The space at PlatteForum is flexible. It transforms from artist studio for one lucky artist to an arts workshop filled with kids blasting 107.5 FM, a performance rehearsal space, a classroom, a boardroom and a gallery – all in one eight-week cycle. If you are looking to find an example of how art can change lives, this is the place to go.

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Founder and Artistic Director Judy Anderson came to Denver from Seattle in 2002, an artist whose work (predominately books made as art, called artist books) has been shown internationally including shows in Japan, Europe and the Soviet Union. She has taught on the college level in Washington, Colorado and California, and has participated in numerous artist residencies during her career. Trish Thibodo, the PlatteForum Executive Director, has a background in domestic violence prevention and nonprofit administration.

The Alliance of Artist Communities describes residencies as “research-and- development labs for the arts” and that perfectly describes what I discovered recently during my residency at PlatteForum. The organization provides the opportunity to do research and create work that most artists are not able to accomplish with hectic lives and limited studio space. PlatteForum provides, count them, 3,000 square feet to work in – something like studio heaven. In addition to providing space and opportunity, the organization also supports their resident artists with a weekly stipend, so they really can leave their lives behind for a time and get down to work.

Thibodo and Anderson’s willingness to jump in and help with any aspect of the process and their ability to mobilize the community are both really remarkable. At PlatteForum, artists from locations as diverse as Denver, Pagosa Springs, Montana, New York and Italy (as is the case this year) come together with kids from a variety of backgrounds to create art. Partnerships are formed with organizations who work with at-risk and under-served youth.

While there, I worked with students from Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts and Adams County Connections, a mentoring program for middle school students of Adams County District 50. The show we created, Friendzilla, fills the gallery with creatures of all shapes and sizes – from a 2-foot teddy bear to an 8-foot moose. The art is fantastic, but the community we created is truly the best thing to come from this experience.

PlatteForum
1610 Little Raven St., Ste. 135
Denver, CO 80202

Friendzilla
When: Shows until Wednesday, Jan. 2

Web: www.platteforum.org

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