The Legacy of Phoenix Graffiti Pioneer Pablo Luna
El Mac reflects on the influential creative output of Arizona-based graffiti innovator Pablo Luna (AKA KAPER), who spent four decades making art before his death last month.
May 06, 2022
Lynn Trimble
Curator Profile: Julio César Morales Explores Cultural Differences at ASU Art Museum
Julio César Morales explores cultural differences as senior curator for ASU Art Museum in Arizona, drawing on his binational experiences to address social justice issues through collaboration.
April 11, 2022
Review: Brad Kahlhamer: Swap Meet at SMoCA
Indigenous artist Brad Kahlhamer explores nomadic existence and hybrid identity in Swap Meet exhibition at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.
April 06, 2022
Review: Breaking Up at Phoenix Art Museum
As war, climate change, and COVID-19 dominate the headlines, Phoenix Art Museum presents Breaking Up, an exhibition featuring women artists exploring fragmentation on personal and global scales.
March 22, 2022
Work in Progress with Benjamin Timpson
Benjamin Timpson hand-cuts delicate pieces of ethically-sourced butterfly wings to create meticulous and moving portraits that explore trauma and healing while raising awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women.
March 08, 2022
Collectivity + CollaborationArizona
The Artists’ Grief Deck Helps Us Navigate Death, Trauma, and Loss
The Artists’ Grief Deck, created during the COVID-19 crisis, reveals the essential role of creative collaboration and art in helping individuals and communities move through death, grief, and trauma.
February 28, 2022
FeatureArizonaVol. 5 Collectivity + Collaboration
Honor the Space: Contemporary Dance Collaborates with Historic Architecture
CONDER/dance collaborates with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation at Taliesin West in Arizona to present new works by innovative choreographers in the Southwest.
February 25, 2022
ReviewArizonaVol. 5 Collectivity + Collaboration
Review: Mujeres Nourishing Fronterizx Bodies at MOCA Tucson
A Tucson exhibition highlights Latinx women collaborating in the borderlands, creating an ode to shared power and place that nourishes brown bodies.
February 25, 2022
Diné Filmmaker Deidra Peaches Premieres Voices of the Grand Canyon
Diné filmmaker Deidra Peaches screens documentary Voices of the Grand Canyon during Indie Film Fest 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona.
February 08, 2022
How Cahokia PHX Centers Indigenous Arts, Culture, and Collaboration
The new Cahokia PHX art space, located in the Roosevelt Row arts district in Phoenix, illuminates Indigenous arts and culture through social tech and creative collaborations.
January 24, 2022
Ten Mural Artists Making their Mark in the Southwest
Mural artists in the Southwest find inspiration in popular culture, social justice issues, and their own cultural heritage. Here’s a look at ten artists and what makes their work unique.
January 10, 2022
Work in Progress with Laura Spalding Best
Arizona artist Laura Spalding Best creates oil paintings on found objects, exploring the intersection of natural and built environments while confronting the impacts of climate change on the desert Southwest.
January 07, 2022
Better Layovers Through Airport Art
From Banksy prints in Austin to skateboard decks in Phoenix, you’ll find intriguing art at airports across the Southwest, so leave a little time for looking during your holiday travels.
December 22, 2021
Local Phoenix Metro Gift Guide
Shop local in Phoenix, where you can support Arizona artists when you buy desert-themed charcuterie boards, cactus maps, rattlesnake rattle rings, and other holiday gifts with a creative twist.
December 14, 2021
Arizona’s Black Theatre Troupe Evolves Amid its Fiftieth Season
Exploring the history, work, and significance of the Black Theatre Troupe in Phoenix as the company marks its fiftieth season milestone—and considers making changes moving forward.
November 29, 2021
Review: Temporary in Nature at Lisa Sette Gallery
Amid the escalating climate crisis, a dozen artists explore the impacts of human activity on the natural world during the Anthropocene era in Temporary in Nature at Lisa Sette Gallery.
November 19, 2021
U.S.-Mexico Binational Art Walk Brings Borderland Stories to Life
The Binational Art Walk in Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora dispels the borderlands-as-monolith myth through creative expressions.
November 11, 2021
ReviewArizonaVol. 4 Winter 2021
Review: Undoing Time: Art and Histories of Incarceration
The artists in Undoing Time: Art and Histories of Incarceration explore the relationship between visual culture and imprisonment at the Arizona State University Art Museum.
October 29, 2021
Studio VisitArizonaVol. 4 Winter 2021
Studio Visit: Diana Calderón
Raised in the borderlands, Phoenix-based artist Diana Calderón uses materials from Mexico and the U.S. to investigate her ancestral roots and immigrant experience while exploring both physical and spiritual borders.
October 29, 2021
Work in Progress with Malena Barnhart
Malena Barnhart, a Tempe-based artist who uses quirky materials like children’s stickers and party favors, looks for new ways to explore the serial obsessions that drive her creative practice.
October 21, 2021
From Bodies to Borderlands: Southwest Contemporary’s Fall 2021 Art Guide
Tucson galleries and museums are tackling an array of topics during the fall 2021 exhibition season, bringing together artists working in neon, sculpture, video, installation art, photography, and more.
October 19, 2021
Review: Four Exhibitions in Mesa Explore Visionary Arts
Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum in Arizona explores the Visionary Arts movement with exhibitions featuring Alex Grey and Allyson Grey plus several contemporary artists based in and beyond the Southwest.
October 15, 2021
Forever Becoming Highlights Young Phoenix Artists at SMoCA
Eleven young Phoenix artists explore personal trauma, marginalized communities, environmental degradation, and other markers of contemporary society at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.
October 05, 2021
Beauty Suppliers: How Merryn Omotayo Alaka and Sam Fresquez Explore Identity and Culture Through Hair
Arizona artists Merryn Omotayo Alaka and Sam Fresquez incorporate unconventional materials including synthetic hair to explore identity and culture at Phoenix’s Lisa Sette Gallery.
September 14, 2021
“It’s a Form of Soft Protest”: Ann Morton’s The Violet Protest
Ann Morton tackles divisive politics with The Violet Protest, a Phoenix Art Museum exhibition that, once deinstalled, will be mailed piecemeal to every member of the United States Congress.
September 02, 2021
Artist Adriene Jenik Puts a Human Face on Tragedy in Afghanistan
Artist Adriene Jenik puts a human face on the tragedy in Afghanistan with her Data Humanization Project, which examines the impacts of America’s militarized culture.
August 27, 2021
Social Change Drives Shifts in Graduate Arts Education Across the Southwest
Southwestern universities—including Arizona State University, the University of New Mexico, the University of Colorado Boulder, and more—are working to increase equity, interdisciplinary study, and tangible career skills in graduate arts.
August 24, 2021
Amid Voting Rights and DACA Rollbacks, Arizona Artists Revisit Good Trouble Bucket
As voting rights and the DACA immigration program took hits in Texas, Arizona artists Gloria Martinez-Granados and Joan Baron remain committed to John Lewis’s renowned call to make "good trouble."
August 18, 2021
Shifting Tempe Landscape Means More Unknowns for Arizona Artists
Pandemic precautions, new arts leadership, and the growing footprint of developers leads to uncertainty for Tempe, Arizona artists, who wonder what’s next for the local arts scene.
August 02, 2021
ArizonaFeatureVol. 3 Inhale Exhale
Kristin Bauer: Creating Space to Breathe
Kristin Bauer creates text-based artworks that explore the ways words and images influence our perspectives and interpretations of interior and exterior spaces.
July 30, 2021
