For Denver Arts Week, I wanted to participate in at least one of the many events going on around Denver. I chose to go to the First Friday Art Walk; although I have been to a couple Art Walks in the past, I had higher hopes for this one. After all, it was Denver Arts Week, and the Art Walk was occurring in 7 different art districts. I chose to go to the one on Santa Fe, hoping that with all the other places open, this one would be less crowded than normal.
Perhaps this would have held true if I had made it to the art walk when it opened at 6, but I was only able to attend it for 8-9 hour. By the time I arrived, the galleries and streets were packed. I like being around people, and a giant party focused on art is fun in theory, but instead of feeling excited by the energy of the people, I found myself annoyed. Socialization was clearly the main event, people cluttered around each other, blocking hallways, doorways, art, the sidewalk. I felt like I couldn’t even enjoy the art, or visit all the galleries because I got sick of having to navigate through the endless stream of people and feeling increasingly claustrophobic. It also doesn’t help that many of the people were drunk off of the free gallery wine, making them even more oblivious to the people like me who were actually trying to view the art.
Perhaps this would have held true if I had made it to the art walk when it opened at 6, but I was only able to attend it for 8-9 hour. By the time I arrived, the galleries and streets were packed. I like being around people, and a giant party focused on art is fun in theory, but instead of feeling excited by the energy of the people, I found myself annoyed. Socialization was clearly the main event, people cluttered around each other, blocking hallways, doorways, art, the sidewalk. I felt like I couldn’t even enjoy the art, or visit all the galleries because I got sick of having to navigate through the endless stream of people and feeling increasingly claustrophobic. It also doesn’t help that many of the people were drunk off of the free gallery wine, making them even more oblivious to the people like me who were actually trying to view the art.
However, despite this I still enjoyed going to the art walk. It is exciting to see so many people out on a cold Friday night in November trying to look at art. The Sizzle & Bang Gallery was the first place I visited and it was my favorite. As always, the art there was bold, contemporary, and colorful. While my boyfriend and I were discussing the works of one artist, the artist himself came up to us, introduced himself and told us to grab a card because he was always selling prints. This was pretty awesome and reminded me why I like First Friday in the first place.
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