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.
Here’s a tip: Have your kids toss those heartthrob-of-the-moment or sports-hero-of-the-moment images. Bag those kitschy decorations, or just give ‘em away.
Art and wine have been entwined for centuries – natural creative bedfellows whose mutual consumption, some might say, enhances the experience of both. Curt Dunham and Peggy Fiandaca live and breathe both art forms, manifested in their Scottsdale wine gallery, where visual art blends seamlessly with the oenological art produced by their vineyard and winery in the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona.
June’s E3 video and computer gaming trade show had gaming die-hards salivating over the upcoming releases of Fallout 4 and Horizon: Zero, in which robot animals are the dominant species. Shortly after, comedy sci-fi flick Pixels hit theaters to remind gamers where it all began – with centipedes, laser cannons and four unfriendly ghosts chasing a giant yellow beast.
Robots have rocked and socked their way back onto the sci-fi scene this year, thanks to box office blockbusters like Disney’s Big Hero 6, Chappie and Ex Machina—the latter of which was a creepy sneak peek at the destructive potential of artificial intelligence.
Day laborers reenact the Guatemalan Civil War in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Los Angeles in artist Yoshua Okón's acclaimed 2011 video Octopus. The laborers are also ex-guerillas and veterans of that war. The 18-minute film is, as Los Angeles Times arts critic Leah Ollman noted when Octopus was showing at L.A.'s Hammer Museum, “a heavy conceptual load,” but Mexico-born Okón is almost an auteur of agitating reenactments. His sequel to Octopus revisits another politically charged event, and uses participants of that event as the reenactors.
About 
Get your daily dose of culture with our curated picks of the best events and experiences in the Valley, from art and music to sports and the outdoors. Culture vultures can sign up for our Things to Do and VIP List newsletters for even more hip happenings.