Stout its home.

The LIDA Project first moved into the BINDERY Space in 2001 and was there until 2005. After 2005 the group took some time to travel the world and returned to the space in 2007.

Freeland said there is a sense of freedom at the BINDERY Space; since it is a warehouse, they can bring in dirt, fire, paint and nail things wherever they need.

The project’s future productions are planned for the year Freeland said. After “Mouse in a Jar,” which shows Fridays and Saturdays until May 29, the LIDA Project will start a piece based on the writings of Edgar Allen Poe. Then around the holidays, Freeland said the group is doing a piece about scientology, mixing it with humor.

Since the LIDA Project’s beginning 15 years ago, the group’s message has stayed the same.

“Part of our mission is to reach out, we hope this is something that is very experimental for people,” Freeland said.

Ever since Mickey Mouse set foot on the big screen, it seems the magical world Walt Disney created has fascinated everyone. However, in the 80s, Disney started to lose its thunder and the animators were starting to fear for their jobs. In 1984, 200 people thought they were going to lose their jobs when they moved the “unsuccessful” animation studio off the lot. Ten years later, they welcomed the start of Pixar animation films and a new illustrious animation studio.

FROM LEFT: Peter Schneider, Roy Disney and Jeffrey Katzenberg as seen in Don Hahn's "Waking Sleeping Beauty." Photo courtesy of Starz FilmCenter

The film begins when the board of directors for Disney brought on Michael Eisner and Frank Wells to turn the studio around in 1984. With Roy Disney (former senior executive for The Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney’s nephew) at the helm, they also brought on Jeffery Katzenberg, and the battle of the egos began — as well as some of the most memorable animated films in Disney history.

They seem to be on a roll to becoming what they once were with “Waking Sleeping Beauty.” After the shocking death of Wells in a helicopter accident in 1994, Katzenberg was not going to move into the president position he was looking for, even though he assisted the studio in bringing in an enormous amount of success.

The film is honest yet humorous with some of the arguments literally drawn out by some of the animators, which makes the stories even funnier. What is truly interesting is seeing the names and faces of contemporary filmmakers, such as John Lasseter (now of Pixar fame) and even Tim Burton as a budding animator in 1984.

Where computer-generated imagery has pulled us into the future, it’s hard not to watch in awe as they show animators hand drawing some of the shots from films such as “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast.” Most of the animators didn’t have personal lives due to long hard hours, and they discuss how some suffered from carpal tunnel and could barely hold a coffee cup without shaking. Yet, their love of the career meant they were pushing themselves — they were not being pushed.

The film keeps you captivated from start to finish, and you get a little taste of what it’s like to be an animator in an environment such as Disney. The only thing that is missing is a supplemental film so you can follow the story further. Everyone loves to know the dirty little details of what seems like a fairy tale — why not know more? You have so many questions that you just want to see the next installment.

This is an honest look at animation history with many recognizable faces and moments. If you don’t already have a huge respect for what goes into animation, you will after you see this film.

Assistant Professor of Art Carlos Fresquez and eight art students painted this mural in honor of poet, civil rights activist and former Metro professor Lalo Delgado. The painting was unveiled at the first Lalo Delgado Poetry Festival in 2008. Photo courtesy of Metro's department of Chicana/o Studies

“A day is coming in which misery will end. A day is coming in which poverty will open bank accounts in every nation …”

In 2004, after Mayor John Hickenlooper named Lalo Delgado Denver’s first Poet Laureate, Delgado’s 1994 poem “A Day is Coming” appeared in RTD buses in the Denver metro area.

Delgado was a civil rights activist and, according to Ramón Del Castillo, department chair of Chicana/o Studies at Metro, the “grandfather of Chicano and Chicana poetry in this country.”

He also pioneered the Chicano/a Studies program at Metro and taught Spanish classes. The Third Annual Lalo Delgado Poetry Festival was held April 19 at St. Cajetan’s Center to honor him and his contributions to the community.

President Stephen Jordan said he was honored to have had Delgado “among our faculty for 17 years,” and that Delgado’s work was one of the contributing factors to Metro being the “college of choice for students of color in Colorado.”

While he was a professor at Metro, Delgado was also active at other local schools.

“My dad visited a lot of elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, colleges here in Denver, and he especially liked to go to elementary schools because that is where our future storytellers are going to come from,” said Ana Duran, Delgado’s oldest daughter. “He would tell them ‘You will be the next storytellers, you will be the next poets, the writers, the teachers.’ He encouraged education so much.”

FROM LEFT: Bella Brady, Mariah Bradley, Ariel Bradley and Aliana Velasquez decorate goodie bags April 19 at the Third Annual Lalo Delgado Poetry Festival, hosted at St. Cajetan's Center. The goodie bags served as enterainment for children while adults read poetry and delivered speeches. Photo by Tiffany Kassab

Delgado was born in Chihuahua, Mexico and moved to a tenement in El Paso, Texas when he was 12. According to Jordan, Delgado thought a college education was nearly impossible for poor migrant workers; however, he earned a master’s degree in 1962 from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Jordan said it wasn’t until Dalgado moved to Colorado in the late 60s that he began writing. In 1969, he published “Chicano: 25 Pieces of the Chicano Mind,” which included “Stupid America,” his most well-known poem about society’s misconceptions of Mexican-Americans.

“His poetry is said to have reflected the struggles, hopes, feelings and desires and dreams of the Mexican-American people,” Jordan said. “He believed fervently in the power of the pen to educate and restore justice — a principle I believe benefits all of us.”

Hickenlooper said that while Delgado pointed out the struggles experienced by Mexican-Americans, his poetry and social advocacy actually apply to everyone, and he encouraged Americans to work toward a “better society so we can peacefully coexist and value our diversity.”

“These were struggles that were universal, and I think he never lost sight that what he was really writing about was mankind,” Hickenlooper said. “He illuminated the people who endured these injustices so others would be able to learn from it and gain strength from it so that we could see that those who appear sometimes to be different from us really aren’t different at all.”

Jordan said Delgado’s impact was so strong that he continues to be recognized, even after his death.

“Clearly, Lalo Delgado’s legacy lives on through his own writings, continuing influence of the writings of others, his teaching and vision,” Jordan said. “We are all enriched for his having been a part of our community for so many years.”

On April 15, 16 and 17, Auraria students will perform Eve Ensler’s famous “The Vagina Monologues.” Ensler composed the original set of monologues in 1996, which address sex, relationships and violence against women based on real experiences and thoughts of women. Each year a new monologue is added that highlights current issues affecting women.

Crystal Hoffman, a Metro student and vice president of The Feminist Alliance at Metro State, said Ensler allows groups to perform her monologues without a royalty fee as long as they donate 90 percent of the proceeds to an organization that works with interpersonal violence; proceeds from this year’s performances will be donated to The Phoenix Center on campus.

