5280: 5 Local Artists To Look for at This Year’s Art of the State Exhibit

5280 | Barbara O’Neil & Charli Ornett | January 15, 2025

First launched in 2013, Art of the State takes over the Arvada Center Galleries every three years and highlights the most poignant contemporary art from local makers. It’s not easy to snag a spot on the gallery walls (of more than 900 applicants, 146 earned space this year), so expect to see the best of the best. “It’s a really competitive show,” says Collin Parson, director of galleries and curator at the Arvada Center. “I always joke that we could have four Art of the State [exhibits] back to back, and the quality would be just as good each time.”

Parson and the other jurors—executive director of Union Hall Jane Burke and interim associate museum director of Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art Chris Herron—included artists from all over the Centennial State this year, plus an array of media. “We want diverse processes, diverse media, diverse concepts, and diverse locations,” he says. “When we’re getting close to narrowing it down, we go through and ask things like, ‘Are we missing anyone from the Western Slope?’ ”

This year’s Art of the State is on display at the Arvada Center Galleries from January 16 to March 30. Select participants will receive accolades like Best in Show and individualized awards from other institutions, such as the Denver Art Museum, but before any blue ribbons are handed out, we asked Parson to point out five artists he’s particularly excited about.

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