DOWNTOWN / UNIVERSITY / 4TH AVE

Centers and Street Corners

April 10, 2013 |

by Kimi Eisele

The famous writer and urbanist Jane Jacobs named four indispensable conditions for generating “exuberant diversity” in a downtown area. One of them was that “streets and opportunities to turn corners must be frequent.”

In other words, hail to the street corner!

So where does that leave us?

Waiting for a walk signal on Speedway and Campbell? Maneuvering around construction barricades at Broadway and Stone?

Try 5th Ave. and Congress St., where a three-week art exhibit about centers and street corners is about to intersect with new downtown businesses.

The junction is the idea of downtown developer Scott Stiteler and Worker, Inc., the one-man artist collective also known as Bill Mackey.

This spring, eight new businesses—including restaurants, a butcher, and a co-work space—will open along 5th and Congress in properties owned by Stiteler. To celebrate, Stiteler wanted to create an event “where people could come in from the community and talk about the intersection.”

Familiar with Worker, Inc.’s previous work, Stiteler commissioned the “exhibit event.”

“I basically gave Bill [Mackey] a blank canvas,” Stiteler said.

“He wanted a party,” Mackey said. “I thought, this is a good challenge. He knew it wouldn’t just be a ‘rah- rah’ thing for him, but that I would show many sides of the story.”

As Worker, Inc., Mackey has mounted a number of interactive, mixed-media exhibits in vacant storefronts exploring such themes as downtown master planning, urban transportation, and interaction between strangers within downtown. He often uses humor to pose evocative questions about land use, consumption, and urban planning policy.

“Worker Transit Authority,” a 2011 Worker, Inc. exhibit, displayed mock planning projects created by a mock planning authority and shared the findings of community survey which asked the public “How do you move through the city?”

“Centers and Street Corners,” examines the role of street corners in Tucson and beyond.

Those familiar with Mackey’s previous work will recognize the exhibit format. Mixed media, photographs, maps, map overlays, and historical ephemera are used to explore how street corners have generated and continue to generate opportunities (or don’t) for human interaction.

Photographs of other Tucson street corners will give viewers the opportunity to compare and contrast. And much like a street corner itself, the exhibit will invite interaction from viewers.

Instead of just looking at maps, Mackey said, “People will get to pin where they think the center of a place is. They’ll get to talk about and write on the wall. They’ll be asked to think about the memorable and famous street corners they’ve known.”

Through his research, Mackey found that one of ways that street corners and urban centers are deemed “successful” is if they include shopping.

“There’s something about economics and that makes these places successful in the eyes of the developer and the commercial people and the city,” Mackey said. “But is that what downtown needs to be successful? A place to shop? Is that all we’re nostalgic for?”

Mackey hopes visitors will pen their own responses to those questions and others using Sharpie markers that will hang from white walls in the storefront.

“I’m interested to know what people of this community want in a street corner. Do they want a place for diverse encounters? Is that important?”

Meanwhile, the exhibit itself may signify a new kind of crossroads for downtown art and the artist.

“This is the most beautiful thing that’s happened in my life,” said Mackey, whose previous work was all funded with public money, the University of Arizona, or Mackey’s own pocketbook. “All of the sudden a businessman calls me up and says I want to do an exhibition? It’s a dream.”

Stiteler said he has a “soft spot” for pop-up arts activities. “You can’t have a good urban scene if you don’t have the arts woven into the experience,” he said.

What: Centers and Street Corners
Where: 5th and Congress, 245 E. Congress, Suite 171 (next to Sparkroot)
When: April 13, April 20, April 27, 6pm-9pm
Cost: Free

Danny Martin Sticks Around

April 10, 2013 |

photo by Andrew Brown

This issue’s cover comes to us from an artist whose projects have appeared ubiquitous around the Old Pueblo as of late. One could even say 33-year-old Alabama native Danny Martin is taking the Tucson art scene by storm, seeing as his whimsical work is about to surface at unpredictable venues totaling no less than three exhibits in only sixty days.

Immediately following his mixed media Western art show having just spent the month of March lining the walls of the Hotel Congress lobby, Martin is already preparing for an April 13 opening at downtown’s BLX Skate Shop. The collection to run at BLX until mid-May, a sticker portrait show exclusively featuring pop culture 1980s film icons, betrays Martin’s early childhood obsessions with the artists Raymond Pettibon and Pushead. And later this month during the weekend of April 27-28, more of Martin’s neo-High Noon imagery will be included in the Cowboy Music Festival & Western Art Show at Old Tucson Studios out past Gates Pass.

