Arizona`s Got an Eye for Art

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Arizona’s Got an Eye for Art
BY ROSEMARY CARSTENS
GH
N
icknamed the “Land of Sunshine” and blessed with a climate
that right about now is luring millions of people from colder
climes, the southwestern state of Arizona offers a unique blend of modern
comforts and Old West charms. Its still-wide-open landscapes shift from
arid Mexican borderlands in the south through forests of sentinel-like
saguaro cacti, stunning blood-red mesas, and rainbow-hued sedimentary mountains right up to the awesome Grand Canyon along the state’s
northern border. All along the way are enough museums and galleries to
satisfy even the most worldly art enthusiast.
rounds of openings, demonstrations, and receptions, with free shuttles
making a continuous loop among the venues. Every October, the Sedona
Arts Center hosts a plein air festival that draws landscapists from across
the country to take on the challenge of capturing the region’s spectacular
palette. And on December 10, Tlaquepaque’s Festival of Lights will again
impart some sparkle to the holiday season.
In November the Goldenstein Gallery will celebrate its tenth anniversary all month long. While there, look for Art Decker’s richly hued
paintings of mesas, buttes, and canyons thrust against startlingly blue skies,
iconic images that echo the remarkable landscape of Red Rock Country.
Lanning Gallery offers paintings, sculpture, glass, and ceramics, as well as
handmade furniture and exquisite jewelry. Jonathan Howard’s monochromatic cityscape paintings are memorable, as are the bright, mysteriously
primitive acrylics of Billy Woolway. While exploring Tlaquepaque, check
SEDONA
Located in Arizona’s spectacular Red Rock Country, Sedona is a
four-seasons community offering history, archeology, arts, adventure
sports, and a setting endowed (according to its New Age residents) with
beneficent spiritual and metaphysical qualities. Sedona’s art scene runs
the gamut from ruggedly individualistic to realist to visionary, and from
traditional Native American to cutting-edge. There are three main gallery enclaves along Highway 179: Hozho, Hillside, and the Tlaquepaque
Arts & Crafts Village. The first Friday evening of each month brings
Bruce Cody (b. 1941)
Mapping the Route
2010, Oil on canvas, 18 x 40 in.
Joan Cawley Gallery, Scottsdale
FINE ART CONNOISSEUR.COM | November/December 2011
Mario Andres Robinson (b. 1970)
Mr. Jones
2009, Graphite on paper,
16 1/4 x 21 in.
Marshall-LeKae Gallery, Scottsdale
out Mountain Trails Galleries, which handles many of the Southwest’s
most acclaimed artists. Among them, Arturo Chávez’s paintings reveal
his deep love and understanding of nature, while Vic Payne’s bronzes
bring to life dynamic narratives from the history of the Old West.
WICKENBURG
A little more than two hours south of Sedona, the 145-year-old
community of Wickenburg still evokes the Old West of our daydreams,
and its residents cherish the best traditions of those colorful years.
The collection of the Desert Caballeros Western Museum reanimates
this history through the eyes and hands of great artists past and present, including Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, Frederic Remington,
Charles M. Russell, and the Taos Society of Artists. On view is a mindboggling array of gear and memorabilia dating back to the Mexican
vaquero (cowboy) era, a Hall of History, and even a reconstruction of
an early Wickenburg street. Every March the museum hosts Cowgirl
Up! Art from the Other Half of the West, an invitational exhibition
and sale that is the world’s largest gathering of female Western artists.
This fun-filled weekend is packed with events highlighting the talented
women who create this art, including Sherry Salari Sander, whose
Young Stallions took first prize in 2010.
SCOTTSDALE
Boasting 314 sunny days per year and a dramatic desert setting, Scottsdale offers golf courses, restaurants, shopping, and a lively art scene. Main
Street is where most of the artistic activity occurs. Beginning December 1,
galleries will be decked out for the season; many will host opening receptions on December 2. Altermann Galleries & Auctioneers schedules shows
and sales year-round; next up (on March 24) is a huge auction of important
artworks at the Doubletree Paradise Valley Resort. Founded by a group of
artists, Biltmore Galleries specializes in 19th- and 20th century American
painters and sculptors. For the rest of 2011, its newly opened Biltmore East
Door will feature realists Bruce Aiken and Benjamin Wu; in the main gallery, works from the estate of R. Brownell McGrew are showcased.
