Business

Agave Fest

May 1, 2015 |

agaveby Cristina Manos

Mezcal is tequila’s cousin, made from the heart of the maguey plant, a type of agave native to Mexico. The spirit is called the “elixir of the gods” and Hotel Congress is getting ready to celebrate this Earthly gift starting at 6pm on Saturday, May 2 for the seventh year in a row. Agave Fest is fast becoming a popular cultural event in Southern Arizona.

“I feel that we are growing the event into something special. This year, as we partner with Visit Tucson and the Mexican Consulate to add more interesting programming, I feel we are offering a more substantive cultural experience, rather than simply a fun agave cocktail party. Albeit, it will be that too, for sure!” Dave Slutes of Hotel Congress says.

Agave Fest has much to offer, especially for those who are interested in the history and culture behind agave-based spirits and for adventurous tasters who want to try mescal that is not normally available in the United States. Downtown Tucson does it right. There are several events in addition to Agave Fest, making the whole weekend an opportunity for regional education and local fun.

This is the first year Chef Janos Wilder of Downtown Kitchen & Cocktails is getting involved with Agave Fest, adding to the expertise of native ingredients and cultural traditions.

“Mezcal is a small, fun piece of it,” Chef Janos says, “I’ve been working with local products in every form for over 30 years. The menu [at Downtown Kitchen & Cocktails] is saturated with different elements from the region that go back thousands of years.”

Chef Janos is tapped into the bigger picture, and his contribution to the weekend includes regional cuisine, native culture and history, and local agricultural conservation. He is the wizard of his gardens, one of which is located at the Tucson Children’s Museum, and many guests who dine at his restaurant may not realize they’re eating fresh vegetables and herbs grown right across the street. Chef Janos has been involved with Native Seeds Search for 20 years, and this year, his benefit dinner joins powers with Agave Fest for this year’s cultural celebration of regional food and spirits.

Agave Dinner Benefit: Friday May, 1, 7pm at Maynards Market & Kitchen. Proceeds benefit Native Seeds Search, a local nonprofit that focuses on the conservation of our traditional agricultural community and native resources. Tickets are $95, with 32 available seats. Hotel Congress and Chef Janos Wilder of Downtown Kitchen & Cocktails are hosting the event, and world-renowned mescal expert, Sergio Inurrigaro will be present to meet and greet guests at 6:30p.m. prior to the Agave Dinner.

The Agave Fest: Saturday May 2, 6pm at Hotel Congress. Tickets $35 in advance. Includes 10 tasting tickets, a commemorative shot glass, a cascarone, Cup Café specialty taco & salsa bar, live entertainment by Vox Urbana, and a vote for the Best Cocktail by the historic East Bartenders sponsored by Yelp.

Hotel Congress will also offer hotel packages to tasters who want to spend the night. The package includes two tickets to Agave Fest, a hangover recovery kit, and Agave Fest memorabilia. This event is likely to sell out.

Prior to Agave Fest at Hotel Congress: Saturday May 2, at 5pm, the Agave 101 lecture by President and Founder of the Pro Mezcal Culture Association and Director of Master Mezcalier Program, Sergio Inurrigaro. This your chance to meet the Mezcal-Man himself. Inurrigaro has been all over the world and back. He’s led more than 1,750 tastings across the world. His knowledge and stories will set the tone for your mezcal tasting adventures.

Agave Fest will feature over 50 spirits to choose from. Tequila lovers are in for a real treat, so don’t wait another year to taste rare mezcal spirits, as many of them won’t be in town again until the next celebration. Hotel Congress will offer tequilas by rock star Roger Clyne and movie star George Clooney. They are even offering chapulines, yes grasshoppers, for super-curious tasters who don’t mind a crunchy, traditional treat considered a delicacy to some.

For more information and for tickets to the Agave Dinner or Agave Fest go to www.hotelcongress.com. Article courtesy of Downtown Tucson Partnership.

 

The Downtown Clifton

March 4, 2015 |
The Downtown Clifton

The Downtown Clifton

Clif Taylor is Tucson through-and-through. For starters, he was born and raised here, and one of his first concerts was actually an Elvis show at the TCC. Thanks to an interest he shared with his father growing up, he’s on a first-name basis with some of Mexico’s most famous bullfighters and, whether you know it or not, Taylor has put his own personal touch all over downtown Tucson as a designer for businesses like Hotel Congress and Maynard’s Market. Since he’s essentially been brought up 100 percent Sonoran, his style absolute reeks of that dusty, funky, kind-of-run-down-but-loved-to-death feel that typifies this city, especially in the way it seems to impress those visiting from out of town.

Perfect, then, that Taylor’s most recent project caters directly to that clientele—a type that Taylor himself identifies as “the adventurous traveler”. The Downtown Clifton at 16th St. and Stone Ave.—set to hold a public soft-opening event on the evening of March 28th—is a single-story ten-room motel that is tucked unassumingly onto a less-than-half-an-acre lot on the eastern edge of the Barrio Viejo neighborhood. Owners Phil Lipman and Moniqua Lane purchased the property from a private owner for $550k in October of 2013 and, for several months, they weren’t quite sure what to do with it.

Lipman says that, since there is a major housing shortage in downtown and South Tucson, his initial idea was to demolish the current building—a rather plain brick structure which had a former life as assisted housing—and install a much denser three-to-four story apartment complex on the site. But when the neighborhood reacted negatively late last year to a proposal to demolish the Downtown Motor Lodge with intentions of building something similar in scale to what Lipman and Lane had planned just two blocks north of the Clifton, the business partners had a change of heart. “We decided it would probably be better, rather than knock it down, to instead do something cool with the original building,” says Lipman. And, with an eye on the apparent interests of the other residents of Barrio Viejo, Tucson’s newest retro-chic motel was born.

Lane says that when she and Lipman first purchased the property, both of them wanted to stay clear of the hotel business. But after deciding to keep the original structure intact —and it was apparently in alarmingly good shape—the idea of getting into hospitality in downtown Tucson simply started to grow on them. When Taylor expressed an interest in taking charge of the project’s over all aesthetic, the two co-owners quickly gave him carte blanche to make the property into a vision all his own. The result, says Lane, “captures that real dusty-dirty feel” of the city without sacrificing on comfort.