On top of all of this, Martin was recently set up at the Fourth Avenue Spring Street Fair selling shirts, prints and buttons and pressing the flesh alongside established local artist Donovan White and others. Questioned about his busy schedule, he shrugged it off good-naturedly. “I am out doing stuff in Tucson,” Martin admits. “Everybody draws as a kid. But a lot of people never really make the shift from child art to adult art.”

A statement on his DannyMartinArt.com website speaks to memories of doodles past. “All my stuff I would draw in notebooks was from skateboard decks and flyers or film,” Martin explains, combined with “a little bit of self-awareness.” Does he still have his five hundred practice drawings of Jim Phillips’ screaming hand logo? “I’m a real pack rat,” Martin confesses when asked whether he’s managed to hang onto the sketches he remembers so fondly from his youth. “But I unfortunately don’t have any of that stuff. The house I grew up in burned down.”

Martin’s artistic sensibility extends beyond any aspirations he may have for commercial success, with his Southern background jibing nicely with the Sonoran Desert surroundings he chose when he relocated here eight years ago for grad school. The result is a prolific outpouring of art with a sense of place and community, in Martin’s own words, “even outside of selling stuff.” By honoring his muse before money, Martin joins the ranks of the many local creatives producing art for reasons other than narrow financial considerations. He, and they, add to the tapestry of Tucson through their efforts which make this town a colorful slice of paradise we all love.

Danny Martin’s 1980s movie portrait stickers go on view at BLX Skate Shop, 35 E. Toole Ave., beginning the evening of Saturday, April 13 in conjunction with 2nd Saturdays Downtown. Find details at BLXSk8.com and 2ndSaturdaysDowntown.com. Old Tucson Studios and the Arizona chapter of the Western Music Association present the third annual Cowboy Music Festival & Western Art Show from 10 am-6 pm on Saturday-Sunday, April 27-28, at 201 S. Kinney Rd. Visit TucsonCowboyFestival.org and OldTucson.com for more information.

Bike Fest and Cyclovia celebrate public space

April 9, 2013 |

If you’ve been daydreaming about spending more time in the open air exploring our city – and less time trapped in your car – each April a group of people is giving you every possible incentive to take over the streets and celebrate public space. Living Streets Alliance fills the month of April with Bike Fest, bookended this year with Cyclovia, two all-day festivals of car-free streets downtown on April 7th, and midtown on April 28th.

“I look at Cyclovia as a sort of canvas,” says Kylie Walzak, the event’s coordinator. “It’s an opportunity for the Tucson community to come out and participate at an event, unlike any other opportunity that we have. The organizers raise money and provide for public safety, but after that, everything else is a combination of efforts of really passionate people to come out and share what they have for the day.”

Artist Mykl Wells will be rolling around on his handmade recycled tricycle, giving away agua fresca. Walzak says Alecio Lopez is encouraging people to travel “back in time” by harvesting nine historic images from the historical society to print large and hang along the route. Mariah Hoffman, who worked with the recent 3 Degrees of Strangers exhibit, will be pairing up with Cakes for Causes to get participants sharing cookies and stories with strangers. Other activity hubs will have live music and dancing in the streets; a pop-up skate park, obstacle course, rock climbing wall, jumping castle; you can rent bikes, decorate bikes, or just walk each 5-mile course and sample the food trucks – the only cars that get a say in this show.

“The first three years we’ve had Cyclovia it’s been a fun, active event, but this year it has the potential to be a venue for community strength building, and a place for the Tucson community to come out, get together and celebrate,” Walzak says. “I hope that the lasting effect that people take away from the event is that so much of the conversation about our streets is negative: ‘our streets are crumbling,’ ‘our streets are dangerous.’ But we can really challenge ourselves to re-imagine our streets in a different way.”

Cyclovia’s graphic designer Dennis Fesenmyer is putting imagination to paper with three other artists who will be creating limited edition print posters for Cyclovia. Joining him are Matt McCoy, Ryan Trayte, and Richie Brevaire, who will create a set of four 18 x 24 posters in Cyclovia’s colors – wedgewood blue and bright mustard yellow – that show each artist’s celebration of open streets.

