Author Archive: CJ Shane

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Our Bees

May 29, 2013 |

Africanized honeybees
photo by CJ Shane

Bees are the news these days. Either we are told that our food supply is threatened because honeybee pollinators are dying off. Or we hear about “Africanized” honeybees that are attacking and stinging people, sometimes to death. So are the bees our friends or our enemies?  They are our friends, but they can be enemies, too, if we don’t pay attention to them and learn how to coexist with them.

There are several kinds of bees in southern Arizona. Each one has its crucial ecological role in pollinating both native desert plants and our garden fruits and vegetables. Africanized honeybees are among the important pollinators so we want them in our gardens. But Africanized bees can become quite aggressive if they think their home colony is under attack. Africanized bees are responsible for several attacks on people in southern Arizona in recent weeks that have led to hospitalizations and one death.

“Africanized” means that our more passive native honeybees have mixed genes with African bees which were introduced into Brazil a half a century ago. By 1990, African bees had made their way north to the U.S.  Now almost all feral (wild) honeybees in the American Southwest are Africanized and they are not going away.

“We have to learn to live with Africanized bees, mainly by being educated and alert to them and responding sensibly when encountering or attacked by one or more bees,” says Dr. Justin O. Schmidt of the Southwest Biological Center and University of Arizona’s Entomology Department.

Our food plants, in particular, need the honeybees to produce fruits and vegetables. But nationwide honeybees are in decline. Beekeepers began noticing in 2006 that honeybee populations were disappearing from their colonies. This phenomenon was named “colony collapse disorder.” The disorder is considered a real threat to U.S. agriculture. Since 2006, one-third of all American honeybees have disappeared. A recent federal research report found that there are many causes for the disorder but residual pesticides are a prime suspect. Because honeybees pollinate everything from apples to zucchini, their disappearance is having a negative impact on American agriculture. Already the U.S. imports up to 35% of our fruits and vegetables. Some experts fear that we will be forced to import all of our fruits and veggies if honeybees continue to die off.

What can Tucsonans do to help our pollinating honeybees?  Emily Rockey, Curator of Horticulture at Tucson Botanical Gardens, recommends planting those native legumes (bean producing) trees we know so well – mesquite, palo verde, ironwood, etc.  Also popular with the bees are flowering plants in the Asteraceae family. Examples are asters, daisies, and sunflowers.

“Bees like mint and rosemary, too, and they are attracted especially to blue, white, and yellow flowers,” adds Rockey.

Keep in mind that when collecting pollen, honeybees are away from their colonies and are not typically aggressive. The honeybees in the photo above are very likely Africanized.  They were far more interested in the sunflower pollen than in the photographer taking their picture.

Rockey says that Tucson Botanical Gardens are “quite a bee hub” for several species of bees, including those Africanized honey bees. “I can’t remember the last time anyone was even stung here,” says Rockey. “We’ve had maybe five swarms come through, and a couple attempted to stay permanently.” She says those swarms were relocated from the gardens.

Yet multiple bee attacks occur every year in southern Arizona. What can you do to avoid being attacked by angry bees?

Africanized bees only attack when they think their home colony is threatened, says Dr. Schmidt. When worker bees are away from the colony and collecting pollen, they are non-aggressive, he adds. Even swarms of Africanized bees in transition to a new colony site are not very aggressive. But it’s a different story if they think you are disturbing their home colony.

Avoid triggering the bees which might think you are threatening their colony or their “baby bedroom” as Dr. Schmidt calls the colony. Avoid wearing artificial fragrances or dark clothes and using shiny objects when around bees. Don’t make loud noises either because that just gets their attention. Never poke a hive with a stick. Dr. Schmidt recommends, too, that you unplug your music when out hiking so you can listen for loud buzzing sounds. If you hear or see large numbers of bees, then quickly head the other way!

Greg Denker of American Bee Control in Tucson takes a proactive approach. “Paying attention is good, but I think not really enough,” Denker says. “To be safe from bees, one needs to be on the lookout for bees that have established a colony.Bees become dangerous to mammals only when the bee colony is either very large or when there are a lot of babies on board. Bees are very protective of their young, like a mother bear protecting her cub.Identifying hive locations (for example when a feral colony has taken up residence in an attic or shed) can help homeowners take proactive measures to have the bees removed before they become a threat or other unnecessary nuisance.”

Denker explains that a hive or colony “can almost always be identified by the aerial stream of bees” that are entering or exiting a location. He says the flight activity is “most easily seen in the late afternoon when the sun is low in the sky thus easier for humans to see the reflected glint of the flapping wings.”

“In my experience,” adds Denker, “when bees ‘attack’ a porch light, or other outside light at night, it typically means there is an active colony within 200 feet, and the entrance to the hive has line-of-sight view of the light bulb. That’s when you need to call in the pros to remove the hive.”