Mural by Danny Martin

Mural by Danny Martin

Each room of the “twisted mid-century bunkhouse” is specially curated with “a million little weird details,” according to Taylor, including a great deal of art from his personal collection, swag lamps, custom-made platform beds, and even a mini-fridge, AC split, and flat screen TV for that all-essential touch of today required by the average modern tourist. The original colored concrete floors of the building were exposed in each room, the bathroom tiles and rafter ceilings preserved, and a number of brick planters, a fresh coat of paint inside-and-out, and a large full-color mural by local artist Danny Martin were added to give the property a certain border-town charm. Rooms at the Clifton will start at around $100 per night, though since there are only ten, chances are good that the place will fill up fairly quickly, especially during the busy season.

One more touch that promises to give the Downtown Clifton a slight advantage over would-be competitors in the area is the presence of a live-in manager and concierge in Liz Fogel. Fogel is also a Tucson native, though she spent a short spell in Austin, and the fact that she will be on the hotel grounds and in downtown in general full-time means guests can make use of her knowledge of the area and enjoy a completely customized downtown experience which caters to their specific tastes. “It’s like the tour of downtown Tucson that you would give your family if you were able to get off work,” says Lane. No doubt many locals will appreciate that sentiment—after all, that’s one less thing to worry about when the in-laws come to town.

The Downtown Clifton is located at 485 S. Stone Ave. More info on the hotel, booking rooms, and upcoming events can be found at TheDowntownClifton.com

 

 

Art Happens in Storied Congress Space

November 1, 2014 |
Krikawa Jewelry

The Krikawa Family, left to right: LeCarie Whitfield, Chief of Operations (Patrick’s Wife); Patrick Swartz, Master CAD Modeler (Lisa’s brother and John’s best friend from High School); John Krikawa, Chief Technical Officer; Lisa Krikawa, Founder, CEO, Head Designer. Photo © Balfourwalker.com

Art Happens in Storied Congress Space
Krikawa Jewelry Designs is upping the ante downtown, adding its new design studio, gallery and retail space to an already critical mass of cool on Congress

The eastern end of Congress exerts a gravitational pull downtown – with a steady diet of food and drink phenomena. But it’s time to start walking west, where a faceted flash has been added to the mix…and a long-standing Tucson designer has raised the game along the far reaches of downtown’s entertainment corridor.

Lisa Krikawa – award-winning jewelry designer and the last graduate of the University of Arizona’s metal-smithing program in 1997 ––is moving her studio downtown, the first jewelry house devoted to a mix of contemporary wearable art gallery, jewelry bench, local artisan resource and offices. It’s an ambitious new project launched by her 17-year old Tucson family-operated company, following a year of research and planning. Leasing the 4,200 square-foot space once occupied by one of Tucson’s first jewelers (Daniel’s Jewelers), Krikawa has carefully renovated the historic jewelry store, exposing its brick and tiles, and preserving touches like the Daniel’s mosaic street tablet, under the sparkling direction of Baker-Hesseldenz Design and architect J. Chauncey Meyer, known for their innovative urban modern spaces.

Since opening shop in her garage, Lisa has forged a singular niche in an international arts landscape, where her couture-design custom rings, her extremely detailed layering of the old-world mokumé-gané technique on heirloom pieces, and her high-tech, intricate swirls of gems set in precious metal are renowned. As much at home carving her own jeweler waxes as crafting 3-D CAD-modeled designs, Lisa has built a business showcasing environmentally-clean and ethically-certified pieces, with a mystique unlike anything else you’ll see in Tucson. Krikawa has thrived under Lisa and her family’s symbiotic partnership, growing into an organization of 11 employees and over 5,000 custom designs for clients from Australia to Canada, and from Germany to New York, California and Tucson.

After multiple moves across the city, from garage, to a Sam Hughes studio and most recently to St. Philip’s Plaza, Krikawa says the 21 E. Congress St. relocation, opening November 22, signals that her studio is growing up, a perfect marriage of high art, community vision and unerring instinct for what’s cool.

“We’re artisans who belong downtown,” confirms Krikawa, who notes that everyone working at the company has his/her own art. “All our choices convey our vision of creative expression, and sustain our desire to be part of a dynamic community integral to our customers’ experience.

“When I saw the space I saw it as a possibility for anything,” she continues. “I knew it was right for Krikawa.”

With its tall ceilings and brick walls left raw, the innovative structure is being built out in a multi-faceted layout resembling a small design city. In a bright front exhibition area, visitors will observe handcrafted modern displays showcasing works of top-tier artisans; further into the 1,600 square feet of gallery showroom space will be a congenial lounge area as well “play stations” for customers to visualize and personalize the process of creating custom jewelry pieces. Further back, Krikawa gets even more interesting with window views in to the creative nurseries – the soldering, CAD and tooling stations, as well as the jeweler’s bench. Krikawa offices are in the back.

Lisa Krikawa has a vigorous agenda for her front exhibition space, and has invited approximately 30 premier artisans to be part of the first show, an installation called Local Flavors, on view through January 31. The collection features contemporary jewelry pieces, hats and other wearable art, making for a gallery experience that’s both intimate and communal, spiced up by unusual offerings that mix metals and patterns. Intuitive and diverse, the Local Flavors show is influenced by local design and what feels right. “It’s experimental, it’s fun,” Lisa observes. “It’s thoughtfully curated, but it also has a freshness relatable to everyone.”

Architecturally-styled Erik Stewart jewelry, as well as urban designs by Maureen Brusa-Zappelini and unique silverwork by Sam Patania, are among the works and artists represented. Like a fine digital mix made by a friend, the collection works because of the detail and the quality.

For the opening, Krikawa also is introducing a new line of sterling food-related charms, a whimsical nod to the foodie and fashionista locavorism of her Congress counterparts. A portion of charm sales will support the Food Bank, a philanthropic practice Krikawa routinely provides to local nonprofits.

A hint of Krikawa’s unique downtown programming is evident in its planned extracurricular activities, including DIY workshops, which will allow customers to be involved in the CAD design and even the polishing of their custom pieces. “Art is personal expression and we want those who wish it, to have a hand in their own jewelry,” she asserts.