The second event on the 28th highlights a new route through midtown using pieces of Dodge, Blacklidge, Mountain and Glenn, and is the first step in the mission to provide four routes in separate neighborhoods to cycle through each year. Courses are built to pass schools, businesses and other attractions along bike boulevards and low-stress routes “that people can realistically feel comfortable using on their bikes or walking the other 364 days of the year,” Walzak says.

It’s a goal that rings true with the rest of Bike Fest. “The more people you get out riding a bike, the safer it becomes for everyone because bicycling becomes more visible and people notice them more,” adds Emily Yetman, executive director of Living Streets Alliance. “It adds to the vibrancy of our streets and helps create a street life and vitality in our neighborhoods.” And for the rest of April, the streets all over Tucson will be humming with pedal pushers as they stop by dozens of events just for commuting cyclists. During Pedal the Pueblo week, Whole Foods on Speedway will be doing a kickoff breakfast with live music and raffles, and way stations will be set along bike routes to supply riders with juice, coffee, bagels, and giveaways.

New this year, Tucsonans can come to a happy hour at Borderlands Brewery with outdoor activities by Playformance. Free food there is sponsored by New Belgium, who is bringing back the Best Beer and Film Festival at the Fox during Bike Fest. BICAS is hosting a ride through the Barrio to Crossroads Restaurant’s happy hour; GABA is putting on the Bike Swap and coordinating rides to Reid Park Zoo with free admission for helmet-toters. Miles of rides all month can be logged online for raffles of gift certificates and bike gear. April’s two-wheeled opportunities are endless.

Bike Fest, April 1-30 – BikeFestTucson.com

Events list and giveaways are on their website, BikeFestTucson.com

Cyclovia, Sunday, April 7th and Sunday, April 28th 10am to 3pm

Route info and events at CycloviaTucson.org

For more information, visit LivingStreetsAlliance.org

 

A Beautiful Coalescence

March 19, 2013 |

Tucson is full of surprises.

In this Sonoran Desert valley are artists and musicians incubating, nurturing and growing their creative forms in living rooms and practice spaces and studios, honing their crafts until BAM – they are showcased on a national stage.

This is certainly more the exception than the rule, but it does happen and it happened this year with bluegrass quintet Run Boy Run. The 20somethings met at UofA and formed the band in 2009 but, as upright bassist Jesse Allen explains, “Most of our serious time as a band has happened since we were split between two cities.”

Members (besides Allen, include siblings Matt and Grace Rolland plus Jen and Bekah Sandoval) are divvied up between the Old Pueblo and Phoenix, creating a logistical challenge when it comes to rehearsals, performances and recording.

When asked where the band had been playing before heard by 4 million listeners on public radio show “A Prairie Home Companion” (APHC) this January and again in February, Allen says, “Frankly, we haven’t been.

“We didn’t play Tucson much because we were split between Tucson and Phoenix, and our Phoenix half was keeping us busy up there. It really wasn’t until we played the Tucson Folk Festival where we met Nowhere Man and Whiskey Girl (who are joining us for the release show on Thursday, March 21) that we started booking shows in Tucson; even our resident Sun Devil started falling in love with the Old Pueblo.”

It was a shock to hear, for the first time, such a wonderfully tight and talented local band being showcased on Garrison Keillor’s program. Where had they been hiding? And, how did they get a slot on the popular public radio show?

Allen explains: “Through some providential connections, we were given the right people to talk to when we found out they (APHC) were coming to Tempe. Grace was particularly persistent in contacting and following up with them. We got the call the Tuesday before the show telling us that Garrison would like to invite us to play on the show. Until that morning, we had viewed it as something we had almost no chance of being able to do. I’ve got a mental list of all the seemingly impossible accomplishments that I would dream of us being able to do, and APHC was one of the top on that list.”

The kids fit in perfectly with Keillor’s aesthetic. APHC fans know the host’s penchant for Americana music traditions and RBR’s self description as having its sound rooted in the Appalachian South made for a perfect match. Twice.

“The second time came as almost as much a surprise as the first,” Allen relays. “Garrison and the folks at APHC had been so nice, and dropped little comments about having us back, but I just dismissed them as courtesy — after all, who are we? It wasn’t until Mr. Keillor himself walked into the dressing room where we were gathering ourselves after the show with his calendar in hand, that we realized that they weren’t just courtesies, and he really did want us back on the show.”

It is an affirmation of the quality of the band’s musical aptitude, plus its dedication and hard work – the same qualities that shine through on RBR’s first full length “So Sang the Whippoorwill.” Front and center are soaring honeyed harmonies by the gals – Grace, Jen and Bekah – surrounded by a beautiful coalescence of bass, fiddles, mandolin and cello.

