Two new exhibits recently opened up in Denver, Colorado exploring themes surrounding magic mushrooms and cannabis.

The first exhibit is “Mycolandia,” which opened at the Dateline Gallery in Denver, Colorado on June 7 and will remain open through June 23. “MYCOLANDIA celebrates Mycology in general exploring the evolution of edible fungi and its symbiotic relationship with humanity. In otherwords, It’s a show about mushrooms. ,” the gallery said on social media.

The show features works from 13 different artists, such as Noah Travis Phillips. According to an interview with Westword, Phillips explained his thought process behind the theme. “I definitely thought of the diverse array of mushrooms,” Phillips said. “All the ways fungus and mushrooms exist in the world, the different ways that humans interface with them—whether as food, or an intoxicating substance, or all of the bio remediation people are doing with mushrooms.”

Attendees can view Phillips’ unique Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) AI images that he developed to represent mushrooms’ inherent psychedelic properties. “It’s much more colorful. They’re all rainbowy. They’re kind of melting. They’re kind of bulbous,” said Phillips. “I think they suggest interesting things about mushroom root networks—those mycorrhizae. Some of them look like they have spores drifting from them.”

He added that he’s been an artist for 25 years, and has spent about six years working with GAN. “My relationship to the GANs is like a poetic visual synthesizer for producing improvisatory material to collage with,” he explains. “I’m engaging in a dialogue with that kind of cutting edge of technology and seeing what its creative potential is.”

Phillips also cut out 45 images which are situated close to the floor, which forces viewers to look downward. “To me, setting them up that way makes it more reminiscent of mushroom foraging, or mushroom hunting, where people have to get low to go find them,” Phillips explained.

The second exhibit is inspired by the “Science-Informed Art Model,” called “Grow Up,” also debuted on June 7 and will stay open through July 7. The art show “empowers young student classes from various Denver institutions to explore the effects of high-concentration cannabis through their own creative lens,” according to a press release. Teachers were chosen from four middle and high schools in Colorado, who then attended workshops presented by scientists and researchers at the University of Colorado School of Public Health. Then those teachers developed workshops for their students who created their own art inspired by “high-concentration cannabis.”

The result is a varied selection of abstract art where students transformed scientific data into their own concepts. “The beautiful part about bringing science and art together is [figuring out] how we interpret information and communicate it with a community in ways that are much more relatable or understandable, or challenge people to question what they’re observing,” said PlatteForum Program Director Alejandra Calvo.

Shaunie Berry, the curator for “Grow Up,” explained that this exhibit was an opportunity to promote healthy decision making. We really created a space in which they could be open and vulnerable,” said Berry. “We were just giving them a lot of information about the mental health aspect of it because they are young and their brains aren’t fully formed yet; their decision-making skills aren’t completely formed yet.”

Both Calvo and Berry worked together to help students better comprehend cannabis and its effects from an artistic point of view. “I think kids just are naturally more creative,” said Berry. “The older you get, it becomes a little more stifled. And you have to pull more strings to get them to do it.”

Meanwhile the state’s cannabis industry is making new discoveries about its products. A recent study released in March shows that 70% of THC potency levels on cannabis products in Colorado are at least 15% higher than lab tests show. “Among the 23 flower samples analyzed, 18 displayed lower THC levels than reported—with 16 falling below 15% of the stated value, 13 falling below 30% of the reported THC and three samples falling below half of the reported THC,” said a report written by University of Colorado Boulder professor Anna Schwabe. “THC levels averaged 9.75% back in 2009, based on testing of DEA-seized cannabis flower. Today, levels reportedly surpass 35%, though they’re not as common as consumers have been led to believe,” Schwabe continued.

The Colorado cannabis industry is saturated with cannabis products and has seen a steady decline in sales recently. According to a report from Politico, Colorado cannabis sales reached a peak of $2.2 billion in 2020. Since legalization began in 2014, the state has generated more than $15 billion in total sales as well. However, data from 2022 shows that the state’s cannabis revenue decreased significantly ($1.7 billion), which also continued into 2023 ($1.5 billion).

Recent legislation in Colorado has targeted positive praise of drugs on social media. While the Senate approved the bill in April, SB24-158 was sent to the House in May and has not received any further discussion. If passed, it would prevent language on social media that pertains to any black market or illicit drugs, although cannabis would technically be a safe topic if mentioned in a legal capacity.

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Photos over 20 years old show the enigmatic artist known as Banksy at work, painting a 17-ton train car in Malaga, Spain that is now worth nearly $2 million dollars. Little did the artist know that a man who was talking to him took a photo and held on to it all these years.

Gloucester Live reports that the never-before-seen photos of Banksy that emerged show the artist painting his biggest ever artwork.

The train car was called The Turbozone Truck, it went up for auction with the starting price of £1 million ($1.27 million USD)  to £1.5m ($1.9 million USD) after it was authenticated by his studio. The photos also appear to be authentic as it is a well-known piece by the artist.

“I used to spend a lot of time in Bristol,” the unidentified photographer said. “Our friends told us about this party that was going on in Spain and we thought why not? At the time we were very aware of Banksy’s stuff when it was popping up, but he was still quite under the radar.”