This type of DIY involvement, although somewhat revolutionary in the jewelry business, is of growing interest, and Krikawa excitedly talks about the creative empowerment planned in her studio.

“I’m a Tucsonan who always has believed in the spirit of downtown,” the metalsmith says. “With this space, I can continue my business as a successful commercial venture, but also open up to new creative options for myself as an artist and for the community as a whole.”

Krikawa’s dynamic sense of possibility is jumping at the chance to explore the less orthodox. “I don’t want to put any limits on what Krikawa might do downtown,” she smiles.

Krikawa Jewelry Design’s new space opens Saturday, November 22, 6-9pm., with its Local Flavors exhibit, 21 E. Congress St., downtown. Showroom and design appointment hours: Tuesday-Friday, 9am-5pm; Saturday, 10am-4pm. (520)322-6090, Krikawa.com.

 

 

Sidecar Serves Mindful Mixed Drinks

July 26, 2014 |

sidecar_1Lead barkeep Luke Anable has thought carefully about everything on the menu at Sidecar, the newest 900 square-foot concept bar by Tucson restaurateur Ari Shapiro. Working with fellow Wilko mixologist, Starr Herr-Cardillo, Anable custom-crafted each house recipe and hand-selected every bottle on display behind the bar in the newly renovated space in the Broadway Village shopping complex. As a result, he can tell you the life story of each product from soil to shelf.

“All the language is there to meaningfully talk about any product the way people talk about wine,” says Anable of his spirit-selection process. He believes the dialogue that has developed amongst wine connoisseurs—like conversations about where and how something was made—should be employed when talking about beer and liquor as well. “When you add the history layer on top of the cocktails and the culinary layer of mixing flavors, I think that’s a really rich and powerful way to think about what we’re doing here.”

Shapiro, who is consistent with Sidecar in his efforts to “bring Tucson artisan concepts that have an emphasis on craft and health,” worked with partners Page Repp and Rick McClain of design firm Repp + McClain to fully remodel the corner space in what has been called one of Arizona’s oldest shopping complexes. The red brick has been whitewashed, giving the inside of the 1939 Josias Joesler building the smell of fresh paint. The concrete floors are newly stained; deep-buttoned, lime-green banquette benches line the walls underneath the large, south-facing windows; a large 3-D piece by artist Nick Georgiou decorates the space between the windows. The tables feature polished wood surfaces. Natural brown leather accents and warm pendulum lights give the otherwise-industrial space all of the charm of a cozy after-work escape.

Shapiro lives nearby and commutes to Sidecar by way of a fixed-gear bicycle. According to Shapiro, all of his restaurants—which include popular smoothie stop Xoom Juice, Downtown coffee hub Sparkroot, and the wood-fired pizza joint, Falora (just two doors down from the new bar)—have been built on concepts that addressed the owner’s personal culinary cravings. Sidecar is Shapiro’s neighborhood bar, and it’s a place that he hopes mid-town Tucsonans will also “be able to call their own.”

Though it has all of the makings of a hip Downtown club, Sidecar’s intimate environment can only accommodate about 70 people at maximum capacity, including the tiny outdoor patio—an effect, Shapiro points out, that makes an afternoon at the bar feel “like you could be in your living room.”

Sidecar maintains a staff of only four to five, both in the lounge and behind the bar, lending a much tighter-knit vibe between the employees and their patrons, versus the high-octane pace of Downtown on a Friday night. Anable says he “appreciate(s) being able to take a little more time and be a little more patient” with each drink he mixes at Sidecar. The easier pace also means more opportunity to chat with his customers and provide them with a little bit of cocktail education during their experience, he says.

The opening week of operation brought with it a steady flow of customers; a promising start to the business’ first summer—a season which, due to the loss of about 50,000 UA students to their various hometowns, can make-or-break a new Tucson restaurant. But Shapiro’s goals for the space stretch far into the future, which is why he went for a “timeless” appeal when contemplating Sidecar’s aesthetic.

As for getting the word out, the presence of both Sidecar and Falora in a complex of shops that have traditionally been retail-only has meant plenty of media attention for the new watering hole. Other than that, Shapiro plans to keep his advertising efforts to a minimum, hoping that word-of-mouth alone will allow future patrons to “discover” the space for themselves. Those that wander in even by accident will surely not be disappointed.

In sentiments no doubt shared by his employer, Anable says of his position as (perhaps) Tucson’s most mindful cocktail master, “Knowing that everything you push across the bar has a reason for being there—that’s meaningful.” If social drinking can have a greater meaning than an hour-or-so of revelry, this is where you’ll find it.

Sidecar is located at 139 S. Eastbourne Ave. (off of Broadway Boulevard, just west of Country Club Road), and is open from 4 p.m.-11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 4 p.m.-midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Call 795-1819 for more information.

R Bar Set to Open

July 2, 2014 |
R_BAR_mural

One of the main features of the new R Bar is a LED backlit metal silhouette mural, covering the entire back wall, created by Patch & Clark Design.

Rialto Theatre Expands Operations With New Bar

The Rialto Theatre is opening a new bar, adding top-quality beverages to the live music experience.

Slated for an opening in mid-July, the R Bar across Herbert Avenue from the theater will add craft cocktails and draft beer and wine to the Rialto’s options. The 1,100 square-foot bar will be open daily – not just during shows.

“I wanted it to always be open, even when there was a show, to the public. You don’t have to buy a ticket to the show to come to the bar. But if you’re at the show you can come into the bar and go back into the show freely,” says Rialto Theatre Foundation’s Executive Director Curtis McCrary. “For theatre-goers, it’s going to mean a whole lot broader options for beverages, things we just don’t have now, new bathrooms, more space and seating and a good place for meet-and-greets with artists. It will be a great enhancement of patron amenities at the shows.”

McCrary says that after struggling during the recession, the foundation began looking at ways to increase revenue and mitigate slow periods, like the middle of summer.

“When it gets to be certain times of year, when there is nobody who is Rialto-sized touring, it was a really difficult situation for us to navigate because our cash flow would dry up and there was nothing we could do about it. Over the years, we’ve tried everything you could think of to make something happen in that space, but it’s big and it has sloped floors and it’s just not a hang out place. It’s all very focused on what’s happening on stage,” he says.