The album is comprised of 12 tracks, mostly penned by the musicians but it also includes three traditional songs and a cover of The Band’s “Get Up Jake.” It is a gorgeous release and very technically clean, both the recording and the playing, a result of hours and hours spent in the Jim Brady Recording Studios.

Fiddler Matt Rolland says, “The clarity is a testament to the fact that our co-producer and engineer, Jim, has great mics and knows how use them well for acoustic instruments and voices. I’m proud to say there is no auto tune or pitch adjustment on the album; we wanted this to be clean and acoustic, like you’d hear in real life.

“We spent about 85 hours in the studio tracking, from November to March. We generally played songs all together until we got a take that we liked.  Mixing and mastering took about a third of the time to track (about 35 hours).”

This attention to time, details, arrangements inform their impressive chops. Those chops landed the band a chance to open the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2012. That was a result of winning the 2011 Telluride Band Contest – a competition with strict guidelines.

The musicians seem up to any challenge, even with all the crew working full time jobs, they make time to make it happen. Flipping through the band’s blog, this striking entry by Allen seems to sum up how the group functions on a deep level of friendship to create a breathtaking ensemble.

“There is one factor in all of our work putting together the tunes we play that I feel is more important than any other: trust. We trust each other, and we do what we can to make sure we honor that trust in one another. This trust allows us to take risks, to listen critically, and to speak freely. Because we trust each other, we can play with freedom, and produce something we can all be proud of. A creation is always precious to the creator, so being able to put your creation into the hands of people you trust is a magnificent thing.”

Run Boy Run celebrates its CD release locally at Plush, 340 E. 6th St., on Thursday, March 21 at 8:30pm. Nowhere Man & Whiskey Girl open at 7:30 p.m. with Silver Thread Trio performing at 9:45 p.m. The band treats Phoenix to its tunes on Friday, March 22 at Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. 2nd Ave. at 7:30 p.m. with Silver Thread Trio in tow. Saturday March 23 sees the group performing in Flagstaff at the Museum of Northern Arizona, 7:30 p.m. Details available at RunBoyRunBand.com.

Birds, Trolls & Pachyderms

March 19, 2013 |

Sundry Styles Showing at Contreras

Creative magic happens in the back room of Contreras Gallery.

In a space that can’t be any more than six feet wide and twelve feet long, Neda and E. Michael Contreras work. Neda paints vibrantly colored still life oils on canvas. Mr. Contreras, a silversmith, fashions and repairs jewelry; he is also a painter and additionally produces pen and ink pieces.

For the Tucson natives, who met and married in the mid-70s, art is their lives. In addition to running the gallery, Neda curates the shows and they both hang the exhibits. Hanging the work proportionally with an aesthetic flow in a small space is not an easy task, but the artists have demonstrated a critical eye for layout within the two rooms’ confines.

The exhibits rotate monthly, Neda explains, “The artists come to us. We’ve been involved in the arts community for years and we were both members of Raices Taller (a local non-profit arts collective).”

The couple opened Contreras Gallery and Jewelry in 2008. “We were looking downtown, and noticed this place was vacant,” Mr. Contreras recalls. “It fits our needs; it’s just us two here.”

The gallery is a bright and cozy nook with the requisite high ceilings in the Historic Arts Warehouse District, a Tucson treasure that is easily discoverable at its 110 E. 6th St. locale during First Saturday Art Walks.

This month, Contreras Gallery and Jewelry hosts the “3 Sum In 2-Son” exhibit with pieces by the gallery owners and Gary Aagaard. It showcases Neda’s bird series, paintings that are years in the making, along with work by E. Michael and Aagaard’s sociopolitical art.

Neda’s bird series is intriguing; canvases saturated with color bisected by deep blue backgrounds and foregrounds that pop with vivid plants, vegetables and, of course, the winged ones. Most are oriented horizontally but one, “The Red Balloon,” is a vertical painting with a fantastical grouping of subjects and critters that makes you wonder what they are up to. She looks at it and remarks, “It’s like a dream or something.”

In stark contrast to her work, E. Michael’s “The Troll Bridge” is a haunting, dark, wintery and intricate (250 hours worth!) pen and ink depiction of the Billy Goats Gruff tale. Aagaard’s art rounds out the show. His “March of the Lunatic” will be on display; a delightfully searing commentary on radical Republicans tearing apart Washington D.C. Liberals will love the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man/Newt Gingrich thundering behind a stampeding herd of pachyderms with a macabre sneer on his horribly evil face. It’s good stuff.

