“[W]hich U.S. cities and metros have the most extensive artistic communities? Boulder has a university, bohemian culture, and scenery; Santa Fe, of course, has been an arts center since the days of Georgia O’Keeffe. Santa Cruz, New Bedford, and Barnstable-Yarmouth are coastal locations with long-standing artistic communities. Jersey City is just across the Hudson from Manhattan; like Brooklyn across the East River, it is a source of more affordable housing and work spaces.”

Read the entire article at the Atlantic Cities: The Most Artistic Cities in America.

Rebecca DiDomenico garden, photo by R. DiDomenico

Grab your spring-fever and take yourself on a tour of enchantment through the eccentric gardens of 15 Boulder artists.  Visit the Boulder Public Library Canyon Gallery and see how 30 painters, photographers and sculptors were inspired by these 15 artists’ gardens.  Then head home and plant seeds of inspiration in your own garden!

The Peters-Walker garden, photo by George Peters

The Eccentric Artists’ GARDENS TOUR

Sunday JUNE 12th 2011, 11am – 6pm.  Buy a map-guide for $10 and tour the gardens of 15 Boulder artists.  All gardens are free and open to the public. Map-guide sale locations: Boulder Arts & Crafts Co-op, Sturtz & Copeland, Piece Love & Chocolate, Indochine.

The Eccentric Artists’ GARDENS EXHIBIT

MAY 31st through JULY 10TH, 2011.  The Canyon Gallery of the Boulder Public Library, 1000 Canyon, Boulder, CO (303) 441-3100. Hours: M-Th 10am-9pm; F, Sa 10am-6pm; Su 12-6pm. Opening Reception:  Friday, June 3rd, 5 – 7pm.

About Us

For the past year, 15 Boulder artists have opened their gardens to 32 painters, photographers and sculptors.   Inspired by these 15 gardens, the exhibiting artists created new work which will be on display at the Boulder Public Library from May 31st – July 10th.  On June 12^th, the public will have their own chance to tour these 15 gardens, meet the artist-gardeners, and talk to painters demonstrating plein-air painting in the gardens.  From baroque to eclectic, from funky to elegant, these gardens span all styles and offer many ideas to gardeners searching for inspiration in their own spaces.  Our mission is to cross-pollinate the visions of gardeners with those of artists, and to germinate seeds of inspiration, which will sprout into artistic flights of fancy in your own garden. Please join us.  You may find that your own garden and life will change!

Related Events

The Eccentric Garden JOURNAL WORKSHOP: On June 25^th from 12-4PM, join book-maker Kristen Law for a FREE half-day book-making workshop at the Boulder Public Library, and create your own garden journal to document changes in your yard.  To sign up, contact Carol Hepke at 303-441-3196.  Suggested donation for materials: $10

Climate-Wise Gardening

click to view entire cartoon

As a part of the Eccentric Artists Gardens Exhibit at the Library, the Eccentric Artists are tackling the issue of what Front Range gardeners can do in their own back yards to adapt to and mitigate climate change.  Visit the exhibit at the Canyon Gallery of the Boulder Public Library or our website, and learn how to turn your yard into a carbon-munching machine! See examples of Climate-Wise gardening practices in other Boulder gardens on the Eccentric Artists’ Gardens Tour on June 12^th.

The Eccentric Artists decided to take on the topic of Climate-Wise Gardening because it is timely and there is not a whole lot of information about it.  We have outlined 10 easy guidelines which gardeners can follow to become “Climate-Wise.”  Many gardeners will find that they have already been doing some of these things, and they should be commended!  New gardeners will find lots of new ideas to try out.  The guidelines are all inexpensive, non-capital-intensive solutions.

I have designed, written and produced this exhibit.  To present the guidelines, I have created a character named Climate Wise-Guy, who is designed to be friendly, non-threatening, comforting and wise. Climate Wise-Guy, along with his dorky side-kick Little Bunny, is able to present disturbing information in a non-threatening way, so people can hear it better.  My drawings of Climate Wise-Guy and Little Bunny are available for free to use in educational material about climate change.  Contact me at 303-449-7532 or Elizabeth@ElizabethBlackArt.com if you want to use Climate Wise-Guy in your own educational campaign.

To learn more about Climate-Wise Gardening on the Front Range, follow this link: http://www.eccentricartistsgardens.com/climatewisegarden.html

The North Boulder Recreation Center’s walls are covered with outrageous displays of color and creativity.  The Youth Services Initiative, led by Alex Zinga through Boulder’s Parks and Recreation Department, is putting on an art show and the rec center’s walls are the gallery.  The YSI program serves the after school needs of children living in public housing.  Local artist Paula Kehoe worked with YSI as part of a grant she received from the Boulder Arts Commission for 2011 Kids Artwalk Boulder.  In an interview, Kehoe said that the kids learn about social causes such as recycling and the Birds of Prey Foundation through the art projects, though social issues aren’t the primary focus of the program.  “The kids are really artistic,” said Kehoe, “but they don’t have a lot of extracurricular activities,” so this program is important to them.

This is the second year for Kehoe’s collaboration with Zinga.  Kehoe develops the vision and helps the kids execute that vision while  Zinga and the YSI’s counselors provide staff time, materials and work space.  Kehoe builds display structures that arrange and highlight the individual pieces into stunningly beautiful exhibits.  Potential buyers have inquired about purchasing the art pieces but right now there is no system to make that happen.

