Adam Lerner, executive director of The Lab at Belmar, 404 S. Upham St., sits in his office Jan. 7 editing video clips on his Apple laptop.

He is putting together a slide show for a presentation he will give later that evening at Dazzle Restaurant & Lounge, 930 Lincoln St. in Denver, where he will be the guest speaker for January's First Monday Art Talk.

He's watching a clip of his aunt Miriam explaining to him the meaning of various Yiddish words and he's trying to decide what effect to use to introduce the scene. The slide show also includes clips of previous artists and lecturers and exhibits at The Lab.

Lerner, 41, was born in Queens, NY. Lerner has a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and a master's degree from Cambridge University. He first came to Denver in 2001.

"The Lab is an alternative to the traditional art museum," Lerner says. "A place where we can show the finest in contemporary art throughout the world, but still make it accessible to the public."

Before making some finishing touches on his video slide show, Lerner took a look at the construction zone that soon will house new art. He peeked behind a curtain of plastic over a doorway to see how the space is progressing.

"Every exhibition, we totally change around the walls," he said. "The intention is to make the art as if it wants to be there rather than any other place in the world."

Lerner is busily preparing for the opening of the new exhibits: The Plains of Sweet Regret, by Mary Lucier, and Last Place, by Phil Bender. The grand opening will take place at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 23.

Back in his office, Lerner organizes some index cards, each with a different person's name and contact information. These are Lerner's friends, local artists and supporters.

"Have I talked to this person lately?" he says, after looking at one of the cards. "One of the great things about The Lab is that it's so small that people that support it can actually feel like they're becoming part of the family."

A typical day for Lerner consists of calling current and potential supporters of The Lab, knowing what the staff is working on, coming up with titles for future lectures, coming up with ideas for their tri-annual publication, The Lab Notebook, and getting in touch with artists -- both local and national.

"Our art exhibitions are incredibly well-received nationally among the art community," Lerner said. "But what makes us unique is our educational programming."

Lerner said two typical stereotypes for art connoisseurs are "snobs" and "anti-snobs." But Lerner says The Lab is something else, and he is trying to explore the richness in the texture of everyday life.

"We're trying to recreate the spirit of inquiry," he said. "This is our culture and it may be serious, but let's not take ourselves so seriously. We use a lot of humor to show people art can be fun."