Colorado. . .Destination For Arts Lovers

From world-class museums in the cosmopolitan capital city of Denver to trendy galleries in scenic mountain resorts like Aspen and Vail, Colorado has it all.

Savvy travelers cite year-round art walk and First Friday events, annual and seasonal art festivals. In fact, Colorado is home to nine of the country's top 100 art towns, according to John Villani’s “The 100 Best Art Towns in America.”

The Denver Art Dealers Association represents Denver’s top art dealers and fine art galleries. Exhibitions provide the first glance of new works by young and establishing artists as well as present work by neglected artists and widely known masters. There's a calendar of events at www.denverart.org/calendar.htm.

Colorado Springs has launched PeakRadar.com, a comprehensive guide to arts and culture in the Pikes Peak region of Colorado. The site offers a large database of arts and cultural events, as well as listings of arts classes and workshops, organizations, venues, individual artists and performers, public art and more.

The stunning new Frederic C. Hamilton wing at the Denver Art Museum was designed by famed architect Daniel Libeskind, and hosts “Artisans & Kings: Selected Treasures from the Louvre.”

In Grand Junction, the Western Colorado Center for the Arts opened its “Masterpieces of Colorado” in August. This unique exhibit features more than 60 paintings of Colorado landscapes by artists from the late 19th century to the present, including Thomas Moran and Vance Kirkland.

The Aspen Art Museum has world-class exhibits of contemporary art housed in an historic brick building on the scenic Rio Grande Trail. The museum offers educational workshops, gallery tours by prominent artists, and art talks.

The Lab at Belmar, in Lakewood, combines elements of a museum, think tank, and public forum. Focused on contemporary art and culture, The Lab offers international art exhibitions, lectures, performances, symposia and publications. Currently on view at The Lab is “Heads,” Fang Lijun's large-scale installation consisting of 15,000 sculpted heads, cast in bronze and covered in gold leaf.

The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center’s new 48,000-square-foot wing, which opens in August, will host an exhibit of nearly 50 photographic portraits of the late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo by famed photographer Nickolas Muray.

And this fall, the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver unveils its new building, designed by renowned architect David Adjaye.