Arvada Center Announces Three Visual Arts Exhibitions 6/11-8/30 In The Gallery

The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities announces three new visual art exhibitions--'Jill Greenberg: Monkeys and Bears,' 'Haze Diedrich: Devotion - New Work' and '"Scramble" Campbell: Music with a View'--that will be on display June 11 - August 30, 2009 in the Center's three gallery spaces. An opening reception for all three exhibitions will be held on Thursday, June 11 from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. An exhibition discussion will also be held on Monday, June 15 at 10:00 a.m. Both events are free to the public.

'Jill Greenberg: Monkeys and Bears' will be shown in the Main Gallery. This will be the first time both the monkey and bear portraits will be on display together, and the first time a nationally-recognized
photographer will present works of this type at the Center. Better known for her photographs of celebrities--including Clint Eastwood, Glen Close, Jay Leno, Will Smith, Drew Barrymore and Arnold
Schwarzenegger--Jill Greenburg is showing large-format works from two other career-pivotal series on animals. Her monkey portraits present primates, classically posed and with gestures and facial expressions arrestingly similar to humans. The bear series features studio portraits of black, grizzly and polar bears that again sport a variety of human-like postures and facial expressions. Often called the "Manipulator," Greenburg often uses Photoshop to create the perfect portrait. The exhibition is organized in cooperation with Denver's Michele Mosko Fine Art Gallery. Join Michele Mosko and Brian Clamp of New York City's CLAMPART for a free tour and discussion of Greenberg's
works on Wednesday, July 22, 5:30 - 8:00 p.m.

'Haze Diedrich: Devotion - New Work' will be on display in the Upper Gallery. The exhibition features large-scale works from this local emerging artist currently based at the Space Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Since arriving in Colorado in the mid-1990s, Lakewood artist Diedrich has had work featured in more than 20 important regional shows, most recently the notable Colorado Abstract this past winter at the Metropolitan State College of Denver's Center for Visual Art. Diedrich thinks of his work as expressing-through abstract lines, shapes, colors and textures-the essence and filmy remembrance of real events or personal experiences. He strives to give abstract visual equivalency to word images expressed in various poems he appreciates. One senses in Diedrich's paintings a certain methodical deployment of design effects by way of building up and taking down the paint surface. As he noted, "I achieve my goals by reworking the layers and by scraping, sanding and scratching the top layers to reveal a past layer. Like an onion unfolded and recombined, I am trying to reveal and conceal at the same time."

'"Scramble" Campbell: Music with a View' will be exhibited in the Theater Lobby Gallery. Morrison, CO artist Keith "Scramble" Campbell is known nationally for his paintings "live in concert." That's right. He actually attends a concert and executes a painting that he completes during the course of the performance. He endeavors to capture the inherent feeling of music through light, color, composition, design and brushwork. Over his long career, Campbell has painted at nearly a thousand musical events. The Arvada Center inviTEd Campbell to do his "Scramblevision" at the Music with a View concerts and the theater musical productions 'A Wonderful Life,' 'Seussical' and 'Just So,' as well as last year's summer concerts in the outdoor amphitheater. Experience this artist's interpretation of other artists as they performed at the Arvada Center. As an added feature, the exhibition will have several blank canvases, which Campbell will complete at scheduled live performances in the outdoor amphitheater so audiences can witness him work his magic.

The Arvada Center galleries are free and open to the public Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.; Saturday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.; and Sunday, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. The galleries are also open until 7:30 p.m. on evenings with Main Stage presentations. Free docent-led tours of the Arvada Center's gallery exhibitions and history museum are available to groups of ten or more. To schedule a tour, call the Arvada Center's gallery/museum tour line at (720) 898-7255.

The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities is one of the nation's largest cultural attractions, devoted to all aspects of the arts. It is generously supported by the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). For more information on the Center's galleries, call the Arvada Center box office at (720) 898-7200 or visit arvadacenter.org