According to Kehoe, Zinga is the heart and soul of the YSI program.  “She does amazing things with the kids, she’s the driver of the whole program.”  In fact, Kehoe first met Zinga when she noticed her with a bunch of kids at the rec center pool.  Kehoe approached her, brought up the subject of kids’ art projects and a successful and rewarding collaboration began.

It may be a program for the kids but these exuberant, authentic expressions of talent, hope and potential will make your day if you go see them.  The show will move to the East Boulder Rec Center at the end of the month.   Eventually, the individual pieces will be returned to the kids.

As far as next year goes, Kehoe says that she will have to find funding again and she hopes to get another grant.

Paper Bags, 2007 60x80" Depicts 1.14 million brown paper supermarket bags, the number used in the US every hour.

In Edward Tufte’s book, Envisioning Information, ideas are laid out about how to communicate information in “flatland” and escape the inherent two dimensional limitation of paper and computer screens. Tufte also warns against using “chartjunk” a term he himself coined to mean “data presentations that seek to attract and divert attention by means of display apparatus and ornament.” In other words, respect and do not manipulate the viewer.

The exhibit of works by Seattle artist Chris Jordan, currently at the University of Colorado Natural History Museum’s BioLounge, will stun you with statistics presented in what seems art founded in the concepts that Tufte outlines in his book. “Running the Numbers: Portraits of Mass Consumption” (Jan 10 – April 30, 2011) is important because we seldom think about, much less grasp the environmental effect of our collective quotidian habits.  How many brown paper bags does the US use in one hour? How much plastic cup waste is generated by airlines every six hours? How many aluminum cans does the US use every 30 seconds? These questions and more are answered in a way that, with any hope, will inspire self-reflection with another question: What can I do to stop the waste?

The most famous Ciclovìa (literally translated as ‘bike’ way) occurs every Sunday in Bogota, Colombia where an astounding 70 miles of major city streets are shut down and handed over to two million bike-riding, road-running, game-playing citizens.

Challenging the assumption that major streets exist only for cars is a powerful stance. As people rethink the use of public spaces, new ideas begin to emerge, which is probably why a number of U.S. cities have adopted the Ciclovìa concept. Across America, these events have been called Sunday Parkways, Summer Streets and various other names. But regardless of what they’re called, it’s always the perfect place for food, fun, friends, art, culture, and wholehearted enjoyment.

Boulder Green Streets (BGS) is a Ciclovia event. The intent is to promote active living,  sustainability and strong community. We do this by creating expanded public, park-like spaces through large-scale street liberations and linked neighborhood block parties. Extensive and free activity programming gets all ages, economic levels, genders and ethnicities out to play together and experience sustainability first hand.

This years event will take place on Sunday, September 19th, 2010 from 8am-4pm. The route starts on East Pearl  and runs from 15th to Folsom. Linked block parties will also be held throughout the city.  Along the route there will be numerous zones where participants can watch, try, and get more information about a variety of activities, services and related community programs.

Community members of all types will enjoy over 50 different FREE activities, demonstrations, and workshops (many bi-lingual and kid friendly).  Some of the activities that will be offered include cycling saftey, demonstrations and repair, cycling meet-ups for a variety of distance rides, running the route with a creek loop, walking tours of downtown, hiking meet ups, dance  classes, yoga, martial arts, frisbee,  climbing,  a samba in the streets carnival march and more!  You’ll find a lot along the route to keep you moving… good music, healthy snacks and new friends. “Experience” sustainability yourself and learn more about living well in Boulder.

Come help us make this an outrageous, wonderful community program. Bring your energy, smiles, friends, kids, and pets and come be in the streets with us! With your support we’ll be able to grow the event route and/or number of dates into the future.

One of ongoing Happy Hours will be held on Tuesday, July 20th at the St. Julien from 5 pm to 7 pm. For more information checkout the Boulder Green Streets website.

Thursday, July 15, 5-7 pm, Café Gondolier, 1738 Pearl St., will host a free reception for the  homeless art show currently on display in the restaurant. The show will  continue until September 30.  The  chef/owner Nelson Kugel of the Gondolier has taken a special interest in hosting this show, recognizing art as an important economic support for those on the street and as an opportunity to support The Carriage House Homeless Community Table.  Meet some of the artists and enjoy light appetizers.

In the 1990′s, Washington Bilingual Elementary School had an artist-in-residence program. This art was created during that period. With the school long shuttered and now facing adaptive reuse, the art has been taken down. An effort is being made to preserve these beautiful and historically relevant pieces and they have been removed, cleaned and gathered together all in one large room of the school.

Take half an hour out of your Saturday this weekend and check it out. You will not be disappointed.

With a new city process in place, on September 27, 2009, armed with 10 gallons of donated street striping paint and an official block party permit, she and her neighbors came together to paint the mural. “I was thrilled and ecstatic,”said Priem, “it was definitely one of the most amazing things I’ve ever been involved with!”

If your neighborhood is interested in building community through Paint the

Pavement projects like this one, visit the city’s website at City of Boulder Paint the Pavement Process.