The Rialto has limited space that’s not in the auditorium and similarly sized theaters around the country have larger lobbies and patios. To expand, the Rialto began looking at spaces contiguous to the bar, but the Plaza Centro development, now the Cadence student housing complex, ultimately offered the best solution.

“This gives us more breathing room. The key outcome is when we have shows, people will be able to flow from the bar into the theatre and vice versa,” McCrary says. The planning centered on the question of how best to meet a variety of needs.

R-bar-logo“What kind of bar does it want to be? It was a tricky thing to determine because it has to be several different bars, depending on the circumstances,” McCrary says.

“We have certain beverages we offer in the theatre, but like all larger venues, the service is more limited. There are a lot of restrictions. It’s about quick and simple service and we can’t get very elaborate,” he says. “So we knew we wanted to have more interesting options available to people. We want that craft component, that finely curated component of the beverages we offer.”

To design the space, the Rialto turned to the team of Gary Patch and Darren Clark. The bar is at the front of the glass-fronted space to enable bartenders to serve outside to the patio as well as inside. The mezzanine directly above the bar offers a more intimate space for patrons, or a prime spot for artist meet-and-greets. The bar menu is designed by manager Rory O’Rear, whose past experience running beverage programs at the Red Room and Wilko is the ideal fit for giving R Bar the versatility it needs, McCrary says.

The R Bar enhances both halves of the Rialto’s mission – improving the live music experience for patrons as well as the stewardship of the theater itself. Revenue generated by the R Bar will be put back into Rialto improvements, like a modern green room below the stage and other upgrades.

“It’s designed so that it can work as a great place to go before and after a show, but also something that can function alongside the theatre during a show,” McCrary says. “There are lots of people who do great stuff all over downtown and we wanted to do something that was different than everywhere else. We’re trying to do our own thing, tied in very specifically to the Rialto. It’s under the umbrella of everything we do here and it’s a place that we’ll welcome all of our patrons.”

McCrary expects the bar to open the second week in July, with a formal grand opening to come this fall. The forthcoming website will be RBarTucson.com.

Contemporary Art of the Southwest

June 26, 2014 |

Contemporary Art of the SouthwestSchiffer Publishing recently issued a gorgeous compendium of Southwestern artists and their work, covering Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. While the artists included is just over 100—admittedly low for the depth and breadth concentrated in just Tucson alone—the author does say in her introduction that “The Southwest is rich with artists. I could have easily produced a book with 200 artists and still not have exhausted the talent to be found in this region.”

The artists author E. Ashley Rooney chose to showcase are certainly some of the most interesting around. Rooney says via email that her method of selecting creators and their work was by looking “for art that hit me—grabbed my attention. I also looked for different mediums and different styles. I looked at how they used, combined and transformed their materials into art that changed the way we perceived the world. I looked at where they had shown and to whom. I wanted to include not only the artists who are cutting-edge but those who are just coming on the public scene.”

The artwork is richly diverse and definitely captivating. Styles range from serene landscapes to whimsical sculptures, meticulous gourd work, to surreal folk art, exquisite jewelry, photography, symbols and archetypes, paintings and drawings and so much of everything else in between. What the artists have in common is an eye for beauty—be it conventional, unusual, or absurd; they collectively have appreciation for form, light, color, texture.

The book was a collaborative effort between Rooney and the artists. She gave them the space to pick the included pieces, along with a bio. All the artists tell a brief story about their environmental influences, present and past, and what draws them to create what they do where they do. It is nice to get that insight coupled with the imagery.

"Beautiful Day," by Cynthia Reid

“Beautiful Day,” by Cynthia Reid

Included Tucson area artists are: Catherine Eyde, Daniel Martin Diaz, Jeff Smith, Elizabeth Frank, Martin and Karen Klay, Joan Marron-LaRue, Neil Myers and Cynthia Reid.

Reid explains via email that fellow artist Neil Myers recommended her work to Rooney, and feels that the “book turned out well, and given the range and overall quality of its work, I am gratified by being included in it.” Reid’s contemporary impressionist style is vibrant with nature’s beauty. Of her work, she explains that she loves “Tucson’s wonderful, abundant sunshine and believe it influences my choice of intense, warm colors.”

Million Volt Curtain, Rincon Mountains, AZ Jeff Smith

Million Volt Curtain, Rincon Mountains
Jeff Smith

Photographer Jeff Smith, known for his breathtaking lightning photos, says via email that he was included in the book due to a recommendation from Elizabeth Frank. Smith’s spread includes five photos, that he culled from shows at “Etherton Gallery and their satellite gallery The Temple Gallery.” Of the book, he says, “The first thing I do when looking at a book like this with contemporary artists is to look at all the other artists’ work. I was pleased to see that the craft and caliber was complementary to all artists and that all was of a skillful level. Awesome! Then I looked at my two page spread and I thought, ‘Wow, what a nice way to lay it out,’ and the imagery was accurate to the tonal range of what my prints are! To get this right, takes a lot of effort and I appreciate it! When a book like this is done right and in this case it is, it can be a terrific tool and vehicle for others to access to your work.”

Folk artist/painter Catherine Eyde was also recommended by Elizabeth Frank. Her spread of six pieces is beautiful, work she says best represented her at the time. “I was happy to see it (the book) done so well, as were other Tucson artists I have spoken to,” she writes via email.

"Bird Boy and Treehouse," by Elizabeth Frank photo: Jeff Smith

“Bird Boy and Treehouse,” by Elizabeth Frank
photo: Jeff Smith

The book also gives a six-piece spread of Elizabeth Frank’s imaginative and whimsical wood sculptures. Frank says she feels honored to be included, though “I don’t think of my artwork as Southwestern exactly but I was born here. This region has inspired me since childhood. The work I make is influenced by this area, even the materials I use. Much of the wood I carve is gathered in the mountains of the Southwest.”

While the book is not comprehensive of all of the talent in region—such a book would be too heavy to lift— it is a great launching pad for exploration. Art shifts our perspective, takes mind out of time, seemingly suspends space-time to the present while gazing on the work, marveling at its creation and inspiration. Art books hopefully lead us to art galleries and making real world connections. And who knows what those can bring.