The pictures were taken in the early hours of a New Year’s Day party in Malaga. At the time, they had no idea how big Banksy would eventually become after he blew up.

“Then we were at the party and saw this guy painting—the three of us just turned to each other and said it’s got to be Banksy!” he said. “Little did we know at the time he would go on to become one of the most famous artists in the world.”

The photographer then says he approached the man and asked him if he was the elusive street artist, and says the man confirmed he was Banksy. 

“It wasn’t much of a conversation–-I remember we said how we’d seen some of his work in Bristol, as far as I remember, he had been flown over from Bristol.”

The train car featuring Banksy’s artwork spent years traveling from Europe to South America as part of a tour for Turbozone’s Cinderella show. It is also featured in Banksy’s official book, Wall and Piece, which was published in 2006 and authenticated by the artist via his studio, Pest Control.

The identity of Banksy has never been revealed officially, however a number of names have been linked with Banksy in the past: Robert Del Naja, Robin Gunningham, Art Attack’s Neil Buchanan. Gunningham is probably among the best theories for Banksy’s identity, BBC reports. Banksy’s former agent Steve Lazarides claimed to show the artist at work in a separate photo, although none of the images new or old show his face. 

Banksy Loves Buddha

The enigma known only as Banksy re-entered the world of cannabis with a new permanent installation in a Toronto, Ontario-based dispensary in 2020. The unofficial king of guerrilla art—in the form of graffiti—left a breadcrumb trail of mystery throughout Europe and across the world through stark political messages and epigrams. But now, the vandal’s art can be appreciated by cannabis consumers who often share his political beliefs.

Tokyo Smoke brand announced its new cannabis retail store in Toronto, Ontario—as well as its permanent installation of an exclusive Banksy collection of art. The collection will feature “never-before-seen” works from the artist, as well as other notable pieces from other artists.

The store was armed with plexiglass dividers at the retail counter and reminders to observe social distancing. Tokyo Smoke, which is a subsidiary of Canopy Growth Corp., opened the new location on 21 Bloor St. E. and the property is wheelchair accessible. 

The artist appears to favor hash resin, a common item found in the U.K. and Europe. In 2003, for instance, the artist illegally hung his own art at the esteemed Tate Britain—formerly called the National Gallery of British Art—in an act he said was inspired by cannabis resin. His self-hung piece was entitled, “Crimewatch UK Has Ruined the Countryside For All of Us,” and was placed next to a 19th century landscape.

Like all of his public pieces, it carried a political message buried in dark humor. Each time a Banksy piece is spotted, the media loses their minds.

Banksy’s famous piece “Rage Flower Thrower” depicted a Black Bloc-looking protester throwing a bouquet of flowers instead of a Molotov cocktail. The Rage Flower Thrower, however, has been marketed as “Weed Thrower” on T-shirts and other merchandise on Ebay.

The artist is best known for “Girl With Balloon,” a stenciled graffiti painting in East London. In 2018, a “Girl With Balloon” print was auctioned off in London at Sotheby’s for £1.042 million—only to self-destruct moments later. It was one of the latest of Banksy’s antics that once again shocked the world.

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At Munich, Germany’s Pinakothek der Moderne museum—one of Europe’s finest modern art galleries, showcasing the priceless works of Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Keith Haring, Max Ernst, and so on—a mysterious painting hung alongside famous paintings by Andy Warhol for eight hours. 

It was hours later by the time museum staff realized it was illegally hung by one of their own—an unnamed 51-year-old employee and aspiring guerrilla artist. The museum promptly fired the employee upon learning of his prank, however the only permanent damage he did was drill two holes in the gallery wall.

The artist seemed to say to himself, “Why isn’t my art just as good?” and hung his own art without permission. The man hung his art “in the hope of achieving his artistic breakthrough”, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung first reported, citing the police as a source.

The Guardian reports that on Tuesday, the southern Germany museum confirmed that it had fired an employee from its technical services team after he was caught hanging his own painting in a part of the gallery that showcases works by Warhol, whom High Times interviewed in the August 1977 issue, as well as other famous modern and contemporary artists.

This particular artist says he just wanted people to see his art. “The employee considers himself as an artist and most likely saw his role in the museum’s installation team as a day-job to support his true calling,” a spokesperson for the Pinakothek told the Guardian. 

Some things are better left unsaid: Instead of drawing more attention, the museum staff decided to just leave it up there until closing time. “The decision was made to keep the picture on display while the gallery was open and take it down after its closing time at 6:00 pm,” the spokesperson continued.

The Pinakothek decided to hide photos of his art from the public in order to discourage copycat pranksters. “All I can say is that we did not receive any positive feedback on the addition from visitors to the gallery,” the spokesperson quipped. The museum is located in Munich’s Kunstareal museum quarter, and it also showcases notable architecture and design works.

The New York Times called it a “reverse art heist,”—an act in which the artist hangs his or her own art on the wall of a museum without permission. It’s also called guerrilla art, an art form that was perfected by artists like Banksy.

