Van Guards

5-28-6/19
This week the watchdogs of the Phoenix art scene will drop their bones and let you have a look at what they've been up to. Opening Wednesday, May 28, "Sentinels: The Exhibition" is a mixed-media exhibition compiled by the likes of Janet de Berge Lange, Joel Coplin, Jeff Falk, Annie Lopez, Greg Roberts and many more. Names not ringing a bell? Shame on you. These individuals have been contributing to the downtown art scene for almost 20 years. Displayed together, their works form a visual history of the underground art movement in Phoenix. And let's just say that it was "underground" only because no one was paying attention. But these artists stood fast, and the masses now elbow each other off sidewalks every First Friday, trying to be the first to see what's always been there.

On display through June 19 at the Tempe Public Library, 3500 South Rural. Call 480-350-5287 for more information. - Maidi Terry

Drawing Attention

New gallery opens in Mesa

Ongoing
As Mesa's mammoth new Arts Center takes shape, supporting players continue to pop up to color the city's cultural scene. Downtown's newest addition, Imbeau Gallery, opened this month at 119 West Main; local artist Mark E. Imbeault touts his venture as "a hub for artists to meet, paint, display and sell their work." Showcasing works from "stained glass to pottery to metal sculpture to sports paintings," the gallery has youth and adult classes in drawing, painting and stained glass in the works. Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Call 480-844-2127 or log on to www.imbeaugallery.com for more information. - Jill Koch

Glow With the Flow

Neon is highlighted in Tempe

5/22-6/11
Everything is illuminated in "The Stubborn Light of Night," a new exhibition at reZurrection Gallery, where students from the ASU Neon Workshop are showing multimedia works that incorporate the lurid tubes of colored light.

ASU professor Jim White teaches his students the art of bending glass tubes into various shapes and forms, and then bombarding the tubes with neon or argon gas to produce various colors. The Neon Workshop also is open to former students who want to continue their experimentation with the medium.

The students have put light's versatility to interesting uses. In a piece by Jes Gettler, the screen of a television set with rabbit ears flickers the word "STAY" in blue neon. Brian Evans' Inhesion 2 confuses the viewer's perception of positive and negative space via a maple wall hanging with parallel diagonal gashes that bleed a pale green light.

The exhibition runs through June 11 at the gallery, 601 West University in Tempe. Call 480-377-9080 for more information. - Brendan Joel Kelley