PRESS RELEASE 

Red Brick launches City’s Public Art Program this summer with a series of free art experiences 

Aspen, CO – Aspen Public Art – the City’s new public art program and an arm of the Red Brick Center for the Arts – officially kicks off this summer with a series of art experiences in public spaces that are designed for the entire community to enjoy and interact with for free. Collaborating with City departments and arts organizations, Aspen Public Art will debut temporary artworks in local parks and the downtown core from May through September. The summer lineup features a diverse array of public art: from installations and sculptural interventions to asphalt art and public gallery exhibitions. Accompanying each of the artworks will be a robust program of free community events that invite gathering, engaging and connecting. 

“It’s thrilling to launch Aspen Public Art with such a strong lineup of artists who will contribute to the cultural vibrancy, artistic legacy and public safety of Aspen during this summer of free public art experiences,” said Lara Whitley, Aspen Public Art lead for the City of Aspen. “This is just the beginning; we look forward to creating an enduring invitation for Aspen residents and visitors to connect – with Aspen and with each other – through public art.”

May/June Highlights

City Hall Exhibition 2025-2027 

• Biennial exhibition at City Hall, featuring the extraordinary talents of 11 Colorado artists
• Location: Aspen City Hall, 427 Rio Grande Place 
• Dates: Open May 15, 2025 through spring 2027
• presented by Aspen Public Art

Galena Asphalt Art 

• Street mural and pedestrian safety project by artist Anthony Garcia Sr. of Birdseed Collective, with an original design on curb extensions at three busy downtown intersections
• Location: at intersections along the South Galena Street Corridor, between Hopkins and Cooper Avenues
• Mural painting: May 28 to June 6 (pedestrian and traffic impacts during this time)
• Artist talk and demo: date TBD
• a collaboration between Aspen Public Art and the City of Aspen Engineering Department

"Unsui (Mirror)" by Sanford Biggers

• Coming straight from its debut at Desert X, this art installation features two sequined, pole-mounted clouds floating at Aspen's front door
• Location: Paepcke Park
• June 4 to late September
•  co-commissioned by Desert X and Buckhorn Public Arts, presented locally in partnership with Aspen Public Art and the City of Aspen Parks and Open Space Department

Genesis of Aspen Public Art

The idea of the Aspen Public Art program was born as a response to two parallel sources that began to surface in 2023: a community call for more art in Aspen’s public spaces, as well as City staff’s wish to better manage those public art pieces already in the municipality’s existing inventory.  

The Red Brick responded by convening an Aspen Public Art Plan Visioning Committee and hiring consultants ThereSquared and Stilwell Cultural Consulting to lead a robust, bilingual community engagement effort around public art. The effort included surveys, interviews, focus groups, local events and community conversations.  

The community feedback affirmed that Aspen is a place that embraces and celebrates creative expression, innovation and interdisciplinary engagement. It also revealed that the community would like the City to partner with arts organizations to discover synergies and create collaborative, joyful, stimulating and engaging works of art of all types for the entire community of Aspen. 

The Red Brick followed this lead by continuing the Aspen City Hall Exhibition program, creating a demonstration “pavement art” project by artist Chris Erickson in 2023, and installing a pilot project at Rubey Park and Sister Cities Plaza by artist Ana Maria Hernando in 2024. During last year’s annual budget process, Aspen City Council approved ongoing budget authority to establish a new public art program and hire a full-time employee. Lara Whitley was appointed to lead the program in March of this year.

Regular updates on Aspen Public Art and the summer lineup and events are available at www.redbrickaspen.com and on Instagram at @redbrickaspen.

 The Public Art Program of the City of Aspen creates community by connecting people to each other and to place through art experiences that build upon Aspen’s legacy of innovation, creativity and spirited independence. Aspen Public Art is part of the City’s portfolio of cultural vibrancy funding which, in addition to commissioning artworks and maintaining the City’s public art collection, also provides arts and culture grants to nonprofits, Cultural Vibrancy Fellowships for artists, community arts programming at the Red Brick Center for the Arts and performing arts at the Wheeler Opera House. More at www.redbrickaspen.com.

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For more information, please contact: 

Lara Whitley, Program Lead, Aspen Public Art

Phone: (970) 258-7787

Email: Lara.whitley@aspen.gov

Mariela Hale, Digital communications coordinator 

Phone: (970) 309-9959

Email: Mariela Hale@aspen.gov