The employee had access to the gallery after opening hours and so he didn’t attract any attention from security staff. He quietly installed his own 60 cm x 120 cm painting on an empty white wall in a passageway in the eastern wing’s first-floor gallery.

The incident took place on Feb. 23 but the museum did not go public with it until last Monday. 

As for Warhol, when interviewed by High Times, he said many gut-busting, hilarious things, like the fact that when he gets drunk, “I tell everyone they can be on the cover of Interview.” Warhol is credited with transforming the definition of art by introducing his brand of pop art, colorful screen-printed art that could be produced at a more efficient scale, selling them for millions during his own lifetime.

The German artist in Munich left an impression, and in Warhol’s words, is getting his own “15 minutes of fame” thanks to his prank that cost him his job.

The German man is not alone, and other artists have made a name for themselves via guerrilla art, namely the anonymous artist Banksy.

Between October 2003 and May 2005, Banksy walked into some of the most highly regarded and significant museums in London and New-York in order to place some of his artworks. 

He or she probably smokes weed. In one prank at The Edwardian Bristol City Art Museum in the U.K., museum-goers enjoyed participating in a game of “spot the Banksy” among the permanent collections. One such piece included a hand-painted, “clearly used hash pipe” inside a piece of pottery but plainly visible.

Banksy appears to favor hash resin: In 2003, for instance, the artist illegally hung his own art at the esteemed Tate Britain—formerly called the National Gallery of British Art—in an act he said was inspired by cannabis resin. His self-hung piece was entitled, “Crimewatch UK Has Ruined the Countryside For All of Us,” and was placed next to a 19th century landscape.

One could say that all graffiti art is guerrilla art in the sense that it’s illegal without permission. This particular artist was inspired to hang his own work and display it to the world—with or without anyone’s permission.

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The city-sanctioned version of the famous 4/20 Hippie Hill event in San Francisco has been canceled, but it’s not the end of 4/20 celebrations in San Francisco. SF Weed Week, will feature a variety of events beginning with an art opening featuring cannabis mylar art on April 5 and a schedule of events running April 13-21. Instead of just one day of celebration, the event spans an entire week of all things cannabis, featuring cultivators and breeders at cannabis lounges throughout the city and unique strain premiers, such as releases of Rainbow Belts, Blue Lobster, Pink Jesus, Chikitaz, The Butcher, Sherb Haze, and Peppermint Sleighride.

SF Weed Week creator David Downs is an award-winning cannabis journalist and author. Downs is the senior editor at Leafly and the former cannabis editor at the San Francisco Chronicle. According to the event website, Downs created SF Weed Week after thinking about what an event like SF Beer Week would be like if it was cannabis-themed instead. 

“Weed growers are rock stars, and strains are celebrities,” Downs said through a press release. “I want to give these strain releases the same rock star treatment that album releases get at Amoeba Records. And we’re going to. It’s going to be dope.”

While SF Beer Week features unique new beer varieties and flavors, SF Weed Week boasts strain releases in participating lounges, including Mission Cannabis Club, Meadow, SPARC, Moe Greens, Solful, The Vapor Room, and Flore. 

Ali Jamalian, owner of Sunset Connect, is a founding advisor of SF Weed Week who is proud to be a part of an event that puts the spotlight on San Francisco weed. 

“San Francisco’s cannabis culture has so much to offer,” Jamalian said in a statement. “It only makes sense to showcase the cannabis epicenter of the world in a week-long celebration spread across the city with an array of amazing events and activations. All for free of course.”

Especially in the wake of the cancellation of this year’s Hippie Hill event, fellow founding advisor Ben Grambergu, director at 7 Stars Holistic Healing Center, feels that SF Weed Week offers an alternative celebration that lifts up the community. 

“The organizers of Hippie Hill deserved a break, and SF Weed Week is here to extend the celebration across the entire city with the best cultivators in the world sharing their gift with the most dedicated enthusiasts in the world,” Grambergu said. “Look, the Bay Area has and always will be an epicenter of cannabis culture. SF Weed Week is proving to the doom loop haters that the scene is thriving. With a week full of incredible activations, world-class cannabis, and meet and greets with the rockstars who produced it; this event has something for everyone.”

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In 2023, an artist and his patron set out on a seemingly impossible task: illustrate the vast history of cannabis in a single art piece. Inspired by the Tapisserie de Bayeux—an ancient chronological tapestry depicting a two-year invasion of England by the Normans—Stefan van Swieten commissioned his friend Mossy Giant to create a piece for his cannabis social club in Barcelona, Spain. Now stretching across the wall at La Creme Gracia, the artwork displays incredibly detailed and interconnected scenes. Starting with the Big Bang, the whole world of weed unfolds in images, illustrating an epic tale of turmoil, triumph, and THC. 

In March 2024, Mossy Giant and La Creme Gracia debuted the second iteration of their project on the opposite wall of the club, a massive artwork detailing the history of cannabis in the Netherlands. The opening coincided with Spannabis—a yearly gathering that stands as one of the largest cannabis seed marketplaces on the planet—and brought out major players from the Dutch scene. Through seed companies and coffeeshops, the Netherlands played an outsized role in the proliferation of cannabis throughout the world. Like an ancient tapestry or a scene by Hieronymus Bosch, the artwork, The Grand History of Cannabis: The Dutch, tells a story in a single expression. Naturally, viewing it while smoking weed and hash in a cannabis social club in Barcelona only enhances its depth and allure.

