TimesOnline, the online website for The Times of London, is reporting today that noted former Phoenix artist Rose Johnson, along with a number of other people in the past week, died in Bali from consuming arak, a type of local rice wine, tainted with methanol. According to the news report,…
The Phoenix arts community is still reeling today from news that one of its pioneers, painter and muralist Rose Johnson, 48, died yesterday, Sunday, May 31, at Sanglah General Hospital in Bali. The Jakarta Post is now reporting that Johnson most probably died from acute alcohol poisoning as a result…
Okay, folks. I’m going to blog about the Echelman piece. I know, I know…again????I realize I’ve covered the ever living being out of this sculpture, but, I also feel I’m justified to give it just a liiiittle more attention.This Friday, June 5th, put your thinking caps on for the “Civic…
There are a lot of bored people out there right now. I’m talking about the unemployed, of course (although audiences of the new Terminator movie might fit the category as well – just my opinion).Without work, one becomes under-stimulated, restless and anxious. And if you happen to be an unemployed…
In keeping with our postmodern or post postmodern (depending on your preference) world in which one must surrender to the idea of constantly referencing, well, everything that has already existed, it’s only inevitable that I, Arty Girl, would come full circle and blog about preexisting blogs.First up, remember this? It’s…
Okay, so the economy took a great big dump and we’re all shakin’ in our boots, right?I suppose the good news is, there’s always someone worse off than you. Just think of the artists. They were “starving” even during the roaring 90’s.Without our artists and the organizations that support their…
When I was a kid, I couldn’t survive a summer here without discovering some kind of new craft to get my hands tangled in. There was the summer of watercolors, origami, Fimo clay, puffy paint…name any craft for kids that got popular in the early 90’s and you can bet…
Walk through SMoCA’s “Seriously Funny” exhibition and you’ll be entertained. But don’t expect every piece to make you, um, lol. At first, I was disappointed with the show. I naively thought the collection would make me cackle. But this exhibition is seriously funny — not just funny. And once I…
I sure do appreciate places like Hoodlums. It’s a music and movie store so it’s automatically cool and they’ve been rotating some pretty great local art. Not to mention, every art show comes with an art opening that’s not all stuffy like the fancy galleries. Nah, at Hoodlums, it always…
When I first heard of this exhibition, I had my doubts. Which was pretty silly of me. I mean, you can’t really go wrong with the Grand Canyon. There’s just no denying that it kicks butt.The concept for “Charting the Canyon” by Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe is quite simple…
I just told my boyfriend my idea for this blog and he said, “I think it’s good. Everyone likes round-ups…especially when you throw in a couple jokes.”Well, I’ll try…I really couldn’t pick a favorite of all the good stuff happening tonight so I thought I’d put the pressure on you…
The tradition of a one-year birthday celebration in the Menconi household involved a single cupcake with a solitary candle stuck in the middle. Someone else probably blew out the candle, then we’d go to town on that little treat and mash it into gooey gross sweetness that we’d slurp off…
Did you know there is an International Museum Day?Well, you could have at least assumed it. I mean, if there’s something as idiotic as National Star Wars Day, we had better redeem ourselves by honoring our museums, right? Mark your calendars on May 18th as International Museum Day and then…
You know I wouldn’t tell you to haul it to another city unless I thought it was really worth it.Well, Michael Cajero is definitely worth a trek to Tucson. I originally saw his work at the Eric Firestone Gallery in Scottsdale about a year ago. I’ll never forget walking in…
Society has always been fascinated with the occult. Alchemy was once taught at Harvard. The Victorian era saw the rise of spiritualism and self-professed prophet Edgar Cayce. And today we have John Edwards, Sylvia Brown, and movies such as The Exorcism of Emily Rose and A Haunting in Connecticut, based…
The miserably single Lilia Menconi of a year ago would have had a lot to say about an art show called “The Trouble with Boys and Girls”. I’m inclined to assume that the under-sexed and over-exercised version of me would certainly have bored her readers with a five paragraph rant…
In 1990, Russell Howze saw graffiti on an apartment wall in Clemson, SC that was made with a stencil. Then, in 1995, he saw another stencil work on the wall of the Reischstag in Berlin. So he took a photo. He continued to spy stencil graffiti and kept snapping his…
Alright all you crafty people in town, this is what you’ve been waiting for…Faythe Levine of “Handmade Nation” fame is in Phoenix this weekend!I think it’s safe to say our nation’s love affair with mass production is coming to an end. Sure, we appreciate factory produced goods for all they’ve…
I’m a Phoenician so I get in my car and drive somewhere multiple times a day. And since I’ve been living here my whole life, it’s not often I have to think hard about navigating my driving path. Of course, that means I zone out.Before I know it, I’m knee…
Let’s start getting fired up for First Friday, shall we?First on the docket is a show that caught my eye for two reasons:1. It’s an exhibition of prints2. It’s an exhibition of prints by chicks named Kathryn or Catherine or KatherineYep, this show is right up my alley. I love…
I do this every month: the week before a First Friday, I plan to pimp the ever living out of it on this blog and I never do.That’s because, inevitably, things like this come along…The Paper Studio is closing its doors and is trying to sell all of its fabulous…
If you’re reading this blog, I’m assuming you’re the kind of person who likes to look at pretty things.And there are a lot of pretty things in this town you can look at today and tomorrow (lucky you!).The fourth annual Phoenix Contemporary Design Fair started today at 10 a.m. and…