What do you do when you find yourself the object of negative attention from some angry bees?

Don’t freeze in place and start swatting. Run!  Run away from the bees, preferably into the wind, because a healthy adult can outrun a swarm of bees. Try to protect your head and face, even if it means pulling your shirt up around your face. Seek shelter indoors in a building or a car as quickly as possible. Don’t jump into water. The bees will just hover above the water’s surface waiting for you to come up for air.  Once inside shelter, call for emergency help. Seek medical assistance if you have been stung repeatedly.

By learning more about the bees and taking action before there is a problem, we can learn to coexist successfully with our Africanized honeybees.

 

Cacti and succulents honored at Pima Prickly Park Spring Expo

April 10, 2013 |

The beautiful cacti and succulent plants that define our southern Arizona landscape will be celebrated in a Spring Expo sponsored by Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society at Pima Prickly Park, Sunday, April 14 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.  The 9 acre park is located at 3500 W. River. Entrance to the park and the Spring Expo is free to the public.

According to Spring Expo’s coordinator, Joe Frannea, “There are two major segments to the Spring Expo. We want to bring people to the park to see what we have here. And we want to give them an opportunity to buy cacti and succulent plants, to see the exhibits, and to learn more about the desert.”

Visitors will have an opportunity to walk the park’s trails, and to learn more about the colorful and unique native and adapted non-native plants in the park. Frannea says that there will also be a sales area during the Spring Expo where plant lovers can purchase cacti and succulents as well as products made from cacti such as jellies and jams.  The educational exhibits will not only be about the plants, but also include information on desert animals and insects, venomous lizards and snakes and poison control, water harvesting in the desert, and more.

Pima Prickly Park is a joint project of the Tucson Cacti and Succulent Society and Pima County Natural Resources Parks and Recreation department. It is open to the public free of charge from dawn to dusk.  The park was dedicated in September 2012.

Frannea explains that Pima Prickly Park came about when the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society joined forces with Pima County Natural Resources Parks and Recreation department. “Members of the Society had been looking for a site where we could have a lot of cactus, where we could see how they do in our habitat. The county had some land that had been a deep gravel pit where building was not suitable. The county wanted to restore natural habitat.” The county started developing the park a few years ago, but resources were limited. So the Society partnered with the parks department and signed a 15-year operating agreement with the county.”

Since then the Society has worked to develop the park’s trail system and to create special cactus and succulent gardens such as the ocotillo forest, agave forest, and hummingbird and butterfly gardens. Society volunteers are currently working on a cholla maze. A highlight is Saguarohenge where several large saguaro cacti are planted in a conformation reminiscent of Stonehenge in England. Frannea says Saguarohenge is intended as “a place to rest and reflect.”

Volunteer groups such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and student honor societies work in the park, too. “We put in a hummingbird garden and partnered with Tucson’s Audubon Society to decide on plants and design. We worked together,” Frannea says.

Future projects are planned. “Because we are all volunteers and have limited funds, it could take only a few months or a year to develop an area of the park,” says Frannea. “We’re thinking it will probably take 10 years for the park to mature.”

A factor in how fast the plantings go, Frannea says, “depends on the rescue program.” He refers to those cacti rescued from sites where buildings or roads are being constructed and where the cacti would otherwise be destroyed. Some rescued cacti will be available for sale at the Expo.

“This really has been an excellent working relationship with the county and a nonprofit group,” Frannea says. “We know the county didn’t have money, but it have a great education program. The primary focus of the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society is education. So Prickly Park is an opportunity to do something for the community. The park is a great asset to Pima County and a great project for us to showcase our plants,” Frannea adds.

To learn more about Pima Prickly Park, go to the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society’s Prickly Park page at  www.tucsoncactus.org/html/pimapricklypark/index.html   There you will find a detailed map of the park’s trails and gardens as well as some great photos of park project development and information about the Spring Expo.

 

 

Artists’ Books at the Tucson Festival of Books

March 9, 2013 |

They don’t usually look like the books you see on library or bookstore shelves.  They may or may not be made of paper, and they may or may not have words on their pages. In fact, they may not have what we typically think of as pages. Many seem more like a sculpture than a book. They are unique works of art, and they are called “artists’ books”.

Visitors to Tucson Festival of Books have an opportunity to see and hold in their hands original artists’ books in an exhibit at the University of Arizona Libraries Special Collections during the festival. The artists’ books were all created by members of Tucson’s PaperWorks: The Sonoran Collective for Paper and Book Artists. PaperWorks is co-sponsoring this exhibit with the University’s Special Collections Library.  The exhibit will be held on Saturday and Sunday, March 9 and 10, from 10 am to 5 pm in the Special Collections reading room only a few steps away from the Festival’s booths on the University of Arizona campus mall.