Crystal Hoffman, vice president of The Feminist Alliance at Metro, demonstrates a piece from "The Vagina Monologues" April 13 at The Institute for Women's Studies and Services at Auraria. Photo by Leah Millis

While monologues such as “If Your Vagina Could Talk, What Would it Say?” and “My Angry Vagina” show a humorous side to female sexuality, not all of them are as light.

UCD theater student Marianna Chavez will perform two such monologues, one about a missing woman from Juárez, Mexico and another about a woman whose face was burned after bombing raids in Baghdad.

UCD student directors Sinjin Jones and Emily Andrews think the mixture of monologues work well together.

“It’s all about truth,” Jones said.

“And the truth isn’t always pretty,” Andrews added.

They both agree the monologues are important for people to attend, especially in a college community, because they provide both women and men insight into the taboo subject of female sexuality. Hoffman said it was for that reason TFA wanted to bring Ensler’s work to Auraria.

Jones, Andrews and Chavez said working on the production has also had a large impact on themselves and that they have become more comfortable with the issues the monologues address.

Chavez said she did not want to take part in the production in the beginning.

“I wasn’t comfortable with the subject; I didn’t think I could do it,” she said. However, after much encouragement and positive pressure from her peers, she decided to take part. While she didn’t get the monologue she originally wanted — “My Angry Vagina” — she said participating in a theatrical style new to her, and about a subject she was uncomfortable with, has helped her grow as an actress.

One of the monologues she did get, “The Memory of Her Face,” is one she has a personal connection with. She performed in “Braided Sorrow” with Su Teatro, a play about “femicide” in Juárez where young women disappear and are murdered after they go to work in maquiladoras (export assembly factories) to support their families.

“They go to work in these maquiladoras for such little money just to support their families, and then they’re brutally murdered. It’s such a horrible thing,” she said. “It’s good to see such serious things as this in ‘The Vagina Monologues.’ It’s balance of who women are.”

For Jones, as male, working on “The Vagina Monologues” has been quite the adventure. He said when TFA approached him and Andrews to direct the monologues, he was somewhat nervous because of the frankness of the material. While he still gets uncomfortable from time to time, he said having a female co-director has worked nicely.

“She can tell when I need her to interject. Whenever possible I avoid saying ‘vagina’ and other choice phrases,” Jones said with a small laugh, slightly blushing. “There are just some things she needs to take charge of.”

Jones said while he can’t possibly know everything about women, working on the project has given him better insight into the “complex world of female sexuality.”

Andrews said she has seen a transformation within the ensemble, and herself, from when they first started.

“They were almost embarrassed to read the monologues, but now they’re much more confident,” Andrews said. She added that in order for them to be comfortable with the monologues, they first have to be comfortable with their own sexuality.

“And that’s what [“The Vagina Monologues”] is all about.”

Metro student Lauren Baird, who plays Mimi in Metro's production of 'Rent', performs during a dress rehearsal April 12 in the Eugenia Rawls Courtyard Theatre. Since the show's production began in February, Baird and other cast members have grown as close as family. Photo by Steve Anderson

When the group has downtime, many of them can be found in the green room, a small area between the men’s and women’s dressing rooms. They play cards, eat dinner, talk about classes and socialize, just as a family might do.

With more than 100 hours dedicated to the production of “Rent,” most of the cast members have experienced lifestyle changes, and some have realized the important relationships in their lives.

Chris Russell, who plays inspired filmmaker Mark, asks “What life? The last two months I’ve been buried in my script.”

Russell co-leads with Winston King who plays Roger, a songwriter living with HIV and Mark’s roommate. Coincidentally, Russell and King are roommates in real life. The two have been friends for almost four years and have lived together since January. They met while acting in “As You Like it.”

Most of the preparation the two did for the show together came before auditions, King said. They would get into character by discussing the back-stories of the characters.

When they both got the call confirming they were part of the show, King said he remained calm while on the phone accepting the part, but when he and Russell got off the phone, they jumped up and down yelling and screaming to celebrate.

King said the director, Scott Lubinksi, actually didn’t know they were roommates until rehearsals started.

The first day, everyone went around in a circle to introduce themselves, and that’s when cast members found out the two live together.

“He is one of, if not my best friends in the world,” King said.

The roommates agreed knowing each other beforehand has helped them on stage.

“It feels like it’s worked out very well,” Russell said. “Anyone who has been watching or noticing, would say that we have good chemistry.”

The crew has spent so much time together, some consider the group a family.

“This is really the only family I have since I haven’t been able to see my own for past weeks,” Russell said.

The group has their own inside jokes, including one that transpired into a prop piece, the cast joked about King resembling “Twilight” star Robert Pattinson and, at one point, someone altered a picture of King as Pattinson which now hangs on the set as “an old gig poster.”

Lubinski said as with any family, an important piece is communication.

“As an ensemble you have expectations from other people, but expect the same from yourself,” he said.

Tyrell Donaldson, who plays Angel, a homosexual drag queen, said he also agrees the cast has a unique connection.

“They give moral support, and they are people you know you can count on,” he said.

While balancing school, work and several hours of rehearsal each day might seem like a daunting task, some of the actors are able to learn from the balance.

Director Lubinski offered this advice for his actors who might be feeling overloaded: “The key is not to panic. We get overwhelmed, [but] we’re all given the same amount of time to get things done.”

Olivia James, who is part of the ensemble, said her family and friends know that there is no contact for weeks at a time because of rehearsal. She admitted that a year ago, a relationship ended because of how much time she spent rehearsing.

“It’s a tester of relationships and of your own diligence,” she said.

James has been acting and singing since she was able to walk and talk, and said it’s all about the commitment.

“It’s got to be something that you really want to do,” James said. “If you don’t put 110 percent into it, it won’t turn out.”

This time around James didn’t lose any friends because of rehearsing and also sees the cast as her family.

Donaldson said he doesn’t think the production has affected his relationship with friends or family, but it still has made things harder.

“My weekends are full, but most of my friends are involved in theater too, so they know how it is,” he said.

When the curtains come to a final close for “Rent,” some members will carry lifelong experiences with them and look back with a positive attitude.

“I think this will be a hard goodbye,” King said. “It’s been a fun learning process and something I’ll remember for years to come.”

Lisa Ingarfield, associate director of The Phoenix Center at Auraria, believes these T-shirts are an opportunity for survivors and their families to express their feelings about sexual violence. According to Ingarfield, decorating a T-shirt is not only for survivors, victims and their families, but for anyone wanting to speak out against sexual violence.

“Sexual violence concerns everyone,” Ingarfield said. “We all have someone in our life who has had this experience, whether they have disclosed it to us or not.”

The Clothesline Project, according to Ingarfield, began in 1990 in Cape Cod, Mass. when women in the surrounding community wanted to turn their experiences into something the public couldn’t ignore. The shirts gave women an opportunity to express their stories while also serving as a coping tool and outlet for their feelings about personal violence.