“3 Sum In 2-Son” opens on March 2, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., during First Saturday Art Walks. The show, at 110 E. 6th St., continues through March 30. Find more details at ContrerasHouseFineArt.com or by calling 398-6557.

Heap Collective Celebrates Local Artists

February 23, 2013 |

photo: Joie Estrella

Inspired by the 1960s fashion, musical and cultural  Youthquake (movement), Tucson’s Heap Collective is creating a stage for Tucson artists, musicians, and taste makers to share their talents with the community with monthly pop-up shows. Heap Collective are Tucson locals and artists Joie Estrella, Matthew Banquet, and Claire Mirocha.

The name Heap Collective stems from its dictionary definition; to load, supply, or fill abundantly: to heap a plate with food. In this case it would be art, which many agree, is food for the soul. “Heap is about the masses… combining all people in celebration of the creative minds our desert oasis embodies,” says Estrella.

The first Heap Collective event opened on January 12, 2013 on a Second Saturday. It was held at an empty Peach Property space behind the Rialto Theatre. Each show has a theme.  This one was titled Happy Hour. An estimated four to five hundred patrons attended that fun and lively evening.

Displayed in the space were the works of twenty local artists, including photographs, drawings, paintings, and installations.  Local artist Pat Foley and his Carne and Queso winter collection of tee shirts, sweatshirts, skateboards, and candles were admired for their happy go lucky apocalyptic theme. Desert Vintage presented an Americana inspired clothing installation. Outfits were suspended from wire in front of an old American flag and over sized white balloons. Other standout work included a drawing of a nude skull-faced witch flying on her broom by artist Sharon Moon and also the dreamy photography of Krysta Jabczenski.

Local bands set the scene at the event including an epic ten-person “tribal punk” drum jam.   The music finale was a performance by Cy Dune of the Akron Family while Altrice composed the sounds in between bands. Seis Curbside served food from their truck and Dish for Dosha served warm Ayurvedic drinks.

The Heap Collective’s future plans are to create an online database for local artists and in the future create Heap’s own music festival. Be in the know by browsing the Heap Collective on Facebook and look around town for their rad poster art. You don’t want to miss the next Heap Collective event downtown in February.  These events are a great way to help celebrate the innovative and artistic happenings in Tucson.

Contact: heapcollective@gmail.com




 

Grateful Dead Still Alive…sort of (and coming to Tucson)!

February 23, 2013 |

Bob Weir

Ah, the Grateful Dead…love ‘em, hate ‘em , ignore ‘em…whatever your personal feelings, they refuse to go away.  While their reputation as the quintessential Frisco jam band may not be everyone’s cup of herbal tea, for 30 years, this group had been fertile ground for a creative process that has spawned hundreds of original tunes, many exquisitely crafted as evidenced by the likes of the Indigo Girls, Elvis Costello, Los Lobos, Burning Spear and many others who have covered their songs.  Unfortunately, with some notable exceptions, the recordings and live execution of much of their work, have left many who have not drunk the kool-aid (metaphorically and literally), to wonder aloud,  “What’s the big deal?”

Well, to the millions who had consistently made them one of the highest grossing concert acts in the world, it was always about the songs and the jams, or as some folks in the education world like to put it, “content and delivery.”

When lead guitarist and band icon Jerry Garcia died in 1995 it was if a fast and smooth running train had been derailed.  The Dead were playing 80-100 shows a year, averaging three hours plus in length and a different show every night.   And while there were many jokes made about tour junkie Deadheads now being forced to “get a life”, the symbiotic nature of the Dead’s relationship with its fans meant it was only a matter of time before the band, either individually or collectively would find its way back onto the road.

Since that time there have been a handful of reunions amongst the four original surviving members—Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzman and Mickey Hart.  First came The Other Ones (a couple of tours and one great recording) and then a single tour under the moniker The Dead.  Now there are periodic shows and short seasonal tours with Weir and Lesh fronting the group Furthur.  While these shows have provided a relatively authentic GD experience, it’s been the band members’ various solo projects that seem to have captured most of their imagination and interest.

