DENVER — "Side Stories" are coming back to Denver for a second year.
An organizer called it the winter version of RiNo's Crush Walls festival: art on walls, free to see. Except, for this event, the walls will have moving pictures from a select group of Colorado's digital artists.
“For eight walls, we had over 70 applications,” organizer Fiona Arnold said. “We had a jury that looked at all of those applications … and they picked the top eight entries that they thought were a really diverse group of artists.”
Filmmaker, animator and artist Lares Feliciano made the cut. Her work will be projected onto a white tower behind Great Divide’s Barrel Bar on Brighton Boulevard.
“I am so excited about what I’m gonna be showing at Side Stories,” Feliciano said. “I was inspired by the silos mural project in Antonito, Colorado – a tiny town in the San Luis Valley – where they have a mural on silos on Main Street. And the images on the silos are images of people who created that town, who built the foundation. So, I thought how fun would it be to do a digital moving version of that.”
For her Side Story, Feliciano is using images she found in the digital archives of the Denver Public Library.
Photographer Brian Fouhy will have his work projected on a large rust-colored wall behind the Plinth Gallery.
“People who maybe aren’t as willing to venture into a gallery or museum setting … are able to find this work, see it and maybe find something that they love about it,” Fouhy said. “For Side Stories, I decided to take the theme of bedtime stories, and I’m calling it Goodnight Denver.”
Each artist gets a $5,000 stipend from the RiNo Art District.
“As a creative district, one of the goals has to be … to allow our artists to, ongoing, make a good living and stay here,” Arnold said. “I mean, it enriches the entire city.”
On the Side Stories website, organizers have built an interactive map to help visitors find each film. They also plan to post audio of each artist explaining their work, so visitors can listen while they watch.
RiNo restaurants, bars and shops will have special offers as people stop to eat, drink, shop and get warm.
The eight-night engagement starts on a First Friday, March 1, and then continue for eight straight nights from 6-10 p.m. along Brighton.