Special Collections Librarian Roger Myers notes that “Artists’ books are an important type of publication. They are books produced by artists, and we look at those differently.” He says that the University Libraries’ Special Collections has been co-sponsoring this exhibit with PaperWorks now for three years. Myers will give a talk on Sunday, March 11, at 2 pm in the Special Collections reading room which he describes as an introduction to artists’ books.  He will discuss also some of his personal favorites.

Tucson artist and PaperWorks member Nancy Solomon has made an especially important contribution to the development of this annual exhibition of artists’ books at the book festival.  “We exhibited artists’ books the first year in a tent out on the mall,” she says. That was four years ago.  After that experience, Solomon realized that “We needed a place where people could have the experience of handling an artist’s book,” and a tent wasn’t the best place for that. “So I got the idea of collaborating with Special Collections.” The artists’ books exhibit has been in the Special Collections reading room for the past three years.

Solomon’s contribution will continue on into the future as well. She has established an endowment to support purchase of artists’ books for the University’s Special Collections Library, the Nancy Demott Solomon Endowment.  Librarian Myers says, “It’s really good to have a fund. It ensures we can continue collecting artists’ books.” Although there are artists’ books in the UofA’s Poetry Center and Center for Creative Photography, the largest collection at the University of Arizona is in Special Collections Library. It numbers about 2,000 artists’ books.

Nancy Solomon’s endowment is consistent with her life-long interest in artists’ books. “I’ve been making artist’s books all my life. I have some that I made as a child. When I was doing a master’s program in printmaking at West Virginia University, the teacher was interested in artists’ books, and that’s when I realized my own interest.” Several of Solomon’s artist’s books are in University of Arizona collections.

According to artist Anita Rankin, a PaperWorks member and organizer of this year’s exhibit, the 2013 exhibit includes more than 60 artists’ books. “The Nancy LaMott Solomon Endowment is providing a $500 purchase award this year,” adds Rankin.  “And there will be two $200 purchase awards provided by PaperWorks.  These awards will be chosen by the staff of the Special Collections Library. Those artists’ books will become part of the Special Collections permanent collection.”

Artists’ books are chosen for purchase based on factors such as “content, how the book is constructed, of materials used, and how it fits in with other artists’ works,” says Librarian Myers. Along with the PaperWorks members’ artists’ books, a small collection of previously purchased artists’ books will also be shown.

Rankin adds that PaperWorks members will be “demonstrating and helping the general public to make a simple fold-up book at the exhibit.”  There will be a special table set up in the Special Collections reading room where you can try your hand at making your own artist’s book.

Bobbie Wilson, PaperWorks president, says that the group was founded in 2001 with a charter membership of 40. Now PaperWorks has more than 200 members working in different art media that all involve paper:  papermaking, book arts, photography, painting and drawing, and printmaking. There will be PaperWorks members at the Special Collections exhibit to answer questions about the group and about artists’ books. And Wilson reminds us that PaperWorks will also have a tent booth on the mall (space 335) where PaperWorks artists will be showing and selling art works made of paper.

What should we look for when visiting the exhibit and handling the artists’ books?

Librarian Myers says, “Just come with open eyes and enjoy what the book tells you. The books are a little different, constructed differently, not what you necessarily are accustomed to. These books are very delightful and sometimes challenging to look at.”   Solomon adds, “I think they should realize that it’s a book that it can be handled. It’s an intimate form.”

Trees for Tucson

December 1, 2012 |

Did you dream about how great it would be to have a big shade tree in your yard during last summer’s heat? Now is the time to plant that tree. Warms days and cool nights in Tucson are perfect for tree planting, according to Rocky Yosek, operations coordinator at Trees for Tucson. Although trees can be planted from October to April, winter months are “a great time to plant a tree even if there’s a freeze because the roots are protected underground.”

Trees for Tucson is a project of the nonprofit Tucson Clean and Beautiful, and is funded by Tucson Electric Power (TEP) and Trico Electric Cooperative. Four thousand low-cost shade trees are made available every year to TEP and Trico customers. Over 80,000 trees have been distributed through Trees for Tucson since the program’s founding in 1989.

Homeowners may order trees by going to the Trees for Tucson website at www.treesfortucson.org   and downloading a PDF order form or by emailing tft@treesfortucson.org and requesting a PDF order form. The cost of each tree is $8 for homeowners. Some guidelines apply. Owners of homes built in 1980 or after or older homes with double-pane windows may purchase two trees a year. For homes built before 1980 and with single pane windows, up to four trees can be ordered. Yosek adds that this is for the one calendar year only. Home owners can order additional trees in following years.

