Past Rough Gems

  • Rough Gems 2024: Laugh Lines

    March 28 - April 20, 2024

    Curated by Zak Ashburn, Laugh Lines is a thought-provoking and transformative group exhibition that challenges societal norms through the lens of humor. This dynamic showcase delves into cultural critiques, using humor as a multilayered tool to expose truth, darkness, love, and more.

  • Rough Gems 2024: To Offer/To Leave

    February 22 — March 16, 2024

    Curated by Kiera McIntosh, To Offer/To Leave, aesthetically and thematically inspired by the tales of Shakespeare’s character Ophelia and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, showcases a moment in time after a decision of withdrawal has been made. Through the thoughtful inclusion of light, sound, and aromatic sculpture the viewer plays witness to the tale before them within a space contemplation.

  • Rough Gems 2024: Dirty Abstraction

    January 18 — February 10, 2024

    Curated by Jennifer Lord, Dirty Abstraction proposes an abstraction that communicates and contains cultural, ecological, political, and/or spiritual content. It is abstraction that pushes against traditional notions of pure form and into critical content. The exhibition explores the contradiction of does it matter / it doesn’t matter how much the viewer gets.

  • Rough Gems 2023: Against Nature

    March 30 — April 22, 2023

    Curated by Shawn C. Simmons, Against Nature explores the emerging field of queer ecology in response to prevailing ideas of human versus nature. As we face the climate crisis of today and tomorrow, each featured artist enacts their own utopian vision by reimagining the relationship between queer identity and nature.

  • Skate with Me, by Lizeth Guadalupe

    Rough Gems 2023: The Ultimate Boon

    February 23 — March 18, 2023

    In conjunction with Denver’s Month of Photography celebration in March 2023, co-curators Nadiya Jackson and Florence Blackwell introduce five artists who have utilized their art to navigate various life-altering experiences to reach their boon. Boon (noun) is a thing that is helpful or beneficial.

  • Rough Gems 2023: Sacrum

    January 19 — February 11, 2023

    Curated by Jenny Nagashima, Sacrum unravels the layers of intimacy surrounding the universal yet unnamable sensations experienced in the womb and the complications that arise in the pursuit of recreating those feelings in our daily lives.

  • Salihah Moore - Amina Top

    Rough Gems 2022: Made Known

    March 31 — April 23, 2022

    Curated by Nate Craig, the makers, artists, and artisans place themselves, their story, and personhood so intimately into their craft that it is impossible to separate the maker from object.

  • Martha Russo Lightness of being - PC: Wes Magyar

    Rough Gems 2022: VIRGA

    February 24 — March 19, 2022

    Curated by Brook Vann and A Grix, Virga is a collaborative curatorial project based on a relationship between selected artists’ work and the meteorological phenomena of the Virga Cloud.

  • Alli Lemon

    Rough Gems 2022: Perception Shift

    January 20 — February 12, 2022

    Curated by Amy Hoagland, Perception Shift investigates how different materials — projected light, shadow, ceramic, graphite, glass, and metal — can work alongside each other to shift the viewer’s way of seeing.

  • Daniel M. Granitto, Marco Cousins, Alejandra Abad in Object Empathy exhibition curated by Kiah Butcher at Union Hall - Rough Gems 2021

    Rough Gems 2021: Object Empathy

    April 1 — April 24, 2021

    Curated by Kiah Butcher, Object Empathy features three Colorado-based artists whose work explores and reimagines sentimentality through intimate and personal practices. Alongside their artworks, personal effects are displayed as ‘human artifacts’ building a bridge between empathy and objectivity.

  • Paula Guillen, Em Van Loan, Gabby Recny in Mirror Mirror exhibition curated by Genevieve Waller and MG Bernard at Union Hall - Rough Gems 2021

    Rough Gems 2021: Mirror Mirror

    February 25 — March 20, 2021

    In conjunction with Denver’s Month of Photography celebration in March 2021, curators Genevieve Waller and Mary Grace Bernard present an exhibition of photography, collage and film works by six local artists. Referring to the well-known phrase of the evil stepmother in the Brothers Grimm version of Snow White, the exhibition title conjures ideas of representation, magic, power and narrative.

  • Suchitra Mattai, Marcella Marsella, Katie McColgan, Amelia Briggs, Liz Langyer in Exclamation Point. exhibition curated by Alli Lemon at Union Hall - Rough Gems 2021

    Rough Gems 2021: Exclamation Point.

    January 21 — February 13, 2021

    Curated by Alli Lemon, the works included in Exclamation Point. explore play, joy, rigor, and what it means to make a “painting” in 2021.

  • Robert Matin guest curator at Union Hall - Rough Gems 2020

    Rough Gems 2020: There is really no difference between art and prayer

    February 26 — March 12, 2020

    Curated by Robert Martin, this exhibition utilizes the subtle strategies employed for display throughout the canon of religious art; such as hanging work slightly above eye level to evoke awe and spotlighting singular works by centering them independently at the ends of corridors, transforming Union Hall into a cathedral of artistic sanctity.

  • NEUwave guest curator Kyle Lane at Union Hall-Rough Gems 2020

    Rough Gems 2020: NEUwave

    February 5 — February 20, 2020

    NEUwave is a dissertation on motion and emotion, intimacy and peace, connectivity and duality, nurturing and nourishment, self love and self healing. A translation through the lens of poetry, paintings, photography and sound. An introduction to the evolution of the progressive being.

  • Literally Behind guest curated by George Perez at Union Hall - Rough Gems 2020

    Rough Gems 2020: Literally Behind

    Curated by George P. Perez, Literally Behind plays with interior space by utilizing absurd placements of artworks to establish a dynamic and exaggerated installation with domestic materials.

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