This October, Resident Artists & Alumni are opening space for reflection, celebration, and connection through exhibitions and performances that bring stories of memory, resilience, and identity to the forefront.
From Daisy Patton’s poignant solo exhibition in North Carolina to Indigenous-led gatherings like áyA Con in Denver, RedLine artists are offering powerful reminders of how creativity keeps us rooted in community and history.
Here at RedLine, October is full of opportunities to connect—starting with a Greene Fellowship Artist Talk on October 3rd, and continuing with the INSITE Fund Award Reception on October 17th.
We’ll also be hosting our final One Square Foot Anonymous Art Sale on October 30th, which will double as a farewell send off to former Executive Director Louise Martorano. Get your tickets today! >
Scroll down to see what RedLine artists and alumni are up to this month—and find an event (or two) to add to your calendar!
Daisy Patton - Breathing By The Wound Solo Exhibition
Where: Rowe Gallery - University of North Carolina Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
When: October 3 - November 7, 2025
Opening Reception: October 16, 6-8pm
About the exhibition: In Breathing By the Wound, Resident Alum Daisy Patton sources photographs of mourning from various times and places and re-presents them in bloom. An adult child posing with photos of their deceased parents, a woman holding a photo of a baby no longer alive—all these images show how those in mourning carry forward memories of lost loved ones into the present and beyond. Their losses linger beyond their own time, speaking to ours.
Alongside her re-presentations of historic photographs, Patton includes her own pictures of people who lost loved ones due to the ongoing COVID pandemic. The deliberate erasure of this pandemic and its effects on our world has, like the 1918 flu pandemic before it, led to a rise of authoritarianism and acceptance of mass death.
About the artist: From Los Angeles, California, Daisy Patton moved back and forth between Oklahoma and California during her childhood. Inquisitive and an avid reader, she spent much of her early years perusing adventure and detective tales, history and art history books, and ghost stories. The effects of this youth soaked in such specific cultural landscapes continue today.
Patton scrutinizes the lines between history and mythology, between memory and perceived experience, and between intrinsic behavior and learned tendencies. Her work explores the meaning and social conventions of families, little discussed or hidden histories, and what it is to be a person living in our contemporary world. Deeply inspired by these subjects, Patton has many long-term projects either currently in progress or in research. One such series is Forgetting is so long, reviewed in Art LTD and featured on art blog Artistic Moods.
Website: www.daisypatton.com
Instagram: daisy_patton
Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand
àyA Con Festival
Where: Truss House, 3400 Arkins Ct, Denver, CO 80216
When: October 3-5, 2025
About the Festival: áyA Con is an Indigenous comic and art festival that empowers Indigenous and marginalized artists while fostering cultural reconnection through creative expression. More than a convention, it's a celebration of identity, a space for storytelling, and a catalyst for justice and community healing.
Modern Matriarch Group Exhibition
Flyer courtesy of the artist
Where: Dairy Arts Center - 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder, CO, United States
When: On display through October 21, 2025
Closing Reception: Saturday, October 18, 5:30-8:30pm
About the Exhibition: Modern Matriarch: Knowledge Keepers explores the multifaceted, evolving identity of Indigenous women-rooted in ancient knowledge yet responsive to the present. In contrast to the limiting, patriarchal narratives imposed by the West, Indigenous women embody dynamic, living traditions that resist simplification or erasure.
This exhibition creates space for authentic voices to emerge, centering modern Indigenous women who merge traditional lifeways with contemporary experiences. By amplifying the voices of knowledge keepers-the original Matriarchs-we honor the overlap and dialogue between past and present, and affirm Indigenous women as vital leaders and protectors of cultural wisdom.
Untitled Artist Takeover Halloween Art Party
Image courtesy of the artist
Where: Denver Art Museum
When: Friday, October 31, 2025, 6-10pm
About the exhibition: Join us for the final Untitled: Artist Takeover of 2025! The theme of the night is "Halloween Art Party." Celebrate Halloween with featured artists Moe Gram and Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand during a night of spooky creative fun. Costumes (without masks!) are encouraged but not required.
Contributing creatives include Raphael Maldonado Bad Hand, Zora Beglarian, Kendall Bennett, Shaunie Berry, DJ 2and2, Lisa Frank 666, Miguel Garcia, Elle Hong, Karma Leigh, Medicine Mama Kia, Patty McCrystal, Joe Oliver, Justy Robinson, Theatre Artibus (Meghan Frank, Paige O Reilly and Boris Basishvili), and Christopher Ford and the Skeleton Band.
About the artist: Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand (Sicangu Lakota/Cherokee) is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, and project manager originally from Taos, New Mexico. She is the co-founder and Executive Art Director of Create ayA and serves as director of áyA Con, Denver’s Indigenous Comic and Art Festival. A current resident artist at RedLine Contemporary Art Center, she has over a decade of experience in arts education and community-based programming, with a focus on equity, Indigenous representation, and social justice through pop culture and design.
Website: www.BadHandIllustrations.art
Tony Ortega - Beautiful Nightmare Group Exhibition
Where: Blo Back Gallery - 131 Spring St. Pueblo, CO 81003
When: October 3, 2025, 5-8pm
About the exhibition: As life partners and fellow visual artists, we—Tony Ortega and Sylvia Montero—have spent over three decades nurturing a shared journey of love, creativity, and cultural expression. Based in Denver, Colorado, our lives and artistic practices are deeply intertwined, evolving in harmony and restlessness, passion and purpose.
Our studio—divided between two floors of our home—reflects the nature of our collaboration: distinct yet connected, individual yet interdependent. Our artwork is informed by our Chicano identity, culture, and traditions.