Much can be written about the Phil Lesh and Friends experience, but it is the impending arrival of the Mickey Hart Band and the Bob Weir shows that is currently piquing interest.  Weir’s principal post Dead project has been Ratdog, a group he founded with bassist Rob Wasserman shortly before Garcia’s death.  While that group has undergone various transformations in substance and style (there’s that content and delivery again) it has evolved into a terrific Grateful Dead cover band with Weir actively working to keep Garcia’s legacy alive by continuing to sing many of his songs.

Weir’s last Tucson appearance was a few years ago at the Rialto with Ratdog, where that theater’s vastly improved sound system helped make for a memorable night.  This time, Weir heads down the block to the Fox Theatre which should also provide the perfect backdrop for his solo acoustic show.  While this show will be free of improvisational jams, acoustic arrangements will allow listeners to experience the music as it was created and before songs morphed into jams.   It’s also a given he’ll also include tunes written by Garcia and Robert Hunter.  Jonathan Wilson will open.

Mickey Hart

In sharp contrast, drummer and percussionist Mickey Hart, with a band, returns to the Rialto where he rocked the house more than ten years ago with a band that not only covered the Dead but offered some creative rearrangements as well.

Since the death of Garcia he has recorded and toured with various ensembles including the Planet Drum experience as well as the superb Mickey Hart’s Mystery Box.  While Hart has bravely attempted to handle vocals on previous tours, he appears happy to be giving up these reigns to others better suited for this, most notably Crystal Monee Hall and Joe Bagale.  While there will be plenty of drums and percussion, this is a full-on electric 8 piece band which will be augmented by opening act the African Showboyz from Ghana.

Bob Weir plays at the Fox Theatre on Wednesday, February 27; The Mickey Hart Band is at the Rialto on Tuesday, March 5.

Up In Flames

February 1, 2013 |

The Sonoran Glass School’s Flame Off Competition

The Flame Off had fairly simple beginnings, explains Tom Philabaum. It was during the 1997 Glass Arts Society Conference – the same year the society became an international organization – when the Philabaum Gallery showed over 30 artists’ work. “Since we had so many great artists in town, it occurred to me that we had to do something fun to further promote the Flame Arts. So, I issued a challenge to everyone, bought five cases of beer, and from six to ten on a Friday night we made collaborative stuff.” It was a spark to an event that not only continued through the years, but also spread a wildfire of similar exhibitions to cities across the world.

“The fire, the flame, the manipulation of molten glass has always kept audiences’ attention, and inspired many to try it themselves,” Philabaum writes about the draw for the Flame Off. “It’s dangerous, scary, and demanding, commanding complete focus. And, through the nature of flameworking, one can create a complete sculpture in one two hour session.” Which is what 24 artists will do on the Rialto stage Friday, February 8th, in an event that has become a highlight of the Gem and Mineral Show.

The Rialto is in its second year hosting the event, which has moved venues several times since its inception. As the audience grew, they attempted to match it. From its humble start in the Philabaum Gallery, the Flame-Off had a few successful years in the Sonoran Glass School when it opened in 2001. Then it took place in a warehouse (too flat), Barrio Brewery (too small), and finally found its home with a crowd to fill the Rialto. “The ‘Flame-Off’ has taken on a life of its own, appearing all over America, and even in some other countries,” Philabaum writes. “Since that time the Flame Arts have flourished and expanded their influence throughout the Glass World.”

And the pressure is on, notes William Justiniano, the Facilities Director of Sonoran Glass School. “At any moment one false move could destroy their art work,” he clarifies, describing the intensity of creating work – which most artists do in the solitude of their studios – under the heat of stage lights and with the acclaim of a crowd at least 500 strong. “The competition is very climactic because the pieces of glass art get more involved as the night goes on,” Justiniano adds. “We have seen glass roller coasters, three-foot-tall vases, giant marbles, glass fairy wings, goblets with winged horse stems, and other wild creations made at these events.” Artists work solo or in tandem with partners, creating spontaneous collaborations that can be viewed both up close and personal and on video. For an art form that hinges on the details, several high definition screens will be mounted around the auditorium to give the audience a look at the growing facets of the work.

As the clock ticks on the artists’ creations, patrons will nosh on barbecue from Mr. K’s, swig from the cash bar, and bid on the pieces taking shape onstage. At intermission, onlookers have a chance to mingle with the artists. Live music from the Satellite Freakout will rock out the night. And when the clock stops and the night is over, artists will have an opportunity to put finishing touches on their work, such as a kiln firing, before they’re shipped off to the Best Bead Show at the Kino Center – where the pieces will feature in competition judging and a silent auction, beginning at 11:30 a.m. that will continue through 4:30 p.m. The pieces are donated by the artists to Sonoran Glass School, and in past years the proceeds have raised over $6,000, a sum that funds the school’s youth development program and its outreach to the community for education in the glass arts. And it just sounds like a flamin’ good time.

