Maybe Blue
Maybe Blue
Boulder, Colorado
Email maybeblueart@gmail.com for the exact address
Upcoming Exhibition: ValenZines: A Zine Exhibition, Zine Swap, and Sale
Feb. 13, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
Curators: Sabrina Canepa, Alli Lemon, and Emily Van Loan
Admission: Free
Review by Valeria Serrano Vélez
The University of Colorado, Boulder houses one of the largest visual arts departments in the state. Yet despite the sizable number of creative graduates who have called and continue to call Boulder home, there is a notable lack of alternative spaces in the city where local artists and curators can show their work and experiment with new ideas. A new residential arts space called Maybe Blue is slowly changing this.
Three current CU Boulder Master of Fine Arts students who work individually in filmmaking, painting, and writing run the space: Emily Van Loan, Alli Lemon, and Sabrina Canepa. At the core of their mission is “cultivating the artistic community in Boulder, providing a space for experimentation, connection, and kinship, and extending the local artistic network beyond Boulder’s borders.”[1]
Maybe Blue is an inclusive venue where everyone is welcome regardless of gender, race, ability, sexual orientation, and artistic discipline. The founders encourage playfulness and strive to create an environment that is nurturing. In the three exhibition “rooms”—a carport, a garage, and a small yard—visitors can see the work of arguably some of the best emerging talent in Boulder.
Chop Chop III installation by Matthew Smith at Maybe Blue on Dec. 5, 2019. Image by Valeria Serrano Vélez.
Their inaugural exhibition, Present Space, held on October 17, 2019, included films, installations, paintings, photography, and sculptures by twenty-five CU Boulder graduate and undergraduate students. More than one hundred people attended the show. For their second exhibit Chop Chop, the carport and garage spaces featured wood sculptures and works on paper by Matthew Smith—an Indiana-born, Colorado-based interdisciplinary artist who heads the art foundations program at CU Boulder. The exhibit took place on December 5, 2019 and it also included a screening of films selected by Maybe Blue’s film curator Emily van Loan.
The “one night only” aspect of Maybe Blues’ exhibitions is intentional and an integral part of the experience. The shows are truly “pop-up,” ephemeral events that the founders want visitors to see together with their fellow art-goers. Alli Lemon noted that “Maybe Blue is very different from a more typical art institution because no one experiences ‘white cube syndrome’ here. The people that are coming to our openings are students, neighbors, and friends that come because they genuinely want to be here, not because they feel in anyway obliged to.”[2]
An installation view of oil on canvas paintings by Mikey Yates on view at Maybe Blue on Jan. 23, 2020. Image by Alli Lemon.
Maybe Blue’s third exhibition, (un)welcome, was held on January 23, 2020. The theme centered on the home, specifically family, memories of one’s childhood home, and the body as a potential home for offspring. Mikey Yates’ paintings of his Filipino-American family and home were on display in the carport, while video installations by Emily Van Loan—of her recreated childhood living room—and Cali Banks—of a pelvic ultrasound—were in the yard and garage respectively. The upcoming exhibition on February 13, 2020 titled ValenZines will feature handmade zines by a variety of artists, as well as a zine swap and sale.[3]
Paintings by Mikey Yates and a video installation by Cali Banks at Maybe Blue as part of the (un)welcome exhibition on Jan. 23, 2020. Image by Cali Banks.
Navigating the art world, especially in a place with sky rocketing costs of living and a more modestly-sized art presence compared to other cities, can be challenging. Maybe Blue is filling a major gap in the Boulder art scene and in Colorado generally, reminding us of the role that art should play in our lives: as a safe place for contemplation, conversation, critique, and, most importantly, fun.
Valeria Serrano Vélez is a Colombian-born, Denver-based curator, writer, and art historian focusing on contemporary Latin American art. She currently acts as the Gallery Manager at Union Hall, and holds an MA in Art History from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
[1] From an interview I conducted with the founders of Maybe Blue.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Maybe Blue’s curatorial program is currently planned through April 2020, with exhibitions scheduled roughly every third Thursday evening of each month. If you can’t make the exhibition evenings, you are welcome to send them a message for an appointment.
