Visual Arts

​by David Quan, aka Luster KaboomClick on the image (or right here) for a full-size version…

For those creative types who thrive in the last minute (we’re talking in the next two days), there’s money to be made. The Arizona Commission of the Arts funds the ideas and projects of individual artists through Artist Project Grants — up to $5,500 for research and development in any…

First Friday, Final Friday, First Friday After First Friday — turns out, we love art every Friday. And this Friday (which happens to be Third Friday) is no different. There’s a ton of openings, receptions, celebrations and last chances to see some really great shows. We’ve picked seven that you’ll…

Tempe artists Mary Ann Rodriguez-Veatch and Gina Santi were strangers when they were paired up to collaborate on an exhibit at the Tempe Public Library. The two women come from different mediums — Santi, a photographer, and Rodriguez-Veatch, a painter. After seeing their exhibit “Heart & Soul,” the pairing seems…

Remember back in August when there was a rash of Calls to Artists?We covered the Phoenix Sister Cities International Competition for Artists with Disabilities with a deadline of October 1.The deadline has been extended to November 1. (See contest details after the jump.)…

photo by Claire LawtonStickers done by various artists collage the front counter at Wet Paint in Tempe. ​Wet Paint Artist Supply in Tempe is a second home to a number of artists, art students, and art fanatics who stop by to ogle at the new spray paint display owner Jessica…

“rachel’s tiny show” is a departure in size, but not in beauty, for Rachel Bess. The solo exhibition opens Friday night with a Third Friday artist reception, and features a new series of Bess’ oil paintings. But there’s a twist: they’re miniature portraiture paintings that all measure three inches in…

Artist Colin Chillag keeps the titles to his new portrait paintings, now on display through October 30 at Pravus Gallery, refreshingly simple. Most are either labeled Portrait of a Man or Portrait of a Woman and, in one case, Portrait of a Man and Woman. But that’s where all simplicity…

You know it’s October when we can start to redesign, re-open and dedicate public outdoor parks again (whew). Tomorrow night, the City of Phoenix and the Phoenix Office of Cultural Affairs will dedicate a new-and-improved Harmon Park, at Fourth Avenue and Yavapai Street in Phoenix. The park is part of…

If there are two things Silvana Salcido Esparza can promise for tonight, they’re kickass cocktails and badass art. Since early September, Esparza’s been gathering artists, donations and wall space along 16th Street in Phoenix (where her restaurant, Barrio Cafe, is located). Tonight, she’s all about selling … and celebrating a…

Comic by David Quan, aka Luster KaboomClick on the image (or right here) for a full-size version​…

We’ll admit: We’re kind of nuts about maps, and ASU Art Museum in Tempe just came out with a really good one. It’s a guide to Open For Business — the museum’s community-wide installation project — which kicks off tonight with a free opening reception from 7 to 9 p.m….

http://www.losanjealous.com/nfc/​Bil Keane, a Phoenix comic, started drawing Family Circus in 1960. Friedrich Nietzsche, a 19th-century German philosopher, never wrote a comic or lived in Phoenix. But we have LosAnjealous.com to thank for their meeting. Keane’s Family Circus is no stranger to getting hijaked. Before the Nietzsche Family Circus, Greg Galcik…

Editor’s note: This story has been edited for clarity and accuracy since its initial publication. Long before it was fashionable (or commercially profitable), interdisciplinary artist Angela Ellsworth must have consulted some seer stones before she decided to focus on her well-rooted Mormon ancestry as subject matter for her art. Seer…

It’s about time Phoenix sees some serious mural love. In the interest of giving credit to their artists and because we’re losing track of the times we’ve said, “Woah, when did that go up?”, we bring you Mural City, a series on the murals springing up around town — their…

Big Gus, a big-timer in the Los Angeles-area tattoo scene, will be inking folks on a walk-in and appointment basis from today through this Saturday at Mesa’s Urban Art Tattoo & Piercing. The self-taught, award-winning tattooist works out of Art Junkies in Hesperia, California, where he specializes in blackline, portraiture,…

First Friday this October was a strange beast. The street closures haven’t returned, but a few old staples of First Fridaydom that have been absent during the summer are back in full swing. Wandering the streets we couldn’t help but notice (and groan at) the street-preaching megaphone wars and subsequent…

Comic by David Quan, aka Luster KaboomClick on the image (or right here) for a full-size version​…

Beginning next week on Wednesday, Oct. 6 (and continuing every Wednesday, save for November 10, through November 17), Falk will be teaching a class dubbed “Beginning Oil Painting with a Focus on Realism” at the Scottsdale Artists’ School, 3720 North Marshall Way. The class is open to beginning and intermediate…

In a world where good forces are surrounded by dark ones, eight people each found one person he or she worshiped. Each New Times contributor (the worshiper), was given the opportunity to sit down, ask a few questions and share the story of his or her hero (the worshiped) as…

We blogged last week about the Phoenix Design Week poster contest. The Design Week website announced the winner, but we thought we’d also share: Mike Giles, phxdw.com/posters​ You can check out Mike Giles’ design up close and personal at AIR, 3419 E University Drive, now through Oct. 1. Twenty posters…

Forrest Solis reads children’s books — more specifically antiquated children’s lesson books — a little differently. The Phoenix artist and ASU Assistant Professor of Art will be showcasing her painted reactions to these books in her latest exhibition, “Acting Out: Prescribed Lessons” at the Artlink A. E. England Gallery Oct…