Ten years later, the project, according to The Clothesline Project website, is in 41 states and five other countries, and more than 50,000 shirts have been decorated. They not only display the effects of sexual violence against women, but against men as well.

T-shirts from the Clothesline Project, hang from the Tivoli ceiling as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The T-shirts will be displayed through April 23. Photo by Tiffany Kassab

“Right now it is visually striking and draws attention to the number of survivors on this campus,” Ingarfield said.

Ingarfield thinks the only way to see a change in society’s view on sexual violence or to help prevent it is to highlight the fact sexual attacks are never OK under any circumstances, and the community as a whole needs to join together against them.

“The Clothesline Project doesn’t get at all of this, but it is a piece of the puzzle,” Ingarfield said.

Michele Rubright, an intern at The Phoenix Center, thinks the clothesline of T-shirts creates a physical testament to violence rather than just seeing numbers and statistics.

“You can see something beautiful that defines it,” Rubright said.

Rubright’s favorite shirt says, “You may have forgotten my face or that I even existed, but the scars you carved into my soul that night will stay with me for the rest of my life,” in blue writing.

“Some of the shirts are pretty and have fun sayings like ‘consent is sexy’ but this one is really kind of sad,” Rubright said after reading the shirt out loud.

Climbing the stairs in the Tivoli makes reading some of the shirts easier. Messages such as: “Beaten, Raped and nearly Murdered. I’m still here and I am shining,” pulls on the audience’s emotions and brings the issue to life. According to Ingarfield, this is the reaction The Clothesline Project is supposed to produce from those who view it.

“It’s hard not to walk past and not read some of them and peak your curiosity,” Ingarfield said. “We want to inspire people to action.”

The garments were sewn, bolted, hot glued, stitched, wired and zipped together, as they came down the runway on March 18 at the 6th Annual Paper Fashion Show.

Cassandra Bojoh awaits the runway at the Mile High Station Paper Fashion show March 18. Photo by Chancey Bush

Graphic artists, industrial designers, moms, students and many others participated in this year’s event.

“The only requirement is that it has to be paper,” Korisa Geiger, of Philosophy Communications said.

A panel of seven judges decided the winner based on a number of criteria, including originality and technicality. The audience also voted for their favorite after the show.

Philosophy Communications was a sponsor, a design team and the People’s Choice winner.
Geiger said the team had been working on the stilted-concept since January. She said they wanted to make the paper feel like it had flow.

“We tried to come up with something original and unique,” Geiger said.

The judges voted The Museum of Outdoor Arts’ garden-esque dress as the best. The dress, filled with floral patterns and whimsical headpieces included bracelets and a necklace — also made of paper.

Geiger said Philosophy Communications sent out the call for entries at the beginning of February, and it was first-come-first serve.

The event was put on by the Art Directors Club of Denver. Jay Roth, president of ADCD said every year the designs get more and more dynamic. ADCD has been involved with Paper Fashion for all six years. ADCD is a non-profit organization that supports the Front Range art community.

“We’re thrilled to have student and professional teams,” Roth said.

The paper garments were auctioned off at the end of the night, and all the proceeds went to benefit the Downtown Aurora Visual Arts.

DAVA is an after school program in Aurora to help keep kids off the streets.

Viviane LeCourtois of DAVA said the money from the event helps to fund programs and crafts such as drawing, video art, digital art and fashion.

A carefully cut, layered black and yellow dress also made its way down the runway. The paper was cut with a laser to create a floral pattern and was designed by team Paper Rock Lasers.

Alan Bader, an industrial designer, said his team, Paper Rock Lasers, consisted of four members and they began planning their idea a month in advance.

Jessica Gates rests next to the heels she wore modeling in the Paper Fashion. Photo by Chancey Bush

Bader said he likes the idea of designing for a good reason.

“I think it’s great to work for a good cause; I’m down for art departments in Aurora,” Bader said.

Team Vintage, designed their piece with ‘40s style in mind. The black floor length dress came to a V in the back and was weaved throughout. The bottom section, cut into frills, flowed as the model walked down the runway.

Debbie Wiens said her daughter was the model for the black gown.

“I saw the video, [but] it’s a lot more impressive in person,” Wiens said.

The Paper Fashion Show consisted of 42 teams and more than 150 people. Several companies including Mohawk donated the paper used for the garments.

Carol Ott of Mohawk said this was the first time she had been to the event, and the company values the involvement.

“It’s important for us to support the creative community in Denver,” Ott said. “It’s also important for us to support DAVA.”

Geiger said there are designated days when designers can pick up the paper from the sponsors, and this year it was crazier than normal.

Thousands of hours were put in to craft the garments and this year’s show sold out. With a record number audience Paper Fashion is more than a ream of crisp white copy paper.

“Next year I’m sure it’ll be bigger,” Geiger said.

“When students come to see me play, they are usually a little surprised because rock and roll is a lot different than being a professor,” Maher said.

“I’m certainly more subdued in the classroom, but I like to think of it as two different aspects of the same personality. I let more of the creative side come out on stage.”

Maher, who grew up in Denver and later graduated from the State University of New York in Binghamton, has been playing music since he was a teenager. He plays primarily electric guitar, along with the violin and ukulele.

Maher returned to Denver in 1992.

“When I moved back, I hooked up with some people that I had known here previously, and we got some test stuff together, and within a year or two we had the band going,” Maher said.

The Mourning Sickness is a three-piece band consisting of guitar, bass and drums.

The name, The Mourning Sickness, “ … is one I thought stuck in a lot of ways,” Maher said. “Our society acts neurotic, maybe schizophrenic. It’s sick. There is something wrong with it, so that’s where the mourning comes in; it’s mourning the sickness.”

Maher tells his students he is in a band and said their reaction varies. Some are really interested, largely because a lot of students like to play or listen to music.

“Being in a band is easier, in some ways, to relate to students,” Maher said. “Both teaching and being on stage is very much a performance. You have to have the ability to communicate effectively and maintain people’s interest, and so both have served each other really well.”

Maher teaches mainly world and U.S. history. He said teaching is valuable, and there are a lot of people need to learn.

“While I really like music, and it is an intellectual endeavor in some part, there’s a lot that’s not there, so teaching allows me to stay close to the intellectual side of things.”

Maher calls his band “original progressive punk,” which he said is almost a contradiction because punk is supposed to be raw and simplistic, where as progressive has complicated arrangements and sophisticated musicianship.

“Myself and the members of my band bore easily, so we like to keep things different and interesting. So we play around with odd time signatures,” Maher said.

Maher said the band’s music is something you have never heard before and after hearing it, you will not be disappointed.

“Getting pumped up isn’t a hard thing to do because we love playing,” Maher said. “There are always moments when things work really well, and it’s easy to get excited.”

The Mourning Sickness has an upcoming show March 26 at Moe’s Original BBQ in Denver.