Shade trees are a desirable component of a home owner’s landscaping plan. They provide shade and cooler temperatures for homes which means energy use is lower in our torrid summers. Trees also provide homes for birds, beautify the neighborhood, and reduce carbon emissions and air pollution.

This year these shade trees are available from Trees for Tucson: desert willow, blue palo verde, red push pistache, ironwood, and desert museum palo verde. Yosek says the red push pistache is a popular tree these days. “This tree is being planted in city parks now. It is very attractive and has no thorns.” He adds that the desert willow still remains the most popular tree. “At least 50% of my orders are for desert willow,” Yosek says. Velvet mesquite is not on the list currently due to low stock at nurseries, but will probably be available by spring. Velvet mesquite produces edible seed pods which can be milled into flour. The flour adds a sweet, nutty flavor to favorite bread and pancake recipes.

Reduction of the “urban heat island” effect is another benefit of tree planting. An urban heat island is caused by acres and acres of urban asphalt and concrete which absorb heat during the day and release it very slowly after dark. This heat retention makes it difficult for cities to cool off at night. According to the Southwest Climate Change Network at the University of Arizona’s Institute of the Environment, temperatures in urban Tucson “increased approximately 3 times more than rural temperatures” over the past 30 years.

“Tucson’s urban temperatures are approximately 5.5 degrees F warmer than they were in the last century, with more than 3.5 degrees F of the warming occurring in the last 30 years,” according to a Southwest Climate Change Network report.  The situation in Phoenix is even worse. Between 1948 and 2000, “urbanization has increased the nighttime minimum temperatures in central Phoenix [Sky Harbor International Airport] by approximately 9 degrees F and the average daily temperature by approximately 5.5 degrees F.”

Yosek adds that Trees for Tucson also offers a community tree-planting program and a school tree-planting program.

Individuals in a community can ask neighbors to participate in landscaping with trees. Instead of planting next to a private home, the trees are placed to provide shade near neighborhood buildings, in common areas, and along streets.  Yosek adds that the Sonoran Environmental Research Institute (SERI) has targeted low-income neighborhoods where local residents are recruited to plant trees, and then helped by SERI to order trees. SERI pays for the trees and delivers them for planning.

School tree planting programs can be initiated by principals, teachers, or parent groups. Students get involved in learning about the environmental benefits of tree, and in planting the trees.  Yosek says that last year several schools participated in the Trees for Tucson program, among them Doolen, Apollo, Challenger, Flowing Wells, and Altar Valley Middle Schools, and also Roskruge K-8 and Meredith K-12 schools.

Learn more about Trees for Tucson at www.treesfortucson.org

 

Milling Around

November 12, 2012 |

Desert Harvesters, a Tucson-based non-profit volunteer group devoted to native Southwest desert food, is holding two mesquite-milling events in November.

Anyone can bring buckets of dried mesquite seed pods to be ground into mesquite flour.  The flour is used in a variety of baked goods such as bread, pancakes, and cookies. Cost of milling is $2 per gallon with a $5 minimum. Bring your own plastic gallon containers labeled with your name and phone number to hold the finished mesquite flour.

The first milling event will be held Thursday, November 15, from 3 to 6 pm at the Santa Cruz Farmers Market, 100 S. Avenida del Convento. Nadia Delgado, Farmer’s Market Assistant at the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, says that an instructional presentation on cooking with mesquite flour is planned for the event. This is the eighth year that the Santa Cruz Farmers Market has hosted mesquite milling.

The second milling event is the 10th Annual Mesquite Milling and Fiesta on Sunday, November 18, at the Dunbar/Spring Organic Community Garden, 11th Avenue and University Blvd.  Milling starts at 8 and goes to 2 pm. As with the Santa Cruz Farmers Market milling, there is a cost of $2 per gallon with a $5 minimum and a maximum of 15 gallons of mesquite pods. The fiesta includes a display of desert foods, medicines, live music, and a bake sale which goes from 9 am to noon.

Brad Lancaster, one of the founders of Desert Harvesters and well-known for his work in water harvesting, says, “Mesquite is a gateway food that introduces you to a whole variety of desert foods. What we’re pushing for in part is greater food security and food availability. Instead of going into the desert, we want to help you plant the desert in your own backyard and neighborhood street. These tasty nutritious foods can survive on our rainfall, but they really thrive if you harvest water and irrigate them.”

Amy Valdés Schwemm, workshop leader and contributor to the Desert Harvest recipe book “Eat Mesquite!”, is organizing the bake sale. She says that in the early years of the milling event, “Not many showed up because they didn’t know what mesquite would taste like. But now we have a so many coming in with mesquite pods to mill that we need all three mills to grind them.” She adds that the bake sale last year offered “cakes, cookies, and savory foods such as scones and cornbread.” Lancaster adds to this list mesquite baklava, Indian naan bread, and dog biscuits. And it’s not just mesquite. Schweem says that oak acorn baked goods were also in last year’s bake sale.

