COVID-19 called for drastic innovations in technology. The health-care field stepped up to the plate.
Alison Cutler, Author at PHOENIX magazine
The PHiXStudio Session with Sculptor Curt Mattson
Alison CutlerNovember 17, 2021
Curt Mattson knows horses better than the back of his clay-dusted hands. His distinctive sculptures of the animals are a testament to his childhood growing up on ranches along the West Coast. Mattson realized in his late 20s that life on the range would soon render him broke – or broken – and turned to art as another expression of his investment in the life of cowboys. His clay sculptures dig beyond the flesh of...
Glove It CEO Karen Gleason has fashion down to a tee – literally. Gleason moved from her hometown in South Dakota to study fashion merchandising at Arizona State University and later started a jewelry business in New York City. On an unsuspecting day at the golf range, she was inspired by a plain, boring old glove. “I looked at the glove and thought, ‘This just doesn’t cut it. We need to do something about this,’”...
The PHiXTatum Luoma’s Cross-Country RV Trip
Alison CutlerOctober 7, 2020
The pandemic didn’t stop Scottsdale public relations professional Tatum Luoma and her family from going on an adventure. In fact, Luoma says it’s one of the reasons they went. She and husband Eric Luoma, owner of Best of the Valley winner Cactus Flower Florists, picked up an RV the day before they set out on a road trip with their two young sons. They drove through Arizona to Montana and back again, visiting four national...
The PHiXVisit Tortilla Flat this Halloween
Alison CutlerOctober 7, 2020
If you’re craving creakin’ wood floors, dust on your soles, hair-raising history or the Wild West in general, look to the Superstition Mountains. With Halloween around the corner, the tiny mountain town of Tortilla Flat – current population: six – has stories to last you days around a campfire. Katie Ellering and her husband, Chris Field, took over operations of the town and its restaurant, saloon, museum, mercantile and country store in September 2019. “There’s...
The PHiX3 Places to Go in Park City, Utah This September
Alison CutlerSeptember 1, 2020
This mountaintop town has a new bistro, lodge and quarantine-friendly frivolity. Courchevel Bistro Named after Park City’s sister city in the French Alps, this bistro emerged out of the pandemic to bring Park City French cuisine and has already been named one of the Top 20 New Restaurants in the World by CNN Travel. Executive chef Clement Gelas, originally from Boëge, France, turns out dishes like Arctic char bouillabaisse and Dover sole. The Lodge at...
The PHiXStart School Strong: Five Tech Tips for Online Students and Their Families
Alison CutlerAugust 31, 2020
Online school isn’t always easy. According to a recent Gallup poll, 49 percent of parents are concerned that coronavirus could affect their child’s education, especially since so many have transitioned to an online module. Even though they can be isolating, your child’s high-tech classes don’t have to feel so lonely. There is an abundance of resources to help kids and their families navigate their digital instruction this year. It can be difficult to know where...
The PHiXShopping: Kayser Ceramics
Alison CutlerAugust 28, 2020
Oregon native Elliott Kayser has one foot in the city, one in the fields and both hands in the clay. He’s been doing ceramics since age 10 and dedicated his life to it. “I kind of just fell in love with it, right away.” Kayser says. Between his bachelor of fine arts degree from Alfred University and his master’s degree in ceramics at Arizona State University, Kayser immersed himself into the agricultural scene while working...
PeopleWhat’s in Your…Gym Bag? with Spencer Tatum
Alison CutlerAugust 27, 2020
Here’s an inside look at what helps Tatum Human Performance founder Spencer Tatum stay on his toes.
Paradise Valley painter Eric Weinbrenner has always thrived on creative productivity. The Massachusetts native started a trucking company in Colorado before moving to Phoenix in 1997 to work in real estate. After he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in November 2019, Weinbrenner found yet another passion to throw himself into: painting. “I wasn’t going to sit there,” he says. “I’m a Type A personality. I decided I’m going to take the disease and...
Reports of COVID-19 in Asia were increasing when Jennifer Adler boarded the plane to Thailand this winter. “I almost canceled the trip three times,” she says. “I was checking the number of cases in Thailand every single day.” In the end, it all worked out. Adler spent her last few pre-quarantine weeks on beaches that looked like they were peeled off magazine covers. “It ended up being the most magical experience,” she says. From snorkeling...
If you have cleaned your car since the pandemic started, you may be ahead of the curve. According to an Expedia group study, one third of Americans only clean their car once a year and 12 percent don’t clean it at all. It doesn’t take a pandemic to threaten hygiene in your car, though. In fact, the National Center for Biotechnology Information released a study which found that steering wheels can be four times dirtier...
PHXTogetherThe PHiXFrom Vacation to Staycation: How Airbnb is Catering to Life in Quarantine
Alison CutlerJuly 9, 2020
Changes in travel industries due to COVID-19 are visible across the country – including Phoenix. One widespread business in local’s backyards faced a questionable future: Airbnb. However, despite travel restrictions and a crescendo of concern from authorities, visitors kept coming. Even though Airbnb has taken a financial hit from coronavirus, many are still in demand and are appealing to visitors in a different way. Alessandro Rugge is a local co-host and has witnessed the changes...
The PHiXFashion: Couture Aprons
Alison CutlerJuly 9, 2020
Roxane Kyte’s biggest joy in life is being a mother. When her four daughters grew up and their friends started getting married, she found herself making aprons for their bridal showers. “My daughter, Brittany [Dishner], suggested we start selling them,” Kyte says. She was skeptical at first. “There were already thousands of aprons on the market,” she says. “I said, ‘If we’re going to do this, we have to be completely different.’” And Couture Aprons...
Desert DigestPHXTogetherFrom the Kitchen to the Canvas: A Local Charity Collaboration
Alison CutlerJune 30, 2020
Paradise Valley creator Shanna Israel considers herself somewhat of an artistic chameleon. She blends into each of her pieces to let the story behind them converse with the audience. “You’ll never know that my pieces come from the same person,” Israel says. One recurring theme is impossible to squander in all her artwork, though – the purpose behind it. Israel often collaborates with other people in the Phoenix community to produce story-based art and raise...