“If you come to see me and you think you’re going to get a history professor, you’re not,” Maher said. “It’s loud rock and roll music and a lot of fun.”[caption id="attachment_2763" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Metro history professor Matthew Maher picks his guitar in his office. Maher is part of the band \"The Mourning Sickness.\" Photo by Steve Anderson"][/caption] ]]> http://themet.metrostudentmedia.com/features/2010/maher-multi-faceted/feed/ 1 http://themet.metrostudentmedia.com/features/2010/losing-locks-for-a-cause/ http://themet.metrostudentmedia.com/features/2010/losing-locks-for-a-cause/#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:55:23 +0000 Chantelle Geyer http://themet.metrostudentmedia.com/?p=2584 Four courageous women sat in a row gripping each other’s hands tight. As the razors started buzzing, the crowd cheered and watched as piles of hair and tears fell to the floor.

On March 12, many brave individuals came together in the name of childhood cancer to make a small, personal sacrifice in the form of hair. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation hosted a head-shaving event at Arvada West High School in order to raise money and awareness for cancer research.

Metro student Jacklyn Fischer was one of 64 people who shaved their heads at the event. Fischer faced the razor as part of the eight members of Team Cullenator. The team raised $4,396 and ended as the top team of the event.

From left: Cari Jeskewitz, Jamie Petsitis, Julie Maas and Jacklyn Fischer all get their hair shaved during a St. Baldricks fundraiser event March 12 at Arvada West High School. The four women who were part of "Team Cullenator" raised more than $4,000 for the event. Photo by Steve Anderson

“It’s a small sacrifice for a bigger purpose,” Fischer said.

Team Cullenator was founded in honor of Cullen McReynolds, a 4-year-old boy who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in June 2009. Neuroblamtoma is a type of cancer that attacks the nervous system typically affecting children under the age of 5.

Besides being a full-time student, Fischer is a veterinarian technician at Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital, where she works with Dr. Laura McKeever, Cullen’s mom. Team Cullenator is made up mainly of veterinarian technicians and administrative staff of the animal hospital.

McKeever said she was impressed and inspired by all the support and that so many people were willing to lose their hair in order to raise awareness.

“It’s amazing what people you don’t even know can say and do, and what a difference it makes,” McKeever said.

Fischer has known Cullen since his birth and remembers his frequent visits to the animal hospital vividly.

“Cullen was always this happy, vibrant and healthy little boy and then one day that changed,” Fischer said.

Cullen celebrated his fourth birthday on March 11 — the day he started radiation.

Fischer has been spending a lot of time at The Children’s Hospital at Saint Joseph’s visiting her brother’s newborn who is being treated. She talks about a moment of clarity she had while her and her mother were getting coffee on the first floor of the hospital one afternoon.

“These little kids were walking by us, and they were little cancer patients,” Fischer said. “They had no hair and no eyebrows and they were wheeling their IV poles with smiles on their faces. That is what this event is all about.”

Fischer does not have any children of her own, but she sees her co-workers at the animal hospital as her extended family.

“If something affects them, then it affects me,” Fischer said.

With tears in her eyes, she talked about the day Cullen got sick.

At first, they thought he had the flu, but shortly afterward, he was diagnosed with cancer and was having surgery within days, Fischer said.

“A child went from having the flu to stage four Neuroblastoma over a weekend. That can’t not affect you,” Fischer said.

Fischer is not concerned with what people might think of her because she has a shaved head. She says she knows that people on campus are going to be staring, but to her, it doesn’t matter; all that matters is raising awareness.

“It’s just hair; it grows back,” Fischer said. “When you lose a child, you can never have them back.”

The event was organized by Lois Sisson and her son, Lyle, a junior at Arvada West High School. Sisson lost her youngest son, Zachary to neuroblastoma on Dec. 15, 2006 and organized the event in his memory. The goal of the event was to raise $1,000, but instead they raised an astonishing $19,661.71 in four short hours.

“Every four minutes, a child in the U.S. loses the battle to cancer. It is imperative that we improve survival rates,” Sisson said.

So far, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation has raised more than $10 million during the 630 events that have been organized across the U.S. in 2010. A total of 27,153 people have already shaved their heads this year.

St. Baldrick’s provides more funds for childhood cancer research grants than any organization, second only to the U.S. government.

“Cullen has been such an inspiration to all of us,” Fischer said. “I have learned a great deal from him about life and family dynamics.”

Cullen is nearly halfway through his treatment and heading in the right direction.

March’s first Friday found the painter, Thomas Evans, not on Santa Fe, but in the heart of Cherry Creek at a recently-opened snow and skate shop, Division West.

It may seem odd to house an art show in a board shop, but really it’s a grand culmination of the many elements of the artist himself: airbrushing, music and street culture.

“People ask me if I study art,” said Evans, a UCD student. “I tell them no, this is just what I like to do.”

Thomas Evans holds one of his airbrushed portraits, Mar 3, in the streetwear store his art show is held in, Division West. Ten percent of all sales from the show will go to Arts Street, a program designed to curtail youths risky behavior into artistic talent. Photo by Taryn Jones

After Evans and his audience grew out of the mutant reptile phase, he discovered airbrushing, and early in high school he found an art teacher who let him run rampant with it. So he bought some T-shirts and went to town, feeling out the freedoms and limitations of this new medium and creating a style fashioned from the soul. From poster-sized portraits to names dashed across clothing, requests from classmates once again came pouring in.

Simultaneously, Evans was being turned on to a whole other world: the one of hip-hop. When his family moved to Germany during Evans’ sophomore year, he attended the world’s biggest breakdancing competition called “Battle of the Year.” Upon returning to the states, Evans and friends formed a crew, started traveling and competing.

When he moved to Aurora, Evans continued to make both scenes happen. He sold his airbrushed T-shirt portraits on eBay under the name Detour Productions and began Auraria’s chapter of Hip Hop Congress.

“Our first hip-hop event was in Turnhalle and 300 people showed up,” Evans said. “Then I got involved in the election campaign for Obama and [Hip Hop Congress] did voter-registration and debate-watching events, just trying to get people involved.”

Finding himself bored with errand-boy tasks, Evans asked Victoria Haynes of the Denver Democratic Office on Sante Fe if he could do some artwork for the campaign instead. She consented and they sold portraits of various political and civil rights leaders, adding to the campaign’s funds.

Evans found new inspiration for his art shortly thereafter through a friend in Your Name In Graffiti.

“[He] was doing these paintings on vinyl and I thought it was a good idea,” Evans said.

So Evans started painting portraits on old albums to test it out. A week later, he came up with the idea of breaking the records and attaching them to canvas. He airbrushed a portrait over that, creating a textured background akin to broken glass, giving his pieces an added three-dimensional element that helps it pop out a little more. His first portraits in this style were of Louis Armstrong, B.B. King and Jimi Hendrix.

In 2008, Evans sold some of his work at the Urban Arts Festival. Recently he had his first art show at Family Affair, a combined salon and streetwear shop, and painted a mural for them.

