Photos by Jaime Rogers - @captaincoloradophotography
Painted in June 2020 and spanning an entire city-block long, "Interwoven" is the largest street mural in the city of Denver. The street on which it lives (Bannock) runs parallel between City Hall and Denver's Civic Center Park and is now permanently closed to create a welcoming pedestrian and cyclist-friendly entrance into the park. With Robert W. Speer's 'City Beautiful' vision, which became the foundation of Civic Center Park in 1919-20, we are honored to contribute our creativity a century later. Drawing from the closure of Bannock Street and the forward-thinking use of the space, we went into the design process of the mural envisioning a harmonious social setting in the heart of the city that we hope increases the quality of life, promotes our creative art culture and brings people together to celebrate life on a daily basis.
Titled “Interwoven,” our hope was to create a colorful carpet that could carry the people of Denver through these challenging times of uncertainty into a place of warmth and serenity. The goal? Leave your current worries behind, enjoy the moment, and experience the colorful magic carpet ride. Further creatively defining the city of Denver in a contemporary age, we wanted to ensure we paid homage to the beautiful state we live by pulling in earth tone colors and blues that match our famous Colorado Bluebird skies. The foothills of the Rocky Mountains, which dominate our view to the West, are a through line throughout the piece.
Below is a description of the individual elements and how they work together.
Pinwheel Centerpiece: In the center, we pulled inspiration from pinwheel and sundial designs to create a focal point for those enjoying the park to gather around. The color spectrum involves the colors of Colorado sunsets mixed with golden hues of sunsets that nod to the gold mining history of the past. Its energy will be created to “Turn One’s Luck Around” into a positive rotation.
Spirit in the Sky: With the beautiful blue skies of Colorado, they hold a special spirits and the spirits help guide us every day. The hues of blue inspire us as artists and allow us to dream openly and free.
“Love Life”: “Love Life is a daily reminder of how precious life is and to be grateful for it daily. The more we can love, the greater our love becomes!
Stitched Mountains: Inspired through the past and current fabric of the city yet also stitch together the future with the Denver mountain motif. It’s all about the interwoven journey we are all on together, taking pride in our heritage and building a new horizon together.
Carpet Pastels: We really wanted to honor the diverse population of Denver. The stripes represent the native culture who paved the way for us. Out of respect, we wanted the tones of these colors to comfort the souls of the people enjoying the space together and blend into the beautiful green lawn of Civic Center Park. The gold represents the Colorado sun, the red represents the red earth and the blues represent our beautiful blue skies.
Magic Tassels: The tassels of the carpeted rug keep everything aligned and represent order, synchronicity and keep things balanced and interconnected with the universe.