Two years ago the fiesta included a mesquite pancake breakfast. According to Lancaster, “We served over 1,500 pancakes in 3 hour period. But last year we switched to the bake sale to make more food and a great diversity of food available to more people.” A display and sale of desert foods such as prickly pear syrup, jams and juices; mesquite pancake mix, mole mixes, and native herbal medicines will be available. Local musical groups will perform and an informational booth will be open to help educate about native foods.

Schwemm includes backyard gardening in the group’s work. “Desert Harvesters expands the concept of gardening. That is, we work toward garden that might sustain itself without supplemental water. It’s the idea of ‘perennial crops.’ We are expanding the notion of arid-lands gardening. Desert Harvesters is interested in promoting all sorts of wild plants like that – acorn, edible cholla cactus buds, jojoba, barrel cactus, hackberry, and more.”

Lancaster has been active in the Dunbar/Spring neighborhood for several years in the development of native plants for landscaping and as a food source. “Water harvesting and landscaping with native plants controls floods, provides shade, reduces the heat island effect, and increases productivity of soil.” Since 1996, he says more than 1,250 trees have been planted in the Dunbar/Spring neighborhood.

“We emphasize food and medicine-bearing native shade trees. When we started, the only wildlife was exotic pigeons. Now we’ve attracted over two dozen native songbirds which have taken up residence along the streets – birds such as cardinals, curved-bill thrashers, cactus wren, hummingbirds, and flycatchers.”  He explains that not only do these trees provide shade, they also reduces climate change because the trees are not dependent on imported water or the water pumps that take energy and add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

What is Lancaster’s favorite part of the annual milling fiesta? “The community! So many wonderful people come together to make a truly joyous event around food grown and harvested in prepared in our desert. The fiesta is kind of like welcoming everyone home.”

For more information about Desert Harvest programs and the two milling events, go to www.desertharvesters.org

Tucson Botanical Gardens in November

November 12, 2012 |

Beautiful butterflies and twinkling luminaria lights grace the Tucson Botanical Gardens this November in Tucson.

Luminaria Nights, now in its 26th year, is “one of the nicest events in the city,” says TBG’s Darlene Buhrow, Director of Marketing, Communications, and Gallery.  The Botanical Gardens opens between 5:30 and 8 pm on December 7, 8, and 9 for Luminaria Nights. The Gardens are decorated with luminarias, small paper lanterns traditional in the American Southwest.

As visitors wander along luminaria-lit walkways, they come upon numerous musical groups.  Just a few of the many scheduled musical offerings are Irish, Balkan, bluegrass, and klezmer music, a string quartet, and also mandolin, flute, and recorder music. There are several choral groups that will perform.  Food vendors will be available, too.

“There’s music at all times in the Gardens,” says Buhrow.  I like the music. It really gets you in a festive spirit.”  Santa Claus will be in attendance in Porter Hall for the children, and each department in the Garden will have its own decorated Christmas tree. Buhrow describes a tree that she helped to decorate last year. The “tree” was actually an agave stalk decorated with devil’s claws, buckeye pods, and pyracantha berries.

“There are lots of families that come to Luminaria Nights,” says Buhrow. “We get a variety of people from babies to 102 years old.”  Between 1,000 and 2,000 attend each night. The Gardens provides parking at a nearby church and shuttles to take visitors between parking and the Gardens.  Purchasing tickets ahead of time at the gift shop or on-line leads to $1 off the admission fee.

Butterfly Magic is a daytime event at Tucson Botanical Gardens which actually began in October and goes into April, 2013. Visitors enter a greenhouse habitat with tropical plants, including orchids in full bloom, where they can see living butterflies from eleven countries flying freely or resting in the warm, humid environment.

The butterflies begin life as caterpillars hatched from eggs at butterfly farms around the world. When the caterpillars begin their metamorphosis, they enter into a pupa stage known as a chrysalis. The chrysalises of various butterfly species are shipped to Tucson Botanical Gardens where they are housed in a climate-controlled room until the butterflies are ready to emerge. Visitors can see the chrysalises through a large glass window. When the butterflies emerge, they are transferred to the tropical greenhouse.

“Opening the box is always a surprise, “says Buhrow, “because we never know what we are going to get. The chrysalises are sent to us according to availability.” Butterfly varieties rotate throughout the seven-month exhibit as newcomers arrive.

Buhrow says Butterfly Magic is especially popular among school children. “The kindergarteners through third graders are mesmerized with the butterflies. Older children ask a lot of scientific questions about butterfly anatomy, life cycle, and eating habits.” TBG provides teachers with a curriculum for the students.

