 Six years ago, I got an email from Cayce Goldberg asking me if we could get together and talk. He was thinking about opening an art gallery in RiNo, where my gallery was located.
I was delighted and met a young man with lots of smarts as well as being an accomplished artist himself. A year later, he opened Helikon — a combination of artist studios and a beautiful art gallery. Today, I visited him for his closing day and we had a chance to share our stories of being gallery owners and then closing our galleries because of gentrification. When I opened my gallery (aBuzz) there were 7 other art galleries within the radius of a block. That made our area a "destination" for First Fridays where 200-300 people would be attending our openings. When I closed my gallery, there was only 1 gallery left. We were no longer a "destination". Cayce's story was different since he owned the building and when the city increased his taxes and he couldn't pass it on to the artists, he decided it was time to take a new path. He talked with me about his joy at helping launch so many talented artists in the Denver community and how, one day in the future, he might try this again. I'm sad today but happy I had the chance to know Cayce. He is a special person and makes my life that much richer. Goodbye Helikon. Hello Cayce — here's to your next adventure!
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