Event Map

Return of the Corn Mothers
Through October 1, 2023
Inspiring Women of the Southwest
History Colorado Center
Free for members and kids 18 and under, Adults (19+), $15

Return of the Corn Mothers marks a three-year effort to honor 22 new Corn Mothers in 2022. What began in 2007 with a small grant from the Rocky Mountain Women’s Institute and eight local women, has now expanded to include more than 70 women.

Join in the rich tradition of honoring Southwest women through this revitalized exhibit. Share in an intergenerational gathering and honor the unsung heroes of the community, and celebrate the induction of 22 women to the Corn Mothers family.

Who Are the Corn Mothers?

The Indigenous peoples of southern Mexico started domesticating maize over 9,000 years ago. As cultivation of the once wild grass spread throughout the “Americas” and globally, the significance of this life-giving food was immortalized in legend and story. Among Southwest Pueblo peoples, the iconic Corn Mother deity embodied growth, life, creativity, community, and creation.

The Return of the Corn Mothers project is a book, a photographic body of work, and a written history exhibition at History Colorado of multi-generational and multi-cultural women from the Southwest who exemplify the essence of Corn Mother. Photographer Todd Pierson, editor Ed Winograd, graphic designer Toinette Brown, and curator Renee Fajardo, in conjunction with MSU Denver Chicana/o Studies, the Colorado Folk Arts Council, and the Chicano Humanities Arts Council, have spent 15 years documenting the stories of women, chosen by their communities, who have made selfless contributions and creative endeavors to better the lives of others.

2023 – 2025

The Big Picture

Denver, Boulder, and Beyond

Big Picture Launch Paste Party: March 26 (2 – 5 pm) 

Since 2009 the Big Picture has been mounting fine art photography images inside and out the door, down the alley and around the world.

The Big Picture is a biennial project whose mission is to connect the public to fine art photography in open-air settings with large murals wheat-pasted on walls. Through invitation and call for entry, the Big Picture selects winning prints for exhibition in Denver, Boulder, and sister cities worldwide.

Interested in submitting your work? View the Call For Entry.

Instagram: @the_big_picture_colo

Facebook: bigpicturedenver

thebigpicture2013.blogspot.com

Photo: The Unperson Project – An Oblivion by Andrea Tejeda and Susana Moyaho – Mexico City

Special thanks to Month of Photography Denver.

Want to learn the art of wheat pasting and turning alleys into galleries? Come visit us and become a Big Picture ambassador in your area.

THE BIG PICTURE ARCHIVE

2021 – 2023 Catalog Coming Soon!

2019 Catalog
2017 Catalog
2015 Catalog
2013 Catalog
2011 Catalog

The World in Denver: The Photography of Robert Weinberg
Through January 2024
History Colorado Center
Free for members and kids 18 and under, Adults (19+): $15

History Colorado is excited to celebrate the 2023 Month of Photography Denver festival with a new exhibition, The World in Denver: The Photography of Robert Weinberg. This exhibition features large-scale reproductions of photographs taken by Denver’s preeminent photojournalist of the 1980s and 90s and will be open until January 2024.

Best known for his work with the Intermountain Jewish News, Weinberg focused on portraits of people in the Denver community. Weinberg’s photography adds a valuable dimension to the visual record of the Mile High City during this time and displays his innate ability to capture personal stories and emotions.

Weinberg prided himself on creating “people pieces” that connected Denver to the broader world. His photography focused on both everyday Denverites – such as Leonder Taylor, a man experiencing homelessness in 1994 – and globally renowned individuals – like Pope John Paul II, former President Bill Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ellie Wiesel, John Fielder and Dan Rather.

Much of Weinberg’s work concentrated on identifying institutional racism and removing barriers for Denverites. Each of his photos connects not only to a specific moment in time but a larger story that was unfolding. The stories behind his photos are explored in quotes from Weinberg which serve as labels for the exhibition. Now legally blind, Weinberg requested the labels for this exhibition be as accessible as possible, so History Colorado partnered with the Colorado Center for the Blind to have them translated into Braille, along with the traditional English and Spanish versions.

About Robert Weinberg

Robert Weinberg was born in Denver to David and Faye Weinberg. His passion for photography began in East St. Louis as a Vista Volunteer photographer. After he honed his craft, he moved back to Colorado and started his own photography business. In the following decades, Weinberg captured the personal stories that intertwined in Denver during the 1980s and 1990s.

Weinberg began losing his sight in the early 1990s, and by 1998 he was legally blind. It took years for him to acclimate to his new life. He credits organizations like the Colorado Center for the Blind, Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Colorado Talking Book Library, and National Industries for the Blind for helping him learn to live independently as a person who is visually impaired.