Art goes local at the Kirkland Museum: A gallery

"St. Francis and the Little Red Bull" (c. 1949), by Otto Bach.

Quietly, in December, the Kirkland Museum opened a new installment of its ongoing Colorado art survey, a range of 51 art and decorative works, most of them culled from the museum's collection and many on view for the first time. The show's particular focus is on works by past members of the Denver Artists Guild and includes a wide variety of paintings, photographs, prints and sculptures, as well as decor, all of it arranged by style and period; it's intended as an introduction to 15 Colorado Artists, a major exhibit opening at the Kirkland in May. In a time and place where "going local" is a key idea and its pursuit a way of life, this is a subtle show that will make a Coloradan proud.

Colorado Art Survey IV: Works by Colorado Artists, 1874-1993 will be on view daily except Mondays, through April 23, at the Kirkland, 1311 Pearl Street; admission is $6 to $7. Call 303-832-8576. A sneak peek follows:

Carved Trunk (mid 1920s) by Kathleen Vavra

Untitled (late 1950s) by Paul K. Smith.

"Western Sunset" (1950s) by Frances Frakes Hansen.

"Sunset in the Garden of the Gods" (1940s) by Frances Drexel Smith.