A Day in the Life of Colorado as Experienced Through Prints
By Chadd Scott on
What would your perfect Colorado day look like?
Fresh powder at Breck followed by après at Broken Compass Brewing.
Backcountry hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park with stargazing.
Whitewater rafting.
A Denver museum grand slam: Denver Art Museum, MCA Denver, Clyfford Still, and Anshutz Collection?
Gameday in Boulder or Fort Collins.
Red Rocks music festival.
Find your perfect Colorado day at the Kirkland Institute of Fine & Decorative Art at the Denver Art Museum during “Round the Clock: 24 Hours of Colorado in Prints.” The exhibition consists of 24 prints, each depicting one hour of the day, illustrating a slice of Colorado life. A map in the gallery provides a 'road trip' through the state with pins marking locations associated with the prints – what they depict or where they were made.
Locations vary from mining scenes in the high country to the urban streets of Denver. Works on view include a wide range of printmaking techniques: lithography, intaglio, relief, serigraphy, monotype, and monoprint. The entire installation will be rotated in late summer to feature 24 new prints by an additional 24 artists, offering another experience of a day in Colorado. Forty-eight artists’ works are featured in the show.
Gene Kloss, ‘Taos Eagle Dancers,’ 1955. Drypoint etching with aquatint on paper; 13 14x 16 38 in. Denver Art Museum Gift of Barbara J. Thompson in Memory of C.A. Seward, 2024.64. © Estate of Gene Kloss
“Going through The Kirkland’s collection of about 1,500 prints by Colorado artists, I noticed several night scenes and started thinking about a ‘night and day’ concept for a show,” Chris Herron, Associate Director of Exhibitions & Collections for The Kirkland, said. “Digging deeper and discovering titles that contained descriptive words like ‘morning,’ ‘evening,’ ‘dusk,’ etc., made me wonder if I could assemble an entire day. Of course, not all artists were so cooperative to include a time of day in their titles, so I interpreted images and assigned a time of day to prints by artists I wanted to include.”
The exhibition reflects Colorado’s history as it enters its 150th year of statehood. The show explores how artists have captured the look and feel of living and working in the state through the techniques of printmaking.
Colorado has a storied printmaking history, beginning with George Elbert Burr in Denver 1906-1924, followed by Lawrence Barrett as instructor of lithography and etching at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center between 1938 and 1952, up to contemporary printmakers such as Mark Lunning, Leon Loughridge, Tony Ortega, and Melanie Yazzie, all of whom are featured in the show.
Depicted in the prints are the expected mountains and mining, but much more.
“It’s not always about the scenery, though we certainly have that. Scenes of everyday life can be just as compelling as our majestic landscape,” Herron said. “Cholo, by Tony Ortega, depicts a young man just hanging out on the sidewalk on a hot Denver afternoon. Evening Chores, maybe common in the rural areas of our state, are not so familiar to us city dwellers. Beyond realistic landscapes, I’ve included more abstract works, including a darker-themed Nightmare. Colorado offers a wide variation of experiences and these artists have reflected this.”
Leon Loughridge, ‘Peak Shadows,’ 2014. Reduction woodcut on paper; 18 x 12 in. The Collection of The Kirkland at the Denver Art Museum, K2020.002.001. © Leon Loughridge
The Kirkland
In May of 2024, the Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art and the Denver Art Museum announced a transformative merger. “’Round the Clock” is one of two debut exhibitions to open at The Kirkland after the merger.
Whereas DAM is what’s known as an “encyclopedic” art museum – sharing tastes of global art history from the past 5,000 years – The Kirkland places a distinctive focus on celebrating Colorado artists, including the art and legacy of painter, educator, and collector Vance Kirkland; decorative arts spanning from the mid-19th century to today are another strong suit. Integral to the new Kirkland Institute of Fine & Decorative Art at the Denver Art Museum experience is preserving its intimate atmosphere and vignette-style exhibitions. Additionally, the significance of Vance Kirkland’s three-room studio building, a cherished aspect of the museum’s visitor experience, will continue to be a hallmark of the combined organizations.
“The merger with the Kirkland Museum has expanded the Denver Art Museum’s permanent collection and making it home to one of the largest decorative art and design archives in the country,” Andy Sinclair, DAM Communications and Media Relations Senior Manager, said. “Additionally, the merger supports and secures future programming, enabling The Kirkland to become fully accessible to all ages and bilingual audiences.”
Located only steps away from DAM at 1201 Bannock Street, admission to The Kirkland is included in general admission at DAM.
Eva Lucille “Eo” Kirchner, ‘Shapes & Space,’ 1961. Serigraph on paper; 11-34x 23-34 in. The Collection of The Kirkland at the Denver Art Museum, K2009.0801. © Estate of Eva Lucille
Southwestern Prints
Widening its lens, but sticking with prints, the Denver Art Museum also presents “Southwest Impressions: Prints from the Barbara J. Thompson Collection” through June 14, 2026. The exhibition highlights works on paper by artists who lived or traveled in the American Southwest during the late 1800s and first half of the 1900s, drawing inspiration from the region's unique landscapes, people, architecture, and animals. The exhibition celebrates Thompson’s collection of over 100 prints gifted to the Petrie Institute of Western American Art at DAM in 2024 in honor of her grandfather, the printmaker C.A. Seward.
“Southwest Impressions” acknowledges the important role of printmaking in western American art, particularly during the first half of the 20th century.