La Creme Gracia

Upon arriving at La Creme Gracia for the art opening, the first thing I see is a fox-like dog poking its head out of the bottom of the front door. In a city where recent raids on local cannabis social clubs would lead people to believe these spaces are dangerous, the German spitz’s fluffy face is a glowing beacon of joy. Club owner van Swieten greets me inside the hallway and later tells me his dog’s name is Leo.

“Leo is the boss,” van Swieten says in a French accent. “He’s quite famous; he’s famous in the neighborhood. People know his name.”  

Found within the Gracia neighborhood of Barcelona, a short distance away from Antoni Gaudi’s towering architectural masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia, La Creme Gracia is a local spot. 

“Basically, the club is really here for the local people, so we really try our best to offer weed that can match with the economic or the capacities of the people here,” van Swieten says, explaining that a gram of Amnesia Haze—a strain that’s so prolific in the Spanish cannabis clubs that it’s crossed the bridge from cool to cliche—goes for 6-7 euros depending on the quality of the batch. “[Amnesia Haze] has a bad reputation because it is so successful. And if we don’t have it, I feel something is missing.” 

The rest of the club’s cannabis flowers go for around 6-8 euros a gram. Flowers grown in “super soil” are priced at 9-13 euros. 

“We have a bit of American stuff, but very limited,” van Swieten says. “We never wanted to be on the cusp of fashion. I prefer to have weed that’s 10 years old, the genetics, that’s sold at a reasonable price, than to buy something new that’s going to be outrageous.”

Van Swieten and Mossy Giant were first connected through van Swieten’s work as a music producer when he commissioned Mossy’s work for album covers. Based in Paris at the time, van Swieten and Mossy—who is from the Netherlands—came together through a mutual connection with Amsterdam-based Soma’s Sacred Seeds. Van Swieten has run La Creme Gracia for the past decade. The cannabis clubs in Spain operate as decriminalized member-only spaces. 

“I love it, I love the club,” he says. “I think it’s perfect. It’s what I call the perfect third place. The first place is your job, the second, your house, and the third… this is a perfect third place. I love it. I would wish that it could continue and I would wish that this model would not be destroyed by personal ambition, which could happen.”

The club has two rooms, a dispensary and a lounge, and it is packed during the art opening on Saturday, March 16. 

Falling in line with his artistic nom de plume, Mossy Giant, Mossy is quite tall—he played college basketball in the U.S.—and is easy to spot at the opening among a crowd of admirers. After briefly meeting, Mossy brings me to the center of the room and introduces me to Derrick Bergman, a longtime cannabis-focused journalist based in the Netherlands. Bergman served as an advisor on the art project and worked with van Swieten and Mossy Giant to release a companion book that details the history of some of the players within the Dutch scene. I pass him a joint, which he asks and correctly assumes is all cannabis without tobacco. Of course, I smoke like an American, he says. With Bergman now acting as my in-person audio guide, I jump into examining the artwork. 

The Netherlands: The Land Below the Water

Bergman quickly establishes himself as an expert in Dutch cannabis culture as I ask questions about the people and things depicted in the artwork. 

“I’m 30 years writing about cannabis, and so many of these people I know, I still know,” he says. “I’d say the common thing with all these people is that they have a passion, but they walk their own path.”

Looking at the highly detailed art in person is impressive. When I ask Bergman about my primary mentor in weed journalism, High Times co-founder and cannabis cultivation expert Ed Rosenthal, he points him out at a table of influential figures that include Mila Jansen, aka Mila the Hashqueen, and Henk de Vries of the famed Bulldog Coffeeshop. At the center of that table is the first issue of High Times, which came out 50 years ago in 1974. Rosenthal is depicted twice in the work. He’s also shown with another iconic cannabis character, Sam the Skunkman, building the cannabis genetic bridge between California and Amsterdam that resulted in the first hybrid cannabis crosses in the 1970s, most notably Skunk #1. 

The elaborate work of art has many elements, but Mossy’s favorite part is the windmill puffing a joint. 

“I just thought it was really cool to use extreme Dutch iconography in the windmill,” he says. “Because I’ve never drawn this—I am a Dutch guy—I’m usually very much inspired by American culture and nature, and that’s very much in my work. But to really get, almost patriotic in a way, to go full out with these Dutch icons, the wooden shoes and the tulip, and then have all the weed stuff in it like the typical Amsterdam house…”

He says that the artwork is intended to fuel conversation.

“Through art, you can have a very easy conversation about very difficult subjects like this history of the Dutch and the way cannabis in history has been connected to mankind,” Mossy says. “Through art, you can have these conversations very easily. You can tell a story. And that’s how it should be used, as a tool.”