What is the most popular among the visitors?  “The most popular of all is the blue morpho.”  No need to explain why. This little beauty shows off intense blue wings as it flies by, causing children to point and adults to grab their cameras.  Also popular is a moth, the Atlas moth with a 7 to 8 inch wingspread.

This year Botanical Gardens’ members get into the butterfly exhibit for free – no extra fee is required. Visitors to Tucson Botanical Gardens can see the butterflies now through April. More information is at www.tucsonbotanical.org

Tucson Teaching Artist Carolyn King

November 12, 2012 |

“Raising Analyssa,” by Carolyn King

Between the interior world of creating art and the exterior world of teaching art, Tucson mixed-media artist Carolyn King has found a true balance.

“I never tell people that I’m an artist. I always tell them that I’m a ‘teaching artist.’”

Originally from the Chicago area, King lived in Mexico much of her adult life. She and her daughter Analyssa moved to Tucson twelve years ago seeking services for Analyssa who is disabled. King was hired by Tucson Museum of Art to administer an arts grant, and two years later she was appointed TMA’s Director of Education. A key contribution she made in that position was to create TMA’s Sunday Family Art Program.

King eventually left TMA to establish her own teaching studio in Tucson, Heart to Hand. She also has been an Artist in Residence for the past nine years in Tucson K-8 schools. Summers are full, too. In the summer of 2012, King guided a group of Oro Valley high school students in a grant-funded Public Arts Project arts apprenticeship program.

King made a decision early in her career to find that balance between studio art and teaching art. She turned to education to supplement her income, but she quickly discovered that teaching was just as much of a calling for her as her studio work. She explains her attraction to teaching art this way.

“I feel that creation is a birthright. My passion for teaching is about the future and the evolution of the human spirit.”

That evolution of the human spirit is apparent in King’s mixed-media paintings. The works often reflect universal themes of love and romance, family, and parenting that are expressed in King’s uniquely personal way.  Her work Cuentos de Una Conquista (Tales of a Conquest)  is about how love and romance have affected the women in King’s family –  her grandmother, mother, and sister – all of whom had relationships with those handsome “hard to resist” guys who turned out to be not so dependable. El Jardin de Mi Abuela (My Grandmother’s Garden)  is about King’s relationship with her grandmother.

Two of King’s most compelling works address the challenges of parenting. We notice first the hands in Raising Analyssa.  The painting is stunningly beautiful with its harmonious colors and textured surface, but it’s the hands that grab our attention.  Holding together, pulling toward and pushing apart, arranging and ordering things, expressing emotions, the hands remind us of what every mom and dad knows about bringing up a child. Parenting is a real “hands-on” project.  The hands in King’s painting show us many ways to engage in parent-child interactions.

Colgandome de las unas (Hanging by My Fingernails) is another King work that addresses the challenges of parenting that can apply to many of life’s challenges as well. Again those beautiful and expressive hands carry the message. King’s painting tells us of the frustrations of parenting her special-needs daughter Analyssa. “There have been times when I just felt I couldn’t do it anymore,” King says. “I was hanging by my fingernails.” This painting is very personal, but it also expresses the universality of dealing with life’s adversities.

The transformative butterfly in this painting comes out of a philosophy King developed when earning her master’s degree in Art and Consciousness at John F. Kennedy University in the San Francisco Bay area in the 1980s. The goal of the university’s program was to help adults to transition to new careers. The university curriculum was based on a holistic approach to education that integrates mind, body and spirit. This holistic philosophy has deeply informed both King’s art and her teaching of art.

In this case, the butterfly is symbolizes King’s ability to step back from the distress of a frustrating experience, and to consciously change her idea about what was happening to her. Thus her experience was transformed into something more life-affirming.

King has a very diverse background that brings a lot of richness to her art and her teaching.   As a teen, King went to Europe as an exchange student, a time which she describes as a “threshold experience that set my life on the art path.”  Next she traveled to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where she studied printmaking. She returned to the U.S. to finish her BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Then it was back to Mexico. An unexpected detour took her to the Yukon in Canada’s far north for six months where she established a print workshop and taught art classes to Inuit children. She left her home in Mexico again to earn her MA degree at John F. Kennedy University. She stayed on after graduation to run the university art gallery, and eventually she became director of the Art and Consciousness program. But Mexico called to her again, and King returned to the place that she had come to consider her real home, San Miguel de Allende.

Living in Mexico for nearly 30 years had a profound influence on King’s life and art.  She is fluent in Spanish, and she considers herself bicultural. She established and operated an art school in San Miguel de Allende, Corazon del Artista (Heart of the Artist), for eight years. There she taught arts and English-language classes for Mexican children in the summer. In the winter when American snow birds migrated to San Miguel de Allende, King taught art classes for adult learners.