Sylvia’s work interweaves her Indigenous and Mexican heritage, while Tony’s crisscrosses his New Mexican and Mexican roots. These cultural lineages not only shape our visual language, but also grounds our work in a shared yet diverse narrative of heritage and identity.
About the artist: Tony Ortega holds an MFA in drawing and painting from the University of Colorado and is currently a professor for Regis University.
He is the recipient of the coveted Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts (1999) and the Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts (1998). He has been a working artist and teacher for the past 36 years. Tony Ortega’s lifelong goal is to contribute to a better understanding of cultural diversity by addressing the culture, history and experiences of Chicanos/Latinos through his art.
His work can be found in Denver Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum and the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center. He has exhibited extensively in United States, Latin America and other parts of the world. Tony’s artwork can be found in Denver, Colorado at the William Havu Gallery.
Website: www.tonyortega.net
Laura Merage - Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Exhibition Group Exhibition
Where: Center for the Arts Evergreen - 31880 Rocky Village Dr, Evergreen, CO, 80439
When: September 11 – October 18, 2025
About the exhibition: Created by acclaimed choreographer George Staib, ARARAT considers the history and resilience of the Armenian people following a genocide that claimed 1.5 million lives.
Rooted in survivor stories and parallel investigations toward newness, the work illuminates the countenance of the human spirit. Audiences are invited to journey into the matter of becoming, as the piece asks: When all things are new, how important is the old?
About the artist: Laura Merage is an artist, photographer, and venture philanthropist with over 45 years of experience in the art world. Her work takes on many different forms, ranging from multimedia textile projects and installations to sculpture and photography.
Born in Tehran, Iran, Laura moved to Los Angeles at the age of fifteen. She pursued her passion for art by earning a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Southern California, followed by a Master's Degree in Art from New York University.
Throughout her career, Laura has exhibited her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions, earning recognition nationally and internationally. Her pieces are featured in public and private collections, including those at the Denver Art Museum and the Buhl Foundation.
Website: lauramerage.com
Instagram: laura_merage
Ben Coleman - between dog and wolf Performance
Where: DramaTech Theatre at Georgia Tech - Ferst Center for the Arts (349 Ferst Dr.), 349 Ferst Dr NW, Atlanta, GA, 30332
When: October 2-4, 2025.
About the performance: Redline resident alumni Ben Coleman is sound designer and composer for staibdance’s newest work, between dog and wolf.
Taking its title from a French idiom, between dog and wolf reveals the internal and external conflicts that come from clouded perceptions and opposing truths. A meditation on the elusive nature of reality, between dog and wolf asks audiences to consider personal, nuanced proclivities and the ways our eyes and hearts can deceive us.
About the artist: Ben Coleman is a British multi-disciplinary artist residing in Denver, CO. His practice is multidisciplinary, grounded in sound and performance, and often encompassing other media, including music, dance, video and installation.
His performance and installation work retain the playful, participatory approach and scrappy DIY aesthetic that distinguished these scenes.
His practice has grown through collaboration to encompass diverse projects with choreographers, visual artists, and theater practitioners, and an increasing range of curatorial projects.
Ally Grimm (A.L. Grime) - La Noble Jeunesse Group Exhibition
Photo by Cova. EnzoHorgues Festival in Horgues, France.
Where: Horgues, France
About the mural: Ally was invited to the South of France to paint a mural for a school in the small town of Horgues for a festival called Enz'Horgues. Her mural, standing at 30'x 22', was painted in just 3 days using aerosol paint. This is her first public art opportunity and her first visit in France.
The mural features a soft, cherub-like figure with a spiked crown representing the Rebel Spirit of the youth. The proud expression rests within bold, abstract patterns that represent pride and confidence.
This school is the gathering space for this small town of just 1,000 people, many of whom are young children. She hopes that this image inspires them to sit confidently in their sense of self so that they may build a better future.
About the artist: Ally Grimm (b. 1991), also known under the moniker A.L. Grime, is a Venezuelan-American self-taught multimedia artist living in Denver, CO. Her love for language and interpersonal relationships led her to study Strategic Communications at WVU, where Ally found herself captivated by the ways in which individuals process the relentless influx of information in our daily lives.
Ally’s signature monochromatic style developed through a practice of pen and ink before evolving onto canvas and later onto large-scale murals and fiber installations.
Her contemporary work and murals can be found internationally in cities including LA, New York, Denver, Miami, Bristol (UK), Morelia (MX), and more. Through a monochromatic/limited palette and patterns representing complex systems, she weaves a narrative about intricate relationships between opposing forces, challenging preconceptions and prompting a deeper understanding of our collective journey.
Instagram: A.L._Grime
Website: www.algrimeart.com
October Art Events at RedLine
Greene Fellowship Artist Talk
October 3, 2025, 6-7:30pm
Hear directly from Branch and Stearns about their work and experience as 2024-2025 Greene Fellows.
2025 INSITE Fund Award Reception
October 17, 2025 at 5:30pm
Join RedLine for a cocktail reception to celebrate the 2025 INSITE Fund Awardees. Hear from the grantees about their project proposals and learn more about the impact of the INSITE Fund.
One Square Foot Anonymous Art Sale + Farewell to Louise Martorano
Thursday, October 30, 6–9PM
100+ original works priced at $150 each.
Artwork from Artists-in-Residence, Resident Alumni, and REACH Open Studio communities.
Cocktail reception, DJ, ping-pong, pop-up installations, costume contest, and more!
