If the quality of the art exhibitions that have opened during this early part of the new year are indicators of what to expect from area galleries and museums in 2016, then we are in for an exceptional year. Of these recent openings, one of the most powerful is Betye Saar’s Still Tickin’, which opened at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) on January 30.
Humans have fabricated pottery since some ancient knucklehead threw a ball of mud in the embers. When that clay was stone-hard by morning, a sharper friend had an epiphany, and ceramics was born. Over generations, artisans improved on functional clay containers by making them gorgeous. Now, your locally-made ceramic gem is calling you.
Still life aside, nudes and landscapes are among the most prevalent subjects in art. From Degas and Dalí to Andy Warhol and Thomas Kinkade, nearly every famous artist – whether painter, sculptor or photographer – has depicted the human body or our natural surroundings.
Let’s face it: Your office needs more than a computer, a desk, a thirsty plant and a few random mementos. It needs walls that tell a story – your story.
Each December, thousands of people flock to Miami Beach for Art Basel’s large-scale, self-titled exhibition presenting modern and contemporary art. The organization has been hosting art events since its inception in 1970, and the Miami Beach fair began in 2002. That inaugural event featured nearly 300 galleries from around the world and drew in a crowd of nearly 100,000 people, a big mix of whom were art collectors, gallerists, artists, and members of the media.
Along with losing weight and eating healthfully, saving money is one of the top New Year’s resolutions for 2016. Counting pennies usually means cutting down on daily extravagances like morning lattes and trading nights on the town for Netflix and chill.
You only need one look at Deborah Hodder’s current exhibition at downtown’s Five15 Arts Gallery to completely understand its title: Entangled. The show features the artist’s figurative ceramic sculptures, many of which fuse together multiple subjects into one piece.
Street art is a hard route to fame. While Shepard Fairey (of the OBEY campaign), Keith Haring and anonymous British graffiti artist Banksy all burst into the limelight with their surreptitiously scrawled designs, most street artists hide under cover of night. Their works are constantly in danger of damage, or repainting by taggers and city clean-up crews.
Larry McLaughlin’s little dog sculptures think they’re big. Larry has a pack of “untitled” canine critters about 10 inches high and maybe a foot long. (The dachshund’s specs officially wiggle in a couple of inches longer.)
Opening an art gallery can be an adventurous undertaking. For fine artist and designer Jeff Zischke, who opened Art | Object, a gallery and showroom, in October, it’s also an exciting addition to his already hearty list of career activities.
Rain or shine, the Tempe Festival of the Arts will take over Tempe’s Mill Avenue District for a three-day extravaganza of art, food, wine, beer and entertainment December 4-6.
Though it has been quietly open since April, the Ed Mell Gallery made its presence more official with an inaugural public reception on November 7.
Tell Arizona native artist Chad Little something can only happen “when pigs fly,” and he'll show you a pig flying – specifically, the winged oinker in his cleverly titled painting “The Swine Flew.”
The ungulate art is part of Little's animal-centric art show “Dogs, Frogs & Flying Hogs.” The exhibit, on display at the Cattle Track Arts Compound in Scottsdale through November 28, benefits Valley nonprofit Altered Tails, a clinic specializing in high-quality, low-cost spay/neuter services.
Artist Kathy Taylor listens to her canvases. Her abstract horse paintings emerge from her acrylic washes, paper and ink and, to hear her tell it, of their own accord. These stunning equine depictions conjure themselves with desert themes, the Old West and Native American myth.
Phoenix-based artist Tom Deadstuff found his macabre little niche late in life. Nearly two decades after dropping out of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh—and after turning 40 – Deadstuff started making zombie piñatas, and then transitioned to crafting sculptural dolls out of papier-mâché.
Local artist Randy Slack – co-founder of artist collective 3CarPileUp and curator of the annual “Chaos Theory” exhibit – has always felt a strong connection to California. An avid surfer, he’s as much at home on the waves as he is in the vintage VW bus he travels in.
Propelling the metro Phoenix art scene up a welcome notch, the new Tieken Gallery is elegant and visually stunning. Conveniently located a few yards from artist Fred Tieken's home art studio (the gallery is in his backyard) at 52nd Street and Gold Dust, this space is definitely a gratifying addition to our community.
With more than four million residents, Phoenix is one of the country’s largest metropolitan areas (as of the 2013 census, it still held the #6 spot). Yet despite our gorgeous winters, the Valley is missing a few hallmarks of other go-to vacation destinations – most notably, a major theme park.
If you’re interested in seeing a “visual spectacle,” attend Scottsdale Community College Sculpture Department’s “Annual Fall Iron Pour: KOJI XI.”
The iron pour, staged by SCC residential faculty member and sculptor Ted Uran, enables students to collaborate with Arizona State University art students and educators and sculptors who attend from across the country and beyond. In preparation for the event, Uran’s sculpture students prepare a wax casting to create a cast iron piece.
Home tours are chockablock in the Valley of the Sun, and for good reason – whether it's mid-century marvels or lavish dream homes, we have a lot of stylish nests here to explore.
Man caves deserve great art on the cave walls. Unfortunately, those men who hibernate in their caves tend to suffer from some degree of taste impairment. If you have a man cave, show this blog to someone you truly trust to help you decorate.
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