Join Chuck Benson* for a for a four-part art and architecture series. All sessions are from 5:30 pm to 7:15 pm. Price is $15.00 per person – cash taken at the door. Part of the proceeds are donated to an ongoing fund for UCCS Downtown.

September 6th: “Parkitecture”

This talk will focus upon a variety of well renowned and famous Lodges & Inns that were built for our National Park System to provide world-class hospitality for visitors from all over the world! They have-over the past century – become Icons of Design/Architecture, and much sought-after environments to stay, have a meal – and just spend some time in their fabulous foyers & entrance halls! Some of these you have doubtless visited during your lifetime – but some you might not know! Come and Discover them all!

September 13th: Orientalism in Art of the 19^th Century

These remarkably Romantic & Gorgeous works of art as paintings celebrate Western Civilization’s fascination with “All thing Oriental & from The East”. Much in literature & art during the 19^th c. was focused – practically obsessed – with the fabled kingdoms, sultanates, and fiefdoms of Islam & points East! We will discuss thinkers like John Ruskin, some of the pre-Raphaelites, and their ongoing interest in the “Arabian Nights”…Artists such as Gerome, Ludwig-Deutsch, David Roberts, John Lewis, Edwin Weeks, and significant other artists will be carefully examined. It is this kind of art that made the 19^th c. traveler yearn to go to The Middle East & The Orient…We are still being pulled by the desire to travel to these laces partly because of this art!

September 20th: Hewn from Living Stone - The Miracle of Subtractive Architecture around the Globe

Across all of Civilization from 3,000 b.c. to the present, Mankind has carved and hewn man-made caves, tombs, temples, churches, & holy sites…Some of the most amazing buildings ever carved are not buildings at all – they are gigantic sculpture that appears to be architecture – but is really one continuous matrix of solid stone! From Egypt, to Ancient Persia, to The Holy Land, to Lycian Tombs of Turkey, to Petra in Jordan, and on to Ethiopian Christian Abyssinia at Lalibela – this Miracle of Man unfolds! From here, we’ll explore Ancient Hinduism & Buddhism, which arguably perfected this way of “subtracting architecture” out of the “living stone” of countless hillsides into one of the greatest de-construction cycles of Mankind!

September 27th: Modern Churches, Synagogues, & Mosques

In recent times, there has been a wide variety of remarkably inventive architecture executed when it comes to Christianity, Judaism, & Islam. We will examine a number of these contemporary sacred spaces around the world, and finally travel to the Middle East to see a brand-new campus where Islam, Judaism, & Christianity are all equally celebrated and revered!

*Chuck Benson has been teaching the History of Art & Architecture for over 35 years in the greater Pikes Peak Region and the front range of Colorado. Chuck has taught at UCCS part-time, the Bemis School of Art, The Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, as well as at the PILLAR Institute. He is both an Architectural Consultant, Designer, & Art & Architectural Historian – and has led numerous local, regional, national, and international trips and tours to learn more about Art & Architecture.

Join Pikes Peak Table Tennis every Tuesday night from 6:30-9:30pm.

$8 per person--10% of which is donated to UCCS. For more info, please visit facebook.com/pikespeakttc

The Pikes Peak Table Tennis Club is a USA Table Tennis affiliated club.

Join us during the first Friday of every month from 5:00-9:00pm for part of the Downtown Partnership Art Walk. Each month features new art from local artists.

Free for all attendees!