The Original Peach

Another cannabis industry client Mossy has worked with includes Mat Beren, the breeder behind The House of the Great Gardener. For Beren, Mossy drew a moment when Beren met the “great gardener” during a transformative psychedelic journey. 

“We saw each other at Spannabis, and he’s very good friends with Soma, and I do all the Soma branding,” Mossy says. “I get into meeting with these guys, and they have very interesting, elaborate, crazy life stories, and they share something really personal. Like this ayahuasca experience that he had when he met the great gardener in the sky. And he was ordering my prints because the guy I always draw, the hippie, looked exactly like the guy he met in that experience.”

When I catch up with Beren on the noisy showroom floor on the first day of Spannabis 2024, The House of the Great Gardener is already sold out of two of the Barbara Bud crosses it made exclusively for the three-day event, Fruit Joy x Barbara Bud and Sweet Peach x Barbara Bud. The longstanding popularity of Barbara Bud is real. I find my friend Stoney Xochi at the booth hoping to get the Sweet Peach x Barbara Bud seeds as Sweet Peach won an award at the 2024 Barcelona Dab-A-Doo, a global hash competition organized by Jansen, a Dutch cannabis icon.

While the House of the Great Gardner is a Spanish-based cannabis seed company, Beren and his business partner started with Great Gardener Farms, based in Canada on Vancouver Island. 

“I created Barbara Bud about 25 years ago, and 10 years ago, I won one of the first Dab-A-Doos as a rising club in Barcelona,” Beren says. “That essentially started a craze in Europe, Spain, and Morocco. Barbara Bud has sort of gained iconic status now. It’s the original peach. But the other side of that is it’s easy to grow, creates ridiculous amounts of trichomes, finishes in about seven or eight weeks, so…”

Two Tracks

Back at La Creme Gracia the morning after the art opening I re-animate over joints and espresso with van Swieten, Bergman, and Mossy. At the close of our conversation, I ask Mossy about the Grand History of Cannabis piece, specifically the end, where there are two train tracks.

“One goes up, that’s the green train, so you see hemp there, green medicine, oils, cannabis culture goes forward,” he explains. 

And driving the train?

“Those are my two characters that always are in my world: the hippie and the bear. The hippie is like the farmer, the wise man, the crazy guy, and the bear is creation, the happy energy. They balance each other out,” Mossy says. “Those are my iconic characters, and they drive this train forward, the green train, and the other track is the track of prohibition.”

Mossy explains that this part of the artwork is based on a poster promoting cannabis legalization in Spain.

“There was a poster for pro-legalization of cannabis here in Spain that had two train tracks on it. One leading to prohibition and one leading to a green future, and [the art] is based on that poster, that concept,” Mossy says. “Prohibition doesn’t work, and it’s been proven many times prohibition doesn’t work… So, it ends in the mouth of the monster of prohibition. It’s basically saying that [the history] is still being written, there’s still chapters to come, the track keeps going.”

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Jason Harris founded Jerome Baker Designs Inc. (JBD) in Eugene, Oregon, in 1991. As a dyed-in-the-wool deadhead with THC pumping through his veins, he chose Jerry Garcia’s first name, Jerome, and a last name, Baker, to denote “baked” as his pseudonym, fearing repercussions from cops.

Through the years, he elevated the form of functional glass art, incorporating innovations along the way, such as fuming glass with fine silver to create a mirror effect and manipulating blown glass into complex art. The JBD seal became a symbol of quality. But, despite his efforts to stay off the radar of police, he caught the attention of the federal government.

“I was arrested for manufacturing drug paraphernalia in 2003,” Harris says, referring to Operation Pipe Dreams, a George W. Bush administration-era DEA hunt that also involved Tommy Chong and 54 other defendants.

Pipe sellers who never touched the plant initially faced drug paraphernalia trafficking charges, and the feds pinned most of it on Chong. Scarred from that trauma, Harris laid low, first moving from Oregon to Maui, Hawaii, to make non-functional glass art for a while, and later New York.

“I kind of went underground for a while, and we were based in New York on Long Island,” he says. “We had a warehouse out there that we functioned out of—a small, nickel-and-dime business. When recreational cannabis happens, we sort of come out of the closet. And when I saw the money and energy and everything going on in the Las Vegas market, I called that home base.”

After seeing Colorado and Washington approve adult-use pot and learning that recreational cannabis legalization was possible, Harris gained confidence and re-launched Jerome Baker Designs in 2012, re-focusing on high-end art. Jerome Baker established the Las Vegas Dream Factory at its headquarters in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Dream Factory

Located downtown in the Arts District, a few blocks from Fremont Street, the Dream Factory is a place where people can truly appreciate the sheer amount of hours it takes an artist to make a piece. After all, JBD was behind achievements like “Bongzilla,” the world’s largest bong in 2018, and is the brand responsible for custom bongs made for celebrities such as George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Mike Tyson, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, B-Real, Xzibit, 311, Slightly Stoopid, Sublime, Tool, Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead), Shavo Odadjian (System of a Down), People Under The Stairs, and Limp Bizkit.

Las Vegas is a prime place to attract people from all parts of the world, so Harris’s Dream Factory adapts to these specific needs.

