'There's lots to despair about, but I would love to spend some time imagining what a different future could look like.”
"There's lots to despair about, but I would love to spend some time imagining what a different future could look like.”},{ "name":"Editor Picks", "component":"17242653", "insertPoint":"4", "requiredCountToDisplay":"1", "watchElement":".
fdn-content-body", "astAdList": },{ "name":"Inline Links", "component":"18838239", "insertPoint":"8th", "startingPoint": 8, "requiredCountToDisplay":"7", "maxInsertions": 25 },{ "name":"Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content", "component":"17261320", "insertPoint":"8th", "startingPoint": 8, "requiredCountToDisplay":"7", "maxInsertions": 25, "watchElement":".fdn-content-body", "astAdList": },{ "name":"Inline Links", "component":"18838239", "insertPoint":"8th", "startingPoint": 12, "requiredCountToDisplay":"11", "maxInsertions": 25 },{ "name":"Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content", "component":"17261321", "insertPoint":"8th", "startingPoint": 12, "requiredCountToDisplay":"11", "maxInsertions": 25, "watchElement":".fdn-content-body", "astAdList": } ]in Commerce City sits the PlatteForum A.I.R. Annex Gallery in RiNo, where fifty high school students have joined artist Lucy Holtsnider to imagine a world where Suncor is no longer an oil refinery., emitting toxic chemicals like sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides and hydrogen sulfide into the air. Suncor has also releasedinto the water outside the refinery. Residents report heightened respiratory illnesses that they attribute to the refinery's presence and emissions. The community in the area — made largely of those from historically disenfranchised groups — has often imagined what it would be like if“It's maybe not a great time to be an environmentalist. There's lots to despair about,” says Holtsnider. “But I thought I would love to just spend some time imagining what a different future could look like.” Holtsnider is a printmaker and collage artist who works with a letterpress to create prints in various colors which she then uses to make collages. Her work is often abstract but when it isn’t, she leans toward environmental themes, referencing native plants or water issues. For her PlatteForum show, Holtsnider is experimenting with incorporating ceramics into her collages for the first time and, though her pieces are abstract, she grounded the work in her vision for what the 27 square miles of Suncor could be if the refinery were to disappear: affordable housing. Holtsnider used shapes of real streets, blocks and homes from her Central Park neighborhood and created a similar map of what she imagined Suncor could look like if the streets surrounding the refinery continued through it and apartment buildings and homes populated the area rather than the metal equipment and buildings that cover the area now., hailing from Denver’s Title I high schools, have also created pieces in response to the theme. Holtsnider says their work is less abstract but still answers the same question showcasing “the best of teenage minds.” For example, a guest speaker talked to the interns about how sunflowers pull toxins out of the soil so a pair of interns designed a sunflower-themed amusement park to go on the Suncor campus, complete with a sunflower-dragon-esque roller coaster. There are also designs for cat sanctuaries on the campus created by interns.The interns are part of ArtLab, PlatteForum’s program for high schoolers that pays them to spend a year immersed in art being trained by artists like Holtsnider; students can participate for all four years of their time in high school. PlatteForum is a nonprofit dedicated to urban art and activism founded in 2002 to connect young artists to established artists and create work centered on social justice together. “I always say I wish something like this was around when I was in high school,” says Ilan Gutin, curator and engagement director for the PlatteForum. “To get a chance to see what artists do and what they make and how they make it and what their careers look like and how they got started and where they're hoping to end up … It's just a really important piece of the art puzzle for young artists to see and be a part of.” Fifty interns per year experience four Artists in Residency, one for each season. PlatteForum also brings in artists for single-day workshops and provides wraparound services like mental health resources, groceries and tutoring for the interns. Applications for next year’s interns and resident artists are open now and Gutin says finding artists like Holtsnider who are truly dedicated to bringing the interns in collaboratively is his goal this time around. “Lucy's done such a good job of that,” Gutin says. “The interns feel like they're a big part of it and they have as much stake in it as she does.” Holtsnider is no stranger to teaching printmaking, hosting classes at the Denver Tool Library each month and serving as an adjunct professor at times. She says working with the ArtLab interns has been one of her favorite teaching experiences. Holtsnider took the group to the edge of the Suncor campus to complete contour drawings of the geometric shapes there. That same day, the group traveled to the, which used to be a U.S. Army chemical manufacturing facility. There, they saw how the world could return to a natural landscape even after environmental destruction, sketching the organic shapes there.Using the press to make prints was particularly exciting for the interns, Holtsnider notes. “Most of them had never used a press before and they had to learn how to soak paper and mix ink and think about color,” she says., who have been working toward making Suncor less harmful to the environment for years. She wanted the students to learn from people doing environmental work so they could think about their art more concretely. The end result is twelve pieces from Holtsnider which will be mixed with the pieces from the ArtLab interns to create a vibrant, colorful show. Each piece will be labeled to show exactly what the artists imagines Suncor could be. The show will open with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, February 28, and run through March 26. Admission is free to see the exhibit which will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays; Holtsnider will be in attendance on Saturdays for those who wish to chat with her. A free artist conversation will also be held on March 21 from 6:30 to 8 p.m., where she has primarily reported on news since September 2021. Her prior work experience includes contributing to Cronkite News, Arizona PBS, theand AZ Big Media. Catie holds a master's degree from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and an undergraduate degree from Regis University in Denver. If you value independent journalism, please consider making a contribution to support our continued coverage of Denver’s vibrant culture and arts scenes.
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