CU Art Museum

The quality of shows is outstanding. The exhibitions often include internationally acclaimed artists. It is my personal favorite to go to the openings when the artists themselves often speak about the shows. Its an inspiration!

The CU Art Museum moved into its’ beautiful, state-​of-​the-​art galleries in CU’s new Visual Arts Complex in the fall of 2010. It’s the best place to see art in Boulder and the surrounding region.
Admission is always FREE. They have a great website so you can see what is going on:
Parking is easy at the Euclid lot just east of the UMC.

This is one of Boulder’s forgotten galleries, even though it exhibits some of the best work in town. I was there for a big art event a few months back, and it was incredible. They had body parts in the front room, incredible drawings, paintings and other pieces in the back. The best was this really trippy projection exhibit in this middle room. Great stuff.
I was also there more recently for another gallery. My girlfriend’s neighbor was exhibiting her paintings, and they had her in this neat little, out-​of-​the-​way space. Very nice. I believe it’s undergoing some renovations right now, but when it’s open again you should definitely check out the fall exhibit schedule.

So, right from the get-​go I am going to have to warn you all that this review will be slightly biased, as I used to be an employee here.
That aside, I feel that I can give you all the inside scoop.
So here is the deal: the CU art gallery is one of those places that is tucked away and little known, which is sad since not only does it show what the undergrads and grads are working on for their theses, but also has revolving professional exhibits. For instance, last fall the gallery had a show with contemporary Tibetan and Latin American art, flown in especially for this smaller gallery in Boulder. No joke… Tibetan monks were at the opening, and the art was… AMAZING. I’m talking Tate contemporary good.
Ok ok ok… so maybe the art doesn’t always live up to Tate standards, but what it does is showcase not only the university’s efforts to make strong aspiring artists, but also will show you art that you won’t see anywhere else. This is cutting edge stuff, which means sometimes it aims for the stars and fails, but also sometimes that you really can find some beautiful stuff that these students put their life into.
The shows are revolving often. Usually you will have a professional show in Feb-​March, Sept-​Oct followed by the Masters students in April /​November and finally the B.A. students in May/​December. 6 – 7 shows a year always keeps this place fresh.
Now the current exhibit will be running for another week. After which alas the building closes for the summer. There will be a new temporary location next year, while a whole new gallery is being built. Once that is open, it will be 4x bigger, and will become the biggest gallery in Boulder…12 rooms, permanent shows, coat-​checks, everything.
In any case, this is one of those hidden gems that needs to get out there. I didn’t really know about the place until I was employed for these guys, so I hope that you all will think it is worthwhile to come check it out.
Drawbacks: the gallery is fairly small and consists of 4 rooms or so, with about 15 – 20 artists on average. CU itself actually has a very large collection of art up in the vaults here, but the gallery right now is too small to keep up a permanent exhibit. This will soon change however.
It’s free to the public as well
Oh and all the employees are awesome :)

The CU art museum features the best of the best CU Grads and Undergrads. Small but fascinating. It really depends upon the show. A lot of art!
The museum is very modern and one interesting detail: the blurbs are really out there, don’t make much sense at times. Great atmosphere! The museum changes exhibits all the time. About five exhibits in four months. Featuring student art, which is «out there and fresh.» The shows are very impressive. One in particular was the Contemporary Tibetan Art exhibit last November. Buddhist monks flew out to see the show! Very strong (and apparently very expensive).
An extremely strong Museum for size and prestige.