All art copyright (c) Mike Kloepfer
"The level of achievement that we have at anything is a reflection of how well we were able to focus on it."
-Steve Vai

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Denver Arts Week, First Friday Art Walk at the Gallery...

Last night Craig Rouse and I 'manned' the gallery (literally – ha!) for the Belmar Block 7 'First Friday Art Walk.'
A photo of Belmar Block 7
from the September Art Walk.
There were more active galleries,
and tons more people this month!
https://www.facebook.com/BelmarBlock7Arts

There was a good crowd, lots of people flowing in and out of the galleries, fun conversation, interesting questions and comments, and a little red wine... all in all, a very nice evening.

This month, the art walk coincides with the larger 'Denver Arts Week' celebration. It was a really good night. Block 7 has several new galleries and studios open with active artists, and a wide range of styles, mediums and genres. This really improves the artistic atmosphere for Block 7 - more artists is better! Carrie and Craig are very active with the Belmar area, the local art community and the city of Lakewood. They are working extremely hard to help Lakewood's art and cultural presence in Colorado.
I was delighted to meet the mayor of Lakewood, who stopped into the galleries along Block 7 and talked to the owners, artists and public. During the conversation, he said “The more we can get people using the words 'Lakewood' and 'Art' in the same sentence, the better.” I liked what I was hearing.

The gallery sold some prints, and I connected with a local couple who may be able to set me up with some wood panels to paint on. These panels would otherwise be discarded. This is a win/win for everybody involved. The panels go to good use, become part of something beautiful, rather than filling up the scrap yard.

I had great response to my artwork, and this month the “most correctly identified caricature” award goes to Roy Orbison. 3 people identified him dead-on, and a fourth recognized him, and got as close as “his last name begins with O.” That was close enough in my book.