We are featuring the thought-provoking work of the Voces Vivas artists in an exhibit all their own, The Artists of Voces Vivas. Our community-curated Voces Vivas exhibit was used to build upon, and add to, the work local Latinos have been doing for years to preserve and share their own stories. Located on the second floor, The Artists of Voces Vivas, serves as a specialized exhibition during the simultaneous run of Open Studios 2022 in our Main Gallery. The exhibit showcases the captivating power of voices through art and reflects on the current and past stories of Boulder County’s Latino community. All artwork is for sale.
A special thank you to all contributing artists and the community review panel, led by Linda Arroyo Holmstrom, for making this exhibit possible.
Les ofrecemos la exposición “Los artistas de Voces Vivas”, dedicada únicamente a presentar a los artistas de Voces Vivas y sus obras, que hacen reflexionar al que las contempla. Nuestra exposición, creada por la comunidad, ha sido una plataforma que sirve de base para contribuir al trabajo que los latinos locales llevan realizando ya desde hace un tiempo a fin de guardar y compartir sus propias historias. “Los artistas de Voces Vivas” sirve de exposición especializada que se desarrolla a la vez que “Estudios abiertos 2022”, que está en nuestra galería principal. Esta exposición destaca el poder cautivador de las voces en el arte y refleja las historias presentes y pasadas de la comunidad latina del condado de Boulder. Todas las obras de arte están a la venta.
Nuestro especial agradecimiento a los artistas colaboradores y al grupo de revisión comunitaria, dirigida por Linda Arroyo Holmstrom, que han hecho posible la exposición.
Using stunning field photography and video this exhibit in partnership with the Colorado Pika Project explores the surprising connections between Colorado’s shortgrass prairies and the American pika. Pikas, a cold-loving species that live in the high-altitude mountains, are threatened by warming temperatures and diminishing snowpack. Their survival may depend on our ability to protect a place hundreds of miles from their alpine home — the Great Plains.
Visitors will learn about conservation efforts to connect the dots between these two diverse areas, as well as ways that they can become involved in protecting pika, prairies, pronghorn, and more.
Featuring photography and video by:
James (he/him) & Lana Beissel (she/her) James is a Colorado-based wildlife photographer on a quest to photograph all of Colorado’s 130 species of mammals. He combines photography with adventure travel into an activity he calls “crittering.” His work has been featured in Climbing, Rock and Ice, Colorado Outdoors, and National Wildlife Magazine. He and his wife, Lana, have recently started Just Float Films which specializes in 360 degree virtual reality films for wildlife conservation.
Lauren Buchholz (she/her)
Lauren is an expedition photography instructor and photojournalist whose work has been featured in over a dozen publications, including Outdoor Photographer, Orion, and Landscape Photography Magazine. She has been supporting American pika research in the Rocky Mountains since 2010. In 2020, she documented the Colorado Pika Project’s work in the White River National Forest in western Colorado, culminating in the “Protecting Colorado’s pikas” StoryMap.
Krisi Odom (she/her)
Kristi is an internationally acclaimed photographer, Nikon Ambassador, and Associate Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers. Her work has appeared either online and/or in print for the following clients: National Geographic, Nikon, Forbes, Rollingstone, Microsoft, and Outside Magazine. In 2021, her photos of the Colorado Pika Project were published in a digital story for National Geographic and one image from that story was named one of National Geographic’s best Animal photos of 2021.
Richard Reading, PhD (he/him)
Rich is Vice President of Science and Conservation at the Butterfly Pavilion. He has conducted or overseen conservation projects in dozens of countries, working primarily on grassland and arid ecosystems on six continents, including the Great Plains of North American. He has spent extensive time documenting and photographing the species in Colorado’s shortgrass prairies.