The hardcover book, 240 pages, includes a resource guide and a guide to the artists; along with a historical forward by Julie Sasse, Tucson Museum of Art’s Chief Curator. The publisher says it is available at Antigone Books and at Barnes and Nobles locations. More information is at Schifferbooks.com/contemporary-art-of-the-southwest-5345.html.

Sacred Machine: Creation, Evolution & Moving On

May 1, 2014 |
Daniel Martin Diaz and Paula Catherine Valencia, in a photo for their band Crystal Radio. photo: Danni Valdez

Daniel Martin Diaz and Paula Catherine Valencia, in a photo for their band Crystal Radio.
photo: Danni Valdez

It’s easy to get deep with Daniel Martin Diaz and Paula Catherine Valencia. Diaz’s art and Valencia’s writing—plus their music with Blind Divine and Crystal Radio—dig into the heart of the mysteries of existence. One cannot look at Diaz’s work without feeling pulled into a rabbit hole of esoteric human inquiries; his pieces—especially in his recent book Soul of Science—are individual time machines of ancient knowledge and futuristic anomalies of biology and technology; amalgams of religion, science, mythology and psychology. The detail is exquisitely intricate, the edgy motifs are fascinating and possibly daunting to the unadventurous or religiously sensitive.

For Diaz, creating is about letting the art and music “take me where it wants to take me. Really, you’re just a vessel for the art or the music that you are creating, it’s like you are sculpting something. It’s manipulating you as opposed to you manipulating it. I think also, creating art or creating music and not really fully understanding what you’re doing is part of the mystery.

“I’ve always approached music and art (that way)—always trying to find the mystery that is hidden there, but then not truly understanding what it is. And I think that’s what keeps me motivated enough to keep going and keep finding this mystery because, for myself, this is what’s worked. If I understand what I’m doing, then the magic and the mystery is gone. And then it’s like, what’s the point of going on anymore creating?”

Soul of Science is Daniel Martin Diaz's latest book of art. photo courtesy Mysticus Publishing

Soul of Science is Daniel Martin Diaz’s latest book collection of art.
photo courtesy Mysticus Publishing

Opening himself as a vessel for the music and art has proven very successful. Diaz, a 47-year-old native Tucsonan, has been extremely prolific during his career, which has included: a 200-song catalogue (collaborations done with Paula and others) with tracks utilized by over 30 major television outlets, national and international art exhibits, album and book covers, four personal publications of his work, and a list of public art commissions.

The most recognizable of Diaz’s public art projects in Downtown Tucson are: Club Congress’ Proscenium Stage, Hotel Congress’ terrazzo floor and the metal work on the Plaza Centro parking garage, 345 E. Congress St. at 4th Avenue. While the process of creating public art is different from his personal work, there are still similarities.

Wife and creative/business partner Valencia explains: “We have to work within parameters, so, you’re given this set of rules to work within, and then it becomes kind of free form. Half the things that we do are sitting somewhere in a restaurant, done on a napkin, especially with public art. ‘Ok, here’s the concept, this would be really cool.’ And then maybe Daniel starts sketching stuff and I start writing the concepts and themes behind it. In our folders, we always have these napkins stuck behind the paperwork and the contracts. So, a lot of times it’s a free form type of thing too and then it gets developed from there, then working with architects and all the intricacies, putting that into the large work.”

“A lot of research goes into public art,” Diaz adds. “We research the area, research the community, research who’s lived there–like in the 1880s, 1700s–and look at the wildlife and what has been here in this area that we can use as a resource for the art. I think that’s a different approach than I do with my own work, but I really like it.”

The couple explains that the work integrated into the Plaza Centro garage, called Desert Splendor, includes inspiration from the desert, the trains, the railroad tracks and artistic patterning from local Native cultures, all placed to incorporate the sun’s movement for specific effect.

“If you look at that design, one side of it has a tree with leaves and the other side has a tree without leaves, so it’s this idea, because the sun hits one side of it and it changes throughout the day, so it’s this idea that ‘Change is now occurring,’” Diaz explains, “with the seasons and even just the change within a day that we go through. Downtown changes from morning to sunset.”

For Daniel and Paula, their own changes are occurring. At the end of May, after a four year run, the couple is closing their museum/gallery/curio shop Sacred Machine, 245 E. Congress St., and moving to Los Angeles in the fall.

The decision to open the space in May 2010 wasn’t premeditated, they explain. “It was one of those things he was talking about with his art,” Paula says. “It really chose us, this space. We were sitting in here for a meeting… and I’m like, ‘We need this space.’ It was really strange; he thought I was insane, and I said, ‘Well maybe I am, but this space is calling out to me for whatever reason’.”

At the time, their neighbors on the block included Xoom Juice, Yoga Oasis and Cricket Wireless. Businesses across the street (Tooley’s Cafe, 276 Works Gallery, Central Arts Gallery, Preen, Rocket Gallery, Dinnerware ArtSpace and Metropolis The Salon) had been displaced for what wouldn’t become An Congress (now Playground, Pizzaria Bianco and HUB), though the night club Sharks (now Saint House) was still operating; The District Tavern was and is still pouring drinks. The couple has witnessed Downtown’s evolution (see related story here), and has had a great run with Sacred Machine—hosting compelling art exhibits and live music in addition to meeting interesting artists, musicians, getting to know other merchants and the public at large.

“We had one of the producers of The Simpsons come in here, and Paula became really good friends with her and,” Diaz continues, “we became good friends with Alex Maas from The Black Angels, because of the gallery. In L.A., I think those opportunities are going to be intensified. We’ve been here our whole lives, so we’re ready to move.”

“We’ve been creating (in Tucson) for 24 years now, since we’re met, and raised our son,” Paula says. “Damian is 21 (now), so, let’s go explore! We’re doing art, music, public art, we’re doing all these things, and really, we can move any where and do those things. It’s kind of–have art, will travel. Let’s go do this there, and we’ll do that, and maybe we’ll end up in Paris one day.”

“We’ll give it a shot and see what happens,” Diaz adds. “We have no—like in everything we do—we don’t have expectations. I just feel like when you have expectations, you are setting yourself up for some kind of failure. Just go over there, see what happens. And, if we’re there for 10 years, if we’re there for 20 years, great, if not, we could end up in Paris, with Sacred Machine over there, great. We just don’t know. That’s been our life. We wake up and we don’t know what that day is going to bring, and that’s good and how we want to live.”