Bonner David Galleries offers such top-quality artists as Brad
Aldridge and Lu Cong. Three shows are set to open in November and
December: Michael Carson’s Drawing the Figure Out; Eric Boos and
FINE ART CONNOISSEUR.COM | November/December 2011
Robert LaDuke’s A Feast for the
Eyes; and Peregrine Heathcote’s
The Path to Enlightenment.Over at
Joan Cawley Gallery is an impressive display of contemporary
works in various media, including
Bruce Cody’s Road Trip paintings
of small-town life.
For more than 20 years,
Legacy Gallery has promoted
Western legends like Frank Tenney Johnson and Carl Rungius,
as well as such contemporary
inheritors as Mary Ross Buchholz, Scott Christensen, and John
Coleman; the next edition of its
Scottsdale Art Auction (March 31)
will surely sustain this association
with superb Western art. More recently, Legacy has emerged as a leader
in contemporary realism by representing such Fine Art Connoisseur
favorites as Kathy Anderson, Bryce Cameron Liston, and Kate Sammons. This direction took clearer shape in April, when Legacy hosted
the first annual Scottsdale Salon of Fine Art, at which juror John Geraghty named Benjamin Wu Best in Show for his highly realistic scene of
Chinese village life.
Now in its 34th year, Leslie Levy Fine Art represents such talented painters as Joellyn Duesberry, Steve Hanks, Matthew Innis, and
Charles Pompilius, as well as leading sculptors like Roberto Cardinale and Vala Ola. Marshall-LeKae Gallery is deeply committed to
contemporary realism, offering such impressive works as Mario
Andres Robinson’s dazzling portraits, Anne Gregerson’s sculptures,
and Andrzej Skorut’s moody landscapes. Mitchell Brown Fine Art
offers artworks from the 19th century to the present, including the
outstanding sculptures of George Carlson. And S.R. Brennen Galleries represents such top contemporary artists as Cyrus Afsary, Michael
Klein, and Jerry Malzahn.
Featuring Soviet and Russian impressionism as well as American
realism and impressionism, Overland Gallery of Fine Art’s annual small
paintings show, The Tradition Continues, runs through year’s end. Among
the Americans showing here are G. Russell Case, David A. Leffel, Joseph
Lorusso, Ed Mell, Gary Ernest Smith, and Michael Workman. Gallery
Russia offers a diverse inventory of art from the former Soviet Union,
ranging from deceased Soviet masters to young artists just starting out.
Specializing in impressionist paintings and bronze sculptures, Scottsdale Fine Art always offers surprises; if landscapes are your passion, be
sure to find Carol Swinney’s palette-knife paintings here.
Elsewhere in town, Trailside Galleries in the Scottsdale Mall is
an ideal destination to see contemporary artists working in the Western, Native American, impressionist, figurative, landscape, and wildlife modes. The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art presents
exhibitions of cutting-edge art, architecture, and design from around
the world. If you are spending more than a few days in the area, consider taking an art class at the Scottsdale Artists’ School, which offers
instruction by an outstanding faculty and impressive facilities on
North Marshall Way.
Yana Golubyatnikova (b. 1967)
Lilacs
2007, Oil on canvas, 23 5/8 x 47 in.
Gallery Russia, Scottsdale
PHOENIX
Although Phoenix doesn’t offer the volume of galleries that neighboring Scottsdale does, its museums are certainly worth visiting. A key
example is the Phoenix Art Museum, with its rich permanent collection
and fascinating temporary exhibitions. Of particular interest (through
January 23) is a show of paintings by Rebecca Campbell (b. 1970) and
installations by Angela Ellsworth (b. 1964); both were raised as Mormons in Utah and offer fascinating takes on that culture’s distinctive
worldview. And in celebration of the 75th anniversary of Taliesin West,
Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home/studio in Scottsdale, the Phoenix Art
Museum will soon present an exhibition highlighting the organic nature
of his architectural designs (December 18-April 29).
The world-class Heard Museum has its main site in Phoenix, as
well as a North Scottsdale branch. Each explores the heritage and living
cultures of Native peoples, especially those of the Southwest. In the main
facility’s gift shop is the Berlin Gallery, which sells enticing examples
of contemporary Indian painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking,
and drawing.
Nearby is Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, which highlights
the famed Western painter Maynard Dixon (1875-1946) and houses a
museum displaying his artworks, manuscripts of poetry, and even his
easel. This gallery is also known for its strength in the early Taos and
Santa Fe artists, contemporary Western art by such talents as Stephen C.
Datz, Walt Gonske, and Josh Elliott, and Native art of all eras. If photography is your passion, visit Etherton Gallery for museum-quality works
using vintage and digital technologies; Etherton also exhibits paintings,
prints, sculpture, and mixed-media works by local and regional artists.
Though it is regularly cited as one of the world’s great botanical
gardens, Tohono Chul Park is not recognized enough for its excellent
art gallery, which supports the park’s stated mission to present “visual
stories linking the nature, culture, and arts of the Southwest.” Usually
highlighting regional artists, this gallery’s shows change every eight
weeks, and are displayed in an adobe built in 1937 as a private home.
The “Art in the Park” tour given on Tuesdays and Thursdays is an ideal
way to explore the whole site.
Encompassing an entire block downtown, the Tucson Museum of
Art and Historic Block presents original and traveling exhibitions. On
view into January is Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, which
underscores photographers’ key role in the evolution of rock music since
1955. (Through November 12, Etherton Gallery is complementing the
museum’s show with its own display, Rockin’ the Desert: Photographs by
Baron Wolman and Lynn Goldsmith.)
Tucson’s University of Arizona is home to two important museums.
Best known is its Center for Creative Photography, which houses the
TUCSON
Not enough out-of-towners realize what a cultural feast there is to
savor in Arizona’s second-largest city, which is set in a desert valley surrounded by vast forests and parks. There are three major areas to find
art in Tucson: downtown, the warehouse district, and in the foothills
at Campbell and Skyline. For more than 35 years, Settlers West Gallery
has presented historical and contemporary artworks depicting wildlife,
sporting scenes, and the West. November’s Great American West exhibition of new paintings and sculptures showcases, among others, William
Acheff, Francois Koch, George Molnar, and Howard Terpning. And every
February, Settlers West’s American Miniatures show draws crowds seeking
small pieces by stars both established and rising.
FINE ART CONNOISSEUR.COM | November/December 2011
On Tucson’s southwestern perimeter stands the Arizona-Sonora Desert
Museum. Surrounded by saguaro-covered
rolling desert, washes, and arroyos, this
institution encompasses a world-renowned
zoo, natural history museum, and botanical garden. The Art Institute on its grounds
offers studio art classes “to inspire people
to live in harmony with the natural world
by fostering love, appreciation, and understanding of the Sonoran Desert.” The
21-acre property, with almost two miles of
walking paths, features many site-specific
sculptures, plus the Ironwood Gallery,
where regional artists depict mammals,
insects, plants, and other desert subjects.
Louis Akin (1868-1913)
Scene of Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, inscribed “To My Good Friend Mrs. Thomas”
c. 1910, Oil on panel, 13 3/4 x 10 1/2 in.
Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson and Santa Fe
world’s largest collection of 20th-century American photographs (more
than 100,000 images), as well as a trove of archival materials. On view
through November 27, the exhibition Creative Continuum is organized
according to when the Center’s photographs were acquired; it features
masterworks by Ansel Adams, Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, Richard
Avedon, Andy Warhol, Lola Alvarez Bravo, Edward Weston, and many
others. Also here is the University of Arizona Museum of Art, a teaching institution with wide-ranging collections and particular strength in
Italian Renaissance art and sculpture by the modernist Jacques Lipchitz.
FINE ART CONNOISSEUR.COM | November/December 2011
TUBAC
An hour south of Tucson, the historic village of Tubac comprises more
than 100 shops, galleries, and artists’ studios, as well as restaurants, hotels, and
golf courses. Clustered together are more
artworks per square foot than you might
expect, and it’s all walkable. Among the
highlights during the busy winter ahead
is the Fall ArtWalk (November 5-6), featuring artists’ demonstrations and musical performances. December 2-3 brings
the magic of Luminaria, with thousands
of traditional lanterns illuminating the
streets and most establishments remaining open late.
This season K. Newby Gallery will
unveil its new 4,900-square-foot building and two-acre sculpture garden.
Decorated for the holidays, the gallery
will exhibit the works of such highly
regarded painters as Louisa McElwain,
Tom Hill, Nicholas Wilson, and Walter
Blakelock Wilson, plus top-notch sculptors like Gary Lee Price, Bill Worrell, and
Star York. Down the street is Big Horn Galleries, which handles Western
landscapes and wildlife scenes by such notables as Donna Howell-Sickles,
Darcie Peet, Howard Post, and Rebecca Tobey.
February 8-12 will bring Tubac’s 52nd annual Festival of the Arts,
claimed to be Arizona’s longest-running such event. During this major
event, hundreds of artists, craftspersons, and musicians from around the
U.S. and Canada share the streets with whimsical sculptures, New Age
music, and an abundance of ethnic foods.
As you can see, Arizonans truly have a discerning eye for art. Head
west, art lovers, head west. n
ROSEMARY CARSTENS writes about books, art, film, and travel for several national magazines and publishes an award-winning online magazine available at FEASTofBooks.com.