There are at least five mural festivals setting up along the Front Range this season — in Denver, Aurora, Boulder, Greeley and Fort Collins — but they’re not all created equal.
Denver Walls, for example, is a well-supported nonprofit event, with a mix of local and international painters. Taking place Oct. 3-5 in the vibrant and tourist-happy River North Art District, it will draw thousands of viewers.
Artist Skela paints outside Second Dawn Brewing in Aurora as part of the Colfax Canvas Mural Festival. (Provided by Colfax Canvas)
Others are cozier affairs that, despite their shoestring budgets and rush of applicants, promote a neighborhood profile that tells the story of its working-class residents and artists.
“There’s something very exciting about that aspect of it,” said Aaron Vega, executive producer of the Colfax Canvas Mural Festival, which culminates in a free block party Saturday, Sept. 14, at Fletcher Plaza, 9800 E. Colfax Ave. “Our artists were chosen because they’re representative of the community, and Aurora’s is the most diverse in the state.”
Vega was careful when sourcing artists, most of them local, having created a diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility committee to make sure the fest accurately reflected Aurora. It’s a place, after all, where more than 100 languages are spoken in the public school district, according to the city. Residents and visitors also know of the incredible food, drink, clothing, performing and visual arts, and more that are strongly represented from Mexico, South and Central America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
But it’s important to specifically highlight the art, Vega and Colfax Canvas co-founders Kristin Sutter and Ryan Foo believe. It beautifies dozens of buildings in the city’s certified creative district, and paints a different picture than the one offered by recent (and disproven) fear-mongering about Venezuelan gang activity. In fact, the 400,000-person city is a generally harmonious mixture of longtime residents and immigrant communities from around the globe.
“This isn’t like RiNo,” said Vega, whose Colfax Canvas fest saw 130 applicants this year, versus Denver Walls’ 1,000 or so. “We don’t have a (business improvement district) and a big fancy arts nonprofit that coordinates these things every year. It’s really a local endeavor by residents who love the neighborhood.”
Large-scale walls provide a public canvas for artists at this year’s fifth annual Colfax Canvas Mural Festival. (Provided by Colfax Canvas)
Colfax Canvas, a privately owned event that’s celebrating its fifth year, will feature 10 new murals and even more artists collaborating on pieces that tell multiple stories in the same work. Its website, colfaxcanvas.com, offers a walking-tour map along East Colfax that includes murals at Vintage Theater, Mango House, Scorpion Tax & Insurance, Dia International Market, and other, previous stops. QR codes on walls provide more details when scanned in-person, with a virtual tour also available, Vega said.
Of course, RiNo’s Denver Walls is also thoughtfully diverse and politically progressive, with artists from the Netherlands (TelmoMiel), Colombia (Ledania), Spain (MurOne), and across the U.S. and Colorado.
“I’m happy to see more events celebrating murals,” said artist Ally Grimm (a.k.a. A.L. Grime), founder of Denver Walls, when asked about newer festivals taking cues from RiNo’s long-running mural events. In fact, she’s collaborating on a mural at Colfax Canvas.
“We have a unique opportunity to bring art to the public in a way that breaks barriers, shares silenced narratives, and shifts perspectives,” she said. “I feel a great responsibility in our curation in planning to bring together diverse lineups that create balance between honoring the past and celebrating the innovation of forward thinkers in the space.”
For instance, there’s Danielle SeeWalker ,an Indigenous Denver artist who was slated to paint a mural for Vail as part of its artist residency program. The ski town later canceled that proposal because of a past SeeWalker piece that supported the Palestinian people, but it only upped her artistic profile, making her a sought-after artist for other sponsors.
Colombian artist Ledania painted this piece for Denver Walls mural festival in the River North Art District. (Provided by SideCar PR)
SeeWalker this year is collaborating on a Colfax Canvas piece with artist Cante Eagle Horse that will use black and white instead of color to portray natural designs, she told The Denver Post via email. She’s also painting for Denver Walls.
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“I’m important that we open up dialogues and don’t get to insular,” Vega said of his festival. “But we’re also not handing the keys to the castle to someone else. Art is politics, and in this case politics takes a back seat to the neighborhood expressing itself.”
Each festival has its own flavor, and Aurora’s is more racially diverse than most. Boulder’s Street Wise Mural Festival, which runs Sept. 13-15, is this year spotlighting themes of environmentalism and climate action, organizers wrote.
The first-ever WeldWalls Mural Festival takes place Sept. 17-20 in downtown Greeley, with a half-dozen artist teams creating new outdoor pieces. Like other fests, it culminates in a free street party — in this case, on Sept. 21 at festival host WeldWerks Brewing Co.
And artists have already started painting for the Fort Collins Mural Project, with an unveiling party on Sept. 22.
“We want to keep breaking down that wall that sometimes exists between fine art and the consumer,” Vega said. “The (Colfax Canvas area) is traditionally a low income neighborhood and it’s my belief that the income level of people doesn’t matter when it comes to appreciating art.
“We have people stopping to talk to the artists on their lunch breaks and watching them work,” he added. “We’re building relationships between artists and businesses. And we’re drawing attention to these great places that people call home.”