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Cultural Arts
Village Read- Rush
Celebrating its third year, the Greenwood Village Cultural Arts Program has once again partnered with Arapahoe Libraries to present the "Village Read". The idea encourages adults of all ages to read one book and participate in thought-provoking discussions and activities derived from the chosen book. The goals of the program are to encourage leisure reading, create community conversations and bring the community together through literature. This year the group has chosen the book "Rush" by Colorado author Jayme Mansfield. In "Rush", Mary, a single mom, tries to strike her claim in the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1893. In competition with desperate homesteaders, ruthless land seekers and a sheriff determined to see her fail, Mary thrusts her flag in the dirt to claim 160 acres of her own. But with that claim, she risks more than she ever could imagine. Mary is faced with a past riddled with loss, hardship and reminders that a woman isn't capable of surviving on her own. Will Mary's stubborn and independent spirit keep her mired in the past? Or will she find forgiveness and love in the wild plains of the Midwest?
This year's program will begin with the Mayor's Kick Off on August 1nd at 6pm at Koelbel Libraries. Greenwood Village Mayor Ron Rakowski will interview the author and give his insight into this year's book. Books are available for purchase or check out at the Curtis Center for the Art and Koelbel Library. All events will take palace in August. Check the Greenwood Village website for a complete listing of events and activities.
All events are free and open to the public.
On Display at City Hall- Lusterware
Lusterware is a type of pottery or porcelain with a metallic glaze that gives the effect of iridescence, produced by metallic oxides in an overglaze finish. Staining glass vessels with copper and silver pigments was known from around the 3rd century AD, although true luster technology probably began sometime between the 4th and 8th centuries AD.
Lusterware became popular in England during the 19th century where another sort of metallic lusterware was created which imparts the appearance of an object of silver, gold or copper. Wedgwood's lusterware made in the 1820s spawned the production of mass quantities of copper and silver lusterware in England and Wales. Cream pitchers with appliqué-detailed spouts and meticulously applied handles were most common. Raised, multicolored patterns depicting pastoral scenes were also created, and sand was sometimes incorporated into the glaze to add texture.
In the United States, copper lusterware became popular because of its lustrousness. Apparently, as gaslights became available to the rich, the fad was to place groupings of lusterware on mirror platforms to be used as centerpieces for dinner parties. Gaslights accentuated their lustrousness.
The lusterware on display through June at Greenwood Village City Hall comes from a local, private collection. Most of these pots date back to the mid to late 1800’s.
Westlands Park Sculptures
Once again, the Greenwood Village Arts and Humanities Council has partnered with the Museum of Outdoor Arts to bring public art to Westlands Park. This year the outdoor exhibit will feature three new works from Chicago based artist Neil Goodman. Currently a professor of art at Indiana University Northwest, Goodman's work has been featured in "Art Forum", "Art in America" "art News" and "Sculpture Magazine. Goodman’s work is not rooted in organic forms. His objects look like physical manifestations of mathematical principals, equations somehow made dimensional and wrought in metal and fiberglass. For all their weight and bulk, they have an airy purity about them, like music. To walk among them is a little like listening to a Bach Fugue. The three works, "Rudder", "Wind" and "Reach" will be on display in Westlands Park through August 2019..