Grand Junction Creates
Art You Meet on Foot
The Creative District runs about two miles through downtown Grand Junction. The valley has inspired art for thousands of years; today it fills each block, from coffee shops to street art, and you do not need an appointment to see any of it.
This Year’s Exhibit
- New sculptures on the street
- 22
- Colorado Mesa University pieces juried in
- 3
- Artists with a page here
- 12
- Towns they came from
- 9
The exhibit’s fortieth year. Price, award, artist’s statement and street number are published here for fourteen of those twenty-two; the rest are named, but their details sit behind a slider the archive did not reach.
What the District Runs
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Art on the Corner
An outdoor sculpture exhibition on Main Street since August 5, 1984, when ten area sculptors put up twenty-four pieces. New work is juried…
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First Fridays
An art walk and gallery tour on the first Friday of the month. Work hangs in galleries and in local businesses, and it stays up for the…
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Porchella
Free music in the neighborhoods around downtown, on the same Saturday as the Downtown Art Festival. The second annual Porchella ran on…
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Downtown Art Festival
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Walls in the Wild
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Sculpted Words
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Space to Create
The Artists
The twelve people who made this year’s cataloged work, and what each of them has standing downtown. Three of them live in Grand Junction.
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Jeff Bates
Fruita, CO
Self Reflection (560)
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Madeline Chandler
Grand Junction, CO
Could Have Been (524)
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Vanny Channal
Brighton, CO
Kou-Prey (225)
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Gwendolyn Hill
Steamboat Springs, CO
High Tide of Dreams and Vision (507)
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Nathan Johansen
Provo, UT
Last to Launch (336), Germination - A Good Seed (645)
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Joe Norman
Loveland, CO
HOPE/RAGE (425), Hip Bone (437)
Art on the Corner
Grand Junction was one of the first cities in the country to put a sculpture exhibition outdoors. Dave Davis, an artist and director of The Art Center of Western Colorado, took the idea to City Council and to downtown merchants after Exxon left the Western Slope and downtown emptied out. He gathered ten area sculptors, and on August 5, 1984 the first twenty-four pieces went up on Main Street.
New work is juried in every year and the permanent collection is cared for between shows. Colorado Mesa University students are invited to apply, and their pieces stand on the same pavement as everybody else’s.
Creative District Happenings
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March 31, 2025
Call for Art: Table Art for Colorado Creative Industries Summit
GJ Creates is excited to announce we are hosting the 2025 Colorado Creative Industries Summit! This is a great opportunity to highlight our creative culture and showcase…
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August 30, 2024
Porchella 2024
The second annual Porchella downtown neighborhood music event is Saturday, October 5! Enjoy free music after the Downtown Art Festival in the neighborhoods surrounding…
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July 27, 2022
“Silence the Girl” Art Installation
The latest addition to the Shift (702 Main Street) is a four-panel installation called “Silence the Girl” by Sheri Ray. This new installation is located in the east…