It is practically impossible to wander through the Arvada Center’s new exhibit and not recognize some of the names on the wall labels that accompany the objects on display. At least not if you have been paying attention to the last few decades of art in Colorado.
Lobato. Strawn. Bayer. Baer. Sink. These are some of the names that have helped to define the Front Range cultural scene across its vast geography.
Multiple works by members of the Sink family created over decades. (Ray Mark Rinaldi, Special to The Denver Post)
Across generations, too, and that is the point of “Family Ties: Continuing the Creative Legacy,” which runs through March 29. The exhibit means to show how art-making interests can get passed down from parents to children to grandkids, to siblings, cousins, step-relatives and other assorted kin. To do that, it presents samples of their art next to each other, in family groupings.
Take, for example, the Baers, whose work appears near the gallery entrance. Barbara Baer, a veteran of the local scene, is showing her monumental “Four Rivers,” which is made from four long, narrow painted strips of organza fabric. They are hung from the ceiling and each meet the ground where they dip into a clear jar filled with actual water from four different rivers — the Colorado, Platte, Missouri and Mississippi.
Also hanging in that space, adjacent to Barbara’s piece, is Kevin Baer’s “Reflection Pool.” The work, also made of billowing fabric — this time dyed cotton — similarly stretches vertically from the ceiling, ending in what appears to be a pool of water.
The two works have different personalities and intentions — one references the earth and the environment, the other is a memorial “to those who have gone before and those who will come after” — but it is interesting to connect the dots of creative thinking that passed down from mother to son.
The Arvada Center’s “Family Ties” fills the first-floor gallery and will run until March 29. (Provided by the Arvada Center)
Sometimes, putting the connections together in this exhibit feels like a fun game to play — as well as a journey through local history.
Take the Boyds, for example: A whopping seven clan members have works on display.
The exhibition’s wall text calls them out by name: “Margaret Boyd (Mother), Michael Boyd (Son), Gail Boyd (Daughter), Cristine Boyd (Daughter), Alex Boyd (Grandson), Zachary Boyd-James (Grandson), and Eli Lynch (Grandson).”
What do they have in common and where are they different? The answer comes in everything from meaning to media. And it stretches from Margaret’s abstract acrylic-on-canvas paintings from the 1980s, through daughter Christine’s ceramic pieces, and on to grandson Alex’s silver jewelry. And those pieces are just part of the Boyd story told in “Family Ties.”
With intergenerational connections at the center, the show is able to take some unexpected art-celebrity turns.
There is a work by Yoko Ono on display: her 1964 conceptual book “Grapefruit,” which offers poem-like sets of instructions on life. The show features the entire book, with Ono’s photo on the front, accompanied by several framed pages on the wall that serve as examples of her advice-giving.
The artist, well-known as a New Yorker, has a place in this show through her daughter, Kyoto Ono, who lives in Colorado and also makes art. The exhibit is presenting Kyoto’s 2023 piece “Paradolia lll,” a framed wall work made from a photo altered with paint. (The photo, but the way, depicts local art figure Judy Anderson posing for the shot.)
Another example: There is a photo montage by the late icon Herbert Bayer, whose step-grandaughter, Koko Bayer, is currently active in Colorado and showing here a large-scale photo installation.
A red Eero Saarinen “Grasshopper” chair in a grouping of artworks created by generations of his family. (Provided by the Arvada Center)
Another 20th-century legend, architect and designer Eero Saarinen, is snuck (delightfully) into the exhibition because his granddaughter, Susan Saarinen, is a successful landscape architect now in Colorado. The Arvada Center is showing Eero’s famous “Grasshopper Chair,” from 1946, beside Susan’s 2002 oil landscape titled “View from the Road.” There are also works by various other family members in the same grouping.
What brings the show, curated by the center’s staff, together is an abundance of helpful wall text, which sorts out the physical relationships but also assists in linking the works together artistically. There are quotes and stories, along with reflections gathered from family members about their lineage. There are QR codes assigned to each family for gallery visitors who want to download and go deeper.
Across “Family Ties,” the work varies, though the curators here present carefully-chosen pieces that manage to show off individual talents while logically explaining the creative bonds. It is a massive show (like everything at the spacious Arvada Center) and a bit sentimental. How could it not be, considering the material?
But the effort is saved by both the overall quality of the work and the enormous amount of research it must have taken to find these families, to assemble the right pieces, and to display everything in a way that makes sense.
By its nature, the show tells family tales. But it also narrates stories about Colorado art overall — who made it, what it looked like, and what resonated with the public as society and technology changed — and the role these families played in all of that.
In that way, it is the story of them, but it is also the story of us.
IF YOU GO
“Family Ties” continues through March 29 at the Arvada Center. It’s free. More info: 720-898-7200 or arvadacenter.org.
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