Camille Rose Shortridge, a French-American who grew up in Denver, has a long standing relationship with Leon. She started as a post-undergraduate intern from the University of Denver’s Daniels School of Business after having completed a curatorial internship at the Clyfford Still Museum. Shortly into her internship, Camille was invited to become a Co-Director and Curator of the gallery. After 2 years, Camille moved to Paris, France in 2016 to pursue an MBA in Contemporary Arts Sales, Exhibition Display, Collections Management and Marketing alongside a Title 1 Expertise Certificate in Art History, where she graduated as Valedictorian of the masters program. This led her to a management position at Artpace in San Antonio, Texas, where she worked with artwork and artists including Maurizio Cattelan, Felix Gonzalez Torres, Annette Messager, Mark Bradfor, and more. Camille has curated exhibitions in Denver, Colorado; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Paris, France, and Mexico City, Mexico. Her work has been mentioned in Juxtapoz, Art Ltd. and Vice, both online and in print. She currently lives and works in Denver in Marketing and has an art studio at The Temple where she creates massive oil paintings.
Author: outlier
Human Currency
Photo Credit: Amanda Tipton Photography
Jasmine Abena Colgan
Website: www.photographsbyjazz.com
Opening Reception: July 18th, 2020
On Exhibition: July 18th – August 29th, 2020
Artist Talk: August 15th, 2020
Limited 10 Visitors for 45 minute appointments on opening night.
PLEASE NOTE – We require a face mask for entry into the gallery.
Gallery Hours: Wed-Sunday 10am-6pm
Artist Statement:
Human Currency is a collection of works that confronts institutional racism in the representation of the cowrie seashell. Each piece addresses a contemporary issue that signifies deep rooted historical practices of slavery, racism, fertility, womanhood, birth, and wealth. The cowrie shell is the symbol of life; Jasmine Abena Colgan uses the shell to share her belief that through womanhood, we will develop the change in the world that is needed today. A simplistic form portrays a beautiful depiction as a metaphor, which is vocalized through the African perspective in artistic material.
“The exploration of my culture has influenced my identity to be expressed from life conflicts, as a multi-cultured woman with American nationality, appearance of Black American, but heritage of Irish and Ghanaian. There has always been the constant battle of deciphering where I fit in as a mixed individual. This body of work is shared not only from the lens, but the intellect of a African-American, Fante-Ghanaian, Irish-American, and Black & White woman.
My artwork has developed through the use of natural and found materials; they reference pigmentation, slavery, labor, tribal and bi-nationality. I mold metaphorical structures that represent the similarities between history and culture brought into contemporary conversation. I have developed my understanding of what it means to be a woman of colors. By painting a mask of makeup, I am embracing my skin condition and expressing the persona of a halfrican.”
– Jasmine Abena Colgan
10% of proceeds from your purchase will be donated to a non-governmental organization in Ghana through Tough Skin. A virtual card will be sent, and your name will be added and shared with the international community.
BIO:
Jasmine Abena Colgan is an Ameri-Ghanaian artist, educator, scholar, entrepreneur and social activist who was born in Colorado. Colgan will complete her masters in Fine Arts from the University of Colorado Boulder in Spring of 2020. Jazz is a master printer with 19th century, historical photographic printing processes including; platinum & palladium, silver and gold.
In 2019, Colgan was a NEST fellow and collaborated with a Ph.D. Candidate in chemistry to successfully develop the Ghanatype; a gold printing method using raw material from Obuasi (Obuasi mine initiated the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade). Her artwork is inspired from the contemporary diaspora of mixed culture in the social world; a woman who is black and white, Irish and Ghanaian, African-American, but declares herself a part of the vitilgan race and a woman of colors.
In 2017, Jazz was awarded the “Face of Vitiligo” at a world conference, highlighting her successful social empowerment while conducting field research for her non-profit organization, Tough Skin. She has been featured in publications such as PEOPLE magazine, was associated with TEDXMileHigh for Wonder: Women in Art Experience. Colgan has developed international relationships with several diverse communities and recently established Tough Skin into an enterprise that sources Shea Butter from Ghana to handcraft protective, organic skincare products.