Sacred Machine’s May events include the 1st Saturday Art Walk on May 3, 4 p.m.-9 p.m. The farewell celebration is from 5 p.m.-10 p.m. during 2nd Saturdays on May 10; the “Blue Print for the Future” exhibit opens May 10 and runs through May 31. Closing day hours on May 31 are noon-9 p.m. Regular hours are 5 p.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and 4 p.m.-9 p.m. Saturday. Keep abreast of their adventures at SacredMachine.com and DanielMartinDiaz.com.

Downtown’s Shifting Landscape

May 1, 2014 |

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Directional sign at Maynards Market. photo: David Olsen

Directional sign at Maynards Market. photo: David Olsen

In the mid-‘80s and through the ‘90s and early ‘00s, Downtown was considered a schlumpy locale eschewed by seemingly many Tucsonans. It was the artists, musicians, the writers and photographers, galleries, bars, a handful of entrepreneurs, restaurants, long-established families, some smart investors and renters who comfortably called it home. The cheap rent and authentic vibe drew those to the area.

As progress happens, so does construction, such as the 4th Avenue underpass and the streetcar tracks. Congress Street, as was the revitalization goal, is a different place than it was five years ago. Only a handful of pre-2009 businesses along that strip remain.

Today, Congress Street is certainly a destination for food and drink. It’s not a destination for the arts, the galleries mostly ring the northern edge of Downtown in the Warehouse District. Three galleries that were in the Downtown core are leaving or have left: Sacred Machine, 245 E. Congress St., Atlas Fine Art Services, 41 S. 6th Ave., and Obsidian Gallery, 410 N. Toole Ave.

For Sacred Machine’s proprietors, Paula Catherine Valencia and Daniel Martin Diaz, closing shop isn’t related to the Downtown economy or foot traffic. Theirs is a career move to L.A. However, Paula’s observation was this: “If you want to know what challenge might be happening with galleries down here is that it’s not necessarily a walking destination like 4th Avenue. You know, people go there, they walk, they’re used to looking through shops and hanging out. Their main thing isn’t to eat and drink there. When all that you have Downtown is restaurants and bars, people are here for lunch and dinner and to party later at night. Their agenda is to eat and drink, their agenda is not to shop and browse. So that becomes a different thing all together. I think that’s what’s happened with Congress Street.”

With Atlas Fine Art Services, which opened in August 2011 when Downtown was gaining traction with new restaurants—which would presumably help with foot traffic—it was difficult to gain traction themselves and they closed earlier this year.

Co-owner James Schaub wrote via email, “Foot traffic was something we hoped for and would have been helpful—but it never came. The foot traffic that happens Downtown is still much the way it used to be—people park as close as possible (increasingly harder to do) to where they want to go and go to that place and then drive to the next place. Our business, and others like it, is more of a destination. We usually knew when people were coming in—they called in advance. The students who now live Downtown are similar, most have cars and there is no real retail culture yet in the Downtown.”

Valencia also commented on the public’s parking habits: “I think another thing too is, we even have parking garages and people don’t want to park, so not only do they not want to park, they don’t want to walk. Something needs to change probably, and, possibly the streetcar will be the key. We’re not sure, but it could possibly be a help, to get people and things moving a little bit more.”

Diaz added that, “I think the most successful cities is where there’s circulation. For instance, Prescott; it’s a little town and they have the square, and you go in this circle and you can go in that circle all day and really not get bored because it’s so beautiful, but there’s no circle here in Tucson where you can walk and just go around and look at shops and come back around. You walk in a straight line. And who knows where you end up.

“I think that’s a really important thing,” Diaz continued. “I think that we have the potential to do it, with Congress and 6th and then come back around, but everything is on the outside. You need squares, and a park in the center.”

Having a focal point, a zócalo if you will, would be a wonderful thing for Downtown, and the Ronstadt Transit Center would be the perfect place. Maybe one day. There is currently a Request for Proposals out for a joint development of the Ronstadt Transit Center. (See www4.tucsonaz.gov/integrated-planning/joint-development-ronstadt-transit-center-project-area.)

At the end of April, Downtown Tucson Partnership CEO Michael Keith and I did a walking tour of the core, starting at the east end. I parked at Plaza Centro garage and met Keith outside of Gio Taco, 350 E. Congress St.

Signs in the first floor of The Cadence, the student housing complex at 350 E. Congress St., promise the upcoming arrival of Planet Smoothie and Fed By Threads, a sustainable clothing store. (Fed By Threads co-owner Alok Appadurai says mid-May.)

"Bar Open" signs placed along Congress Street, fall 2009. photo: David Olsen

“Bar Open” signs placed along Congress Street, fall 2009.
photo: David Olsen

As we walk by the Rialto Theatre, Good Oak Bar, Diablo Burger, Proper, then Playground, and before peeking into the still under construction Pizzeria Bianco, I have a flashback to 2009.

David Aguirre, Director of Dinnerware ArtSpace—a gallery that had been displaced, along with a couple others, from Congress Street in 2009 when there were initial plans to have Kwang C. An open a restaurant in the 200 block of East Congress Street—had placed several A frames along the sidewalk with the words “Bar Open” on both sides of the signs. It was funny in a prophetic, times are a’changin’ sort of way.

It’s not all bars though, there’s food—HUB and Saint House, though both are known for their cocktails. Across the street there’s Yoga Oasis, Sacred Machine, FORS, Connect Beta, Xoom Juice and Sparkroot. On the next block there’s the Olive Orchard Gourmet Pantry coming to 222 E. Congress St., Buffalo Exchange is there, Studio 220/Got All Your Marbles, Tierra Antigua Realty, Iguana Cafe and Crescent Smoke Shop.

Around the corner and south on 6th Avenue is the forthcoming Johnny Gibson’s Downtown Market in the old Beowulf Alley Theatre space at 11 S. 6th Ave., then there’s The Drawing Studio, Flash in the Past Vintage Pinup Photography Studio, La Fashionista (sharing it’s space with Wig-O-Rama), and Black Rose Tattooers.

