Recap: An Evening with Susan Wick and Mickey Zeppelin

On Wednesday, October 18, 2017, we stopped by Zwickplace for an evening in the private residence and studio of Susan Wick: artist, maker of things, teacher, and Mickey Zeppelin, President of Zeppelin Development. The event was a rare opportunity to glimpse into the private life and work of Susan and Mickey.

Zwickplace is a Frank E. Edbrooke industrial building from the early 1900s nestled in RiNo. The repurposing of this warehouse was a true pioneer in the neighborhood. A newer example, just southwest, is Bigsby’s Folly, a craft winery that opened earlier this year. The evening, much like the transforming surrounding area, offered an energizing and intimate opportunity for exploration and conversation.

Susan is a creator, and for her, “all material has artistic potential, and she engages all creative forms, including painting, drawing, textile, collage, ceramics, artist books, and anything her imagination will conceive. . . Always in constant motion, her life is a performance, and her greatest medium is her energy. Her work is lively and bright, filled with joy and beauty. The scale of her works is both intimate and large, layered in form and meaning, it coaxes our desire to get near, to touch, and to see more.”

Mickey was born in Denver in 1937, and has seen the city grow from a western town dominated by streetcars and 75-foot building limits to the modern city that we see now. He founded Zeppelin Development during the 1980s, and with a keen eye for his surrounding environment and a vision for what his city could be, he began transforming districts with limited potential into neighborhoods, workspaces, and active and engaging communities.

Citation: Wick, Susan. Susan Wick: Wild Women Never Get the Blues. CO: Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, 2015-16. Print.