FAC hauls in 13 Gazette 'best of' awards

The Fine Arts Center took home 13 'Best of' awards from the Gazette. Congratulations to all!

Best Art Museum
Fine Arts Center (Readers' Choice)
When it comes to the Fine Arts Center, Lee Bowers sums it up quite nicely: "Um. Wow!" After a $28.4 million renovation in 2006, the facility boasts both architect John Gaw Meem's stately Pueblo style and airy public spaces able to accommodate the enormous as well as the intimate. Voters cited the free admission days, Dale Chihuly's chandeliers, a solid permanent collection and ambitious traveling shows as reasons to visit again and again. "Better than the Denver Art Museum," wrote one fan, "who needs angled walls?"

Best Local Exhibit
Colorado Springs Abstract (Gazette Pick)
The scope of this 80-piece survey is ambitious - from turn-of-the-century experimentation to contemporary renderings. Sure, there are heavy hitters, such as the tasty Motherwells you can spot from the broad doorway of the Fine Arts Center's El Pomar Gallery. But the real treat is to see local artists Betty Ross, Holly Parker, Bill Burgess and others hang in this august setting.

Best Museum Exhibit
Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe (Readers' Choice)
Despite a year of blockbusters at the Fine Arts Center - from an impressionists show in January to Pablo Picasso in July - this tightly focused traveling exhibit stood out with voters. Not unlike the delicious Ms. Monroe herself. The April 2008 offering included 300 Monroe-related photographs and works by such artists as Andy Warhol, Richard Avedon and Henri Cartier-Bresson as well as 15 local artists invited to participate in the show. It was fun, sexy, sad and, ultimately, a testament to our obsession with the unattainable.

Best Traveling Exhibit
Mikel Glass: The Discarded (Gazette Pick)
It's big ideas in small packages. Sometimes literally. In this sprawling exhibition, the New York artist creates say-what facsimiles of throw-away objects as well as exquisitely painted canvases that play with notions of realism and the nature of art. All of this at our local museum. Amazing.

Best Use of Multimedia
Mikel Glass: The Discarded (Gazette Pick)
It's hard to get your mind around New York realist Mikel Glass' curious work, which ran Jan. 17-April 19 at the Fine Arts Center. That's especially true of the series of handmade boxes that ape throw-away objects, such as express-mail boxes, with such detail that you can't tell the difference. Recognizing that the best convincer - touching it and seeing the wooden back - wasn't possible, the arts center put together a smart array of online and gallery media - including a slide show, a video on how he makes these pieces and an interview with the artist - to telegraph just how artful this heady work really is.

Best Artist You Do Not Understand
Tom McElroy (Gazette Pick)
If you walked into Tom McElroy's recent exhibition at the FAC Modern, "Atomic Elroy's Hometown," you may have been puzzled. But you were unlikely to miss that, like much of his work, this video and installation piece is smart and meaningful, the pearl inside a particularly petulant oyster. To understand McElroy, you needed to spend time with the piece, wading into his complicated relationship with his hometown, Colorado Springs, and his love affair with the slippery nature of dadaism.

Best Musical
The Full Monty (Readers' Choice)
Fans couldn't stop laughing. They loved the singing, acting and special "ladies night" production. Some thought it should have gotten even more exposure, if you know what we mean.

Best Musical
Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Gazette Pick)
Colorful costumes, a sparkling cast and one show-stopping number after another combined to captivate adults while introducing a new, young audience to the magic of theater.

Best Costumes
Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Gazette Pick)
How do you bring a wardrobe, a candelabra and a houseful of everyday objects to life? Easily, if you've got Elizabeth Fry's keen imagination and eye for detail. Why, she made even the Beast endearing.

Best Choreography
The Full Monty (Gazette Pick)
Mary Ripper Baker's dance numbers are always a joy to watch, but in this testosterone-driven musical she really outdid herself, rocking the house with her contagiously energetic choreography.

Best Youth Show
Working (Gazette Pick)
Recognized for its intensive training program in the dramatic arts, The Youth Rep showed with this ode to American workers that it could produce work as polished and mature as any professional theater company.

