There are some pretty weird museums out there — including one dedicated to mustard in Wisconsin, a hair museum in Missouri, a salt and pepper shaker museum in Texas, and a museum of bad art in Boston. There’s nothing quite that odd here in Phoenix, but we’ve still got plenty…
If you’ve passed through security at your local airport lately, it’s likely you’ll take special notice of a Nathaniel Lewis installation featured in the “2015 Contemporary Forum Artists Grant Winners” exhibition at Phoenix Art Museum. His Playland Security, created in 2016 with wood, metal, and fabric, sets the experience of…
The state of Arizona recently granted more than $400,000 in funds for some major renovations of the iconic WPA Building at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. The partly state-owned building is also sometimes referred to as the Civic Building, the Floriculture Building, or State Fair Civic Building, In 2014, the Arizona Exposition and…
Tom and Georganne Bryant’s front door is painted dark purple and is adorned with a wreath crafted from live succulents, bright yellow paper flowers, and fragments of hand-painted pottery tied in bundles. “I wanted something for the door that would look nice in a photograph,” she says, “so I asked…
Touchstone Gallery, 4168 North Marshall Way in Scottsdale, is getting ready to close up shop, says New Mexico-based gallery owner Joe Wilhelm. The gallery’s three other locations — in Sedona, Santa Fe, and Taos — will stay open, Wilhelm says. The gallery specializes in jewelry, minerals, and fossils. Merchandise is…
Established around November 2015, Cut Paste PHX is a creative group of adults set out to do one thing: Make collages. “We’ve been talking about doing some type of creative project for a while,” says Lani Hudson, who runs the group’s active Instagram. “So let’s get all these creative people…
After Mesa Arts Center executive director Cindy Ornstein attended San Francisco’s first Market Street Prototyping Festival in April of 2015, she started imagining a similar festival happening in downtown Mesa. The California festival engages creative types and other citizens in creating engaging public spaces. Now, thanks to a $750,000 grant from the…
Phoenix artist Patricia Sannit received the 2016 Arlene and Morton Scult Contemporary Forum Award at Phoenix Art Museum on Wednesday, May 11. Contemporary Forum is one of several Phoenix Art Museum support organizations. The membership-based group was founded 30 years ago, and has been providing grants to Arizona artists ever…
It’s been quite a year for Saskia Jordá, the Venezuelan-born, Scottsdale-based artist honored in May of 2015 with a prestigious award from the Phoenix Art Museum’s Contemporary Forum. She’s shown migration-themed works during festivals in Scottsdale and Mesa, and fire-related works at art venues in Flagstaff and Tucson. The Contemporary…
For those who frequent the bustling First and Third Friday arts scene in Phoenix, it’s easy to forget that there’s a whole world filled with intriguing art beyond the city’s boundaries. Without exploring works in other cities and towns, it’s hard to get a sense of the big picture. The…
Although tattoos were a taboo subject in most communities just over a decade ago, they’re now just casual dinner conversation for all but the most conservative groups. Gone are the days of ink being only for bikers and outlaws, with nearly every soccer mom and barista sporting back pieces and full…
New Times picks the best thing to do in metro Phoenix from Friday, May 6, to Sunday, May 8. David Cross In the 1990s, before people were willing to offer up their firstborns for your HBO GO pass to peep the medieval soap opera Game of Thrones, the network boasted some…
Despite the blustering rhetoric emanating from so many politicians these days, it’s hard to tell at times what each might actually do to address the challenges dealt with in contemporary culture. Fortunately, local artists aren’t waiting around for someone else to tackle these issues. Several exhibitions on view during First…
Long after the ASU Art Museum’s groundbreaking “New American City: Artists Look Forward” show came down in 2007, there was a vestige of painter Carrie Marill in the building, just above one of the baseboards in the women’s room — a bright little fragment of a Phoenix landscape, unobtrusive but…
Good things tend to happen on the metro Phoenix arts scene this time of year, as the Valley gets an influx of visitors, locals celebrate the onset of spring, and art students mount exhibitions highlighting their best works. Ten of our favorites works shown in April came from exhibitions in…
New Times picks the best things to do in metro Phoenix from May 2 through 5. “Student Art Show” We’ve all got hang-ups. But for art students at Mesa Community College, they’re objects presented on gallery walls. The new MCC Art Gallery, located on the college’s Dobson campus at 1833 West…
Local arts advocates are fuming because Governor Doug Ducey’s proposed executive budget for the 2017 fiscal year doesn’t include a $2 million allocation requested by Arizona Commission on the Arts, a state agency charged with stimulating the arts, fostering public participation in the arts, and encouraging an appreciation for the state’s…
Mesa has been feeling the mural love. Just last month, international street artist El Mac (Miles “Mac” MacGregor) completed a two-story mural at Mesa Arts Center. And recently, local artists worked with residents at Park Village Apartments near University and Mesa drives to design and paint murals in a trio of…
New Times picks the best things to do in metro Phoenix from April 29 to May 1. Blue Galaxy The powerhouse duo of playwright Kim Porter and director Duane Daniels, which brought us 2011’s Munched, is generating significant buzz for the world première of Porter’s Blue Galaxy, with songs by Roger…
During a Thursday night art walk in April, people strolling through the Old Town Scottsdale, just west of Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, saw more than the Old West-inspired paintings and sculptures many people associate with the area. Scottsdale artist Geoffrey Gersten, who creates his paintings and other works in…
What happens in the studio shouldn’t always stay in the studio. Studio Visit is a monthly series that profiles artists in their studios. We ask them questions, they provide answers, and then we have a nice discussion about their work. This month: Steve Gompf, whose work is currently exhibited in…
As fans continue celebrating the legacy of Prince, FilmBar has announced a three-film tribute to the late pop culture icon who died April 21. The downtown Phoenix independent movie theater will screen Purple Rain, a popular choice among local theaters, as both Harkins Theatres and Cult Classics screened or will…
