For those who frequent the bustling First and Third Friday arts scene in Phoenix, it’s easy to forget that there’s a whole world filled with intriguing art beyond the city’s boundaries. Without exploring works in other cities and towns, it’s hard to get a sense of the big picture. The…
Although tattoos were a taboo subject in most communities just over a decade ago, they’re now just casual dinner conversation for all but the most conservative groups. Gone are the days of ink being only for bikers and outlaws, with nearly every soccer mom and barista sporting back pieces and full…
New Times picks the best thing to do in metro Phoenix from Friday, May 6, to Sunday, May 8. David Cross In the 1990s, before people were willing to offer up their firstborns for your HBO GO pass to peep the medieval soap opera Game of Thrones, the network boasted some…
Despite the blustering rhetoric emanating from so many politicians these days, it’s hard to tell at times what each might actually do to address the challenges dealt with in contemporary culture. Fortunately, local artists aren’t waiting around for someone else to tackle these issues. Several exhibitions on view during First…
Long after the ASU Art Museum’s groundbreaking “New American City: Artists Look Forward” show came down in 2007, there was a vestige of painter Carrie Marill in the building, just above one of the baseboards in the women’s room — a bright little fragment of a Phoenix landscape, unobtrusive but…
Good things tend to happen on the metro Phoenix arts scene this time of year, as the Valley gets an influx of visitors, locals celebrate the onset of spring, and art students mount exhibitions highlighting their best works. Ten of our favorites works shown in April came from exhibitions in…
New Times picks the best things to do in metro Phoenix from May 2 through 5. “Student Art Show” We’ve all got hang-ups. But for art students at Mesa Community College, they’re objects presented on gallery walls. The new MCC Art Gallery, located on the college’s Dobson campus at 1833 West…
Local arts advocates are fuming because Governor Doug Ducey’s proposed executive budget for the 2017 fiscal year doesn’t include a $2 million allocation requested by Arizona Commission on the Arts, a state agency charged with stimulating the arts, fostering public participation in the arts, and encouraging an appreciation for the state’s…
Mesa has been feeling the mural love. Just last month, international street artist El Mac (Miles “Mac” MacGregor) completed a two-story mural at Mesa Arts Center. And recently, local artists worked with residents at Park Village Apartments near University and Mesa drives to design and paint murals in a trio of…
New Times picks the best things to do in metro Phoenix from April 29 to May 1. Blue Galaxy The powerhouse duo of playwright Kim Porter and director Duane Daniels, which brought us 2011’s Munched, is generating significant buzz for the world première of Porter’s Blue Galaxy, with songs by Roger…
During a Thursday night art walk in April, people strolling through the Old Town Scottsdale, just west of Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, saw more than the Old West-inspired paintings and sculptures many people associate with the area. Scottsdale artist Geoffrey Gersten, who creates his paintings and other works in…
What happens in the studio shouldn’t always stay in the studio. Studio Visit is a monthly series that profiles artists in their studios. We ask them questions, they provide answers, and then we have a nice discussion about their work. This month: Steve Gompf, whose work is currently exhibited in…
As fans continue celebrating the legacy of Prince, FilmBar has announced a three-film tribute to the late pop culture icon who died April 21. The downtown Phoenix independent movie theater will screen Purple Rain, a popular choice among local theaters, as both Harkins Theatres and Cult Classics screened or will…
New Times picks the best events in metro Phoenix from April 25 through 29. For more things to do, see our curated online calendar. Diamondbacks vs. Cardinals Baseball has many rules, most of them not having anything to do with actual gameplay: Don’t step on the pitcher’s mound. Never mention a…
If you’ve made your way through Roosevelt Row recently, you’ve no doubt noticed that its urban landscape has undergone significant changes in recent months – due in large part to multi-story residential complexes. Soon one more, an apartment building called Proxy 333, will join the mix. It’s a 118-unit, six-story urban…
We’re fortunate in metro Phoenix to have several art venues with robust offerings in fine-art photography – including Tilt Gallery in Scottsdale and Art Intersection in Gilbert. And First Friday regulars know they can typically get a photo fix at Drive-Thru Gallery and Bokeh Gallery in Roosevelt Row — or…
Tempe artist Danielle Wood stood near her newest art installation on Sunday morning, April 17, talking about her work with people taking a bicycling tour of public art in Scottsdale. Several of her ceramic works, inspired by cactus and coral forms, comprise an installation called Desert Playa located in Old…
A crisp white sheet that’s hung like fresh laundry using wooden clothespins bears three carefully embroidered letters: KKK. It’s placed behind a small wooden ironing board, its flat surface bearing the diagram of a crowded slave ship cargo hold. Nearby, a white dress hangs above a small chair holding the…
New Times picks the best things to do in the Phoenix area from Monday, April 18, through Thursday, April 21. Crossfade LAB When the CALA Alliance and ASU Art Museum announced that they would team up with help from Casandra Hernandez, we knew that the Valley was in for some stellar…
Love is in the air, and here in the Valley of the Sun, wedding season is more of a year-round thing. While we can’t tell you what dress to wear, who should be on the guest list, or whether you should write your own vows, we can point you in the right direction of where to put it all together. Between museums, resorts, and art galleries, there are plenty of prime places to put a ring on it in metro Phoenix. Here are our top 25.
Daniel Schay cornered me at a cocktail party a few years ago. Usually, encounters between myself and theater people don’t go well, and often involve a thespian telling me how disappointed they are in my recent critique of their work. But not Dan, who died suddenly last Thursday. Dan wanted…
To read poet Marilyn Hacker’s work is to enter a landscape both wild and artfully contained, where classic forms of poetry are no longer emissaries from a lost world of meticulous manners and pristine hosiery, but are transformed into a call for dynamic action or a lament for fallen revolutionaries…
