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…
New Times picks the best events in metro Phoenix from April 25 through 29. For more things to do, see our curated online calendar. Diamondbacks vs. Cardinals Baseball has many rules, most of them not having anything to do with actual gameplay: Don’t step on the pitcher’s mound. Never mention a…
If you’ve made your way through Roosevelt Row recently, you’ve no doubt noticed that its urban landscape has undergone significant changes in recent months – due in large part to multi-story residential complexes. Soon one more, an apartment building called Proxy 333, will join the mix. It’s a 118-unit, six-story urban…
We’re fortunate in metro Phoenix to have several art venues with robust offerings in fine-art photography – including Tilt Gallery in Scottsdale and Art Intersection in Gilbert. And First Friday regulars know they can typically get a photo fix at Drive-Thru Gallery and Bokeh Gallery in Roosevelt Row — or…
Tempe artist Danielle Wood stood near her newest art installation on Sunday morning, April 17, talking about her work with people taking a bicycling tour of public art in Scottsdale. Several of her ceramic works, inspired by cactus and coral forms, comprise an installation called Desert Playa located in Old…
A crisp white sheet that’s hung like fresh laundry using wooden clothespins bears three carefully embroidered letters: KKK. It’s placed behind a small wooden ironing board, its flat surface bearing the diagram of a crowded slave ship cargo hold. Nearby, a white dress hangs above a small chair holding the…
New Times picks the best things to do in the Phoenix area from Monday, April 18, through Thursday, April 21. Crossfade LAB When the CALA Alliance and ASU Art Museum announced that they would team up with help from Casandra Hernandez, we knew that the Valley was in for some stellar…
Love is in the air, and here in the Valley of the Sun, wedding season is more of a year-round thing. While we can’t tell you what dress to wear, who should be on the guest list, or whether you should write your own vows, we can point you in the right direction of where to put it all together. Between museums, resorts, and art galleries, there are plenty of prime places to put a ring on it in metro Phoenix. Here are our top 25.
Daniel Schay cornered me at a cocktail party a few years ago. Usually, encounters between myself and theater people don’t go well, and often involve a thespian telling me how disappointed they are in my recent critique of their work. But not Dan, who died suddenly last Thursday. Dan wanted…
To read poet Marilyn Hacker’s work is to enter a landscape both wild and artfully contained, where classic forms of poetry are no longer emissaries from a lost world of meticulous manners and pristine hosiery, but are transformed into a call for dynamic action or a lament for fallen revolutionaries…
Give your best scissors and most beloved camera a long, hard look before you head out to see the new crop of exhibitions opening on Third Friday this month. Because you might be amazed by what some local artists have accomplished using these tools most of us tend to take…
Spring is usually a cinematic wasteland. Oscar season is almost a year away, and the glut of bloated summer action flicks hasn’t started its assault on our senses (Batman v. Superman aside). The Phoenix Film Festival fills in the gaps, in the best ways possible, starting on Thursday, April 7, with…
April’s First Friday in Phoenix was bustling as people descended on downtown to check out the latest Fortoul Brothers show in their 40 Owls pop-up gallery, hit a MOD-AZ show at Chartreuse that helped to usher in Modern Phoenix Week, and explore shoes decked out in everything from rhinestones to…
New Times picks the best things to do from Monday, April 4, to Thursday, April 7. The Circus Let us blow your mind: For 16 years, GateWay Community College has shared its film program with the general public a couple of times a year. In tandem with the Valley of the…
When Roosevelt Row landed on the radar of the Arizona Legislature earlier this year, it seemed like everyone knew (or thought they knew) what was best for the area, which is recognized as one of the country’s top neighborhoods and art districts. The Phoenix City Council voted on January 20 to…
In an urban landscape dominated by billboards, fast food signs, and other uninspiring fare, it’s nice to stumble on a nice work of public art now and then. Public art reminds us that there’s more to life than logos and taglines. And the Valley just happens to be one of…