When the owners of Division West saw his work, they wanted in on the action.

“We look for art that specifically caters to our store’s demographic,” said Joel DeJong, one of the owners.

Evans leaned on friends from The Gro Project, a clothing company catering to the same crowd, to help him get the word out.

“We’re into helping artists grow,” said Matt McDonald, vice president of marketing.

Evans’ popularity grew that night and his audience couldn’t get enough. Ryan Jones of Auraria’s Ski and Ride Society said the art fit the style of the store.

“It looks like he’s breaking a mirror when he’s screaming at it,” Jones said in reference to the Steven Tyler portrait hanging over the rack of locally-designed snowboards.

Denver may not have an art scene like New York, but people like Evans and the current street and snow scenes he socializes in are working to create one.

“I think a lot of people start to get big in Denver, then leave,” Evans said. “No one stays to help the next wave of artists. I want to see Denver blow up.”

But what is normal? The film “Off And Running,” follows Avery and her family, to show diversity is everything, and who you are now is just as important as where you came from.

A high school junior and track star, she is currently looking at her college opportunities. When she starts questioning her African-American roots, she begins to search for her birth mother. This takes Avery, and the viewer, on a mental rollercoaster you just don’t expect to experience.

Her family, nicknamed “The United Nations,” is as diverse as their namesake. Two Jewish lesbian mothers, Tova and Travis, who met at a single parent’s group, combined their two families with Avery, her brother Rafi, who is of mixed races, then adopted younger brother Zay-Zay, who is Korean. The mothers truly care for the children they have been blessed with and are willing to do almost anything to help them succeed in life, including searching for their birth parents.

While Avery begins focusing on contact with her birth mother, Rafi sets off for Princeton to study molecular biology and Avery loses her biggest confidant in the house. She begins to spiral downward and watches her future possibilities quickly drift away. What she does to redeem herself is both surprising and inspiring. This film should be required viewing in every high school.

Avery’s story is special. It shows that once you realize what is truly important in life, you can create a future for yourself and you can turn around from a wrong turn. You can succeed. There are so many kids out there who don’t realize they have options and they simply lose out on the future they deserve. These are the kids you normally hear about.

Avery had it all, she lost it all and she got it back. Her family was always there for her and it took this journey for her to figure it out. But she got there, and when she did, she knew exactly who she was.

You could feel the music pulsate through your body and the old, stone walls of Sigi’s Caberet. Alongside the B-boys, B-girls contorted their bodies with strength and flexibility. Their movements were hard-hitting and precise with the heavy beats of the hip-hop music. The disc jockeys became one with the music as they spun, creating their own art.

An artist stood on the side of the room; the strokes of her paintbrush seemed to be inspired by the rhythm of the music. An emcee took the floor, pouring her soul into her poetic words.

Hip-hop is about more than music, more than dance, more than fashion — it’s a culture all its own. And behind the men who dominate the art are strong women with the same talent and passion.

On March 6 at Sigi’s Cabaret the Denver-area chapter of Hip Hop Congress hosted “Queenz of Hip Hop,” an event to honor women and highlight their roles in the hip-hop community.

The Emcee

“We tattoo our names across the sky; we make sure the clouds repeat all of our wonderful history; we are the things that make the flowers grow; we are the way the world really needs to go — we are the queens of hip-hop.”

LadySpeech, Quianna Ray, stood before the crowd, reciting her words with devotion and ardor, inspiring both the women and men in the room.

She said hip-hop was created out of the violence between “black and brown” people in the Bronx in the ‘70s, but that women were the foundation. She said women have always been the backbone and hip-hop wouldn’t have survived without them.

“We support them by holding down jobs while they go after their ideals,” she said. “A lot of the great producers out here, before they were great, it was the women who were supporting them. It was the wives and the girlfriends; it was living in your mother’s house.”

However, LadySpeech stressed that women not only play supporting roles, but leading roles as well as B-girls (female hip-hop dancers), emcees, DJs and graffiti artists. Hip-hop gives women a place to be equal to men, as opposed to rap where women are “put in a box and over-sexualized,” she said.

“Our hip-hop brothers are getting back to making sure we’re included and honoring the woman’s place,” she said. “They see that we should be on the throne.”

The Artist

Xencs L. Wing, Angelica Jimenez, dipped her paintbrush into a crimson, acrylic paint and, with delicate precision, applied it to her canvas. Except for occasionally turning around to watch the dance battles, she was focused on her creation.

While graffiti is the common art form associated with hip-hop culture, Xencs L. Wing said Hip Hop Congress invited her and her abstract painting style to join their project.

“It’s an art, and that’s what they want to focus on — creating and mastering your craft,” she said. “They wanted to showcase crafts that are cultivated from hip-hop. My style isn’t spray paint, but art [in general] is definitely one of the aspects of hip-hop.”

Xencs L. Wing said she thinks hip-hop is male-dominated, but it’s not intentional. She said women play an important part in the culture, but people — women included — tend to forget.

“But we’re a team,” she said. “The women help push and support. We are a part of it.”

The Teacher

Haze, Michele Fields, demonstrated tricks to a fellow B-girl during a break between battles. She slowed her body as much as possible to demonstrate each action of what are normally extremely fast-paced moves.

Haze, a hip-hop dance instructor in Pueblo and a member of the Soul Mechanics Crew in Colorado Springs, competed in the various battles at the event. She said she started dancing 22 years ago when she was 15 after moving to Colorado Springs from Atlanta. She learned most of what she knows from watching other dancers.

“What you get from the streets is that rawness of hip-hop,” she said. “Hip-hop is aggression, so when you get that from the streets there’s a lot more battles.”

Being a B-girl for more than 20 years, Haze has seen the hip-hop culture — and women’s involvement in it — evolve. She said she was glad to be a part of “Queenz of Hip Hop” and see women being respected within the community.

“They have to fight harder to get respect because hip-hop is a male dominated area and very few females come in and get their shine,” she said. “It takes years for a female to gain respect, but once they gain it, they never lose it.”

The Student

B-girl Adore, Najah Adore, pushed her way through the crowd to the center of the floor. She put her hands on the ground and pushed herself up into a handstand, then quickly spun her body around. B-girl Adore is 6.

Her dad teaches Cultural Dance Production at the Boys and Girls Club and at home he teaches her the same thing he teaches his students. B-girl Adore said she enjoys dancing and wants to battle at events like “Queenz of Hip Hop” when she gets older.

“We can do it too,” she said. Hip-hop knows no gender — or age.

The DJ

DJ Manizer, Dawn Koerner, stood behind two turntables with her headphones covering one ear. She created beats, usually in a 4/4 time signature, by looping portions of multiple songs to create emphasis. She called this style “break” mixed with hip-hop.

DJ Manizer, a former Metro student, said she started DJing in 2001 because it looked fun. She said she was excited to take part in the women-focused event because hip-hop is a male-dominated field.

