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Ever wanted to vote on the art that goes up along your favorite Valley art walk? Well tonight, you can, as a slew of creative types and arts supporters will be voting on the final installation to be erected as part of the new IN FLUX project in downtown Scottsdale.
Beginning this week, IN FLUX plans to display a total of five art works at various Scottsdale spaces through January. Four works have already been chosen by curators. The last work will be chosen from four proposals by public vote at the IN FLUX launch, taking place from 6 to 9 p.m. at 5th and Wine.
In addition to drinking and voting at the IN FLUX launch, you can also peek at a forest of art, with pollen swirling all around huge flowers.
As we detailed in our June 24 cover story, “Pop Art,” property owners along Marshall Way in old town Scottsdale have been temporarily leasing empty retail spaces to artists at a discounted rate for “pop-up galleries.” These efforts help the artists gain exposure and make the spaces look more desirable.
Keeping with the “pop-up” spirit, IN FLUX — a collaboration between Scottsdale Public Art, Creative Connect, and the ASU Art Museum — will install a total of five works by local artists in empty storefronts and between buildings along the Scottsdale Art Walk. Works will remain on display for two months (visible through through the storefront windows only), or until a tenant rents the space.
Kirsten Van Cleef, Project Manager for Scottsdale Public Art, paired
tonight’s IN FLUX launch with the monthly mixer for Creative Connect, a
Valley-wide group of art lovers. She says there will be light
refreshments and wine at the event. “We don’t have a program schedule
or anything. People can come and go,” Van Cleef says. “It’s really more
of a mingling kind of thing.”
The first INFLUX installation, by Tempe artist Melissa Martinez, will be unveiled at tonight’s IN FLUX launch. Martinez, who recently resigned from her longtime position as Senior Exhibit Designer at the Heard Museum to pursue her art career full-time, was given a nearly 1,200 square foot space to house a massive piece of storefront art she calls “Pollination.”
“Pollination” consist of three nine-foot flower sculptures, featuring several large, pliable fabric leaves. It’s partially composed of pink vinyl, purple silk, and velvet, and will be surrounded by balls of floating “pollen” suspended from the ceiling.
“They’re huge flowers,” Martinez says. “There’s a tornado of pollen that swirls around the gallery and into the flowers…it’s a little Alice in Wonderland, in terms of scale. You’re smaller than the flowers.”
The IN FLUX launch is scheduled to take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, October 12, at 5th and Wine, 7051 E. Fifth Avenue in Scottsdale. Call 480-874-4629 or visit www.scottsdalepublicart.org for more information.
