DIVA: The Art of Music

DIVA: The Art of Music is a two-week art class at the Denver Art Museum, running on Saturdays, November 7 and 14, from 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM. It's taught by Charis Lillene Fleshner in the Creative Hub, located in the Martin Building on Level 1. The course is built around the DIVA exhibition, and the whole point is to look at how artists have drawn inspiration from music and then make your own music-inspired mixed-media artwork.

That exhibition is the real anchor here. Organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Denver Art Museum is its only US venue, and they've reframed it for American audiences. It celebrates the radical power, creativity, and cultural impact of nearly 100 iconic performers—from 19th and 20th-century divas like Josephine Baker, Sarah Bernhardt, and Maria Callas to modern powerhouses like Cher, Aretha Franklin, Lady Gaga, Dolly Parton, Prince, Rihanna, and Taylor Swift. There are about 250 objects on display, including show-stopping costumes worn by legends like Marilyn Monroe and Rihanna. The museum presents costume and dress not as a definition of what a diva is, but as a tool performers have used across time to demand visibility and ignite social change. The exhibition runs from October 4, 2026, to January 31, 2027, so it'll be there well before and after the class.

As for the class itself, the two sessions are on Saturday, November 7 and Saturday, November 14, both from 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM. It costs $160 for Museum Friends and CultureHaus, $170 for members and students, and $205 for nonmembers. That price includes a $30 studio fee and ticketed entry to the DIVA exhibition—which is $5 for members and students and $15 for non-members on its own. You'll spend the mornings in the Creative Hub, working with mixed media and drawing from the exhibition's focus on the intersection of music and visual art.