8 Free Things to Do This Week in Metro Phoenix

Calling all broke art lovers! This week you can go to Phoenix artist Nissa Kubly’s work, the SMoCA Opening Reception, and “Digital Desert” exhibition. Best part? It won’t cost you a cent. For more things to do, visit Phoenix New Times’ calendar.

Nissa Kubly
Phoenix artist Nissa Kubly felt free after getting her first camera as a child: “I could take my own pictures, and no one could tell me what to do.” Today, she makes small-scale jewelry and cameras, which she’ll be showing during a June solo exhibition called “Studio Work: Arizona Images” at Practical Art, 5070 North Central Avenue. “All my work relates back to the creatures and habitats of the desert,” Kubly says.

The artist also draws inspiration from historical and scientific instruments. Visit the Practical Art website. Lynn Trimble

“Composition/Decomposition”
Artist Joseph Clayton Mills found an intriguing way to blend his passions for music, literature, and art. Often, his paintings and encaustic works include marks made on musical scores and book covers. You can get a good look from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. inside the Fletcher Library at ASU West, 4701 West Thunderbird Road in Glendale, where he’s showing about 40 pieces, including music-related ephemera, in a free exhibition called “Composition/Decomposition.” It’s on view through Wednesday, June 6.

“My work is basically about the process of composition and the materiality of the texts,” Mills says. It’s meant to reflect the specificity of things, and show that so-called errors that creep into texts aren’t really errors. “They’re all part of the creative process,” he says. Visit the ASU event page. Lynn Trimble

Body and Soul: An American Bridge
The jazz standard “Body and Soul” has been recorded by everyone from Louis Armstrong to Billie Holiday and even as a duet featuring Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse. The documentary Body and Soul: An American Bridge explores why the song has captivated audiences and musicians for over nine decades. Not only has the song challenged the most dexterous of melodic improvisers and influenced the bebop genre, but the film shows how the track has served as a cultural bridge between African-Americans and the Jewish community.

This special screening begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 5, at Cutler-Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center, 122 East Culver Street. This is a free event. For more information, visit the Arizona Jewish Historical Society website. Jason Keil

“Circle/Squared”
Gallerist Lisa Sette decided to play with the circle shape for her summer exhibition, a group show called “Circle/Squared” that continues through Friday, August 25, inside her semi-subterranean gallery located at 210 East Catalina Drive. Featured artists reward viewers who linger to look thoughtfully.

What looks from afar like a lovely Chinese landscape reveals detritus wrought by rampant industrialization when viewed more closely. An apparent portrait of a woman by a bassinet actually sets the woman beside an animal who shares one of her physical characteristics.

See the free exhibit between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 5. Visit the Lisa Sette website. Lynn Trimble

Baseball in the Attic
Michael Osacky is hosting sort of an Antiques Roadshow for sports fans on Wednesday, June 6, from noon to 3 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express, 620 North Sixth Street. Forbes magazine calls Osacky “the dean of the candy company’s (Cracker Jacks) baseball card historians.” Osacky operates Baseball in the Attic, which buys and appraises baseball cards and other sports and entertainment memorabilia. (Still have those “Mars Attacks” cards?) He said he’s been collecting since his grandfather gave him a box of old baseball cards when he was a teenager.

He’ll appraise your vintage stuff for free, but only by appointment. You can sign up at the Baseball in the Attic website or by emailing him at michael@baseballintheattic.com. Stuart Warner

SMoCA Opening Reception
Forget those misconceptions about museums being stuffy places, where silence is golden and fun feels forbidden. Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, 7374 East Second Street, Scottsdale, is throwing a free opening reception for its new crop of summer exhibits, complete with cash bar, and art that inspires lively conversation. It’s happening from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, June 8. It’s casual, and you needn’t be an art nerd to enjoy it.

Show up, and you’ll be one of the first to see “Lydia Okumura: Situations,” which explores more than four decades of the artist’s geometric abstractions, created using materials such as stainless-steel wire mesh, string, glass, and acrylic paint.

It’s also a chance to check out Refik Anadol’s immersive Infinity Room, and an exhibition of more than 130 animal-inspired works. “Wild Thing: Adventures with the Permanent Collection” includes pieces by renowned artists such as Alexander Calder, plus several Arizona creatives. Visit the SMoCA website. Lynn Trimble

Desert Caravan Belly Dance and Drum Circle
Every second Saturday of the month, Daddy-O’s Grill, 4163 West Thunderbird Road, hosts the Desert Caravan Belly Dance and Drum Circle. This month’s theme and edition is titled Bollywood Bazaar and takes place from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 9. The Dancers of DeNile have been belly dancing since 2002, combining genres like American cabaret, tribaret, and improvisational tribal style belly dance. From beginners to professionals, children to adult, The Dancers of DeNile train local belly dancers of all skill level through classes in six-week sessions. Daddy-O’s monthly show allows the dancers to demonstrate their progress to an audience with live music.

For more information, visit the Dancers of DeNile website. The event is free, family-friendly, and open to the public. Tanner Stechnij

“Digital Desert”
There’s nothing garden variety about Phoenix artists Mary Shindell and Jimmy Fike, whose photographs and drawings put a fresh spin on desert plant life. Shindell combines topography from other planets with Arizona botanicals. Fike photographs plants, then embellishes their edible components with pops of color. Both use digital technology to modify their images, with vastly different but equally beautiful results. See how each creates a distinct aesthetic using digital techniques in the “Digital Desert” exhibition at Tempe Public Library, 3500 South Rural Road.

You can check out the free exhibit from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 10. Visit the Tempe Center for the Arts website. Lynn Trimble