 

The Flame Off, February 8th, 6:30 p.m. – 1:30 a.m. at the Rialto Theater, 318 E. Congress St.Tickets $10/pre-event, $15/door. To purchase tickets by phone, call 740-1000. Silent auction for Flame Off pieces continues at the Best Bead Show in the Kino Center, 2805 E. Ajo Way, on February 9th. SonoranGlass.org, 520-884-7814

 

A Garden Bears Fruit In The Wreckage of Rio Nuevo

January 23, 2013 |

The fledgling trees at Mission Garden bore fruit in early December just as they did 220 years ago in the same spot in shadow of A Mountain and is the only project of the scrapped Tucson Origins Heritage Park to bear any fruit at all through the planning, spading, grading, planting, and grassroots push by The Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace.

Figs, quince, apricots, sweet lime and plums are also growing on the acre that the founding members of The Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace Roger Pfeuffer, Raul Ramirez and Bill DuPont and dozens of other volunteers have tended this year. It’s the first phase to recreate the full 4 acres of the San Agustín Mission Garden from the 1780s and subsequent decades.

“This is all heritage fruit,” said Roger Pfeuffer, chair of The Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace, the non-profit that is building and operating Mission Garden. “This is from cuttings from trees that trace their lineage from trees 150 years ago.”

“These are European fruits brought into the area by Father Kino,” added Ramirez, secretary of The Friends and historian on Father Eusebio Kino.

The Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace started in 2009 as a loose group of west side supporters including Pfeuffer, DuPont, Ramirez, Diana Hadley, Gayle Hartmann and Cele Peterson. They saw an adobe compound enclosing nothing. Tucson Origins Heritage Park was touted as Rio Nuevo’s signature piece until the city pulled the plug in 2008. No construction ever got started on recreating Mission San Agustín and its Convento or the new children’s, University of Arizona and Arizona Historical Society museums. This also included the Mission Garden.

The Friends held a press conference on the site in 2009, uncertain just who would show up to support the creating of the garden. It was encouraging enough that The Friends then put on a forum attended by about 150 people in the historical preservation community.

“We saw there was an interest in this,” DuPont said. “People were willing to donate money and time.” DuPont is the founding chair of The Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace and direct descendent of Jose Ignacio Moraga, who was commander of the Tucson presidio in 1791.

“The person who really wanted to do this was Cele Peterson. She saw the wall. We assured her it was going to get done”, said DuPont.

The Friends formalized themselves by incorporating as a 501(c)3 with the Arizona Corporation Commission in 2010 and gaining the non-profit status in fall 2011. In the meantime, that led to clearing up just who had what claim on the Mission Garden grounds.

The Friends had been working with the Tucson Parks and Recreation Department, while the Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District laid claim to all land associated with Tucson Origins. Mission Garden is Pima County Parks land and the City owns the wall.

The Santa Cruz Valley Heritage Alliance, The Tucson Botanical Gardens and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the Arizona State Museum, the Arizona Humanities Council and the Audubon Society have all endorsed Mission Garden.

The Friends entered into five-year intergovernmental development and operating agreement in November 2011 with the City and the County. Since then, Rio Nuevo gave up all claims on Mission Garden.

“We didn’t do anything inside the walls until we got that agreement,” Pfeuffer said. “We’re obligated to raise $350,000 in those five years. Neither the City or County are under any financial obligation to support the garden.”

The Friends received a $15,000 grant from the City’s Historic Preservation Office that required a $15,000 match. That was the seed funding to plan the orchard. The Friends raised another $60,000 and received $35,000 from the Southwestern Foundation for Education and Preservation. An Americans with Disabilities Act grant added $38,000, and recently the Tohono O’odham Nation donated $39,600 for the garden’s Phase 2 work.

They have has raised $160,000 of the necessary $350,000 so far.

“This resonates with people on a number of levels,” Pfeuffer said. “Part of it is ‘Yeah, we’re going to do something people didn’t think could be done.’ Part of it is the heritage trees got a lot of interest.”  The orchard now has 119 trees and people have sponsored 42 trees for $1,000 a piece.