IG: @the.spotted.zelephant
Website: www.photographsbyjazz.com
Available Works
Black in Denver
Artist Bio:
Denver-based photographer, Narkita Gold has been honing her skills in digital photography since 2009. She’s passionate about arts and culture and finds inspiration in the human experience, city life, and architecture. She’s currently profiling the city’s movers, shakers, and every day folks about the Black experience in the Mile High City in her portrait and interview series, Black in Denver. Learn more at www.blackindenver.com.
Artist Statement about Collaboration with Leon:
The Black experience in Denver is unique, complex, and often overlooked. I’ve always believed representation matters, and seeing ourselves on the walls of museums and galleries is impactful, especially to our little ones. I am excited to bring my series to Leon Gallery to continue to celebrate diversity in blackness, shed light on our connectedness, and raise awareness about the power of being oneself.
Originally, these portraits graced our front window, during the pandemic shutdown of the gallery, with plans to create a semi-permanent display on our flags, to bring the many truths of Denver’s Black community through Narkita’s project. We encourage you to learn more and hear the stories of our community members showcased here by visiting @blackindenver on Instagram. You can also follow Narkita @narkitagold⠀
“Blackness is a Spectrum. We are all connected. We are here”. – Narkita Gold
Spray Their Names Aims to Paint Murals That Honor Lives Lost and Amplify Marginalized Voices
303 Magazine | 06/19/2020
The most recent mural painted by Veiga and Detour is on the side of Leon Gallery on 17th Avenue and depicts a local woman who was murdered in broad daylight just last week while out with her boyfriend and dog.
A Detour mural at Leon Gallery honors Isabella Thallas, who was murdered June 10 while walking her dog
Denverite | 06/18/2020
Evans had approached Leon’s directors several weeks ago about painting a mural. His original plan had been to fill the wall with a portrait of a teacher he knows. After the shooting, he decided to paint Thallas’s portrait instead.
Photo by Donna Bryson/Denverite
Mural being created for Denver woman who was fatally shot while walking dog
KCVR – Fox 31 | 6/16/2020
Thomas Evans, a popular artist who goes by the name “Detour,” is painting the mural in Isabella Thallas’ honor.
“I wanted to use street art as a way to give a gift to the family and sort of help the healing process and grieving process,” Detour said.
The mural is going up on the side of the Leon Gallery at 17th Street and Park Avenue in Denver’s Uptown district.
Thomas “Detour” Evans Remembers Isabella Thallas in a Mural
Westword | 06/16/2020
The mural is going up on the wall of Leon Gallery, at East 17th Avenue and Park Avenue West. Friends and family of Thallas came to Leon to watch the artist at work today, June 16.
Photo by Eric Dallimore
Leon Gallery grapples with representation among its artists and board
Denverite | 06/11/2020
Photographer Narkita Gold has been chronicling what it means to be Black in Denver in images and words in a project that went online in late 2018.
As protests against racism that are sweeping the country make her feel her work is even more important, Gold was asked to turn her Black in Denver photographs into banners to fly over Leon gallery. They will declare, she said, that “there are Black people here and we are amazing.
Photo by Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
What happened to the world around me when I sat outside Leon for a portrait
Denverite | 05/29/2020
From where I was sitting on a folding chair outside Leon gallery’s front window, I could see only the jagged edge of the paper and Dowling’s occasional questioning glance my way. I only saw my portrait after he was finished.
Photo by Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Being a nonprofit gallery means art and artists, not money, are the priorities at Leon
Denverite | 05/21/2020
Leon gallery’s directors are feeling fairly confident about finances. For now.
But “we will need to stay ahead of this so we don’t find ourselves another wonderful arts organization that had to close for various reasons, in this case the pandemic,” said Eric Dallimore, artistic director of the nonprofit art and event space at 1112 East 17th Avenue in the City Park West neighborhood.
Photo by Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite