The social pressure is on to gain independence. I can’t tell you how many bitter divorced women have stressed the importance of financial and emotional autonomy to me.Of course, when I was most successful at being independent, I was pretty damn lonely. It’s a tricky game – gaining freedom without…
Just got a heads-up from Eric Iwersen, Senior Planner for the City of Tempe, that the city’s talking about preserving one of artist Rose Johnson’s murals that graces a bicycle locker at Tempe City Hall. The locker mural was executed by Johnson in 1997. Iwersen, whose job involves integrating public…
Writing a story can be disastrous if you’ve not received the proper education (just ask my editor). So if your kid is a little storyteller, likes to draw and you need a place to stick ’em for a week over the summer, local artist Cyndi Coon is your best friend.She’s…
So this whole Phx Bux idea is all over the internet. Yesterday’s report by Channel 15 has got twitter and facebook going a little nutty right now. So, of course, I gotta chime in with Arty Girl.If you haven’t heard, Phx Bux is the name of a local currency created…
Back in the late 80’s, little nine-year-old me saved my $2.50 per week allowance to buy my first cassette tape, “Faith No More: The Real Thing”. I played that thing to death on some crappy, portable tape player with one speaker. Needless to say, both the player and the cassette…
For all the talk of Rose Johnson’s good-bye fete at the Icehouse being a celebration rather than a memorial, the emotional climate at Saturday night’s send-off was more somber than sunny, as hundreds of people gathered to honor the former Phoenix artist. The Icehouse proved to be a particularly fitting…
I swear to God, if I make another, “Hey kids, with the economy being down and all…” comment on this blog, my creativity is officially tapped out.So I tread carefully as I write about MADE art boutique’s celebration of the recent, mini-recovery of the economy we’ve all barely felt with…
In the early 20th century, Marcel Duchamp stirred up controversy in the art world by displaying what he termed “readymade” art — everyday objects, like the urinal in his famous Fountain, displayed under the auspices of fine art. While some critics denounced the idea as artistic laziness, proponents argued that…
I get the feeling I’ve been pushing some early morning events on you lately and I apologize for that, I really do. But it’s summer and unless you want to go outside in devil weather, you have the choice of late evenings or early mornings for your outings (although this…
While reading this blog, please keep these catchphrases in mind:”Fake it ’til you make it.””Imitation is the highest form of flattery.””Originality is overrated.””Your living room could use some decorating.”Okay, I added that last one. I’m just trying to show that something like Phoenix Art Museum’s Archival Print Collection can work…
Yes, our state’s art budgets are in trouble – big time. But don’t panic yet. Keep cool, keep calm and keep your head because we need you out there, soldier!There’s still time to help and you can make a difference in just a few minutes without having to reach for…
If you’re new to Arty Girl, you won’t be annoyed by this blog. If you’ve been following Arty Girl, on the other hand, you might be turned off by my incessant need to write about the James Turrell Skyspace at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.I can’t help it. It’s an…
Don’t let that shoddy photoshop job fool you…this might be pretty neat.One of the biggest complaints I hear about Phoenix is its nasty little habit of going Godzilla on old buildings and replacing them with stuccoed generic strip malls. I love you, Phoenix, and you know I am always the…
Oh, First Friday…while I enjoy writing about the stuff on Roosevelt Row and Grand Ave, sometimes it just feels like the easy way out. That’s why I like to take you a little bit off the beaten path.I guess I’m just a girl who likes to keep her options open.So…
It seems that artist Rose Johnson, who died tragically in Bali on Sunday, Arizona time, as a result of alcohol adulterated with deadly methanol, touched the lives of those around her wherever she happened to be. Facebook is still buzzing over news of the artist’s bizarre death at the age…
Ghostly traces of somber Asian children’s faces are just part of the stark imagery that will haunt your dreams after seeing “Binh Danh: In the Eclipse of Angkor,” the current exhibition at Lisa Sette Gallery, open until June 27. Artist photographer Binh Danh’s photos of their anxious expressions, burned onto…
They always say “write what you know”. I think I’ll take the liberty to change that saying to “make what you know”. Consider it my gift to the world (and it works for this blog, so there ya go).Anyway, “make what you know” comes to mind when I see the…
TimesOnline, the online website for The Times of London, is reporting today that noted former Phoenix artist Rose Johnson, along with a number of other people in the past week, died in Bali from consuming arak, a type of local rice wine, tainted with methanol. According to the news report,…
The Phoenix arts community is still reeling today from news that one of its pioneers, painter and muralist Rose Johnson, 48, died yesterday, Sunday, May 31, at Sanglah General Hospital in Bali. The Jakarta Post is now reporting that Johnson most probably died from acute alcohol poisoning as a result…
Okay, folks. I’m going to blog about the Echelman piece. I know, I know…again????I realize I’ve covered the ever living being out of this sculpture, but, I also feel I’m justified to give it just a liiiittle more attention.This Friday, June 5th, put your thinking caps on for the “Civic…
There are a lot of bored people out there right now. I’m talking about the unemployed, of course (although audiences of the new Terminator movie might fit the category as well – just my opinion).Without work, one becomes under-stimulated, restless and anxious. And if you happen to be an unemployed…
In keeping with our postmodern or post postmodern (depending on your preference) world in which one must surrender to the idea of constantly referencing, well, everything that has already existed, it’s only inevitable that I, Arty Girl, would come full circle and blog about preexisting blogs.First up, remember this? It’s…