“It’s great to put all of this talent under the same roof,” she said. “Some of the women here leave the men in their dust.”

The B-girl

Nurse Boogy, Marina Stankov-Hodge, and University of Colorado student Randi Fleckenstine embraced each other with mutual respect after the final B-girl battle; Nurse Boogy took the crown.

Nurse Boogy said she has been interested in hip-hop music since the late ’80s and during the early ’90s she and her friends would imitate dancers such as MC Hammer and Big Daddy Kane.

When she was 17 she saw some of her friends breakdancing at a party and decided she wanted to try that as well. When she moved to San Francisco she met a group of various male dance crews called the Hound Dawg Truckers and asked if she could practice with them. She said they weren’t supportive at first, but still allowed her to practice with them.

After she became more serious with her dance, she met other B-girls and eventually formed a crew called the Sisterz of the Underground, which consisted of B-girls and female emcees, DJs and graffiti artists.

They later distinguished the B-girls as a group called Extra Credit Kru and they have various videos on YouTube.

Nurse Boogy said women have played an important role in hip-hop from the beginning, but “like everything of interest and value in life, there are many sides to hip-hop and unfortunately there is the side that tends to exploit women [instead of showing what a woman’s real role is], which is to be strong, yet feminine, fierce but open, mothers, daughters and sisters, and most of all, [provide] a beautiful balance and [be] role models for younger women.”

Regardless of how women have been portrayed, she said women still have “soft power [and] artistic might” and have their place in the hip-hop community.

The hip-hop scene in Denver is changing, and the location of the Auraria campus will give students the opportunity to take advantage of the changes. Students have the chance to work with artists and producers in the hip-hop scene.

The diversity of Auraria, coupled with the opportunity to explore the hip-hop market in Denver, has helped influence Hashim Hakim and his Hip Hop 4 Dummy’s club.

Hashim Hakim, aka H2, sits in The Met Radio studio March 8. Hakim recently created the Hip Hop 4 Dummy's club at Auraria Photo by Drew Jaynes

Hakim, or H2, aims to assemble artists and musicians, from all genres, to create a sound unique to Denver and the Auraria campus. He will teach students production, marketing and business aspects of the music industry.

Prior to the CD release by the club in May, Hakim will teach students through workshops and quizzes, as well as hands-on experience. Lectures will be held to help students organize shows, record CDs and improve marketing techniques. Hakim will share his personal experiences and call for the help of others who have experience in the music industry.

Hakim referenced the diversity on campus and said he wanted the music to represent the mixture of different cultures.

“This campus is a good model for diversity,” Hakim said. “Hip-hop is a language of the people, particularly youth. That’s the power of hip-hop: it’s a vehicle. Corporate America has figured it out … hip-hop is a vehicle.”

Hakim wants to use the vehicle of hip-hop to send a positive message to people, especially students. He is recruiting musicians and artists in Colorado who are motivated to develop skills in the music industry.

He stressed campuses are great places to teach young adults and help them develop because of their mindsets.

“I wanted to apply it here [because] students are already in this learning mode,” Hakim said. “I’m looking for a talented person who is coachable and wants to learn.”

He said he wants to use the “collective talents” on campus to create a new album.

“If you’re coachable and want to learn, I’m for you … I want to take [a] student with potential,” he said.

Hakim is trying to teach the skills he has developed in his life and in education, and he is also trying to build his own hip-hop career.

Hakim’s first claim to fame was in the film “Backstage.” While serving as a bodyguard at a hip-hop concert, Hakim found himself backstage talking with rapper Memphis Bleek. He convinced Bleek to get him into a backstage battle with DMX and Jay-Z, and blew the rappers away.

Hakim wants to bring the connections he has developed since then to Auraria and the Denver hip-hop scene. He believes Denver is a diamond in the rough, and he wants to take advantage of the untapped market.

“I would say it’s division, there definitely is talent,” Hakim said about Denver’s hip-hop. “Everything the scene needs to be successful is here — the wit, the style, the skill — to overcome the stagnation of hip-hop.

“We’re in this stage where someone can take power, I want that to be me,” he said.

On May 7, he wants to release an album created by his club. The CD will include the work of students who want to bring their talents to the group. Hakim would also like to teach students professional skills that are required to succeed in the industry.

“As far as students are concerned, I would like them to run the organization like a record label,” Hakim said. “But first they must be taught.”

Students have already taken advantage of the chance to learn the music industry, and the goal to create a CD unique to Denver is under way.

Hakim encourages anybody who wants to help create beats, sing, rap, design, market or play any instrument to attend the next club meeting at 5:30 p.m., March 12 in Plaza 242.

Ten Thousand Villages is a fair-trade, non-profit chain of businesses that solely features pieces from other nations. Using fair monetary compensation for the items, Ten Thousand Villages provides income to women in less developed countries by selling their work in the U.S. and Canada. Ten Thousand Villages was created more than 60 years ago, and there are now more than 150 retail stores throughout the U.S., including five in Colorado.

The Ten Thousand Villages boutique, located on 3rd Avenue and Clayton Street, is covered from wall to ceiling with goods from Peru, Uganda, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Kenya and many other countries. It features crafts indigenous to each country’s culture. Items such as handmade greeting cards, hand-woven baskets, glazed pottery, jewelry and sheet metal sculptures are just a few of the pieces.

One cloth doll has a tag that reads, “My twin is in Zimbabwe.” Every time a doll is purchased, a similar doll is given to a child of an HIV/AIDS family in Zimbabwe. HIV/AIDS affects 25 percent of the population.

From left: Courtney Pelletier, Jess Bartley, Erica Jorgenson, Sara Bartley, Michelle Parilla and Meghan Sullivan chat while awaiting the start of the movie “A Powerful Noise” at the Ten Thousands Villages shop in Cherry Creek on March 6. Photo by Cameron Redwine

On March 6, in support of International Women’s Day on March 8, the store screened Shelia C. Johnson’s documentary, “A Powerful Noise.” The film follows three women from Vietnam, Bosnia and Mali. Each woman is making a difference by raising awareness of HIV/AIDS in Vietnam, providing work for women in war-torn Bosnia and education and job training for women in Mali.

Dang Hung said it was his first visit to the store but not his last. He came to watch the documentary with his wife. His favorite pieces came from the Middle East: Animal figurines carved from rough marble stone and polished smooth. Hung liked that struggling women are supported through the organizations.

Julia Steffen also visited the store for the first time. She couldn’t believe artisan Sudha Mahjarjan of Nepal gave all the money she made from her job to her father and husband before working with the Association of Craft Producers.

“It’s all very nice,” Steffen said. “I enjoyed the hand-woven items. More power to [Ten Thousand Villages for supporting women].”

Judith Nafziger, a Metro graduate, has managed the boutique since June 2004. She discovered Ten Thousand Villages in the early ’70s at a home show, where she bought a needlepoint tablecloth.

