Close to the heart of Denver is a terrific little museum that houses the unique works of one the most talented artists to ever live, teach, and create in Colorado.
That artist was one Vance Kirkland, a man who was born in the small village of Convoy, Ohio in 1904 and came to Denver in 1929 to establish a School of Art for the University of Denver. He served as it's founding Director until 1932, when he resigned due to a conflict with the University of Denver stemming from the University's refusal to grant credit hours for art classes towards graduation.
Mr. Kirkland then proceeded to establish his own art school in a building that Harry Read, one of the founders of what eventually would become the Denver Art Museum, had commissioned Denver architects Biscoe & Hewitt to design and build in 1911. Mr. Read had used the building for his Read's Student's School of Art.
The building, located at 1311 Pearl St. in Denver (right on the corner of 13th and Pearl, you can't miss it), was designed in a classic Arts & Crafts style, and was the home of the Kirkland School of Art from 1932 until 1946, when the University of Denver offered him the Directorship of the Art School once again, a position he held until 1969.
Having purchased the building by the time he was re-instated as the Director of the Art School at DU, Mr. Kirkland maintained it as his art studio until his passing in 1981.
The building and his entire collection was willed to a family friend, Hugh Grant (no, not the British actor Hugh Grant - this one's American. I have no idea if he can act). In 1998 Mr. Grant set about getting the former studio expanded (it was initially only 3,000 square feet) and after the addition of nearly 8,000 square feet in a style that perfectly complements the original building, the museum opened in 2003.
The museum is curated in a manner very similar to the Gardner Museum in Boston. The exhibits are not segregated into distinctive galleries of differing periods or schools of art, but rather all of the art, furniture, textiles, ceramics, sculpture, etc., is displayed somewhat mixed together like an art salad, though there are a few vignettes that are grouped according to a particular style such as Art Deco, Arts & Crafts, Pop, Modernist, etc.
The work of Vance Kirkland is of course a primary focus, and in fact his studio has been preserved in total in order to showcase his very unique method of creating his large canvases. Remember that scene in The Big Lebowski when The Dude visits Maude at her studio and she's swinging from a zipline while spattering paint on a huge canvas? I believe the Cohen Brothers may have appropriated that idea from how Mr. Kirkland preferred to work.
The museum also showcases the works of Colorado artists, with hundreds of paintings, ceramics, furnishings, and sculptures from hundreds of local artist and artisans ranging from traditional fine arts to more conceptual and whimsical creations. The body of the collection seems to draw on the 100 years between 1880 to 1980, but there are a number of pieces from the past 30 years as well.
The Decorative Art that is featured includes furniture from the Arts & Crafts, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Bauhaus, and even Pop Art eras. The collection does not feature the work of any one designer or architect such as the focus on C.R. Macintosh at The Hunterian in Glasgow or Florida Southern College's extensive Frank Lloyd Wright buildings collection. However, it quite likely has one of the most diverse single-site collections of Decorative Arts I've ever seen - everyone from Gus Stickley to Eero Saarinen has a piece or two on display.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11am until 5pm. Admission is $7.00, with discounts for seniors, students, groups, etc. Active duty Military get in free!
Wednesdays through Saturdays there are guided tours at 1:30, which is included with admission to the museum. Or you can just wander around by your lonesome.
There is free parking right across the street (SW) from the museum, and there are also a few spaces in front of the museum.
I highly recommend a visit to this little gem but it should be noted that due to the overwhelming number of objects and art on display and the somewhat tight spacing, children between the ages of 13 to 17 must be accompanied by an adult, and children under 13 are not allowed.
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