On a recent 100-degree afternoon — sun blazing overhead — a Heard Museum guide hurried a tour group onto a newly renovated patio. The space that once housed a garden of native plants as part of the museum’s permanent “HOME: Native People in the Southwest” exhibit is now the Nichols…
Logan Phillips grew up 14 miles from the US-Mexico border. Today, the 28-year-old bilingual poet and performance artist spends equal time in both countries, performing solo and with a group called Verbobala. He says his work is inherently political; he watched the reaction to, and effects of SB1070 from both sides…
Collector Haven in Mesa might have moved to its newer, nicer, and bigger location a month ago, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have their Grand Re-Opening celebration whenever they damn well please. This Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., the comic and collectible shop is throwing a party to…
For close to a decade, mice inside a Flagstaff barn owned by legendary artist James Turrell spent their filthy days colonizing a 1960 Vandercook printing press. They were living inside of printmaking history — a machine once owned and operated by California publishing house, Black Sparrow Press. The Vandercook Universal I was…
Before his latest show with the Nitty Gritty crew, which you can catch until Thursday at 5&6 Gallery in Scottsdale, local painter and muralist Miles MacGregor (aka El Mac) was doing some serious globe trotting. The Propeller Group just released a time-lapse video of his latest piece (based on a…
Phoenix-area artist Jon Haddock has never been afraid to venture off the path of normalcy. Best known for his vintage mouse porn drawings and Isometric Screenshots of such major crimes as the Kennedy assassination and the Columbine shootings, the ASU graduate turned art professor is currently wearing his geekiness like a badge of…
Andrew Hadle always has a few tricks up his sleeve. The local artist is known for his slime-covered superheroes and quirky installations on the walls and floors of Scottsdale’s Squeeze Gallery, Downtown’s Bragg’s Pie Factory, and Tempe’s Harry Wood Gallery. And tonight, he’ll open the doors of Tempe Marketplace and…
It’s not unusual to climb to a high peak in Phoenix to catch a look at the city. But nbaltz (who doesn’t give a name online) was more interested in the sky. The local photographer condensed 720 images of flights taking off and landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor that were…
Tonight, the Phoenix Fridas are taking their love of, and inspiration from Frida Kahlo to a new level in a month-long, collaborative exhibition at Vision Gallery in Chandler. “I Leave You My Portrait” includes paintings and sculptures, as well as an interactive dresser, a “spirit of Frida” sitting area, and…
In order for Hal Jordan to become a protector of the Universe, he must exhibit great feats of courage, strength, willpower, and the ability to overcome fear.Luckily, none of these is required for you to have a good time this weekend at the Arizona Popular Culture Experience’s Green Lantern movie…
The First Friday scene is a different beast during the summer — school’s out, heat’s on, and this summer, a few galleries are closing their doors. We took some notes this past First Friday (see our slideshow here) and asked locals including artist Sarah Hurwitz, Modified Arts Associate Director Adam…
To say ‘Steve Rude is an interesting dude’ would be putting it lightly.The Peoria-based, Eisner award-winning artist made his bones in the comic book industry during the ’80s and ’90s. Rude became a prolific artist through his work on the science-fiction epic Nexus with co-creator, Mike Baron, and employs a drawing…
Backyard chicken wrangling is suddenly very cool. Tattooed, cruiser-pedaling hipsters, NoPho lacrosse moms, and even teenagers (the sure sign that a trend’s become legit) are doing it. Spotted recently in uptown Phoenix: a hand-painted sign reading, “Fresh eggs from my happy backyard chickens!” Could backyard pig ranching be the next…
It’s not difficult to find photos and stories from around the world, but our cultures and daily lives — and how we see others cultures and daily lives aren’t often on display. Thursday night, Method Art in Scottsdale is holding an opening reception for Through Each Others Eyes, a photography…
Come this fall, downtown Phoenix might lose another contemporary art space — Modified Arts Director Kim Larkin says she’ll be leaving the gallery on Roosevelt Row at the end of June. Larkin’s been coordinating and curating contemporary art exhibitions at Modified since community activist Kimber Lanning (who still owns the…
Downtown artist, gallery owner, and contemporary arts advocate Greg Esser is back with another project — this time, in Tempe. ASU Art Museum announced that Esser will be associate director of the Desert Initiative, which will support artistic and scientific research into desert cultures and environments. Esser’s a natural fit…
Hugo Medina’s not afraid of climbing the rickety scaffold in downtown’s Icehouse to hang the lighting for tomorrow’s show; he’s done it before … and hopes he’ll have the chance to do it again. Medina’s on a mission to raise money for the historic-building-turned-arts-venue in hopes of “saving” it from…
Lauren Bailey and Craig DeMarco are serious about their over-sized sticks of chalk — they’re what marked the walkways, outlined the bar, and mapped out the tables on the empty, concrete floor where Windsor and Churn now stand in downtown Phoenix. The two are no strangers to restaurant concept and…
Since we checked in with Phoenix designer Eric Torres in January, he’s been busy mapping Rynaga. Rynaga is Torres’s world — a narrated, illustrated environment he’s created for fantastic creatures with real life stories (think Tolkien, Homer, and Lewis Carol with a more comic feel). The World of Rynaga Explorer’s…