Although King says she loves working with children, she’s quite clear that she has a real calling to work with adult learners.

“Many adults want to express themselves through color in art. But I hear them say things like “I can’t draw.” I can’t do art.’  I want to help them find a way to express themselves and get past the ‘can’t’ that they tell themselves.”

King believes that it’s a mistake for adults to focus on product instead of process. “If you nurture your inner life, it becomes the spark for creativity, and the product will be beautiful and real…..In my classes, I want to empower the spirit in a person to go forward and play.”

King would probably still be in San Miguel today, but she decided that her daughter needed the more advanced educational, medical, and therapeutic services available in the U.S. They came to Tucson in 1999. Since living in the Old Pueblo, King has been actively involved with Raices Taller Art Gallery and Workshop where she regularly shows her work. She had a one-woman show at Contreras Gallery in 2010. In the fall of 2012, she will be showing work at Bentley’s on Speedway. And she teaches throughout the year.

Regarding her very full life of parenting her disabled daughter coupled with teaching art students and also producing art herself, King says, “My basic premise is that everybody’s spirit is intact. The essence of every person is whole. For me, spirit and creative expression are intimately related, and I address both in my teaching.”

Visit Carolyn’s website at www.dreamco.com/hearttohand

“El Jardin de Mi Abuela,” by Carolyn King

“Cuentos de una Conquista,” by Carolyn King


Tucson Open Studio Tour

November 6, 2012 |

Beata Wehr Studio

Artists all over Tucson will open their studios on Saturday and Sunday, November 10-11 from 11am to 5pm for the fall Open Studio Tour (OST) event organized by Tucson Pima Arts Council (TPAC).

This year more than 200 artists have signed up for Open Studios. A Preview Exhibition by participating artists is up now at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, 3800 E. River Road. The exhibit closes following a reception from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm on November 8.

Zócalo thought it might be fun to hear from the artists themselves about what OST means to them.  So I contacted several of the participating artists and asked for feedback. Disclosure: I’m one of the OST artists so you’ll be hearing from me, too.

The most frequent response was one of gratitude to the good folks at Tucson Pima Arts Council (TPAC) who make it all happen. Organizing anything involving left-brain creative types is a lot like herding cats so we are grateful for TPAC’s patience and efficiency.  Or as participating painter Tom Bergin says, “I think the folks who put this together do a wonderful job.”

Many of us artists believe that Tucson is on its way to becoming a great arts destination town like Scottsdale or Santa Fe.  I have sold paintings several times to visitors who wanted to take home original Tucson art as a remembrance of the Old Pueblo. We have a supportive, arts-loving community here year round as well. Open Studios Tour is an integral part of making Tucson an arts destination.

There’s an economic component, too. According to Emily Duwel, TPAC’s Communications Manager, the non-profit arts sector alone in Tucson brings in $87.7 million each year. “There’s a lot of vitality in our arts sector. We have a high per capita number of artists here. Tucson is a highly creative space with a tremendous base of talent.”

What is the value of OST to local artists? Acrylic painter Bonnie Behan in her second year with OST says the studio event is “a great opportunity for artists, especially the ones like me who don’t exactly relish the marketing aspect. TPAC does a fantastic job with that.”  For Mary Theresa Dietz, “It is a good way to connect with my public, make some money, and acquire some students.”

However, Open Studios is more than show and sell. It’s a real social and community event.  Mixed-media textile artist Mary Vaneecke, now in her fourth year with OST, says, “The Open Studio Tour is a great way to connect with the community. Making art can be a solitary pursuit, and by taking part in the OST, I get to work with other artists, the folks from the Tucson Pima Arts Council, and talk to collectors from all over Tucson.”

Laurel Hansen participates “to have the Tucson community aware of my work.” However the best part of OST for her is, “to connect with other artists and make the public aware of all the various kinds of art in the Tucson community.”

Oil painter Melinda Esparza, a four-year OST veteran, values the experience of “greeting visitors from Tucson, especially so many repeat visitors, and art tourists from all over the country. We have a two-day party and it’s a great source of inspiration for me.”

“Talking to folks about art is a major high for me, given that I spend so many hours every day alone in my studio,” says acrylic painter Sheryl Holland.” It’s always energizing and affirming that so many people appreciate art in this community.”  K. Loren Dawn believes OST is a “good way to introduce my artwork in a more casual setting, and also get some interesting feedback with conversations.”

There are some growing pains as Tucson develops as an art destination. In the past, much of the attention was focused on downtown studios and the arts district. Now artists all over the metro Tucson area participate in Open Studios. Being noticed and visited is an issue for artists the farther they are from central Tucson.

