海角社区

Open Call

The Department of Art at 海角社区 invites applications for the inaugural Alumnus in Residence Program.

Application Deadline:
November 12, 2025 11:59pm

Residency Dates:
January 15 – May 15, 2026

AiR started to support the creative journeys of our alumni as they continue to grow beyond graduation. The AiR program offers access to studios, equipment, and mentorship, providing alumni with the resources they need to expand their practice. The AiR program supports our graduates while fostering a community-driven studio culture that connects alumni, faculty, and current students.

Eligibility

• Open to alumni who graduated within the past five years (Spring 2021 or later).

Benefits for the AiR

• Access to 海角社区 art studios, facilities, and specialized equipment.
• Faculty mentorship during office hours.
• $1000 stipend to support your project.

Expectations of the AiR

• Present one Artist Talk or Workshop
• Provide studio oversight (minimum 4-hour weekly commitment).
• Complete training in health, safety, and studio monitoring.

Application Requirements:

• Submit in 1 or 2 PDF file(s), including:
1. Artist CV (maximum 2 pages)
2. Project Proposal (up to 500 words)
3. Artist Statement (up to 250 words)
4. Work Samples (up to 5-8 labeled images or media/video links)
5. Labels must include (title, medium, year, dimensions)
• Email to [email protected] with subject line Residency Application 鈥� Your Name

This summer, seven emerging artist interns were selected from a pool of nationwide applicants for the annual Museum of Outdoor Arts , to collaboratively create several unique, site-specific installations for MOA鈥檚 Sculpture Park, Marjorie Park, over 8 weeks. Emerging artists worked under the direction of 2025 Artist Fellow and 海角社区 Art alumna Erica Rawson, and Resource Artist and 海角社区/CU Denver Auraria Sculpture / 3-D Studio Manager Walter Ware, with additional assistance by Oliver Cruz. 2025 emerging artists were Caroline Boyd, Emma Cayer, Kayli Cottonwood, Eloise Harcourt, OJ Johnson, Mia Martin, and Bugzy Richards.

The theme provided to the artists this year was 鈥渟acred geometry: platonic solids.鈥� The completed installations explore patterns, sacred geometry, and natural form through sculpture. From concept to completion in just eight weeks, the projects showcase an inspiring journey of innovation and collaboration. The creation of the 2025 projects were generously supported through a facilities partnership with the University of Colorado Denver, College of Arts and Media and Metropolitan State University of Denver. Artworks were created within the sculpture fabrication studios on Auraria campus.

From concept development, proposal review, materials procurement, and timeline and budget management, to creation and installation, this immersive program provides interns the opportunity to participate completely in the art making process and allow participants to gain insight into the public art process. All materials and tools are provided, with a generous project budget of up to $10,000. Open to undergrads and graduate-bound students, the elite program invites applicants who have a good understanding of/or are enrolled in programs such as painting, drawing, sculpture/3D, wood working, carpentry, furniture design, industrial design, installation art and other creative programs.

The exhibition is located at the , next to Fiddler鈥檚 Green, at 6331 S. Fiddler’s Green Circle, Greenwood Village, CO 80111. Installations will be on view through winter of 2025. For more details and to receive notification of when applications are being accepted for the Summer 2026 program .

To: Art Department Students, Faculty and Staff
From: Matthew B. Jenkins, Professor and Chair, Department of Art
Date: October 23, 2024

For context, Music, Theater & Dance, and the CVA do not have the same program fee structure as we do in the art department and are in need of a long-term funding plan. So, this proposal is to create a university wide Arts fee, which would function similar to the Athletic fee or the Recreation fee, to fund the various arts at the university. For our portion in the art department, we would participate in the new fee only to increase funding to our VASD program, and our program fee structure would remain the same. The Arts fee would also greatly benefit the CVA and we are all in support of that!

This proposal is in its early stages and has a way to go before approval. I support the initiative because it asks our senior leadership at the university to think in more wholistic, strategic, and sustainable聽ways about how the various arts meet the mission of the university.

These open forums are an opportunity for students, staff, and faculty to ask questions and learn more聽about the Arts fee proposal. It is also an opportunity to get behind the proposal and share how valuable we think the arts are on/off campus and to the future of the university and our communities.

Please share this widely with your students and consider attending and speaking out in support of the arts at 海角社区.

|

2023-2024 Dean’s Innovation Grant Awardee:
Dr. Jill Mollenhauer and Dr. Jessica Weiss

Over the week of Spring Break in 2024, Professors Jill Mollenhauer and Jessica Weiss traveled with five student research assistants鈥擪rista Allen, Michelle Burns, Nova Kor, Rebekah Sokol, and Jolie Voss鈥攖o New York and Washington, D.C. to conduct 鈥渙n the ground鈥� art historical research. Nova and Krista worked with Dr. Mollenhauer to conduct collections-based research on portable works of Olmec art. Artworks were documented through a combination of photography and three-dimensional modeling via photogrammetry app (Polycam). Michelle, Rebekah, and Jolie worked with Dr. Weiss to conduct iconographic research related to imagery in a fifteenth-century European illuminated manuscript.

