what is spare room studio ?

My name is Johnny, and I am the resident artist as well as the curator for our gallery exhibitions over at Spare Room. I spent the first 18 years of my life growing up on Cedar Ave. After spending some time in Denver studying visual arts, I recently moved back and found myself stepping into something I’ve spent the past few years searching for.

In early January of 2026, I had a conversation with my sister over coffee about how great it would be to have a third space for local artists — somewhere to share work, meet people, and build community. With encouragement from her I put together a simple, honest pitch about opening a gallery space.

CHCURC was immediately supportive. They called me back the next day to meet, and from there Spare Room started to take shape. The old Our Shop space had been empty for a little while, and CHCURC suggested we could use it as a trial run for my concept since they had the spare room.

We are hoping to open up for our first exhibition sometime in late February, and we’ll be hosting regular events through July of 2026. After that, it’s up to CHCURC if they want to renew our lease, so we’ll need YOUR support to show them that the community wants us to stay !

As I’ve told people about our opening, the community has been insanely supportive and encouraging. It feels special to be creating a space for art in the same neighborhood where I grew up, as it’s something I wish I had access to as a kid. Spare Room is here to support local artists, bring people together, and make room for creativity to feel accessible & welcoming.

We’ve got Spare Room for your art, so visit our contact page to submit an application for our gallery !

Corner of Cedar Ave. & Hamilton in the 1960s