Painter Pat Napombejra decided to join in for the first time this year. He says, “I live on the far east side of Tucson and in the past I thought that I am too far and isolated from a function such as the open studio tour which seemed mostly near downtown Tucson. Last year, I noticed there were more neighboring studios taking part in the OST, so I thought this year I’ll be part of the show.”

TPAC’s Duwel says that including artists from the entire metro region helps all artists. She says visitors who currently might not be willing to drive downtown are willing to visit artists in their own neighborhood.  In following years, they are more likely to venture out to other parts of the city to visit more studios.

Artists, too, have come up with some solutions to help visitors. Mixed-media artist Barbara Brandel, a twenty-year OST veteran, says, “It helps when a group of artists show work together, making it easier for people to get around to see more work at one stop. It also makes it enjoyable for the artists to be together.”

Having a good map is absolutely essential for art lovers to find the open studios.  TPAC provides really excellent maps on-line under “Browse by Location” on the Open Studios page of the TPAC website. Unfortunately not everyone looks at the on-line maps.

Emily Duwel says that this year TPAC is providing each artist with copies of a high quality guide to Open Studios which includes a map and listing of all artists’ studios. The guide will also be distributed in key places around Tucson including Bookman’s and Tucson’s public libraries.

Some of the artists have made some intriguing suggestions. I like the idea of encaustic artist Diane Kleiss who thinks it time to hold Open Studios on two consecutive weekends. She says OST “needs to be more than one weekend. Divide it up by north/south or east/west.” She also suggested that it may be time for a shuttle to outlying studios.

One of the biggest problems for participating artists is not being able to visit other artists’ studios.  I have to agree with Mary Vaneecke who says, “I just wish there was a way for me to visit other artists’ studios!“ For detailed information on the Open Studio Tour, please visit  TucsonPimaArtsCouncil.org

Print to Artifact

October 1, 2012 |

Nick Georgiou is a friendly, outgoing Tucson artist whose rapid-fire commentary on his art is punctuated with wide grins. He recycles old books and newspapers to create unique sculptural forms that have a surprisingly dark theme given the sunny nature of the artist.

Georgiou’s artwork is “literally a reflection of what is going on around us,” he says, because the sculptures are made from the news of the day. Since the news is often bleak, Georgiou makes clear that, “You have to be courageous to be an artist because art is very revealing. Modern art is a mirror to what is happening now in the world.”

“My work is print-to-artifact. I want to give new meaning and new life to the printed word.” He sees the contemporary world in a state of “transition and upheaval.” These days he’s working on the upheaval caused by the tangible print world giving way to the digital world – a world which he says has revolutionized everything, even how we interact with each other.

Georgiou views some of his works as “beautiful and delicate” and others as “aggressive.” He laughs and shrugs his shoulders. “Some of the sculptures ask me ‘Why did you bring me into life?’” He points out that the eyes of the faces in his sculptures are not open. “The eyes are fossilized. This makes you turn back and reflect on yourself” when looking at those eyes, he says.

Georgiou is a native of New York City, and a graduate of New York Universities’ Tisch School of the Arts. He has lived in Tucson for four years. He was in New York City only a few blocks from the World Trade Center when it was attacked on September 11, 2001.  The events of 9/11 pushed him to make sense of what was happening around him.  “The city was full of fear and paranoia then. The conversation was really dark.”  Soon after, he began making his sculptures from recycled newspapers. He literally began turning the news about the terrorist attacks into art.

Next Georgiou placed his new three-dimensional animal-form sculptures in front of the New York Times building to photograph them as public art. This attracted the attention of the authorities at a time when everyone was cautioned to, “See Something. Say Something.”  Eventually Georgiou was able to convince the police that he was not scouting potential sites for terrorism.  Today he puts his sculptures in public places in Tucson. He likes it that in Tucson, people passing by will actually stop and interact with the sculptures.

Georgiou came to Tucson four years ago for a temporary gig as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Arizona. He arrived early to make art from Tucson books and newspapers, and rented a studio space in Citizens Warehouse on 6th Street. He never left. He describes Tucson as “magical,” and a “blessing.” But the moment he knew he had fallen “deeply in love with Tucson” (his words) was when he stood on the roof above his studio, and watched his first All Souls Procession unfold in the streets below. “Amazing, just amazing,” he remembers.

Georgiou thinks that books and papers will continue to exist, but most information will be in digital form. He points out that he can store hundreds of books on his iPad.  He grins again. “The story never changes. The vehicle changes.”

Georgiou has shown his work at Davis Dominguez, Etherton Gallery, and Rocket Gallery in Tucson. In October, he will show work at Obsidian Gallery, and in the Tucson Open Studio Tour in November.

Learn more about Nick at http://myhumancomputer.blogspot.com/

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