One in every four households in Boulder County includes a school-aged child. Unlike their parents, most students today aren’t walking, biking, or taking the bus to school – instead, they are driven in the family car. Between fall 2021 and summer 2022, researcher Darcy Kitching collaborated with the Boulder County Youth Transportation Program and Growing Up Boulder to learn how students, parents, and transportation professionals think about weekday travel and the challenge of getting to and from schools around the region. Her findings illustrate the impacts of school choice and unequal access to transportation options, as well as opportunities for policy and program interventions to make it easier for more students to take an active trip to or from school. Learn about the research and share your own experiences with getting yourself or your children to and from school, at the display in the Mason’s Nook through November 1. Learn more here- Boulder County School Travel Study.
Visit the Open Studios Exhibit at the Museum of Boulder! This exhibit features over 150 pieces representing each of the local Open Studios artists. Open Studios is more than just the annual studio tour. Since 1995, the organization has grown to encompass numerous programs and projects designed to raise awareness and appreciation of art in our community. Over the last 25 years, Open Studios has become the most comprehensive visual arts organization in Boulder, including six different programs.
Racism and Discrimination at the Lafayette Swimming Pool is a historical exhibit examining events in Lafayette during the 1930s, when the first Lafayette Swimming Pool was built and then shuttered. The exhibit, which features extensive research and photographs, highlights the brave efforts of Latina Rose Lueras, who fought for civil rights and justice in Lafayette in the 1930s.
List of collaborators:
Mr. Frank Archuleta, Ms. Rachel Hanson, Ms. Madelaine Vargas, Ms. Jessica Quintanilla, Prof. Marjorie McIntosh, Ph.D., Mr. Doug Conarroe, City of Lafayette, Lafayette Arts & Cultural Resources, Latino History Project, ARTS Lafayette, University of Colorado Public Outreach & Community Engagement, Lafayette Historical Society & Miner’s Museum.
City design majorly impacts the well-being of earth and its inhabitants. This collection of drawings represents the eco-conscious balance of natural and man-made systems. The 1959 creation of the “Blue Line” in Boulder, CO allows urban and natural spaces to flourish together.
Artist Statement:
My art is born out of a commitment to living in the present. The act of putting pen on paper and envisioning how the ink will flow out, is also a practice of noticing in detail the beauty of the everyday.
Bio:
Vanee Srikijkarn is a Boulder, Colorado artist who creates intricate pen and ink drawings. Hand-drawn botanic illustrations invite slower living and cherishing nature. As an alumni of CU Boulder (Urban Design), Vanee also enjoys drawing meaningful and interesting urban spaces. www.vanee.ink
2022 marks Boulder Community Health’s 100th anniversary. This fall, the Museum of Boulder is celebrating the contributions BCH has made to the community with an exhibit highlighting the organization’s history, partnerships, and innovations. Explore 100 years of history, from medical procedures in the 1920s to the pandemic response, and beyond as we look at the future of BCH.
Free admission for BCH and Museum of Boulder Members.
Photo courtesy of Carnegie Library for Local History/Museum of Boulder Collection.
Otherwise known as the art of travel, through time and place. This is a collection of oil paintings centering around scenes of locales near and far as well as figurative work with a nostalgic flair. The collection hopes to take the mind to a recent memory, or one long ago, or simply just bring a smile to the lips. Expect to see scenery and people from coastal locales to iconic Boulder!
Artist Statement
b. 1965 Atlanta, Georgia
I was raised in Boulder, Colorado by artistic parents. They quietly instilled their passion into my life, which I finally started exploring on my own in 2010. After taking years of painting classes, in 2019, with major coaxing, I started exhibiting publicly to enthusiastic reviews of my fresh approach. I taught myself to paint in oils which has turned into my favorite medium to work with, whether in impressionistic brush strokes or an impasto method. I tend to rely heavily on nostalgia, memories and scenes, people or objects from everyday life as inspiration.
I believe this quote sums up my style perfectly: “[Her paintings] evoke a strong sense of nostalgia with a side of gorgeous simplicity. Nothing fussy, no overthinking – and that sparseness is what makes them strong. Her brushstrokes are raw, and her shapes not quite finished – as though they’re images from a memory you can’t quite fully recall, and yet the feeling of being there is whole and complete.” (Kimberly Beekman, Colorado Homes & Lifestyles Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021)
Since March 2020, Stop AAPI Hate has collected over 10,300 reports of hate incidents targeting people of Asian/Asian American and Pacific Islander descent. Incidents are fueled by xenophobia and racism from the COVID19 pandemic. To bring visibility to the Asian/Asian American community and hope to all communities during these tumultuous times, Unmask the Racism is proud to present our community art project at the Museum of Boulder in their small exhibit space called the Mason’s Nook.
