Welcome to the Davis Gallery!

The University of Denver’s newest exhibition space is a student-powered initiative for community creative projects located in the lobby of Shwayder Art Building. The Davis Gallery was founded in the name of Helen Davis, a generous supporter of the arts, with additional funding from LinkAGES. The creation of the Davis Gallery was spearheaded by Roddy MacInnes, Professor of Photography at the School of Art and Art History, who now serves as the faculty supervisor of the space. Constructed during the 2021-2022 academic year, the space first opened to the public in January 2022.

The Davis Gallery is open to all DU community members. Each academic year, two graduate students are selected to coordinate, install, and assist with curating a calendar of rotating exhibitions. These two students are referred to as the Programming and Engagement Coordinators. Exhibitions are submitted online, and then selected by the Davis Gallery committee. Though housed in the Schwayder Art Building, dedicated to the study and practice of the visual arts, the Davis Gallery is open to all DU campus. The Davis Gallery, along with the Vicki Myhren Gallery, is intended as an appendage to the School of Art and Art History’s educational mission. The Davis Gallery is specifically oriented towards important student professional development, cross-disciplinary collaborations, student community collaborations, and experimental exhibitions. By providing a safe space to show works and ideas, the gallery hopes to facilitate exciting conversations and opportunities for the DU campus community and beyond.

Now on View:

Recent Acquisitions: Artworks by Former DU Faculty

In addition to our exhibition of current faculty, recently acquired artworks by former DU faculty will be on display in the Davis Gallery and Shwayder Art Building lobby.

On view through October 11, 2024.

Coming Soon

Mi Vida en Colcha

Mi Vida en Colcha: Josephine Lobato

University of Denver
School of Art & Art History
Davis Gallery at Shwayder Art Building | Chambers Center for the Advancement of Women 2121 East Asbury Avenue | 1901 East Asbury Avenue
Denver, CO 80210
vicki-myhren-gallery.du.edu

In partnership with:

San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project The Range | HEART of Saguache
PO Box 416 | 307 4th Street
Saguache, CO 81149 therangeontheinternet.com heartofsaguache.org

Denver, CO – Join us this fall at the University of Denver School of Art and Art History for Mi Vida en Colcha, the retrospective of Josephine Lobato, the nationally recognized colcha embroidery artist. Josephine Lobato: Mi Vida en Colcha will begin on Wednesday September 25, 2024 with an artist talk at the Chambers Center for the Advancement of Women at 5pm. The full exhibition will open with a reception on Thursday October 24, 2024 from 5-7pm at the Davis Gallery at the Shwayder Art Building, remaining on view through Wednesday December 4, 2024. This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of Lobato’s art, providing the rare opportunity to view the life’s work of one of Colorado’s most significant artists. In 2019 Lobato was awarded the prestigious National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in recognition of her exceptional contribution to American folk and traditional arts.

Josephine Lobato was born in San Luis, Colorado in 1936. She lives and works in Westminster, Colorado. She is one of the most widely celebrated colcha embroidery artists in the United

States. Colcha embroidery is a textile art that came to the San Luis Valley from Northern New Mexico in the 19th Century and has been shaped by revival movements in Colorado and New Mexico into a pictorial narrative artform. The term colcha refers to the Spanish word for bed covering. Lobato uses colcha embroidery to depict the stories and folklore of her life and community. She began making colcha embroidery during her time as the director of San Luis Valley’s Fort Garland Museum in the 1980’s. She was instrumental in starting the Sangre de Cristo Heritage Museum in the Town of San Luis. Her artwork is the subject of Dr. Suzanne MacAulay’s Stitching Rites: Colcha Embroidery along the Northern Rio Grande (2000).

Josephine Lobato: Mi Vida en Colcha will feature forty colcha embroideries, accompanied by texts that offer insight into the stories they depict, alongside family photographs and a video that provide a biographical portrait of the artist. The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Michael Lobato, Lobato’s grandson who passed away on August 19, 2024. Colcha embroideries made by Lobato’s daughter Rita Lobato Crespin and granddaughter Rachelle Varela are included, further reflecting the generations of family connected through the artwork. Mi Vida en Colcha is curated by the artist in collaboration with Adrienne Garbini, Dr. Suzanne MacAulay, Trent Segura, and the San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project. The San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project is a partnership between The Range in Saguache, HEART of Saguache, and artists in the Valley that supports exhibitions, workshops, and scholarship. The University of Denver Department of Art and Art History is partnering with the San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project through the Davis Gallery and the Chambers Center for the Advancement of Women to host this important retrospective exhibition that honors Lobato’s unique artistry in preserving her memories, textile traditions, and the history of the San Luis Valley.

University of Denver history intersects with the revitalization of Colorado colcha embroidery, as the Colorado Women’s College hosted the offices of the Virginia Neal Blue Foundation, which was instrumental in bringing colcha embroidery workshops led by Chilean artist Carmen Benavente Orrego-Salas to the San Luis Valley in the 1970s. Benavente Orrego-Salas was influential in Lobato taking up colcha embroidery in the 1980s. This connection also led to the decades-long collaboration between Lobato and her art historian, Dr. MacAulay, who first encountered colcha embroidery while working at the Colorado Women’s College, which later became a division of DU.

The University of Denver Chambers Center for the Advancement of Women is located at 1901 East Asbury Avenue. The University of Denver Davis Gallery is located in the Shwayder Art Building at 2121 East Asbury Avenue. The exhibition is open to the public at both locations from October 24 through December 4, 2024. The Davis Gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday, 12-5 PM, closed on Mondays, except by appointment. Part of the exhibition will be on view at the Chambers Center beginning Wednesday September 25 at 5pm, in conjunction with Lobato’s artist talk with curators Adrienne Garbini and Dr. Suzanne MacAulay.

Josephine Lobato: Mi Vida en Colcha will result in an exhibition catalog published by What Nothing Press, with support from the San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project.

For more information, contact The Range at info@therangeontheinternet.com or call 646-734-1373. The Range is located at 307 4th Street in Downtown Saguache, and is currently celebrating its tenth year in Saguache.

Our Students

Annie Drysdale

Annie Drysdale is an Art History and Museum Studies graduate student and acts as the Exhibitions Manager for the Davis Community Art Gallery. Aside from being a student, Annie considers herself to be an accountable ally and activist. Her graduate thesis and community engagement work center around Indigenous sovereignty. In addition to her coursework in January of 2022, Annie co-created an organization called Storytellers of the Ancestral Red Road (SOAR). SOAR is an AiS grant-funded community collective of Indigenous knowledge keepers and allies who promote cultural wisdom in educational settings, using creative expression as the driving force of inspiration for community healing. Her graduate thesis work is focused on the responsible integration of Indigenous Research Methods into art historical and museology practices. Annie is proud that her thesis research is being conducted in direct collaboration with Diné artist Susan Hudson, who is the first Indigenous storyteller quilter in the United States. For Annie, the path forward from her degree is uncertain, but wherever it leads, she knows she will bring the power of positive change with her.