Tucson once had many orchards and gardens before Davis-Monthan Air Force Base changed the dynamics of Tucson in the 1940s. “It just brought back a lot of memories,” DuPont said. “My great grandfather had some of those orchards in his backyard. This is what we knew Tucson as.”

One of four acres is planted. The Friends started Phase 1 work on the site in January 2012 to install solar-powered irrigation, ADA trails, build a ramada and storage building and, in March, started planting the mission orchard. About 50 volunteers were involved in planting trees and building the ramada, and 20 volunteers are active on an extended basis.

The second phase should be planted in spring. That will include desert plants and also a timeline garden both along the western wall. The timeline garden will trace the progress of agriculture from the earliest settlers to the Hohokam, the O’odham, the Mexican era, the Territorial era and cotton representing the statehood era.

“What we want to show people is how native people gather food from desert plants,” Pfeuffer said.

The southern 2 acres have not been fully planned yet but will likely involve mission crops such as Sonoran wheat, Pima white wheat and cilantro. “We might put in an olive grove or maybe more fruit trees,” Pfeuffer said

But for Pfeuffer, the Mission Garden isn’t just a bunch of crops and orchards.

“I think of one word: Legacy,” he said.

The garden is open to the public every Saturday from noon to 4 pm through May and 8 am to noon in the summer.

This article appears courtesy of DowntownTucson.org

LGBTQ Film Festival Returns to Tucson

January 23, 2013 |

In a town that is blessed with a multitude of excellent film festivals, one has to wonder if there are any cinematic stories not yet being told. The “Out in the Desert: Tucson’s International LGBTQ Film Festival,” will tell many new stories January 24 – 27, 2013. The 2nd annual film festival will present 164 films from around the world at the FLUXX studio space, located at 414 E. 9th St.

The four-day event will screen films from many different countries including documentaries, shorts and feature films thanks to the local group FLUXX. This is the second year they have hosted the festival and the response has been excellent with more than 600 entries from around the world, according to Joe Sprague, the organization’s development director and the festival’s director. FLUXX, the winner of the 2012 TPAC LUMIE award for emerging arts organization, is a local non-profit arts organization whose programming supports open dialog and conversation about queer culture via arts exhibits, performances workshops and special events. The film festival is beneficial to both the organization and participating filmmakers as they can both gain exposure and have their messages heard by many.

“As always, we strive to show the very best of the newest crop of LGBT themed films available,” said Joe Sprague. Since the festival works with filmmakers directly, and does not show any films that have distribution deals, there are many films that are unseen by the public. FLUXX also does not charge a submission fee for films to the festival in order to decrease the cost of entry for emerging filmmakers. This year, the festival continues its focus on short films, and will present more short films than any other LGBT film festival in the country. As the “Out in The Desert” festival takes place in January, it is the earliest festival on the LGBT circuit, leading to many southwest and world premiere screenings for Tucson audiences.

In the feature length documentary “I Stand Corrected” jazz musician Jennifer Leitham’s gender-reassignment is chronicled through interviews and archival materials. A well-respected musician from her teenage years through her performances with Mel Torme, and even Tonight Show bandleader Doc Severinsen, she was known then as John Leitham. Jennifer went through gender reassignment after years of feeling that something was wrong, and continues to be a musical force in the jazz world today. Music, the one constant in her life, played a powerful role in her transformation and continues to do so. This powerful and inspiring story of being true to oneself, plays at FLUXX and Jennifer will be in attendance for a post screening Q & A with the audience.

Of special note this year is the shorts program that features many films by local filmmakers who are finding their voice through film. With topics ranging from HIV to same-sex weddings, several shorts are by Tucson filmmakers including “Linda and Angela” by Angela Soto, and “Leyenda” by Forrest Brennan.

Other shorts of interest include “Fallen Comrade,” which traces a military romance; “The Divine Decadence of Cheesecake” from Australia; and “Pursuit,” a comedy about a woman hell-bent to get a female motorcycle cop to pay attention to her directed by Patty Newton. The festival will host around 30 filmmakers this year who will be present at their individual screenings for Q & A sessions, along with several producers and actors. Filmmakers from Iran, Canada and Australia have also approached the festival about attending, which speaks about the quality and impact the festival is having on the international LGBT community.

The festival kicks off with a launch party on January 4th with the announcement of all films, and a special party at the FLUXX space. The full list of films and screening times is available on the group’s website http://www.outinthedesertff.org

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