March 22nd, 2022 sadly marks the first anniversary of ten lives lost in a tragedy that had an impact on many people. We believe that photography can serve as a tool for reflection, story-generating and healing.
A series of collaborative portraits made by Ross Taylor, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, are on display at the Museum of Boulder, and several of the photos include audio stories. Examples include a portrait of the cellist who played for several days at the memorial site, the Assistant Manager of King Soopers, support staff from the Boulder Strong Resource Center, a museum staff member who cleaned every object and item left on the site, an inmate resident who raised money for the families of the victims, Sasha, a canine companion, and many more portraits.
The collaboration of the portraits and photos involved only those who wanted to share their story. The goal primarily focuses on the therapeutic act of building community through the power of documentary. By allowing a space for those to be heard and seen, documentary work can redirect memories of a moment and allow those negatively affected to reclaim strength through their representation. Selected artifacts of memorabilia from the memorial sites are also on display. Together, we process and celebrate the strength seen in each other’s reflection and response to tragedy as we move forward.
A CALL TO COMMUNITY TO PARTICIPATE:
PORTRAITS AND DOCUMENTATION OF OUR COMMUNITY DURING THIS TIME CAN PROVIDE INSIGHT, COMPASSION AND CONNECTION. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD TO THE ARCHIVE AND PROVIDE YOUR PLACE IN OUR HISTORY, PLEASE CONTACT, ROSS TAYLOR AT ROSS.TAYLOR@COLORADO.EDU, OR CALL 757-412-8588. HE WILL PROVIDE MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE PROCESS AND IF YOUR PORTRAIT IS USED, HE WILL DONATE AN IMAGE TO YOU FROM THE TIME TOGETHER AS A THANK YOU.
WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR STORY AND ABOUT YOUR CHOICE TO USE PHOTOGRAPHY: Perhaps you took photographs of art, poems, flags, painted rocks, flowers, stuffed animals, musicians, etc. at any of the memorial sites -- send them via email to: collections@museumofboulder.org.
If you choose to donate your photographs to the Museum, they will be held in our archives, documented and may appear in future exhibits.
We will commit to a broad representation of those featured in this documentary reflection. Ranging from all aspects of the human condition such as: race, age, socio/economic and the experiences related to the shooting, we will ensure that a wide cross section of representation will be present throughout. It is our desire to put a call out specifically to the South Boulder community. For those who are underrepresented in the area, we will make specific efforts to include them in this opportunity.
The Museum of Boulder is excited to collaborate with a group of Arapaho artists in the region to create a pop-up exhibit exploring the notion of indigenous artists coming back to their historical territory. RETURNING will feature the contemporary work of ten artists, with their individual perspectives displaying exclusive visual stories told in their personal styles. Robert Martinez, the Museum’s lead partner, notes that this is the first group contemporary Native art show featuring Arapaho artists in the area. RETURNING will open to the public on December 3, with the opening reception on the evening of December 2.
Artists featured in the show include Robert Martinez, Brent Learned, Bruce Cook, George Levi, Jackie Sevier, Dallin Maybee, Ron Howard, and Eugene Ridgely Jr.
