GOLD Best Museum Fine Arts Center
It was neck-and-neck with
the Pioneers Museum this year, but the FAC — and museum director Blake
Milteer’s often-inspired programming — won again. As always, Milteer’s genius
lies in his keen sense of balance: international names with regional
up-and-comers, the historical with the contemporary, out-and-out beautiful with
the head-scratching curious. He’s ambitious as well: His summer exhibition of South African artist William Kentridge, who also saw a Museum of Modern Art
retrospective earlier that year, was a coup for the museum and the city.
GOLD Best
Exhibit Sandzén in
Colorado
It was impossible not to
fall in love with this sprawling exhibit of Post-Impressionist Birger Sandzén’swork, the largest ever seen in Colorado. His way with color, texture and an
almost poetic sense of place created exquisite picture postcards that were so
vibrant they seemed to shimmer in the frame.GOLD Public Art FAC Sculpture Garden
The museum and theater are big draws to the FAC, but you don’t have to go inside to get a little culture. There’s a lot to look at, including “Portal,” one of several works by local artist Christopher Weed, “Fiesta Dancers,” a larger-than-life-size work by internationally known artist Luis Jimenez, and above the entrance, Boardman Robinson’s gorgeous deco mural.
GOLD Best
Musical Assassins
Since taking the position
last summer, director of performing arts Scott RC Levy has blazed new
programming trails at the Fine Arts Center. This problematic Stephen Sondheim
musical kicked off his first season with flawless production values, layered acting and voices to envy.
BRONZE Best
Musical A Year withFrog & Toad
BRONZE Best Actress Sally Hybl (The Women)
EXPERT PICK Restaurant Encore Café 36
Garden of the Gods Gourmet is back, managing this elegant art deco café and serving dishes that
are nearly works of art. Try the gourmet steak quesadillas.And from the Denver weekly entertainment publication, Westword ...
GOLD Best Historic Show Sandzén in Colorado
For
decades during the first half of the twentieth century, Birger Sandzén, a
Swedish painter based in Kansas, spent his summers in Colorado recording the
celebrity scenery in photos, drawings and, most famously, paintings. His
signature style — characterized by wild flourishes of brushwork carried out in
cotton-candy shades of thick paint — created a bridge linking
post-impressionism to abstract expressionism, and in the process brought that
heroic moment in the development of modernism right to our front door. Taking
advantage of the fact that the Sandzén Memorial Gallery in Kansas was closed
for remodeling, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center museum director Blake Milteer
organized Sandzén in Colorado, using pieces from the Kansas facility, along
with loans from important Colorado-based collections, to put together the
largest show ever devoted to Sandzén.
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