Author: Cannon Taylor

Civil employees were buzzing as the Pikes Peak Arts Council hung his paintings in City Hall. A teddy bear using a skeletal pelvis as the basket of a hot air balloon. A Pez dispenser of prescription drugs. “Mouse 1” and “Mouse 2” — one living, one dead. Rumor has it one city council member called his artwork “obscene.”“This stuff has a lot of skulls and some things you have to wrestle with, and so, to hang it in City Hall in the little waiting room where they had it, it was a little awkward,” said artist Dan Sampson. “They’d had…

Jasmine Dillavou’s avant-garde work is on display at the Auric Gallery through August. Photo: Joseph Sharketti | Courtesy of Jasmine Dillavou As she approached her 30th birthday, Jasmine Dillavou rubbed cake on her legs as if it were shaving cream. Then, she grabbed a razor and methodically shaved it off.At another avant-garde performance, Dillavou donned red lipstick and smushed her face against an unfurling roll of parchment paper, all while reciting poetry. The end product was a bloody hieroglyphic, a translation of the poem into a new visual language. IF YOU GO “Girl Dinner”Where: Auric Gallery, 125 E. Boulder St.When:…

DEATH BY BAKED GOOD | entcenterforthearts.orgThursday, July 10 through Sunday, July 27, Dusty Loo Bon Vivant Theatre at Ent Center for the Arts, 5225 N. Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs. Times vary. The final show of Theatreworks’ 49th season, “Flyin’ West” brings Pearl Cleage’s heartfelt script to stage. Set in the 1890s in the all-Black town of Nicodemus, Kansas — which was established by Black Americans following the Civil War — Cleage’s play follows the fictional Dove sisters as they fight against outsiders trying to buy up their town. The Theatreworks audience advisory states, “This production contains melodrama, domestic abuse, revenge,…

Just after the raptors learn how to open doors in “Jurassic Park,” right as they’re entering the kitchen to gobble up Lex and Tim, a human hand steadies one of the raptor’s tails. That hand happens to belong to southern Colorado artist Patrick Shearn.Shearn got his start in slashers. One of his first big projects was “Metamorphosis: The Alien Factor” (a film he doesn’t recommend). A fresh graduate of the School of Visual Arts, he initially worked for free until it became apparent that he knew his stuff better than the visual effects supervisor, who was fired and replaced by Shearn.Shearn…

A mural of devilish rams adorns The Black Sheep, perhaps an unexpected image for the leading incubator of the Colorado Springs music scene. “Having small places for people to get started is really important,” said owner Geoff Brent. “The main driver for your local scene is the opportunity for people to go see other bands getting started. It inspires them to do that themselves.” In recent years, an ecosystem of venues has sprung up around The Black Sheep with the opening of sister venue Vultures and record store What’s Left Records. They each specialize in something unique, be it big gigs, cozy…

Much to Murray Ross’ dismay, the atmosphere of the Ramblin Express bus was more like that of a Broncos shuttle, all bubbly and talkative. The passengers had boarded at twilight at The Mining Exchange hotel for a Theatreworks production of the 15th century play “Everyman,” a Christian allegory about its titular character’s journey to the afterlife. The bus wasn’t taking its passengers to the theater; they were already on set.Characters would get on and off the shuttle at each stop, confronting the allegorical Everyman — who was portrayed by multiple actors of differing demographics — about their life.As the bus drove through…