Robert Martinez was born in Wyoming on the Wind River Reservation in the small city of Riverton. He grew up a part of many different cultures as his lineage is Spanish, Mexican, Scotts Irish, French Canadian and Northern Arapaho. He graduated Riverton High School at 17 and through a scholarship, attended the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts specializing in Painting & Drawing and minoring in sculpture, in 3 years and at age 19, becoming the Youngest Native American to graduate from RMCAD at that time. As he was brought up in the center of the reservation, his native heritage remains a constant inspiration and source of ideas for his work. Living in among the hard working people of the West and experiencing their issues also deeply influence his creations. The past and present often resonate strongly in Wyoming and those historical and contemporary chords echo throughout his work. Much of Robert’s current work uses the historical imagery, myth’s and stories of the West & Arapaho Culture combined with modern themes to create images that have a statement on the issues of today. Using intense vibrant color and contrasting shades of light and dark, he paints and draws striking forms that are confronting and engages the viewer. His paintings and drawings have been shown across the Nation and have garnered noted acclaim. He’s been given Wyoming highest award for the arts, the Wyoming Governors Art Award. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Brinton Museum, The Plains Indian Museum at the Cody Center of the West, and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. A strong supporter of Education and of the Arts, Robert devotes time to helping and mentoring emerging artists on his reservation and through out the Nation. He gives back to the community by speaking about art topics, giving workshops, and demonstrates his style to schools, agencies and art groups.
Brent Learned is an award-winning and collected Native American artist who was born and reared In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He Is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. Brent graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor degree In Fine Arts.
He Is an artist who draws,paints and sculpts the Native American Indian In a rustic Impressionistic style. He has always appreciated the heritage and culture of the American Plains Indian. He tries to create artwork to capture the essence, accuracy and historic authenticity of the American Plains Indian way of life. Although Brent has many different styles, he is typically known for his use of bold vibrant colors in his depictions of the American Plains Indian.
Brent has a passion for being active In the community.He was one of the curators of the Wintercamp show at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. The Wintercamp show was geared toward giving new artists In the community an opportunity to show their work. Most importantly, this was the first all Native American show to feature contemporary Oklahoma Nattve American art. Brent has also had the honor of working with Dale Chihuly’s team on the Eleanor Blake Kirkpatrick Tower (Chihuly’s tallest installation to date) that resides In the Oklahoma City Art Museum.
Painting by Brent Learned.
Bruce Cook:
As a Haida artist residing in Wyoming I am driven to explore and innovate. The woods and natural materials I used that were once abundant in the Pacific Northwest are now scarce. This scarcity of resources has led to a creative drive which has been vital to my survival as a Haida artist in the high plains desert. My subject matter is Haida; both traditional and contemporary. As Native artists we are capable of inhabiting both forms simultaneously, I am free to create without the confines of being bound to one or the other. My favorite mediums are yellow cedar and fresh red alder. Their suppleness, delicacy, strength, and willingness to be transformed in both form and texture make them perfect mediums for exploring Haida art. Each day brings with it a new desire to practice the forms of those who have come before me and a push to innovate in the forms that are yet to come. This inspiration is my daily spirit to create.
Dallin Maybee was raised on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in Western New York, home of the Seneca Nation of Indians. He is a multimedia artist working in a variety of forms, including dance, beadwork, oil painting, jewelry, illustration/ledger art, and carving. Dallin’s work is in several public and private collections worldwide including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
George Curtis Levi is an artist raised in the Western Oklahoma towns of Geary, El Reno, and Concho. He grew up immersed in the Cultural and Arts of the Arapaho and Cheyenne People. He is Arapaho and also Cheyenne & Oglala Lakota. The Artwork of the Arapaho is hailed as some of the Most Beautiful Art produced amongst all Native American Peoples, whether it is Beadwork, Ledger Art, Rawhide Work or Clothing, It all tells a story of the Individual who produced it and of the Arapaho People. George is named after his Grandfather George Levi who was an Amazing Southern Arapaho Athlete in the 1920s and also carries his Arapaho Name “Big Bear”. George has participated in all of the major Indian Art Markets across the US and has art in many Museums and Institutions and Private Collections.
