The annual RedLine Reach Core Artist exhibition opens in Denver Friday evening. This year’s exhibit is titled Beyond the Horizon. It encompasses a year of work from RedLine’s Reach Core Artists.
The Reach Core Artist program focuses on homeless or displaced artists, or ones who may not have a space to create art. After time in the Reach program, an artist can apply to become a Core Artist, allowing them designated studio time and an opportunity to apply for a scholarship to Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design.
Curators Taiko Chandler and Rochelle Johnson, who are both resident artists at RedLine, said the exhibit is focused around themes of growth post-pandemic.
“We were all shut in,” said Johnson. “So you can imagine, being (artists), we all were looking for some way to reconcile with what was going on.”
After speaking with the artists, Johnson said the focus of the show came to fruition quickly.
“It was clear that everyone wanted to go forward and not really spend that much time playing in the past,” she said.
Juannean Young is one of the artists showcasing at the exhibit. She’s been working with the Reach program for five years, and said she found the program at a time when she was homeless. Her interactive, eight-piece installation for Beyond the Horizon focuses on the viewer connecting with themselves and highlighting their intentions.
Young said that during the pandemic, people were disconnected from others, so she wanted to create art that shifted the focus from the negative to the positive.
“I used that as my opportunity to help people not get caught up in the circumstances around them, but to tune in to what’s inside,” she said.
The exhibit’s opening reception is on Feb. 4 from 6-8 p.m. at the RedLine Contemporary Art District in Denver. The work will be up until Feb. 27. All exhibit attendees must wear masks regardless of vaccination status.
