“That’s what this piece is about,” says Tempe artist Melissa Martinez. “I went from having one of the worst times of my life to having one of the best.”The Tempe-based artist just finished installing her latest public work titled, Why Should I Be So Sad? at the Scottsdale Belle Art Tower, a main entrance…
It’s about time Phoenix sees some serious mural love. In the interest of giving credit to their artists and because we’re losing track of the times we’ve said, “Whoa, when did that go up?”, we bring you Mural City, a series on the murals springing up around town — their artists,…
After 13 years at Scottsdale Public Art (SPA), Associate Director Margaret Bruning will be leaving her position and taking a gig as Director of Civic Art for Los Angeles County Arts Commission in November. The local public art champion has made a name for herself, and one of the nation’s most comprehensive public…
Zarco Guerrero says he’s surrounded in his studio by colorful expressions in papier-mâché. The local painter, sculptor, and mask maker has been in the Valley for decades, and he’d be hard-pressed to remember a time he was busier. For the past few weeks, he’s been out supporting friends in the…
Mid-century modern maven Alison King led the first of Phoenix Design Week’s Modern Phoenix tours on Saturday. The daylong excursion is best described as a grownup field trip (complete with Capri Suns on the bus) catering to lovers of architecture, innovative design, and historic preservation. After exploring the Phoenix Financial…
There was a distinct chill in the air last night, which provided the perfect setting for the arrival of Monsterland.The Mesa haunted house and horror film museum held a special sneak preview on Wednesday night, offering a select few the chance to catch a glimpse of its undead denizens. When Monsterland’s…
Retrofitting sprawl. Latino urbanism. The evolving streetscape of greater Phoenix. These are all topics of interest at this Friday’s PURL Jam, an urban visual research exhibition hosted by the think tank (and branch of Arizona State University) Phoenix Urban Research Laboratory. The event, part of the ongoing Phoenix Design Week(s),…
Two years after a U.S. Bureau of Land Management ranger noticed graffiti on one of Tucson’s oldest archeological sites, five people have been ordered by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann DeMarais to pay more than $43,240 in damages. Johnathan Lopez, 23, Andrew Magallanes, 21, Robert Norton, 23 Cynthia Norton, 20 and…
Ted Decker smells really good. But don’t ask him what scent he’s wearing. Decker can recite the names of every one of the artists who created the more than 1,000 pieces in his private art collection, but he has no idea what his cologne is called. “It’s some kind of…
To celebrate its second year in downtown Phoenix, the Urban Grocery & Wine Bar is looking for a little color. The market is currently looking for mural concepts that “capture the essence of the Downtown Phoenix community and our mission of making good food accessible to all.” According to the official…
Imagine whirring together Circus Vargas, a downtown Phoenix botanica, Lagunilla and/or Plaza del Ángel flea market in Mexico City, and a walk down Tijuana’s Avenida Revolución during which you are beset with insistent barkers pushing stuffed frogs dressed as mariachis for “almost free.” Got it? If you can, maybe, just…
We know October is going to be a crazy month. It’s nice enough to walk (a short distance) outside, Chaos Theory and the Grand Avenue Festival are right around the corner, and we’ve been keeping our wide eyes on the growing schedule of Phoenix Design Week(s), a three now four…
If you want to catch up with Gennaro Garcia sometime this fall, you’ll want to take a look at his calendar. The local artist has seven gallery exhibitions opening before the end of the year, a few ideas in the works for the Calle 16 mural project, and his current…
Josephine Davis is one of Red Hot Robot’s youngest regular shoppers and one of Phoenix’s youngest comic book artists. The 11-year-old visits the comic/collectible toy shop on 16th Street to check out new work by a few of her favorite local artists and to convince her dad (local artist Turner Davis)…
Rough outlines, accents stripes, and shades of blue, green and hot pink splash across a brick wall at the Cesar Chavez Community School in south Phoenix. A 15-by-12 foot, cement book stands in the center, where the face of the school’s namesake will soon be carved. The mural-in-progress is a project by…
It’s about time Phoenix sees some serious mural love. In the interest of giving credit to their artists and because we’re losing track of the times we’ve said, “Whoa, when did that go up?”, we bring you Mural City, a series on the murals springing up around town — their artists,…
David Quan deals in blue ooze. You may have noticed his signature paint drips on canvases around town, and if you’ve taken a drive down Grand Avenue or Jefferson Street, you’ve likely seen them on a few façades. The local artist is a rare breed in the street art community,…
As if the lineup for the 12th installment of Chaos Theory, the annual art show/who’s who in the local art community, couldn’t get sweeter, organizer and local painter Randy Slack was nice enough to put donuts on the postcard. On October 7, the doors of Legend City Studios will open to…
With just a little less than a month to flex our creative cartography skills, Jackalope Ranch and Regular Gallery proudly announce the ten artists participating in You Are Here: a collection of maps of Phoenix: Melinda Bergman, Safwat Saleem, Angela Cazel Jahn, Marshall Shore, Sarah Hurwitz, Breeze, Sue Chenoweth, Carrie…