Swinging back down to Congress Street, we pass Chicago Music Store and pop into the forthcoming Saint Cecilia Studios—which looks beautifully awesome (see story in last month’s issue). We pass MEB Management and Unplugged Wine Bar; Voodoo Jack’s and Wig-O-Rama sit empty, awaiting restoration due to damage caused by a fire that gutted Grill over a year ago. We look across the street and see, from 6th Avenue to Scott Avenue: Hydra, Empire Pizza, Elliott’s on Congress, The Screening Room, Zen Rock; then, from Scott Avenue to Stone Avenue, JunXion Bar, Jimmy John’s, On a Roll, Sapphire and the upcoming H2O club. Further west, there’s A Perfect Pantry, Lesco Optical, V Thai; from Stone to Church Avenue, the Fox Theatre, Subway, Caffe Milano, Rice House.

Scott Stitler, owner/landlord of the buildings on both sides of the 200 East Congress Street block, said, “Today, I’m not interested in more food,” when talking about what kind of tenants he is looking for to occupy the spaces at 245 E. Congress St. that will become empty once Sacred Machine, and possibly Connect Beta, move out.

Stitler, who also co-owns the Rialto Block with Don Martin, explained that he doesn’t just take any tenant interested in one of his available spaces, he is thorough and selective. “I don’t advertise or put ‘For Rent’ signs in the windows, I’m hyper focused on all three blocks for a good mix, I’m constantly processing all these cities I visit, I travel a lot and take a lot of pictures.

“It’s takes a lot of patience, Pizzaria Bianco is a perfect example. We had 40 or 50 unsolicited offers, and it is tough to manage because you are dealing with nice people, but I was glad I said no on that space, because once Chris (Bianco) came along, and he’s had hundreds of offers to do another Pizzeria Bianco, and after 23 years of saying no, he searched his soul and his soul said yes to Tucson, and this space.”

Stitler said he has had offers on the spaces already, some of them are food, but he’d rather allow the current restaurants to stabilize and he doesn’t want “to add another two or three more.”

“It’s hard on everyone to make it in a month. The short answer is to let some of these projects get further along. Restaurants always lead an area that is getting revitalized, and then you get an office and then an apartment building and so on and so forth. I like where we are from five years ago, and we still have a ways to go, with more housing and more jobs Downtown.”

He paused, and said what is on a lot of people’s minds, “I hope the streetcar is a successful launch.”

Tidbits

April 4, 2014 |

Jazz Performances @ Main Gate Square

Whether you are a jazz buff or someone interested in live entertainment, the concerts Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance are hosting this month are sure to inspire. The shows take place at Main Gate Square on April 4 and April 18 at 7 p.m. in Geronimo Plaza, 814 E. University Blvd.

The UA Studio Jazz Ensemble—comprised of the most prestigious student musicians from the university— perform on April 4. The ensemble earned the UA Global Excellence Award in 2013 after showing off their talents in two tours through China. The April 18 concert features soul, jazz and R&B vocalist Crystal Stark. A graduate from the University of Arizona, Stark later made it into the top 44 contestants in the fifth season of American Idol. Parking is free after 5 p.m. in the Tyndall Garage, 880 E. 4th St.

For more information about the concerts, visit SAACA.org, MainGateSquare.com or call (520) 797-3959.

Ethan Bortnick, 13-year-old protégé, Performs in Tucson

World-known musician and humanitarian Ethan Bortnick is performing at Pima Community College’s Proscenium Theatre, 2202 W. Anklam Rd., on Saturday, April 5 at 7 p.m. At only 13-years-old, Bortnick has performed with stars like Elton John and Santana, holds the Guinness World Record for youngest musician to tour solo, and has raised more than $30 million for charity.

During the concert, Bortnick will cover classic pop tunes from artists like Michael Jackson, The Beatles, and Elton John. His performance will also feature songs he composed that are in his newly released movie, Anything is Possible. Bortnick will also engage audience participation with a Q&A and improvisational segments.

Tickets cost $39 each, and may be purchased at EthanBortnick.com/PowerOfMusicTV.

Sam Hughes Garden Tour

Seven private Sam Hughes homes are opening up their gardens for the public to admire on Sunday, April 6 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. photo courtesy Sam Hughes Neighborhood Association

Seven private Sam Hughes homes are opening up their gardens to the public on Sunday, April 6 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
photo courtesy Sam Hughes Neighborhood Association

Seven private Sam Hughes homeowners and two public properties are opening up their gardens for the public to admire on Sunday, April 6 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The two-mile, self-guided tour through the historical neighborhood offers attendees a chance to check out outdoor architectural decorations, sculptures, a certified wildlife habitat garden, a backyard chicken coop, and a hummingbird garden. The neighborhood’s phenology trail, which shows the progression and changes of plant and animal life over time, will also be open to onlookers.

Tickets are $10 for adults, and entry is free for children. Tickets may be purchased between 10 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. the day of the tour at the Inner Courtyard of Sam Hughes Elementary School, 700 N. Wilson Ave. Parking for the tour is free, and can be found around the neighborhood.

Visit SamHughes.org for more information.

Pennington Street Block Party

From April 11-13, Tucson Service Learning Group is hosting the 26th Global Youth Service Days: an international community service event held in over 100 countries that celebrates youth’s contributions to society.

The Pennington Street Block Party, coordinated by City High School and the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona, will kick off the international campaign for community change from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. on Friday, April 11. The event happens along Downtown’s Pennington Street, between Stone and Scott Avenues.

At 4 p.m., the block party will hold a ceremony where the Ray Davies Student Service Award will be presented to an all-around honorable student. To receive the award, mentors nominate students who have a finely tuned sense of community, while demonstrating leadership and compassion for others. The award was named after the reputable Human Relations Commission member, Ray Davies. Other activities include:  musical performances, teaching demos, interactive booths, street theater, art exhibits, carnival games, and more.

For more information about the event, visit CityHighSchool.org, TucsonSLG.org and GYSD.org.

Sink Your Roots into Sonoran X

Sonoran_X_LOGO-2Plant lovers unite for the Tucson Cactus & Succulent Society’s Sonoran X Conference! This year’s theme is “Plants for the Sonoran Desert Hobbyists,” a showcase of unique cacti and hybrid plants from around the world. The plant conference is on Saturday, April 19 from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. and Sunday, April 20 from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at 475 N. Granada Ave.