“I have always liked doing something for people who are underpaid,” she said. “I like doing it directly and not necessarily through the government, because it might not reach the people.”

Ten Thousand Villages links with organizations like Uganda Crafts, an organization that helps Ugandan women, who are widowed because of war or HIV/AIDS, make money to support their families.

UCD student Senaiet Mesgun walked in after seeing the sign about the event on the street. It’s not the first time she had been in the store because she used to work just a few blocks away.

“It’s something different,” Mesgun said. “The items are from a different country, handmade and they are quality items.”

Assistant manager Charlotte Otto has worked in the boutique for two years. She got involved because she was interested in human rights and the store is focused on that part, not solely on the retail aspect of the business.

According to Otto, the store currently has 40 active volunteers. Unfortunately, the boutiques do not interact with the artisans. They pick the goods from a catalogue compiled at the headquarters in Akron, Pa. They are able to order according to their region. Otto estimated Ten Thousand Villages works with more than 200 organizations in 30 countries.

Nafziger said the event was an experiment and would determine if similar events would be held in the future.

“It went very well,” Nafziger said. “The audience was very receptive to the movie. We do regular events for other non-profits like shopping nights. We’d like to do more events like this [in the future].”

Museum collaborates with art program to showcase teen talent

The device is cylindrical in shape and appears to have gills. On first inspection, one is at a loss as to what the function of the strange contraption is. It looks as though it could be some type of vacuum or generator, but the language on the box is completely foreign, leaving one to speculate. There are others as well, each one more mysterious than the last.

These “devices” are works of art, created by teens.

Students from the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Teen Council and PlatteForum’s ArtLab are working in tandem with creative artist-in-residence, Katie Watson, on the confluence project. The exhibition, “With Some Time on Your Hands,” will be held at the MCA in the “Idea Box” room. The exhibit opens, March 5 and will continue through April 4.

Collaborating together for the first time, the two organizations are using art as an avenue to create a dialogue with the audience by highlighting the subjective nature of time. With some embedded humor, the exhibit will showcase futuristic dust-creating devices and anti-aging videos.

From left: Megan Brncick, Hajia Muya, Phuc Nguyen, and Sal Flores, work on editing their video for the Confluence Project which will be viewed at the Museum of Contemporary Art March 5. Photo by Chancey Bush

“Using dust as a metaphor for the passage of time, the whole thing revolves around these small machines. They are appliances that generate dust,” Watson said.

In addition to dust machines, dust bunnies and specimen jars containing captured memories of time — in the form of dust of course — are also on exhibit. The dust is contained, so viewers need not worry about contamination, should anything go awry, there are dust shields (umbrellas) close at hand.

Entering the exhibit, guests will first see the work of the student teams. Composed of 21 students, the teams worked in four groups, with each group creating a video. In a fabricated kiosk, the videos will run in succession, advertising products that help slow down the inevitable ravages of time.

On Feb. 27 Astorga and Miles LaGree, while working on a final edit, were collaborating with a PlatteForum volunteer to polish their video.

“[They are] things that you wear and things that you put on your face,” Astorga said about the products.

The students participating in the confluence project are between 15 and 18 years of age. While enrolled, the teens gain experience working with professional artists, peers and staff. Students also become exposed to new ideas, enabling them to be an active participant in the Denver community, while working on skills for self-accomplishment.

MCA’s Program Coordinator, Ama Mills-Robertson, explained that the students apply to the Teen Council by filling out an application, followed by an interview. They then meet with existing members to see if they are an appropriate match.

“Most of the time there is a unanimous decision that [the applicant] will be a good fit,” Mills-Robertson said.

One aspect of PlatteForum’s program is mentoring. Typically, two to three Metro students will volunteer at PlatteForum. In the summer of 2009, PlatteForum collaborated with Metro on a project to design billboards.

Working with six mentors and 12 students, each group designed a billboard based on tolerance or acceptance,” said Education Director Meagan Brncick. The winning design is on display in Denver. The partnership between Metro and PlatteForum is on-going, with future projects planned.

Although the projects that students work on are often lighthearted and fun, the students of MCA’s Teen Council and PlatteForum’s ArtLab are often youth who would otherwise not be able to experience art and professional collaboration in their lives. Having this outlet gives the students an opportunity, many in our community are denied.

Whether the students are writing original plays, designing artwork or collaborating with established artists, the important work of both the students and the organizations has become an integral aspect of the Denver art scene.

Located in the vibrant Denver neighborhood near the Platte River and 20 Street, both MCA and PlatteForum are easily connected by a short walk. More importantly, however, the organizations are connected by the purpose of empowering youth, creating original art sharing the passion for inspiring the community through teamwork, humor and beauty.

Claireece (Precious) stood still and took the abuse from her mother; it was nothing new.

Even if they haven’t seen it, many people have heard of “Precious,” the film about a 16-year-old obese, illiterate, black girl who is physically and emotionally abused by her mother and sexually abused by her father.

The award-winning, 2009 film is based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire, Auraria’s 2010 bridge speaker.

The bridge speaker is a tradition started at Auraria campus 19 years ago to highlight the contributions of African-American women. The speakers tend to be academics.

“That’s why we’re really excited this year because Sapphire is an academic, but she’s a writer — she’s a creative writer,” said Joanna Snawder, the associate director of Metro’s Women’s Studies and Services Department.

Sapphire reads selections from her novel, “Push” on Sept. 12, 2009, at the Toronto International Film Festival. The award-winning film, “Precious” was based on her book. Photo courtesy of Creative Commons.

According to Snawder, Sapphire was a social worker for many years, and that is what inspired her to write “Push.” Claireece is a composite of all the women Sapphire observed.

Snawder said the reason Sapphire was chosen is three-tiered. The first reason is it’s timely since the movie recently came out.

“In a year, some of this hub-bub will go away,” she said. “[We wanted to] strike while the iron’s hot.”

Another reason Sapphire was chosen was because of the issues she addresses in “Push.”

“It looks at all these big societal problems and how they are enacted within the body of this young woman, Precious,” Snawder said. “I think those environmental-justice issues — race, class, gender, fat oppression, access to health care, education — it’s all encompassed in this story.”

The final reason she was chosen, Snawder said, is because it’s an important film for Denver. The producers, Sarah Siegel-Magness and her husband, Gary Magness, live in Denver, and the film premiered at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House.

“This is an important film for this community,” Snawder said. “It feels very personal; it feels like we’re very connected to it.”

Snawder said she feels honored that Auraria was able to book Sapphire, especially because “we’re not a Yale or Harvard that can pay” for speakers of her popularity.

“She’s in high demand; a lot of campuses are not getting Sapphire,” Snawder said. “This is a really big deal for our campus.”

Snawder said she thinks people should come to hear Sapphire speak, not only because it’s an honor to have her, but also because the issues in the novel and film are controversial.

