My grandmother makes wedding cakes for a living. The cakes are always delicious, but it’s their decorative aspects I’ve alway found fascinating. The tiers are pilled high, seemingly in defiance of gravity, and the sugary coating looks impossibly smooth, like untouched snow. When I first walked into “Domesticated,” Carrie Marill’s…
What goes up must come down, or so the saying goes. In the case of a recent wheatpaste piece by El Peezo, the comedown was quick. The anonymous Phoenix artist put up a wheatpaste rendition of a Jeeves-ian butler on an exterior wall at Bentley Projects on the evening of…
After my first visit to see “Rhythm and History” at the ASU Art Museum, I returned home and immediately began Googling. As its name explicitly states, the exhibition is entrenched in history. Yet I left feeling the gaps in my own historical knowledge exposed rather than filled, as I might…
Contrary to popular belief, you have to be neither an artist nor a child to take an art class. You might not be the next Monet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun honing your painting technique. From sand casting to alternative printing, the art classes in metro Phoenix…
Look past the sad stucco homes and the nondescript strip malls and you’ll see that Phoenix is actually home to some top-notch architecture. From Midcentury Modern to downtown Art Deco and early 20th century Queen Anne cottages, here are our 10 favorite structures in metro Phoenix…
Third Friday’s here, Phoenix. Here are three shows not to miss tonight. “Sugar Cookies” When one artistic medium overlaps another, the result can be pretty sweet. Such is the case for the spring exhibition “Sugar Cookies.” This mixed-media collaboration combines words with images from Florida-based artist Jenny Odom, who used…
Longtime Phoenix Art Museum director James Ballinger has announced plans to retire, according to a museum press release issued Thursday, April 17. He has requested that the museum’s board of trustees begin searching for his replacement. Once that replacement has been selected, Ballinger will retire…
There are few people in popular music today as prolific as Robert Pollard. Pollard is best known as the leader of the influential indie rock band Guided by Voices, lo-fi legends whose albums are densely packed with pocket-sized exercises in hooky rock magic, and he’s also released a steady stream…
Nestled nestled between its best neighborhoods and its up-and-coming ones, Phoenix has its fair share of renovated retro residences. Thanks to Phoenix preservationists and community events like the Modern Phoenix Home Tour, Arizona’s Atomic Age architecture is getting the recognition it deserves. Case in point: California-based HÔM Sotheby’s The Haverkate…
Three Southwest artists collaborated on a mural for Por Vida Gallery’s new wall, built to showcase artists’ works by rotating new murals through every few months. Phoenix-based artist Thomas “Breeze” Marcus collaborated with Tucson’s Dwayne Manuel and Jaime “Vyal” Reyes from Los Angeles during the Paint PHX weekend in March…
After working for years as the director of secondary market, John A. Reyes has been named director of Bentley Gallery, taking over many of the duties previously held by gallery owner Bentley Calverley. “I was delighted to be a pioneer in moving gallery operations to Phoenix 10 years ago and…
Modern Phoenix’s 2014 home tour found Midcentury Modern fans trekking through greater Arcadia on Sunday, April 6, to take a peek into homes with vintage (and curb) appeal. With 16 residential stops and a nice sampling of Arizona’s most notable architects, including Paolo Soleri, Al Beadle, and Ralph Haver, the…
First Friday heats up tonight with creative works going up all over the city. Here are our picks for shows not to miss this evening. “Librería Donceles” This exhibition comes to Arizona via the ASU Art Museum International Artist Residency Program. Artist Pablo Helguera, who is also the director of…
Artlink needs a hand. The downtown Phoenix arts organization, which presents mega-artwalk Art Detour each year, issued a call for volunteers to help out with arty events like First Friday…
Artist Douglas Miles combined stenciling and hand-drawn imagery to create his new mural on the east wall of the MonOrchid Gallery on Roosevelt Street. Miles, who owns Apache Skateboards, incorporated five black-and-white portraits, including a self-portrait of himself, on the mural in the parking lot alley next to MonOrchid, where…
Contemporary murals are having quite the year in Phoenix. On Friday, March 28, a who’s who of Phoenix, including big wigs from Bank of America, Valley of the Sun United Way, Mayor Greg Stanton and Councilwoman Kate Gallego joined Native American Connections to open the Stepping Stone Place, a permanent,…
On Thursday, March 27, Phoenicians gathered under a cloud-streaked sky in the downtown sector. Some sprawled amongst the grass, others chased their children while still more stood, beer in hand, facing the stage. It wasn’t a rock concert or a festival — not yet anyway. That would be March 28…
After 28 years on Marshall Way, Lisa Sette is leaving Scottsdale for midtown Phoenix. Lisa Sette Gallery will host one last show — “Domesticated,” featuring paintings by Carrie Marill, opening Thursday, April 3, in Scottsdale — before packing up and moving this summer to a renovated Al Beadle building near…
Winners of the 2014 Arizona Governor’s Art Awards were announced Tuesday, March 25, during a ceremony held at Mesa Arts Center. Presented by Arizona Citizens for the Arts in partnership with the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the Office of the Governor, the awards honor both individuals and businesses…
Yatika Starr Fields, an artist currently in transition from New York City to Los Angeles, made a stop in Phoenix for the early March mural event Paint PHX to create Sonoran Waltz a new mural on 16th Street. Fields, a friend of local artists Thomas “Breeze” Marcus and Douglas Miles,…
New Times photographers were out and about at art and cultural events in Phoenix this past weekend. Phoenix Festival de Espana at Phoenix Center for the Arts Phoenix Center for the Arts was transformed into a center for Spanish culture on Saturday, March 22 for the Phoenix Festival de Espana…
It might be difficult to imagine a favorite Dr. Seuss book covered in graffiti or a Lorax tagging the pages and adding street art to the sweet, quirky illustrations. But that image is exactly what you’ll find in one of Grand Avenue’s newest murals. The parking lot wall of Bragg’s…
