Lucas Samaras, "Reconstruction #20," 1977. Sewn fabrics; 87 x 85 in. Denver Art Museum; National Endowment for the Arts, Dayton Hudson Foundation, Alliance for Contemporary Art M/M Edward Strauss, M/M Donald S. Graham, and anonymous donor, © the artist. Detail.

Spun: Adventures in Textiles, this summer's huge, campus-wide aggregation of exhibitions devoted to the textile arts at the Denver Art Museum, is definitely going to require more than one visit to absorb. In fact, DAM curators -- every single one of them had a hand in putting the shows together -- are banking on it. The wildly varied products of their labors collectively represent the wealth of textiles that have been tucked away for years in the museum collection, out of view.

See also:
- Spun: Adventures in Textiles, at the Denver Art Museum
- Photos: Two abstract solos showcase Colorado's best
- DIY feminist writer Margaret Wertheim discusses the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

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Burke Raby

Lucas Richards and his Cuddly Cryptozoological Creations.

Lucas Richards, creator of the Horndribbles, is ready to take his project to the next level. Initially, each Horndribble functioned like a unique soft sculpture; now Richards hopes to cut down on the labor involved in this labor of love in order to introduce the toys to a new generation.

Westword caught up with Richards in advance of Return of the Horndribbles, an event slated for April 15 at the Children's Museum, where he and his partner, Devon Braun of Explorer's Playground, will debut a story book and a line of Horndribbles manufactured for sale as toys. An RSVP is requested, as space is limited; visit the Facebook event page to let them know you're coming.

See also:
- Wild Ones: The Horndribbles will satisfy your animal urges
- Horndribbles Sexy Beast T-Shirt Bash
- Toot Your Own Horndribble

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"How the West is One," 2012, ©Will Wilson. Tintype wet collodion process, printed on duratran and back-lit LED, 2012.

When we think of photography and American Indians today, the first images that come to mind -- ironically and invariably -- are the famous, early twentieth-century photogravure portraits by ethnologist Edward S. Curtis.

A century later, Navajo photographer and installation artist Will Wilson decided it was time to update the antiquated Curtis images with new ones reflecting indigenous peoples in modern terms. To do that, he turned to a classic look, using wetplate techniques combined with digital processes to create The Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange, a body of work that updates native culture to modern times.

See also:
- Studio Shots: Kristen Hatgi and Mark Sink
- Ten shows to see during Month of Photography
- RedLine's group photography show is earning double takes

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That the Denver Museum of Nature and Science is hosting the Chicago Field Museum's Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age is awesome enough -- and believe us, the exhibit is truly awesome -- but the DMNS has added a whole Snowmass portion, featuring some items that have never been on public display before. And much of the exhibit, which opens today and runs through May 26, is touchable, too. Keep reading for a photo sneak-peek of the offerings.

See also:
- Web comic: Noah Van Sciver visits the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
- 100 Colorado Creatives: Dr. David Grinspoon, Denver Museum of Nature and Science
- Mammoth Madness misses the mark at Denver Museum of Nature and Science

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Dražen Grubišić and Olinka Vištica collect trinkets of lost love.

Artist Dražen Grubišić and film producer Olinka Vištica were in a relationship for four years, and then they broke up. But their relationship didn't end there -- instead, they entered into a unique partnership by founding the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, Croatia: a heart-wrenching, funny and very personal collection of the silly little gifts people give each other when they are in love and then can't throw away after the affair is over.

See also:
- Museum of Broken Relationships
- BMoCA seeks reminders of your once-broken heart for the Museum of Broken Relationships
- A love letter to an obsession: Casablanca, I love you.

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Georgia O'Keeffe, "Ram's Head, Blue Morning Glory," 1938. © Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.

Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico: Architecture, Katsinam and the Land, a touring show from the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum that opens Sunday at the Denver Art Museum, is a beautiful and subtle exhibition with new revelations, even for the most advanced O'Keeffe-maniac. Incredibly, this is the Denver Art Museum's first-ever major O'Keeffe exhibit, and it impresses in all its spare, modernistic, monochromatic glory; walking through the galleries, which hold fifty handsome O'Keeffe works, is a cleansing exercise in early modernism.

The revelations? A selection of the artist's rarely seen paintings of Hopi Katsinam (or spirit figures) is included, as well as a final gallery of contemporary Hopi works that reflects the influence of modernism on New Mexican native arts.

See Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico at the DAM through April 28; continue reading for a photo preview of some of the works you'll see.

See also:
- Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico: Architecture, Katsinam and the Land
- Do you have what it takes to wear a Nick Cave Soundsuit? Sign up to audition at the DAM
- Fifteen Instagram photos that turn the Denver Art Museum into art

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Soundsuits, Nick Cave.

This June, Nick Cave -- not the Bad Seeds Nick Cave, but the Chicago-based artist Nick Cave -- will transform the Denver Art Museum into a living garden of the fantabulous moving costumes he creates with Nick Cave: Sojourn, an exhibit of forty works, including twenty Soundsuits.

And what are Soundsuits? Composed of myriad found objects, from twigs to doilies to buttons to sandwich bags, they emit a symphony of natural sounds when set in motion. That means someone -- perhaps you -- has to get inside the suit and make it move around.

See also:
- Costumes, Squared
- Untitled returns, refreshed, to the Denver Art Museum tonight
- The arts in Denver: Ten people to watch in 2013

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Glenbow Museum Archives.

A little-known chapter of indigenous Colorado history will unfold tonight when the History Colorado Center's ongoing monthly lecture series presents "And Many Wore Moccasins: The Ute, Navajo and Blackfoot Nations and World War I," with Dr. Timothy Winegard of Colorado Mesa University.

See also:
- Photos: Denver diorama finds new home in History Colorado Center lobby
- Colorful Colorado sign lives on at History Colorado
- Best New Building, Downtown, 2012: History Colorado Center

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Blinky the Clown was an icon for generations of Colorado kids who grew up watching his Blinky's Fun Club on local television. Blinky -- aka Russell Scott -- passed away on August 27 at the age of 91, and now his friends and family members -- including daughter Linda and son-in-law Steve Ballas, who own Steve's Snappin' Dogs -- are trying to have Blinky included in the exhibits at History Colorado.

Colorado has many halls of fame, but it doesn't have a History Hall of Fame; nor does History Colorado have an exhibit devoted to historic figures. But it does have the new Denver A to Z exhibit, and when Ballas was in the building right before that show opened, he snuck a peek behind the curtain and caught sight of a display devoted to the Barrel Man. "If the Barrel Man is in there, Blinky should be there," he says.

See also:
- Blinky the Clown's funeral: A red nose for everyone
- R.I.P. Blinky the Clown: Remembering Russell Scott in photos and video
-The Colorado Music Hall of Fame isn't Colorado's only claim to fame

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"Grass and Butterflies."

Timothy Standring, curator of the Denver Art Museum's exclusive exhibition Becoming Van Gogh, traveled the world for several years to beg and borrow the show's more than seventy paintings and drawings. It wasn't an easy task. "People aren't going to loan works by van Gogh, arguably the most well-known artist on the face of earth, simply based on a well-written loan letter," he admits.

See also:
- Becoming Van Gogh
- Photos: Behind the scenes as a famous Van Gogh is uncrated and hung
- Vincent/Clyfford

All photos courtesy of the Denver Art Museum and contributing collections.

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