As an enrolled member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, she is proud of her Native American heritage. Legends and traditions of her native Wind River Reservation in Wyoming are often subjects for her unique works of art. Residing in the heart of the Nebraska sand hills near the small community of Seneca, her family encourages her to develop her talent and career at every opportunity. As a former competitor, her husband Jim, a former PRCA saddle bronc rider, their children Chessney and son Jesse, and granddaughter Jymie competing in rodeo is also an important part of her life and is often inspiration. Continuing to study, Jackie credits “the greats who have not only taught me technique but expression, dedication, and determination. Some of these people have been Benjamin Harjo, JR, King Kuka, and Reynold Brown. As Jackie’s work becomes recognized, awards and honors are accumulating; winning Best of Division for graphics at the prestigious Santa Fe Indian Market, the Aplan award, the Diedrich award, and the Bonnie Ericksen Award at the Red Cloud Indian Art Show. The National Campaign Office for the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian has commissioned work. More of Jackie’s works can be found in private, corporate, and university collections throughout the United States, Japan, Australia, Germany, South Africa, and Great Britain. Awards include honors at the Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, NM; Heard Fair, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ: Cherokee Art Market, Tulsa, OK; Northern Plains Indian Art Market, Sioux Falls, SD; Red Earth Festival, Oklahoma City, OK; Cahokia Contemporary Indian Art Show, Collinsville, IL; Inter-Tribal Ceremonial, Gallup, NM; Lawrence Indian Art Show, Lawrence, KS; Artesian Arts Festival, Chickasaw Nation, Sulphur, Ok. Jackie’s works have been included in “Let the Spirit Speak”, Pope VI Institute of the Arts, Washington, DC: “Our Way Continues”, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, The Sioux Indian Museum, Rapid City, SD, Museum of Anthropology, Lawrence, KS; “Influences of our Grandparents”, Oscar Howe Museum, Mitchell, SD; and “Heart Dreams and Legends”, a joint indigenous exhibit that toured the US and Australia. Her works were also included at the Bradford Brinton Memorial Museum, Sheridan, WY: “The Cowboy, Rodeo & WYO Rodeo”, “West of the Mississippi”, and “Ladies’ Choice.”
Geometric fringed bag by Jackie Sevier
Ron Howard
Paintings by Ron Howard.
Eugene Ridgely Jr.
Ridgely is a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe located in Ethete, Wyoming. His Northern Arapaho name, Nii’eihii No’oteihi, means Powerful Eagle. Ridgely has a BA in education and has developed educational curriculum in the Arapaho language as well as cultural sensitivity programs.As a lifelong artist, Ridgely was inspired by the artwork of his father, Eugene Ridgely Sr. Ridgely has been producing art professionally since the 1980s. His artwork has been exhibited in galleries nationwide.
Visit the Open Studios Exhibit at the Museum of Boulder! This exhibit features over 150 pieces from each local Open Studios artist. Open Studios is more than just the annual studio tour. Since 1995, the organization has grown to encompass numerous programs and projects designed to raise awareness and appreciation of art in our community. Over the last 25 years, Open Studios has become the most comprehensive visual arts organization in Boulder, including six different programs.
In 2019, 1 in 9 residents of Boulder County were considered food insecure. A high cost of living exacerbates the gap between federal poverty guidelines and a living wage. This community mini display on our second floor, developed in partnership with Boulder Food Rescue, showcases the findings from research they recently published. Discover some of the reasons for food insecurity in Boulder, some experiences of those living with food insecurity, and some things you can do to improve the local food landscape.
In 2020, the College of Music at the University of Colorado Boulder celebrated its 100th anniversary. The Museum of Boulder is partnering with the College of Music to bring you the history of this beloved part of Boulder. How did a single piano in Old Main grow into a thriving program with over 500 students and a new state-of-the-art building? Curious about some of the most iconic music venues in Boulder, Folsom Field and Macky Auditorium? Want to know what the College is planning for its next 100 years? Find out these stories and more at the Museum of Boulder!
B.E.A.T. is a gathering of artists, biologists and technologists. Led by Jiffer Harriman, PhD., brilliant collaborators, sharing past and emerging work, have created a very unique exhibit at the Museum of Boulder – featuring interactive digital art and music in a “dark side” exhibit and a “light side” exhibit.
