Kim Harrell : shifting focus at East End Applied Arts

Kim Harrell is a local jeweler / silversmith and gallery owner who has recently slimmed down her gallery space in the East End Arts District. After studying and running her art business in London for several years, she moved back to the Denver area in 2003 and set up shop in 2004 at East End Applied Arts in Aurora. Until this year she has been helping to promote other artists of various mediums and themes through large exhibitions in her gallery, but there comes a time in every artist's life when they realize they need to focus on their own art.

Don't get me wrong, Harrell is still interested in helping local artists. As she said to the Aurora Sentinel in November, “I still want to help artists get their work out there, I just don’t want to have a gallery that’s doing it anymore, basically.” There are numerous articles that have been written about and by her that document the work she has done and support she has given for the arts community in Denver and Aurora. As for her personal art, she says, “My own personal work is becoming so demanding and I wanted to sell more of my work out and about,” ... “So, I’m not really interested in continuing with the gallery. I don’t make enough money on sales of other people’s work any more."

Included in Harrell's recent work is her line of Minimalist jewelry, a series of work inspired by artwork at the Denver Art Museum, and a collaboration with artist Theresa Anderson. One of the many things to admire about Kim Harrell as an artist is the amount of time and consideration she puts into a new project. Last spring she decided to create a new line of jewelry inspired by Minimalism. She immersed herself in the subject, starting with the internet, then venturing to Taos, NM, once home of minimalist Agnes Martin, and of course checking out books. The result of all this research was a line of beautifully minimalist jewelry that she went on to sell at the Denver Art Museum. After this body of work, the Museum asked her to create something inspired by an artwork they had on display. Harrell chose Rachel Lachowicz's "One Month Late," and continued to make a collection "inspired by..." that included red dipped shoes. Finally, Anderson saw these shoes and approached Harrell about a collaboration. "When I saw the waxy red dipped shoes hanging on the clothesline in Kim's studio I knew we had to work on an installation together," said Anderson.

One could imagine these projects would be demanding! So the exhibition space at East End Applied Arts has become "an intimate showroom featuring her jewelry and tableware as well as the work of a select group of applied artists." In addition to the exhibition space, Theresa Anderson will be working on her paintings and installations in a studio directly behind the gallery.

You can see a two day exhibition of Harrell and Anderson's collaborative installation, Drawing the Line, on March 13 & 14 from noon-5:30 pm, with a public reception on Friday from 5 - 9 pm, and a Tea & Talk on Saturday at 2 pm with the artists discussing theicollaboration. The exhibition and the talk are free and open to the public, at East End Applied Arts, 1556 Florence Street, in Aurora.