“We get people that come in on pilgrimages from different places on the West Coast, and some are driving very far,” Harris says. “And they come for birthdays, weddings, different stuff like that. We’ve done a number of weddings in our facility, a number of birthdays, parties for some brands, they’ve been taken to the factory, and we get a percent of our clients coming in who are tourists.”

Teamwork makes the dream work, and Operations Manager Jennifer Krause is a big factor in the success of the Dream Factory.

“I basically handle everything from A-Z—you name it—accounts payable, accounts receivable, shipping, and [the operations] of the Dream Factory every day,” says Krause.

Krause says that the Dream Factory is currently showcasing glass art by Omar Rosales, Dina Kalahar, aka “Sol Fire Glass,” Donnie Alves, aka “Mente 45K,” and Allan Clement, aka “Cowboy.”

“And let’s not forget Jason Harris, known as Jerome Baker!” Krause laughs. “Within the last five years, it’s just completely blown up, and it’s pretty much one of the most prominent locations that people would want to visit. It’s where the artist all-stars are at. We’re right in the heart of the arts district.”

Krause explains how many people wander in, thinking it’s a basic smoke shop selling papers and cheap pipes, but what they’re offering is high-quality art that fetches top dollar. It’s a surprise “to the commoner wanting to walk away with a piece, and then they find out what we’re offering and what we’re shipping around the country,” Krause says.

Smoking Lounges & Cannabis Trade Shows

Both the state of Nevada and the city of Las Vegas have slowly rolled out consumption lounge regulations, though it’s taken years to materialize. NuWu’s Tasting Room opened in 2019, then rebranded as Sky High Lounge, opening in July 2023, and the city’s first non-tribal consumption lounges are scheduled to open by early 2024. (NuWu could open earlier because the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, a sovereign jurisdiction, owns its land.)

Many cannabis consumption lounges, such as ones in California, let patrons rent bongs or pipes to consume weed. A big factor is that tourists—not locals who can smoke at home cheaper—are going to them as smoking stealthily in a hotel gets tiring. Harris says consumption lounges are key to the full experience of legal weed.

“I think that’s absolutely essential,” Harris says. “People have different ways to smoke and consume cannabis. So, by being able to get everyone to have experience and make a lasting memory. I mean, look, when we were kids, we went to Amsterdam, leaving certain memories of certain coffeeshops in my life. Being able to rent the bongs and clean the bongs with a proper scrub, that was fun and part of the ritual.”

Harris explains how bongs slowly came out of the closet through the years, including how Vegas events have changed.

“We’ve been going to Las Vegas for so many years. It’s got so many trade shows. We were at the first CHAMPS trade show ever. And we bought the most booths—eight—and mostly we closed them all in so nobody could see our stuff inside,” Harris says, explaining how much things have changed since 1999. “Lo and behold, CHAMPS is this mega show everybody wants to attend.”

Krause explained that MJBizCon is even bigger than CHAMPS, and Las Vegas gets pretty busy and wild during those times.

Elevating Functional Glass Art

Harris is the protégé of legendary glass artist Bob Snodgrass and apprenticed for Hans-Joachim Ittig of Wertheimer Glaskunst, a seventh-generation glassblower based in Wertheim, Germany. He also learned or apprenticed under Cesare Toffolo, Dick Marquis, Robert Mickelson, Karen Willinbrink, and Charles Lowrie.

“I’ve always respected artists that have come before me and paved the way in what I consider now a Pop Art genre,” Harris says. “That’s something that I’ve always dreamt about, being in art school. I’m a graduate of the University of Oregon. I’ve always been interested in art, art history, and what goes on in that space. And I feel honored and privileged to be a part of it now through the bongs. I never really thought that I could get there.”

The Dream Factory is an excellent stop in Las Vegas that holds a lot of history for glass art.

“Cannabis has unfolded recreationally and become more and more mainstream,” says Harris. “And it’s allowed us to sell expensive pieces, which gives us time to put into the artwork. All that is kind of a good, perfect storm. The Dream Factory itself, in terms of visiting tourists, is a great destination right near Fremont Street.”

This article was originally published in the March 2024 issue of High Times Magazine.

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A Brooklyn, New York dispensary moved into the premises of a former church with a wall that depicted iconic rapper Notorious B.I.G., aka Biggie Smalls or by his real name, Christopher Wallace. But due to strict New York rules on cannabis advertising, the dispensary was forced to paint over the mural, and local residents aren’t thrilled about the decision to paint over Brooklyn’s biggest hero.

The tribute to Biggie was painted by Huetek, featuring the artist as a baby with the name “Brooklyn” painted beside it. Huetek is a graphic designer, illustrator, and musician, and his pieces can be found throughout New York City.

“Let me remind ya what this represented…,” Huetek wrote on Instagram. “This wall here was created with one thing in mind … to salute…uplift…all creative souls who walk this earth…we the artist we the creators…we the people……who bring life to this world thru our creativity..and our passion…’destined for greatness’….was a love letter to all …starting from brooklyn …….to look beyond the obstacles and reach [your] goals….to fight for what [you] believe and love ….”

