Coming Soon to Pirate

Phil Bender and Skye Barker Maa

September 11-27, 2026

Opening Reception, Saturday September 12, 6 to 9 PM

Phil Bender: New Work

Skye Barker Maa: SONGBIRDS, The Voice Before Departure

Before we leave, we sing.

The Voice Before Departure captures that moment of awareness: the quiet recognition of possibility before movement begins.

Songbirds is the first chapter of a three-installation art exhibition by Denver-based fashion designer and artist Skye Barker Maa, exploring the beauty, symbolism, and movement of Colorado birds. Each installation will inhabit a different art gallery, allowing the larger story to migrate from space to space through January 2027.

Songbirds is an exploration of captivity—not only the cages imposed upon us, but the beautiful cages we build for ourselves. These are the spaces we carefully construct: lives that can be safe, familiar, comfortable, and even deeply fulfilling. Yet contentment does not necessarily silence the instinct to move.

The three gallery installations are also part of a much larger fashion narrative. The artwork connects to a six-segment runway collection inspired by Colorado birds, with each segment developed as its own solo fashion collection and presented independently across multiple fashion weeks.

Skye Barker Maa is a Denver-based fashion designer and artist and the founder of SKYEAIRE, a fashion label centered on narrative-driven garments, wearable art, and textile exploration