Patricia Sannit recently launched an artist complex called Rocking S Art Ranch, where creatives working in various mediums will have studio space and share equipment from ceramic kilns to a lithograph press.
The creative space is located at 32nd and Sheridan streets, near the Arcadia neighborhood in east Phoenix. The 6,000-square-foot site includes two buildings and a barn, which are currently undergoing improvements, as well as an outdoor courtyard where artists can create large-scale works.
Sannit is part of a group that purchased the 1960s buildings, and they’ll be renting space to artists working in various disciplines.
“We want to create a community of artists where cool things and collaboration can happen,” she says.
Several artists have already secured studio space, including Lauren Lee, whose murals infused with natural elements from birds to flowers dot the urban landscape in metro Phoenix. The complex will also have exhibition space.
Rocking S Art Ranch joins a relatively short list of metro Phoenix creative spaces where several artists have studios. Most notable is the Cattle Track arts compound in Scottsdale, where the artist roster includes Santo Press founder Brent Bond and Matt Magee.
Sannit is a well-established ceramics artist whose work often references archeology and history. It’s been featured in numerous settings, from Phoenix Art Museum to the FORM festival at Arcosanti. Most recently, she’s participated in an artist residency in Iceland.
As renovations take shape, Sannit says she’s excited about providing more opportunities for artists to have studio spaces, and to interact with each other while they’re making work. “It’s going to create an incredible synergy.”