One of the emerging themes of this show is the tension between the benefits that technology offers and its wonderful opportunities with the downsides and negative impacts. Goals of this show are to enable ways for people to collaborate, and connect with each other and the tools and interactions we have created, as well as with nature. Bioluminescent Algae is featured in the “dark side” exhibit and it interacts with visitors. Dr. Harriman shares, “I want this show to highlight and explore the differences/ balance between what people do well (expressiveness, creativity), and what machines are good at (repetition, connection, etc.).”
Dr. Harriman: “The technology we use impacts not only how we do things, but even what information we’re exposed to. When working in collaboration with one another, or with a piece of technology, we can become trapped in the confines or limitations of the tool itself, or we can become more productive, and even inspired to create in new ways.”
This is the perfect exhibit in which to host an event in the Main Gallery at the Museum of Boulder. It will be a unique coveted space during the 2021 holiday season. Reach out to Kayla@museumofboulder.org to reserve your party experience.
In April of 2021 the locally created, world-renowned radio/podcast program produced by the multimedia nonprofit, eTown, celebrated 30 years and was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. From July 17th through October 4th, 2021, the Museum of Boulder and eTown present an exhibit of archival memorabilia, including historic photographs, celebrity-autographed posters, quotes from listeners from all over the world, video of past performances and more. We’ll get a glimpse inside 30 years of eTown and the family it has built, not only here in Boulder but around the globe, as well as the life-long friendships that have been established with some of the world’s most well-known and celebrated musicians.
Pieces from “Plein Air” artists will be on display at the Museum of Boulder from June 3rd through July 12th, 2021. Two “Preview Exhibits” will provide a taste of what’s to come from artists who are competing during the event week. Find these at the Museum of Boulder (the Muse) and R Gallery, Boulder. From June 4th through the 10th, artists will be out & about with their easels, paint and other materials, capturing scenes of their choosing. Visualize the Impressionists and other artists who have created art on location through the ages!
Celebrate “Plein Air Art” this June with Open Studios’ fun, laid-back and inclusive event, the 2021 Boulder County Plein Art Event, June 4 – 11. Colorado artists and students (15 and older) of any ability level are welcome to paint, draw, embroider, sculpt and more to capture mountain, plain and urban scenes in Boulder County en plein air.
General event information and artist registration may be found at openstudios.org/boulder-plein-air-fest. If you have questions about activities, exhibits and other aspects of this event, email info@openstudios.org or call 303-444-1862.
I created the Memorial Crane Project as a way to honor the victims of the Coronavirus. I started folding Origami Cranes in May of 2020 to help me process and contemplate the volume of the Souls we were losing from the Pandemic. On May 14, 2020 the number ticked up to 88,000 deaths. It shocked me and I did the math to figure out how long it would take me to fold a crane for each of these lost souls. It would have taken me approximately 24 years! I decided to invite people from my social media platforms to help me recognize and honor all these loved ones lost. In my art gallery, I created an installation of close to 7,500 cranes suspended from copper wires, creating a maze that would be walked through as the visitors commemorated those we have lost. Today as the numbers exceed 500,000 in the United States alone, I have received over 80,000 Cranes. 19,500 names and numerous stories as well. My intention in this installation is to display these cranes along with a list of names on a “Wall of Remembrance.” Viewers can scan a QR code to hear the beautiful precious memories of those loved ones lost, told by those left behind. My goal is to eventually create Memorial Crane Project installations in each US state to mourn and heal collectively as a Nation united in Love, Respect and Spirit.
A SERENDIPITOUS and SYNCHRONISTIC ENCOUNTER:
The Museum of Boulder met the Mid City neighborhood Los Angeles artist and owner of Matter Studio Gallery, Karla Funderburk through Boulder artist, Rick Dallago at the end of February 2021. We met because of the synergy we were feeling and sensing regarding “history in the making” and our current exhibit, Drawing Parallels, in our Main Gallery.
RELEVANT AND CURRENT TRAGEDY:
What we never would have imagined is how many lives would be lost in just a little over a year’s time to Covid, nor would Boulder have imagined having lost its ten souls on March 22, 2021 at the local King Soopers Grocery Store. That is why the museum welcomely shares its power to create an experience we hope will lead to healing. We believe community-led exhibits such as Karla Funderburk’s work, arriving on April 12, 2021 through April 18, 2021 will help our community move through the losses and “feel the cranes and souls”. The public is invited to contribute to the project and pay their respects to those lost. The work does not end there, Karla has started a nonprofit associated with this work to raise money to help families of victims lost to Covid.
