Santa Fe First Fridays Art Walk

Something For Everyone

I have to see this one gallery, my friend Emma says. Its always closed by the time I get to the end.

We start our walk at the south end of the arts district on Santa Fe Drive and West 7th Avenue. Emma doesnt remember the name of the gallery but I promise her well make it this time. She comes the art walk often. I used to join friends on art walks while living in upstate New York but I have never done so in my hometown.

The Santa Fe First Fridays Art Walk attracts as many as 10,000 people. There is music, dancing, food trucks, and free wine.

Galleries line both sides of the street along three blocks, between 7th and 10th avenues, but there isnt enough time to see them all in one night. Some of the buildings have mazes of galleries on multiple floors, featuring contemporary artists from Denver and beyond.

If youve ever wanted to meet an artist behind some of these wild, funky, and vibrant creations, the First Fridays is the best time to catch them. I stop at the CHAC Gallery and Cultural Center (Chicano Humanities & Arts Council to chat with fine artist Stevon Lucero . He displays a new exhibit each month. His artwork, metarealism and Neo Pre-Columbian or Azetc art, are visual metaphors of his spiritual journey through visions and dreams.

Its an art thats designed to ask spiritual questions as opposed to being decorative or pretty, Lucero says. In our history, art is an evolution of consciousness through different art forms. From the time of the Renaissance till now (modern history), modernism reaches a peak in a movement called minimalism and that was during the sixties when guys would do big blank canvasses and put them on a wall and write some intellectual discourse. When you got through that, everything youve seen in art since then repeats itself. No one has invented any new way of seeing.

There was a void for a long time and during the sixties, artists began asking questions about philosophy, Lucero says.

I asked a question, who are we now? What is the spirit? What is the soul? Metarealism is the externalization of the interior reality, Lucero explained. The widespread chaos and conflict were seeing today reflects the continuum of two polarities, the consciousness of traditional art and the sub-consciousness of surrealism, he says.

Thats why theres so much hate. Thats why theres so much emotionalism and metarealism addresses that. Metarealism is saying the artist will [become] spiritual again. They become mystical again. Not just that theyre mimicking from psychology books, but creating their own symbology which is what Ive been doing.

Out of the 20-plus pieces, my favorite painting is Luceros Sun Warrior.

Emma and I slowly make our way down the street popping in and out of galleries. Each one has its own vibe, most of them casual and laid-back, attracting young professionals and families. The streets become more crowded as night takes over day. We enter Reeve Violins where one can try playing a double-bass cello. We are both terrible at playing it.

Reeve Violins, a fourth-generation artisan of stringed instruments, is internationally known with instruments pricing as high as $10,000. The family repairs, restores and sells string instruments.

This one is from 1880, says Brittany Reeve pointing to a darker wood violin. It came to us broken and they repaired it and did a full restoration on it.

After admiring instruments above our paygrade (its always fun to look) I promise Emma well see her mystery gallery next, until I pass a window where women and men are dancing to samba music with live drums. I have a weakness for Latin music.

Ill be real quick, I tell Emma as I take off my shoes and join the students on the dance floor at Canto do Galo Capoeira .

The dance studio, which has served Denver and Boulder for over 20 years, offers classes for ages four and up. A beginner capoeira series, a Brazilian dance that combines martial arts, acrobatics and music, just started and there will be an upcoming Brazilian dance series, four weeks for $40. I might be back for that deal!

Finally, we make it to the end. The gallery Emma wanted to see is still open, The Center for Visual Art, which is part of the Metropolitan State University of Denver. This months exhibit, Presence: Reflections on the Middle East, was the most interesting. It features 60 photo-based works by 12 artists living in the U.S. and abroad. The pictures evoke the diaspora of the Middle East and the cultural intersection of the past and present.

Just walking from gallery to gallery is an excitement of its own. It is one large street party with lovers of art flocking from room to room. Dont miss the next First Fridays Art Walks which are happening across Denver in multiple neighborhoods . I hope to see each one this year.

People should always come out, because art is like an expression of life, says Melanie Staton of Ft. Pierce, Florida. Just let loose and...soak it all in.

Monique Antonette Lewis has visited 14 countries and 27 U.S. states. She is the founder of At The Inkwell, a New York City-based organization that hosts reading series across major US cities and in London. She is an editor for Mergermarket, a global financial news service. Monique lives in Denver. Follow her on Twitter , Facebook and Instagram .