The group first visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Dr. Mollenhauer and her team documented the 14 relevant works in their collection. Dr. Weiss and her team used the holdings of the Thomas J. Watson Library to review secondary literature. The Olmec researchers then moved to Washington, D.C.聽 to visit the National Anthropological Archives of the Smithsonian, where they recorded a variety of artworks and archaeological artifacts, in addition to conducting archival research among the historical document holdings. The team finished up their research with a visit to the museum at Dumbarton Oaks, where they documented an additional 16 works of art. The manuscript researchers remained in New York where they studied comparative manuscript illuminations at The Morgan Library and Museum and traveled to the Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University to evaluate possible iconographic matches to the images under investigation.

This research will be used to support the writing of various scholarly and teaching resources. Professor Mollenhauer also hopes to eventually create an online repository of three-dimensional models of Olmec art for public use.

If you step into 海角社区’s Center for Visual Art, you’ll be greeted by a full spectrum of color, though not everyone sees it that way. Some students and community members got the chance on Thursday to see colors they usually don’t.

海角社区 CVA hosted a launch event for color blind students, staff, faculty and community memmbers to try special glasses for color blindness. These volunteers were invited to try EnChroma glasses that enable the color blind to see an expanded range of clear, vibrant color. The glasses are designed to help people overcome obstacles and frustrations for things like learning or even appreciating art. It’s estimated that more than 250,000 people in Colorado are color blind.

We’re taking over the Denver Art Museum!

Come learn more about the emerging professionals docent internship, meet museum professionals, and enjoy artist activations by Moe Grahm and Sarah Darlene.

EAT FOOD – WIN PRIZES – SEE ART

Email questions to Dr. Weiss.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced that Metropolitan State University of Denver has been awarded a $20,000 grant supporting Design for the Common Good programming. This project supports the dissemination of public interest design best practices through a national conference, exhibition, and a digital archive.

海角社区鈥檚 project is among 1,248 projects across America totaling $28,840,000 that were selected to receive this first round of fiscal year 2022 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects category.

Part of the grant project includes the Design for the Common Good International Exhibition hosted at 海角社区鈥檚 Center for Visual Art in Denver, Colorado. The exhibition opened on January 14, 2022 and runs through March 19, 2022. It is held in conjunction with the hosted at 海角社区 on March 4 and 5, 2022 and will feature keynotes and panel discussions from project teams included in the exhibition. As part of the grant project, case studies will be developed from exhibition content creating a digital archive of public interest design practices to be hosted on the website.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Lisa M. Abendroth, Professor聽|聽Grant Project Director
Communication Design Program
Metropolitan State University of Denver
Office: 303-615-0102 | [email protected]

Professor Lisa M. Abendroth is the curator and organizer of the Design for the Common Good International Exhibition聽featured at 海角社区鈥檚 Center for Visual Art from January 14 鈥� March 19, 2022. Her聽research focuses on public interest design and the social, economic, and environmental impacts created with, and within, the contexts of underserved people, places, and problems. Her pedagogy is committed to community-led design practices that embolden access and equity.聽She聽is a SEED (Social Economic Environmental Design) Network co-founder and co-editor of two books in Routledge鈥檚 Public Interest Design Guidebook series.

鈥淒on鈥檛 ever return the painting to Austria.鈥� That was the only stipulation Bob Harrell (pictured left) had for his recent donation of the Franz Lerch painting 鈥淔ishing Boats.鈥� Lerch was an important figure in Austria鈥檚 Neue Sachlichkeit (New Realism wave) and happens to have been an uncle to 海角社区 alumnus Harrell. In the late 1930s, Lerch and his wife fled Austria due to his wife鈥檚 Jewish heritage, and the artist destroyed much of his work. Having witnessed the horrors of a Nazi-occupied nation, Lerch was adamant that his paintings never return to the country that had scorned his family. Now, Harrell and his wife Kristin Kullmann (right) are graciously entrusting 海角社区 with preserving 鈥淔ishing Boats,鈥� one of the artist鈥檚 few remaining works, and honoring Lerch鈥檚 wishes. 鈥淚 fully trust 海角社区 and the institution鈥檚 commitments to excellence, without reservation,鈥� Harrell said. 鈥淪ervice and integrity are cornerstones which have enabled 海角社区 to build a sterling reputation and exhibit outstanding performance in the realm of higher education.鈥� Soon, the colorful painting will hang in the Art Department conference room as part of a materials collection that was started by faculty in the Art History, Theory and Criticism program. 鈥淎rt is a strong part of a culture鈥檚 history, and it is part of what shapes a culture鈥檚 values,鈥� said Deanne Pytlinski, Ph.D., chair and associate professor of Art, who is excited at the opportunity to bring art and history alive for students.