Karla has been approached by museums in New York San Francisco, Chicago, San Diego, and is currently featured at the Seattle Center.
Karla will arrive in Boulder with a trailer filled with over 10,000 paper cranes, each one representing a soul lost. Together with volunteers, we will begin to string the folded cranes together with copper wire, beading and begin to place them in the Drawing Parallels exhibit. Along with the cranes, QR codes will line the walls of our gallery with audio stories from all over the world: voices sharing their stories. Anyone who visits the Museum is welcome to add to the collection, and through September 2021, we are making a call to Boulder to make more paper cranes that can be dropped off at the Museum. Karla will then move them forward to feed into another location’s installation and representation.
The Museum of Boulder is honored to be the Colorado site for Karla and the paper cranes that have been donated to her from nine countries and 45 states. She shares, “We seek spaces where people can find the will to continue and not give up, and to support each other”. Stories of Karla’s work have been highlighted in the Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, the Boston Globe and on ABC National News. Cranes from the Memorial Crane Project are set to be on display at the Seattle Center in May 2021.
No doubt this engaging opportunity will lead us to even further conversations and connections with community members like Carolyn Kerchof of Boulder Covid Stories, who will be present during some of the time, as well as our connection to the beautiful sculpture of Kevin Box, “Rising Cranes” gracefully rising in a soaring pattern from boulders quarried in Colorado (2015) honoring the former First Congregational Church Minister, Rev. Martie McMane, seen through the south windows of the Museum lobby. Kevin shares that “the mystical creature is said to live for a thousand years”, and is recognized as a symbol of much needed peace. We are looking forward to a partnership with a CU Professor who teaches Origami at the University of Colorado and local artist, Bonnie Cherni of Epic Origami, who has had giant pieces featured at Denver International Airport.
In this exhibit, there are historical “parallels” and stories intertwined with current stories — from the Spanish Flu of 1918 to the social unrest throughout history, and even more recently surfaced in marches on the Pearl Street Mall, located blocks from the Museum. We have collected and highlighted stories from the response of frontline workers and patients in partnership with Boulder Community Health, including videos showing how their employees have processed the trauma by using a ritual upon entering work each day. We honor all BCH frontline workers with free admission until this exhibit closes in September 2021. As one moves through the exhibit space, they are surrounded by the relevance in this moment. One of the Museum of Boulder’s first calls for artists led to featuring sixteen artists in this exhibit that reveal an incredible palette of colors, photographs, imagery, pottery and sculpture responding to what we have all been moving through since March 2020. In the center of the room is a “collective grief casket” made of willows by local artists Moonbeam Gardebring and Ellie Douglass, with their hopes that visitors can fold paper, contemplate, and write messages to loved ones, placing their beautiful messages in the willow casket that will be buried in the future. One of its visitors said, “It makes me reflect on the processing of grief of other people. It makes me feel less alone in this…”
The monarch butterfly is at risk of extinction. Monarchs face numerous threats, from extreme weather due to climate change to the liberal use of pesticides, to habitat loss and fragmentation.To raise awareness for the plight of the monarch butterfly and their connection to us all, the Endangered Species Coalition, together with approximately one hundred Colorado volunteers, folded over 3,000 origami monarch butterflies. Within each piece of origami, the volunteer wrote their name, location, and why protecting monarch butterflies is important to them. Each origami monarch thus became a prayer, intention, or blessing to help protect the declining species.
The Museum of Boulder wants to know how teens of Latin American descent represent themselves and their culture for museum visitors when given the opportunity to tell their stories without being filtered through an adult’s perspective.
Over the course of the school year, Museum staff and University of Colorado students in the Department of Education collaborated with Latinx teens to give them the opportunity to design an exhibit that answers the question: How do you represent your life and culture in Boulder County today?
