May’s First Friday brought some pleasant surprises, from more time with the Hot Box Gallery and Halt Gallery shipping containers before their summer hiatus to an exhibition of artwork by students at New School for the Arts and Academics . The Roosevelt A.R.T.S. Market was in full swing with food…
For many seasons, the spring lineup for Ballet Arizona has included a program of all George Balanchine works. It’s a reflection of artistic director Ib Andersen’s roots — which include dancing under Balanchine as a principal with New York City Ballet during the 1980s. This year’s All Balanchine opened Thursday,…
From flamenco dance to steampunk art, you’ve got plenty of good choices for First Friday in May. Several venues are mixing it up with visual and performance art. Here are seven exhibitions and events not to miss…
Public art nerds, take note. Local performing arts mavens Tania Katan and Katie McFadzen are boarding buses on the morning of Sunday, May 3, joined by fellow fans of public art, for a one-day, seven-city tour of public art works. Participants will get to see more than a dozen works…
Local artists are putting their creative spin on social justice conversations surrounding immigration, LGBTQ rights, and the Black Lives Matter movement in a collaborative performance piece they’ll present Friday, May 1, at Mesa Arts Center. It’s part of The Social Justice Project, an ongoing enterprise in promoting community awareness and…
Becky Nahom, chief curator and director for Halt Gallery, is moving to New York City in June for a two-year graduate program in curatorial practice. She’s been a mainstay of the local arts scene for several years — curating exhibitions with curatorial partner Julia Bruck for shows at Modified Arts,…
The current landscape of mural art in metro Phoenix is a patchwork of pieces by local artists, artists with Arizona roots such as Luster Kaboom and El Mac, and artists who periodically roll into metro Phoenix from other parts — sometimes during such organized events as Paint PHX. But it’s…
A trio of shipping containers located in the Roosevelt A.R.T.S. Market will be making their way to a new home across the street, says Greg Esser, who spearheaded their initial purchase and placement by the Roosevelt Row CDC. After April’s Third Friday art walk, the containers will be closed up…
It’s all about variety this month as Third Friday April gives folks a chance to explore delicate wood burnings of moths inspired by ASU’s entomology collection, acrylic paintings on watercolor paper inspired by tattoos mirroring traditional Japanese artwork, and an immersive world of plant-laden I.V. bags inspired by losing a…
A small house created with terracotta and porcelain sits crumbling in a courtyard at Shemer Art Center. It’s the work of Jonah Amadeus Skurky-Thomas, one of five ASU master’s of fine arts students featured in an exhibition titled “New Art Arizona.” They’re all recipients of this year’s scholarship awards presented…
Scorpius Dance Theatre is serving up a smorgasbord of dance this month with a 15-piece repertory showcase being performed April 18 and 19 at Peoria Center for the Performing Arts. The center is best known as the home of Theater Works, which operates the venue and often features productions by…
David Hallberg, principal dancer with both American Ballet Theatre in New York City and the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, returns to Phoenix this April to teach master classes, coach emerging dancers, and help raise funds for his eponymous scholarship at The School of Ballet Arizona. The scholarship helps boys receive…
During an age when some think the best bit of photo technology is a selfie stick, it’s refreshing to spend time surrounded by fine art photography created with old-school tools and techniques — many created during the mid-19th century. The fourth annual “Light Sensitive” show at Art Intersection in Gilbert…
First Friday seemed to ramp up a bit earlier than usual on Friday night, as people hit local galleries, explored tables covered in artwork and other wares for sale, and watched a few aerosol artists painting live during outdoor demonstrations. Story strips at Eye Lounge Art lovers got to double…
April’s First Friday has plenty to offer — including vintage film posters, princess glam photography, and street art by metro Phoenix muralists. Take advantage of weather that’s merely warm rather than blistering to explore a new film offering, celebrate the life of a local arts activist, and consider issues related…
ASU student Samantha Lyn Aasen shares her ambivalence towards the princess industrial complex in her “Sparkle Baby” thesis exhibition that runs from April 2 to 11 inside the Step Gallery at ASU’s Grant Street Studios. The exhibition considers “cultural ambivalence towards women’s and girls’ sexuality” while exploring gender, sexuality, and…
Local filmmaker Perry Allen, film program coordinator for the Phoenix Art Museum, presents his new short film 8 counts from dreams I’ve collected Friday night at Nanogram Studio’s Flatlot, a pop-up art space located at 813 North First Street in the historic Garfield neighborhood. Allen describes the work as a…
It’s been more than a decade since Ib Andersen, artistic director for Ballet Arizona, wowed us with his choreography and set design for Mosaik, which premièred here in Phoenix in 2004, and was performed again in 2006. It featured not only Andersen’s choreography, but also sculptural set pieces of his…
Plenty of ink has been spilled on the topic of minimalism, a particular type of art process and product popularized during the 1960s. John Reyes, director for Bentley Gallery, describes it as art meant to be “totally objective, unexpressive, and non-referential.” It followed something called abstract expressionism, a style prevalent…
Recent reflections on the state of the arts in Arizona have called to mind both areas needing improvement and what’s working. Lisa Sette Gallery, which moved to midtown Phoenix after 28 years spent in Scottsdale, is clearly in the “getting it right” column — as evidenced by the quality of…
Lisa Chow, artistic director for Desert Dance Theatre, performs this week in the Arizona première of South of Gold Mountain, a multi-media modern dance work exploring the lives of Chinese immigrants in the American South during the post-Civil War era. H.T. Chen & Dancers, a New York City-based company that…
During Phoenix Art Museum’s recent Exploding Plastic Inevitable celebration of Andy Warhol’s work, held on March 6 as part of this month’s First Friday, Four Chambers Press presented readings of works featured in their latest chapbook, titled Poetry and Prose for the Phoenix Art Museum. Two dozen writers with pieces…