Best Romantic Restaurant
Cafe 36 (Gazette Pick)
When this restaurant opened in the wake of the nifty Fine Arts Center expansion, it served some pretty food that was also pretty bad. But since Garden of the Gods Gourmet took over, the cafe which is now open for dinner and happy hour tapas as well as lunch, it has landed among the top lunch spots in town. The limited but creative menu is complemented by a romantic setting, particularly on the patio overlooking Pikes Peak.

Best Volunteer
Mary Lou Roesler, FAC docent (Readers' Choice)

Colorado Culture Cast features Mikel Glass

Colorado Culture Cast's Craig Richardson visited Mikel Glass The Discarded as the exhibition was being installed and spoke with curator Blake Milteer, FAC Board of Trustees member Ron Brasch and the artist, Mikel Glass. Watch the video here.

The Opening Celebration for Mikel Glass The Discarded, as well as Colorado Springs Abstract and The Taos Society of Artists, will be held this Friday, Feb. 27, from 5 to 8 p.m.

Video from Mikel Glass' studio

Want to find out how Mikel Glass creates his amazingly-realistic sculptures? Watch an in-depth feature on the artist and his work from his New York studio. This 14-minute video from TheGreatNude.tv is an expanded version of the film playing in our gallery alongside Mikel Glass The Discarded, now on exhibit at the Fine Arts Center.

FOX 21 visits the Mikel Glass exhibition

FOX 21's Morning Reporter Meaghan Collier spoke with FAC Curator Blake Milteer on Monday about the Fine Arts Center's latest exhibition, Mikel Glass The Discarded. Check out the four video clips below:

• Why Glass uses dolls in his work?
• What is the story behind the painting Sacrifice of Subject?
• Take a look at the "box art" of Mikel Glass.
• Checking out Recyling Bundle, perhaps, the most humerous piece.

Independent previews Mikel Glass | The Discarded

The Independent previews Mikel Glass The Discarded in today's edition: "Contemporary artist Mikel Glass specializes in realist painting, but his subjects are not as classical as his style.

"I like to paint the things that nobody wants," says Glass from his studio in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan.

"Throughout his career, the 46-year-old Glass has represented the "outcasts and discards of society," a sobering set of muses he finds beautiful and honest. They provide the basis for his solo exhibition at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Mikel Glass The Discarded, a three-tiered show, features sculpture, painting and a site-specific installation, and opens this week.

Art Knowledge News features Mikel Glass

Art Knowledge News, an online art magazine with over 700,000 subscribers worldwide, has featured the Mikel Glass The Discarded press materials, including two large photographs. The exhibition opens this Saturday at 10 a.m. in conjunction with Public Free Day. Credit: Mikel Glass - Full Bloom I, oil on canvas, 48" x 34," Collection of Dennis & Elizabeth Shea, Alexandria, Va.

Public Free Day: Bring the entire family to the FAC this Saturday

The Fine Arts Center welcomes the general public to visit our galleries this Saturday, Jan. 17, with no admission fee. And this Saturday is a good day to visit, because we are opening a new exhibition by Mikel Glass. The internal buzz for this exhibition is high; it's an entertaining, challenging, energetic exhibition that will be fun for the whole family.

ArtDaily.org: Mikel Glass | The Discarded

From ArtDaily.org ... Mikel Glass’s art ranges from Realist paintings to postmodern sculpture of such items as a used pizza box or shipping box. The 12 sculptures, 23 paintings and an installation piece in Mikel Glass The Discarded reflect the artist’s Realist style. “Mikel’s painting and sculpture are a powerful intersection of contemporary themes rendered with astounding craftsmanship,” said exhibit curator Blake Milteer.

With this exhibit, the FAC is producing a 60-page catalogue with a foreword written by FAC President Sam Gappmayer, an introduction by Milteer and an essay by filmmaker J.J. Abrams.

“Mikel Glass approaches his work with a fearless passion,” writes American Artist.

To view a selection of works in the exhibition, see the FAC Mikel Glass slideshow.

Credit: Mikel Glass - Overnight Shipping Box, 2007 - Enamel on wood, 6 1/2 x 21 x 16 in. - Collection of Ron and Una Brasch