“What I hear a lot when I ask people if they’ve read “Push” or watched “Precious” is ‘ooh, that’s that story’ and ‘ooh’ with that scrunched-up face and with kind of a panic with ‘I don’t want to know about that,’” Snawder said. “And I understand why — it’s very taboo; it’s very difficult subject matter.”

She thinks if people listen to Sapphire they will understand why she wrote the book and “what their role is in this character’s situation cause we all have a role.”

“This is about social justice; this is about building broader movements and changing people’s ideas.”

Rogelio Quintano uses various media to create quirky cartoons. Quintano's art will be featured at The MacSpa's March 4 artist reception. The event runs from 6—9 p.m. The MacSpa is located at 1738 Wynkoop St., Suite 103. Photo courtesy of Amy McKnight

The MacSpa co-owners, Amy McKnight and Miguel A. Tarango, knew immediately their business idea was different, but adding artwork would make it special.

“What we are doing is really unique,” Tarango said. “We are the first ones to combine all of these elements together.”

Wanting to capture the feel of a beauty spa, McKnight and Tarango decorated the lobby with furniture, and provide tea and water for their clients. Keeping a pixel theme, squares are reverberated around the room. Splashes of green, yellow and red are painted on partitioned walls, but something was missing. The aged, red brick walls just seemed bland — so they covered them with art.

“We actually had art hanging in here as soon as we had the doors open,” McKnight said. “It looked really empty [before]. We have to have art in here.”

Courtesy of McKnight’s husband, an art curator, these walls will never be bare. The co-owners decided to display a new artist and hold a reception each month.

“We settled on the first Thursday as a reception day because first Friday [events] happen in all the other art districts,” McKnight said. “Coming to LoDo on a Friday evening … probably not going to happen with parking and competing with the other things going on.”

For each artist, The MacSpa records a personal interview featuring his or her artwork and places it on YouTube, with no charge. An added bonus to helping out local artists – it’s essentially free.

“A gallery has to spend so much money for the space, pay the curator and their volunteers,” Tarango said. “We can get beautiful work on the wall. The artist gets exposure and we get people in that wouldn’t come to a computer shop. “

February features the artwork from Chris Schranck. Using texture, shapes, light, stained glass, metal and even wooden chairs, Schranck has created an eclectic style of artwork.

The March 4 art reception will feature the work of Rogelio Quintano. This artist uses pens, ink and a touch of watercolor to make affordable and amusing cartoons.

“He will fill the space with a bunch of pieces,” McKnight said. “I think it will be fun and a lot of people will enjoy it.”

Curator for Mac Spa Eric Matelski (left) chats with artist on Jan. 4, Rogelio Quinones, whose work will be exhibited next month at the Mac Spa at 1738 Wynkoop, Suite 103. Mac Spa offers onsite training and assistance with Macs, as well as an art venue and place of relaxation for you and your Mac. Photo by Jamie Cotten ¥ jcotten1@mscd.edu

After five years at the Apple store, Tarango and McKnight decided to start the business. Adding Macintosh technician, Jason Kennedy, the business came to life. For the first few months The MacSpa was just a name, number and Web site. In July, it found a home on Wynkoop Street, across from Union Station. For the budding business, downtown Denver is the best location to be.

“There is such a big demand for Macs,” McKnight said. “When people find out we are in LoDo, they are like ‘Wow, that’s great I work right there.’ You can take the light rail right to Union Station.”

Because of word-of-mouth, a couple of flyers and now Internet search engines, the business has already helped a couple hundred people.

The MacSpa helps its clients maintain their iPhones and iPods, as well as teach them how to use other Apple products such as computers and software.

“If you go to any computer shop, you go to this person and this person, and now you just have to hire someone,” Tarango said. “We get to work with people and talk to them about specific elements. There is a little bit of that at Apple, but here it’s more ‘sit on the couch and tell me what you are talking about.’”

A group of artists’ work will be displayed at the July reception and are currently looking for digital and electronic artwork.

McKnight is also hoping to partner with an actual spa so clients can get the same royal treatment as their computers.

“I want to partner with the different spas in town,” McKnight said. “It’s called a spa for a reason. The Mac gets a spa treatment, so we’ll throw in something [for our customers] too.”

A Burmese child carries goods four miles to the market. Her father died as a result of Cyclone Nargis, forcing her to take on extra responsibilities to help her mother. Photos courtesy of Ko Zaw

On May 2, 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Burma’s Irrawaddy Delta, a flat region populated by poor rice farmers and fishers. Nargis was the worst natural disaster in Burma’s recorded history; by the next morning, an estimated 140,000 people in the region had perished; many were parents of the now orphans.

Ko Zaw, a Burmese journalist, was studying at the University of California, Berkeley, when Nargis struck. He said he rushed back to Burma to “reach out and help [my] fellow citizen[s] in the aftermath of the cyclone.”

Ko Zaw is the pseudonym the editors of The Metropolitan will use for the Burmese journalist they have guaranteed anonymity. If the Burmese government found a journalist using funds raised in the U.S. for aid in Burma, that person would face imprisonment.

On his way to Burma, Ko Zaw stopped in Nederland, Colo. and met with Doug Cosper, a journalist trainer who had worked with Ko Zaw. Together, they hosted a fundraiser and Cosper said they collected a couple thousand dollars. With the funds Ko Zaw raised in Nederland and Berkeley, he was able to work with orphans in Kun Chan Kone, a small village in the delta area.

“He and a group of ordinary citizens (who risked being arrested) who live in a village in the delta took it upon themselves to round up … 80 children who were orphaned by the cyclone; their parents had perished,” Cosper said. “They took them under their wing[s] and placed them with family members or friends of the family in the village so they could continue their lives there and [keep] them from the hellish future they would have if the government … put them in an orphanage somewhere.”

Ko Zaw explained that government-owned orphanages are under military rule and the children are often exploited.

Ko Zaw joined with the Saturday Group, one of the many organizations created to help aid those affected by Nargis. Together, they continue to care for 85 orphans, ages 4-15, from Kun Chan Kone and surrounding villages. Of the 85 children, 76 are enrolled in school because of the work Ko Zaw and the Saturday Group have done.

On Feb. 26, Naropa University in Boulder will host the “Children of the Storm” exhibition. The event was conceived by Ko Zaw and is sponsored by Cosper, as well as the Mountain Forum for Peace organization.

A Burmese orphan is pictured on a fishing trip. His two younger brothers wait for him to return with dinner.

“He had the idea to bring those to America and put on an exhibition of the children’s artwork and their life stories … to raise money for their education,” Cosper said. “And that is the goal — to raise enough money to feed and house and clothe these kids and pay their school fees all the way through high school … it only cost $8 a month per child to do that.”

With that $8 a month, there is hope Htwe can make his dream of becoming a doctor a reality.

“We believe that helping these children go to school will contribute to rebuilding their hope for their future — hope that [was] shattered when the storm took their parents,” Ko Zaw said. “We hope to see them graduate at least from primary school instead of losing their childhood to hard labor just to survive.”