This year, get your Dad a Father's Day gift that doesn't suck.

GET $10 OFF WHEN YOU BUY 2 DAD SERVICES:  Men's Grey Blending ($25), Locals Cut ($20), or a Hot Shave ($15). Call 265-5547 to make an appointment or just bring him in!  Gift Certificates Available

Must mention offer when making appointment.  Offer Expires: Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm MST

The Modbo now currating Locals

Nina Peterson now showing

Nina Peterson began experimenting with oil paints nearly seven years ago but took a hiatus from using the medium to develop her ballpoint pen drawings.  She first began exhibiting artwork in high school and participated in the Business of Art Center’s “Wunderkind” in 2008.   During her pursuit of an undergraduate degree in Art History, she continued to show her ballpoint pen works to positive reception.  In 2010, Peterson became the youngest member of The Modbo Collective.  Upon graduation from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, she began preparing for her first solo exhibition at S.P.Q.R. by applying for and receiving a Denise Pomeraning Memorial Enrichment Grant funded by the Pikes Peak Branch of the National League of American Pen Women.  

For the past year, Peterson has focused on acquiring expert painting skills.  Although largely self-taught and still seeking improvement, she recently took an oil painting class with Modbo and SPQR co-owner Brett Andrus that enhanced her technical ability and understanding of the medium. Femme Fatale is an exploration of painting techniques that invokes artworks from the late 19^thcentury Symbolist movement.  Peterson started each piece with an under-painting and worked over it with glazes to build color variation and depth.  While studying masterpieces by Fernand Khnopff, Franz Stuck, John William Waterhouse, and Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Peterson found not only inspiration for her methods but also for her subject matter.   Her first solo exhibition is one that questions and subverts contemporary and historical depictions of women as cruel yet sensual.  

What is The Modbo?

Founded in 2009 by Brett and Lauren Andrus, The Modbo is a small, unconventional, and award winning arts space located in an alley in downtown Colorado Springs.  Along with its adjacent sister gallery, S.P.Q.R., which was founded in 2010, these galleries serve as the Arts Alley District, tucked in a downtown alley off of Bijou.  The spaces host first Friday art openings, musical concerts of all genres, art classes, poetry readings, and the like.  The Modbo, along with the Downtown Business Improvement District, is also a sponsor of the new Acacia Park Summer Concert Series.

Brett is the sole curator for both spaces, as well several satellite spaces in town: the VBar, the Blue Star, Locals, The Rabbit Hole, and the Colorado Springs Airport among them.  Additionally, he teaches most of the classes that are held in the space, primarily in drawing and oil painting.  In 2009, Brett founded The Modbo Collective, or modboco.  Comprised of ten local artists, the collective meets frequently to discuss, critique, and brainstorm.  As a whole, the artists are committed to changing the conversation about the feasibility of art as a career; they strive to paint with integrity and commitment, supporting each other in their endeavors and providing a safe but rigorous space.  Although each Modbo Collective member espouses their own aesthetic, they are all narrative figurative painters, seeking to convey the sensual and connect to the viewer on an emotional and visceral level. 

The galleries are always open on Friday evenings from 5:30 pm until at least 10 pm, but more often until midnight.  Anyone seeking general information may reach us at 633-4240, email themodbo@gmail.com, or go to our website at www.themodbo.com.  Anyone specifically wishing to buy a piece of art should call Lauren directly at 650-2381.