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What does illustrator and graphic designer Stormy Nesbit do in her free time? She puts brush or pen – or, in some cases, scissors – to paper and she creates. “Art, when there are no clients involved, is where I can express myself freely,” says the Minnesota native, who earned her master’s degree in visual communication design from Arizona State University and has lived in the Valley for seven years. “No one is requesting anything...

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When the pandemic first shuttered Phoenix, Aileen Martinez began painting places she missed. An ongoing series was born, in which Martinez portrays buildings around town, giving them character, ebullient color and a deep sense of longing. Her Crescent Ballroom has airy brown bricks and pastel accents, fringed by palm trees so loose the green spills from their leaf outlines, tops almost seeming to waver. Her Pizzeria Bianco stands wistfully empty under a pink sky, structural...