Lectures and Talks

Join curator Jill D’Alessandro and the artist’s son, Bill Barton, for a discussion about Nancy Hemenway Barton's artistic influences, practice, and personal history. From 1966 to 1997, Nancy Hemenway Barton, an artist from the Maine coast, created large-scale wall reliefs using hand-loomed fabrics primarily sourced from indigenous weaving communities in South America and Africa, where she had lived and worked.

Candida Alvarez calls her paintings  chatty abstractions.  Comprising controlled fields of color, delicate mark-making, and seeping geometries, Alvarez's paintings may contain bright and vivid tones or more somber hues that evoke a soliloquy and a mental landscape. Born from the artist's close observations of her family she grew up in a lively Puerto Rican household and from everyday experience, these ebullient works recall the distant horizons as seen from her childhood home in a Brooklyn high-rise and describe its intimate interior. Lately, Alvarez has drawn inspiration from the tropical environment of Puerto Rico and her mother who had returned to live on the island before the devastating effects of Hurricane Maria in 2017 forced her to move.  

In partnership with CPR Classical, this event brings to life the radio feature Behind the Baton with Scott O’Neil, the former Colorado Symphony resident conductor. O’Neil will explore the music of Mozart and its influence on Sendak’s creative process, performing selections on the piano while uncovering the mysteries behind Mozart’s masterpieces.

Denver Art Museum Director and Wild Things curator Christoph Heinrich will delve into the deep connections between music and art, sharing vivid imagery from Sendak’s beloved works, including Where the Wild Things Are, A Hole is to Dig, and Little Bear. Together, O’Neil and Heinrich will illuminate the dynamic interplay of music and visual storytelling that defined Sendak’s groundbreaking career.

Research shows that humans are hard-wired to create and to look at art. Both activities stimulate our brains, provoke our emotions, and help us to connect with the world around us. In this learn about the impact of artmaking and art-viewing on the brain, explore artworks that were created for the act of beholding, healing, and growth, and spend time in the galleries with a slow art experience.

In partnership with CPR Classical, this event brings to life the radio feature Behind the Baton with Scott O’Neil, the former Colorado Symphony resident conductor. O’Neil will explore the music of Mozart and its influence on Sendak’s creative process, performing selections on the piano while uncovering the mysteries behind Mozart’s masterpieces. Denver Art Museum Director and Wild Things curator Christoph Heinrich will delve into the deep connections between music and art, sharing vivid imagery from Sendak’s beloved works, including Where the Wild Things Are, A Hole is to Dig, and Little Bear. Together, O’Neil and Heinrich will illuminate the dynamic interplay of music and visual storytelling that defined Sendak’s groundbreaking career.