While Notorious B.I.G,. is highly respected in his hometown, the decision to remove the mural wasn’t up to the dispensary team. “We didn’t want to take it down,” The Emerald Dispensary co-founder Christina De Giovanni told The New York Post. The Emerald Dispensary is a minority-owned, social equity license holder.

De Giovanni said the mural was painted on the exterior wall of 85 Suydam St. for about three years before the dispensary moved into the space, which had previously been a church called House of Pray.

The state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), which regulates the sale of adult-use cannabis in New York, warned them that letting the mural remain in place could jeopardize the store’s opening which required an inspection from state officials.

“[The state compliance officer] said, ‘if the inspector sees it and says no, you’re going to have to delay your opening,’” De Giovanni said.

Emerald co-founders De Giovanni and Ray Ramon Roman began the dispensary licensing process in 2022, and were forced to paint over the mural after learning that it had to go. 

De Giovanni said she insisted it be covered in removable anti-graffiti paint in the hopes it could one day be displayed again.

“It was so hard,” she said. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done … it’s really unfortunate that we haven’t had the opportunity to get an honest start before getting backlash for something that wasn’t our decision.”

OCM regulations on cannabis retail locations prohibit dispensary signage from displaying anything other than the needed information to provide location and so on.

Per the state’s Cannabis Control Board and written into the rules under the Official Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York, the following restrictions apply to cannabis retail stores in New York.

“Only licensees authorized to conduct retail sales or delivery to consumers may advertise outdoors using signs provided such signs,” the OCM states  Only is the advertisements  “(1) are for the purpose of alerting individuals to the location of a retail dispensary authorized to sell cannabis products to consumers; (2) are limited to, at a maximum, the following information: (i) licensee’s name, entity name, or doing business as name; (ii) dispensary address, phone number, email address, and website URL; and 34 (iii) the nature of the business; (3) are affixed to a building or permanent structure; (4) are not on vehicles; and (5) do not total more than two in number per licensed premises.

Notorious B.I.G.’s Impact in Brooklyn

There are many reasons why Brooklyn residents feel a certain way about 

By the time Notorious B.I.G. was done, he had it all: three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 (some posthumously), two No.1 Billboard Hot 100 songs, and numerous other achievements. He was considered Brooklyn’s pride, the East Coast’s finest, and during that time period, only Tupac Shakur came close in terms of success as a solo artist in the rap industry.

Black Cannabis Magazine notes that the son of Notorious B.I.G. launched two cannabis brands recently: Frank White and Think BIG. Frank White is named after one of Wallace’s aliases, a premium cannabis brand that offers a range of products, including pre-rolls, flower, and concentrates. Think BIG, on the other hand, is a social justice-focused cannabis brand with an emphasis on helping those who have been disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs.

Other Brooklyn murals of Notorious B.I.G. were flashpoints when they were being taken down.

In 2017, a two-story mural depicting The Notorious B.I.G. on the side of a building on Bedford Avenue and Quincy was scheduled to be taken down. The artwork titled “King of NY” was painted by the artists Naoufal “Rocko” Alaoui and Scott “Zimer” Zimmerman and has attracted crowds since it went up in 2015. 

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In 1966, all four members of The Beatles painted a piece in oil and watercolor on Japanese paper, “Images of a Woman,” at the peak of their fame while on tour in Japan. The piece went up for auction Feb. 1 at Christie’s New York in New York City, and sold to a buyer with astounding results, for over $1.7 million, after a lively bidding round. The high-end auction features lavish, upscale art dating back centuries.

The Beatles classic lineup—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr—all painted a quarter of the piece and signed the painting. Bidding for “Images of a Woman,” 54 cm x 78 cm, began at $400,000-600,000, and the final price the buyer will have to pay is $1,744,000. It’s likely the only painting with work contributed by all four band members. Christie’s posted a 12-photo gallery showing the Fab Four painting it.

The latest event at Christie’s New York is a rock ‘n’ roll collector’s dream: “The Exceptional Sale,” also features priceless art and memorabilia like a gold-colored crocheted vest that was worn by Janis Joplin (bidding started at $50,000), and Elvis Presley’s 1965 guitar made by The Fred Gretsch Manufacturing Company, used during his 1969 Las Vegas, Nevada residency (bidding started at $350,000). David Gahr photographed Joplin wearing the vest on the roof garden of the Chelsea Hotel in 1970. Joplin’s vest eventually ended on the cover of the November 1976 issue of Rolling Stone and was one of her favorites pieces to wear.

High Times learned that bidding for The Beatles painting on Thursday got intense, with about three in the room holding out to the end, among many other bidders that called in. Organizers were pleased with the overall results.

“It was great to see The Beatles topping the charts again with this amazing auction result,” The Head of Christie’s Exceptional Sale, Casey Rogers, told High Times. “There’s nothing like this painting. It’s a work of art. It’s a piece of memorabilia. We told that story, and the market responded with strong competition from bidders in the room and on the phone.”

Keep in mind that The Beatles—defunct for over 50 years—topped the charts months ago in November 2023 with “Now and Then,” a song they finished using a little help from AI.

