ARTIST OF THE MONTH
Artist Matt Magee recalls returning from field trips with his geologist/archeologist father and fastidiously lining up his finds. That same meticulous attention to order runs through his paintings, which often incorporate grids and graphs. “I’ve never been a loose abstract painter,” Magee says. “I like clean edges.”
Muralists and mosaicists help Sky Harbor’s new METRO Light Rail connection take flight.
Airport art, like airport food, has an unflattering reputation. However, that stigma is quickly fading at Phoenix Sky Harbor, where $5.6 million in commissions have turned the airport’s recently unveiled PHX Sky Train system into a veritable gallery of high-design terrazzo flooring, funky overhead art and well-appointed pedestrian bridges. Coupled with the new wave of terminal-based gourmet local restaurants at Sky Harbor, the Sky Train art walk makes for an edifying commute – even if you don’t have a boarding pass.
Walk into Bipolar – a provocative new exhibit at Mesa Arts Center – and you might feel obliged to get a little crazy. Collaborating artists Albert Kogel and Alice Leora Briggs have conjured a space that mimics an insane asylum, down to ominous iron bars created by a welder who built and runs a mental institution in Juarez, Mexico. Occupying two opposing U-shaped walls, the exhibit also features psychically-charged paintings by the dementia-dabbling duo. The...
ARTIST OF THE MONTH
In 1991, Ron Burns turned to painting as an artistic respite from his dog-eat-dog corporate career in marketing and design. Looking down at his beloved mutt, the self-taught artist found his muse. “I was looking for something I could paint that would inspire me for the rest of my life,” says Burns, 58, whose Burns Studio is based in Scottsdale. “When I started, no one else was doing it. It was like a new art movement.”
For our third annual reader photo contest, “On the Road,” you submitted fantastic photos from around the state.
Embrace your inner honky-tonker at the Valley’s newest country bar, The Western. Located at “Cowboys and Indian School” in Old Town Scottsdale, this live-music-deluged watering hole aims to conjure the dirty-fun essence of a vintage Texas roadhouse, complete with an oak dance floor big enough for a legion of line-dancers. Nightlife mogul Tucker Woodbury and music promoter Charlie Levy, who previously collaborated on the Crescent Ballroom,
For Annie Lopez, creating art is a way to neutralize her inner demons. Call it art as exorcism. “If something bad is going on, I put it in my artwork, hang it on the wall and release it,” says Lopez, who took solace in her craft after the death of her first son. “It lightens my burden.”
ARTIST OF THE MONTH
A herd of 14 deer have taken over an empty lot in Downtown Phoenix. The life-sized animals are part of artist Lauren Strohacker’s ongoing attempt to reconnect man and nature by creating imagined habitats lost in the wake of human expansion. The sculptural installation, titled “Encounter,” is located at 408 E. Roosevelt St. and is part of InFlux, a temporary public art project.
ARTIST OF THE MONTH
“Whispers of a New World: Sculpture by Carolina Escobar” features abstract caricatures of desert plants such as saguaros and barrel cactuses.
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The story of blues guitarist Buddy Guy as a boy...
ARTIST OF THE MONTH
Joan Dulla never dreamed she’d make a living as an artist.
ARTIST OF THE MONTH
Heidi Uotila’s art has always been a bit beastly. As a grade-schooler in Ohio, she was once disciplined for drawing animals in class. The punishment didn’t deter her. Today, the Ohio State University-trained artist focuses all of her artistic energy on animals. Art Gone Wild, an exhibit featuring more than 20 of Uotila’s handcrafted ceramic and bronze sculptures, is on view in Terminal 4 of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport through March 10. Part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Phoenix Zoo, the show includes zebras, tigers, giraffes and more, corralling a mini menagerie for air travelers.
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What do you get the art enthusiast who has everything? How about a captivating explosion of backcountry colors from Western impressionist Louisa McElwain? Or a lifelike bronze rodeo bull by sculptor Richard Loffler? Such are a few of the rugged treasures one might bag, tag and take home at West Select, an annual exhibition and art sale that runs through December 31 at the Phoenix Art Museum. Shepherding the work of 33 top contemporary artists into one sensuous stampede, the exhibition reveals an American West unsullied by industrial creep and city-slicker routine. Hey, beats another bottle of cologne. Adult tickets, $15. For more information, visit mensartscouncil.com.
ARTIST OF THE MONTH
Master framer Richard Laugharn pays the bills by creating hand-milled, custom-finished wood frames for A-list art halls, including the Phoenix Art Museum and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. But his true passion is for framing amateur or “vernacular” photographs.
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It would be overly broad to simply call Saul Williams an “artist,” but reaching for a more specific term gets tricky. As a spoken word performer, actor, writer, singer/songwriter, and contributor to the New York Times, Esquire,
