Any Denver resident, local or transplant, is well aware of Meow Wolf, the Santa Fe-based immersive art experience which has spread across the United States with five locations, including Colorado’s very own Convergence Station which opened in 2021. Now, it looks like the trend is expanding beyond Meow Wolf to the small business sector as well.
The immersive art scene is here to stay not only because of frequent Meow Wolf expansions, but also other independent installations around Denver which have carved out their own space for unique and innovative art. One such installation is Spectra Art Space, a South Broadway business which for years has played host to a number of art shows and galleries but also runs its own immersive art space which rotates throughout the year to showcase new artists and a new experience.
Heather Willmeng, the gallery manager for Spectra Art Space, says she has been involved in every immersive art experience with the company since the space began working on its first iteration of Novo Ita, a summery immersive art rotation with a botanical garden aesthetic, in 2021 as the community was coming out of the COVID-19 induced lockdown, but the space is currently hosting Spookadelia, a macabre, immersive world complete with its own story and unique experiences.
“It always pushes me out of my comfort zone, but the challenges that come with creating a space like this also show me just how much I’m capable of,” Willmeng says, “which is something that I feel like most, if not all, of the artists featured in the immersive get to experience while working on the space here.”
Willmeng also says that because each rotation incorporates new artists, as well as inside and outside spaces within the immersive, there are new challenges with each immersive installation, both with how the different art styles collaborate as a part of the same experience, but also how each individual guest will experience the space and how they’ll choose to interact with the space.
“The experience is self-guided, so each part of the experience has to bring something new and exciting, but together, they still have to create one whole, cohesive world,” Willmeng says. “It’s really beautiful to see all of these different art forms and styles come together to create something that feels like more than a sum of its parts.”
Spectra recently ran its annual gallery “Tiny Art Big Ideas,” which occurs each winter and this year involved more than 200 artists, according to Spectra’s press release. The art show invites artists to submit miniature pieces of art, such as jewelry, stickers, and more for sale, and a portion of all proceeds from the gallery goes to support the Second Wind Fund, an organization that focuses on suicide awareness and prevention for Colorado youth.