The event was designed only for serious collectors with money. “The Exceptional Sale” featured everything from an elegant 18th century candelabra to a Wedgwood & Bentley sculpture of the infant Hercules in black basalt. Other notable items date back further. The French and English furniture masterpieces include a pair of tabourets belonging to Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, and a Louis XIV Gobelins tapestry formerly in the collection of William K. Vanderbilt (1849-1920).

‘Images of a Woman’ Tells An Intricate Story

Psychedelics and cannabis have a well-known impact on the music (and art) of The Beatles. Lennon and Harrison, along with their wives, were the first to take LSD in 1965, after being dosed by a dentist. They would become part of the profound impact psychedelics had on Western counterculture and music.

This painting shows how psychedelics impacted their art. The four painted “Images of a Woman” just two months after recording Revolver, perhaps one of their most psychedelic, and most respected albums, taking a 180-degree detour from their early pop era that was based on radio-friendly love songs.

At the time when “Images of a Woman” was painted in 1966, “Beatlemania” was at its peak. The moment the Fab Four stepped off their plane at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan on June 29, 1966, The Beatles used a “moment of calm at a tumultuous time,” to create a piece of abstract art with some of the countless art supplies fans had given them.

While Beatlemania was strong in Japan, so was the politically nationalist Japanese, who saw The Beatles as “emblems of an invasive Western culture,” and completely rejected them, and the band was confined for most of their five-day tour in Japan to the presidential suite at Tokyo’s Hilton Hotel.

They received death threats from Japanese who rejected Western culture and considered the band to be a representation of that. “I’ve never seen so many people guarding us,” drummer Ringo Starr said at the time.

They took a piece of Japanese watercolor paper and put it on a table, then placed a ceramic lamp in the center, where they would sign their names.

Lennon in particular was interested in art. In 1957, young Lennon attended the Liverpool College of Art where he met former Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe. He continued to dabble in art his whole life.

High Times reported on another Beatles-related art piece that has a connection with cannabis. Antiques Roadshow season 46, episode 2, featured a cartoon depicting McCartney being searched for pot by airport customs and with an autograph from the singer.

Christie’s is an auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. The piece sold at Christie’s New York is probably the most valuable visual art the band has created. 

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Where to re-up, puff tough and have stoner fun in Sin City; from a local expert.

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Writer’s note: Lately I’ve been getting invited to shows and events that… well, would have made my teenage self do backflips. In an effort to share more cultural significance with you all, I’ll occasionally post “Snaps’” highlighting these events, shows or projects for you to attend, or at least get a glimpse of, no matter where you happen to be physically.

If you’re in L.A., or can get here in the next few weeks, you absolutely have to check out the new Basquiat exhibition at The Grand LA, “King Pleasure.” Curated by his sisters and nieces, “King Pleasure” is a collection of rarely before seen work by the iconic artist, from his sketchbook doodles to more traditional fine art from throughout his education, on display now in Los Angeles after a highly successful run back in New York City.

Whether you’ve been a fan since back when he was doing the work, or you’re just joining the team now, “King Pleasure” is going to present Jean-Michel in a way you’ve never seen before. Recreating both his studio and his childhood living room within the expansive four gallery show, the depth of his creativity is really on display here. While you’ll see countless works in his signature style, you’ll also learn his abilities reached far past what some consider to be more abstract art pieces.

A few weeks back I had the chance to visit the show before it opened with my friend, and an iconic artist in his own right, Joey Colombo. As we navigated through the expansive collection that ranged from actual doodles to theater-sized canvases, I know I speak for both of us when I say our eyes were opened to just how incredible Basquiat’s life and work truly were. From getting to step inside his living studio, to admiring the improvised canvas he’d create to get an idea out, the artistry on display extends far beyond the work most of us are already familiar with. And some of it is GIGANTIC. The final gallery, which holds the pieces he made for the Palladium, will likely make you feel smaller than any other canvas work you’ve seen in the past. When it clicks that someone the same size as you did all that, and not some giant, it’s stunning. And they’re each a single canvas!

The show is about more than just the work though. It’s truly a celebration of his life. Complete with maps of New York City and Los Angeles pinpointing the places he grew up and found himself, as well as the hotspots he frequented, there’s a special type of intimacy here. You get to peruse his collection of keepsakes from around the world, and the notes in his sketchbook. I don’t know if I’ve seen ANY show offer this much insight into an artist’s being. You can see firsthand the things that were important to him. In the recreated studio you can feel his process. It’s really quite remarkable.

The New York Times wrote that the show “creates an emotional impact that’s hard to shake,” and TimeOut New York called it their “favorite exhibit of the year.”

For another actual artist’s perspective, Joey told me “[the] show was exciting and inspiring.. it got my creative juices flowing!” 

In addition to work by Basquiat, the show also has several of Warhol’s originals, including his iconic portrait of Jean-Michel, as well as those of his family—including Jeanine, this show’s curator.

On display through July, don’t miss your chance to experience these rarely and never before seen works, through the lens of his actual family. There’s over 200 of them, and there’s truly something for everybody. You can get your King Pleasure tickets here.

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