Registered attendees will get a glimpse of grandeur member collections, participate in workshops, listen to five guest speakers, and enjoy two lunches and a dinner. The $50 registration takes place in the lobby from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday, and from 8 a.m. until noon on Sunday. Attendants who do not wish to register will still have access to the plant showings, a silent auction and the pottery, book, art and plant sales.

For more information about the conference and how to register, visit TucsonCactus.org or call (520) 256-2447.

Earth Day $1 Sale

Another segment of Buffalo Exchange’s 40th anniversary celebrations include its Earth Day Dollar Sale on Saturday, April 19. All 49 Buffalo Exchanges nationwide will raise proceeds from $1 ticket items and donate the funds directly to Tucson’s Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

Last year, the event raised a total of $43,000, which was donated to the Humane Society. This year’s funds will go to supporting and preserving the outdoor living museum’s “Pollination Hotspots” program. The program works to conserve, sustain and analyze the variation of seed production levels across the Sonoran Desert.

For more information about the museum and Buffalo Exchange, visit DesertMuseum.org and BuffaloExchange.com.

Tucson’s First Open Water Swim Triathlon

5430 Sports has coordinated Tucson’s first open water triathlon: Welcome, the 5430 TriZona Triathlon, happening on Sunday, April 27. Participants will face a 3.5 mile run, a 14.5 mile bike ride and 750 meter swim in the 10-acre Kennedy Lake. (Turner Labs discovered the water flowing into Kennedy Lake to be safe for not only swimming, but also drinking, according to 5430Sports.com.) Swimmers will begin the initial “wave,” or one lap swim, at the southeast corner of the lake. They will then head clockwise and finish at the southwest corner, where they will strip their wetsuits and start the run.

The first, second and third place winners from each age group will be awarded hand-made trophies. Registration for the triathlon is $90 if purchased by April 25.

For more information about the triathlon and how to enter, visit 5430Sports.com/TriZona.

Tiny Buildings, Enormous Impact: Dirk Arnold’s Endangered Architecture

March 22, 2014 |

Dirk_ArnoldWhen local artist Dirk Arnold went to architecture school in the mid-1980s, he says it was because he wanted to build models. “But it turns out building models was the thing you did at the last minute in a panic in architecture school,” he says, and so he put models aside after graduation for a career in graphic design. When he picked them back up decades later, the soft-spoken Arnold quickly became one of Tucson’s strongest voices for historical preservation.

He arrived in the Sonoran Desert in 1996 by way of Ann Arbor, Mich., though given Arnold’s dedication to (and obvious love for) Tucson’s community treasures, you’d think he’d been here all his life. Like many local transplants it was the climate that ultimately roped him in, but his love for the mid-century modern buildings here had a hand in his decision to relocate to this pueblo in particular, he says. When he was laid off from his job with a local software company in 2002, Arnold decided it was time to completely reevaluate his day-to-day, and so once again, he started building.

Arnold built his first piece in the Endangered Architecture (EA) series in 2003: a miniature of the Tucson Warehouse and Transfer Building on Sixth Street east of Stone Avenue. He took a series of photographs of the building, stitched them together on Photoshop, and set to work recreating the building’s façade piece-by-piece out of matte board, balsa wood, and glue.

“The truck on the (Tucson Warehouse and Transfer) sign blew off during that process,” explains Arnold, “and that got me thinking about all of the endangered signs around town.” From there came the idea to recreate Tucson’s classic neon signs as refrigerator magnets and EA was officially in business.

Arnold says each shadowbox model in the EA series can take anywhere between a few weeks and several months to complete by hand and it’s easy to see why; his recreation of the Berkshire Shopping Complex alone measures roughly seven feet in length.

He calls them “elevation views popped out into three dimensions,” harking his finished products back to artistic presentation posters of old that were “meticulously rendered and painted” by the architects themselves before the industry transitioned to digital. Arnold’s minimalist approach to his miniatures is attributable to his personal sense of architectural puritanism: “No cars, no people, no plants,” he says with a distinct air of humility, “I left all of that off.”

Demion Clinco, Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation president, met Arnold in 2008 at the First Annual Miracle Mile Open House and Tour. Clinco and Arnold later served together on the committee responsible for amending Tucson’s sign code to incentivize the preservation of signs like those depicted on Arnold’s magnets. The interest in local neon created by the project, says Arnold, led to his first major public art installation—the towering “Gateway Saguaro” which illuminates the intersection of Oracle Road and Drachman Street.

Clinco, recently appointed to the state House to fill the seat vacated by Andrea Dalessandro, says that Arnold’s approach to local preservation was more artistic than policy-driven; a welcome and important angle with respect to the efforts of the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation. “Using his remarkable artistic aesthetic and sensibility, (Arnold) is able to shine a light on our city’s historic resources in a way that no one else does,” says Clinco.

And you thought we were just talking about magnets and miniatures.

Though Arnold insists that his art is “not overtly political,” it is hard to deny the preservationist undertone of a moniker like “Endangered Architecture.” Still, the threats to Arnold’s beloved mid-century modern structures are real. In fact, two of the buildings represented in his current show at the Tucson International Airport Gallery—namely, the 1968 Levy’s Department Store at El Con Mall and the Berkshire Village Shopping Center formerly at Broadway Boulevard and Camino Seco—“have been demolished for Walmarts just in the last couple of years,” Arnold says. The push to widen Broadway Boulevard, he says, could bring down many more.

Ultimately, through his own contribution toward preserving our local architectural heritage, Dirk Arnold is providing our community with a number of classics all his own. And though it is perhaps an understatement, most Tucsonans would probably agree with Representative Clinco when he says of Tucson’s Master of Miniature, “We’re really lucky to have him.”

Lucky we are, indeed.

Dirk Arnold’s Endangered Architecture miniatures are on display in the Tucson International Airport Gallery (on the east end of the baggage claim area, 7250 S. Tucson Blvd.) through the end of March. The closing reception is on Saturday, March 22, 4 p.m.-7 p.m. Arnold’s magnets can be purchased on his Etsy store, or at EndangeredArchitecture.com.
Dirk_Arnold_2

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