COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Getting out and exploring Colorado Springs and the surrounding area doesn't need to break the bank.
We're highlighting businesses, organizations, and happenings that you can engage with for under $40.00; the focus for this article (and outing) is the Michael Garman Museum and Gallery in Old Colorado City.
For about four decades, this unique business has been providing visitors with the chance to walk through sprawling cityscapes, complete with hundreds of inhabitants living out their individual lives, all rendered in (wildly detailed) miniature.
The vast collection of work on display was created by the late artist Michael Garman; he spent decades sculpting people, places, and goings-on, all of which were inspired by his years of travel before settling in the Pikes Peak region in 1971.
Michael’s sculptures are not portraits but are composite sketches of bits and pieces of humanity that Michael encountered along his travels. The same is true of his large-scale Cityscapes and Street Scenes. The bay window or sidewalks in these scenes may have come from San Francisco, Philadelphia, or any one of a hundred places that Michael lived and traveled through.
The largest of Garman's creations is known as Magic Town, an artistic experience that visitors can wander through time and time again, finding new scenes and tucked-away details upon each revisit.
Magic Town is a sculptural theater exhibit, a 1/6th scale miniature city block that people can walk through and experience three-dimensionally. It includes dozens of buildings, brownstone apartments, bars, pool halls, cinemas and hotels. Along with hundreds of sculpted characters.
Many of the apartments and alleyways found within Magic Town are equipped with mirrors and holograms, adding a sense of movement as well as massively increased scale to the overall experience.
According to Justin Sheldon, director of the Museum and Gallery, the exhibit also changes on a semi-regular basis: "The Michael Garman family archives are extensive, more than we have room to display."
This means that smaller pieces, larger pieces, and holograms get swapped out occasionally; additionally, a team of artists, which includes Garman's son, Michael Patrick Garman (who also owns the Museum and Gallery), will occasionally make minor changes and adaptations to the displays.
These artists also produce sculptures for the business's retail side.
The Museum and Gallery also make two large-scale changes to their displays each year during the Halloween and Christmas seasons; these are referred to as Spooky Magic Town and Christmas Magic Town, respectively.
This year's Halloween exhibit change will happen on September 29th (during which the business will be closed) and will open to the public on September 30th.
The cost of admission to the Museum and Gallery is listed below:
- Adults: $10.00
- Seniors: $9.00
- Children: $6.00
For additional information on the Michael Garman Museum and Gallery, click here.
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