Tag: Downtown Tucson

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.

 

 

Images That Moved a Nation

February 4, 2014 |
© dektol@wordpress.com, courtesy Etherton Gallery.

© dektol@wordpress.com, courtesy Etherton Gallery.

Danny Lyon: Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement

In the modern era, prior to the internet and the 24-hour news cycle, photographs alone had the power to galvanize public opinion around an issue, movement or story. From Jacob Riis’ How The Other Half Lives in 1890, which depicted the dire conditions of New York slums, to the 1948 Life Magazine photo essay Country Doctor by W. Eugene Smith depicting a vanishing way of life, these works moved a nation. However, one of the most significant examples of photojournalism took place in the early 1960s, capturing the civil rights movement. Images circulated, showing a way of life in the southern United States that was so different from life in other parts of the country, and were hard to fathom. Beset by journalists from around the globe, the news photographs depicted a nation in crisis and a tinderbox ready to explode.

But a fascinating thing happened when an artist, as opposed to a news organization, turned his eye towards the political firestorm. The work of renowned photographer Danny Lyon has always explored boundaries and made viewers think differently due to his subject mater and total immersion into a way of life. Lyon’s images between 1962-63 remain a staggering document of the era.

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, and as February is also Black History month, Etherton Gallery has staged an exhibition of 50 photos from Lyon’s body of work on the subject. Lyon has continued to examine hot-button topics in his long and fruitful career. His most famous works include The Bikeriders in 1967, that documented an outlaw motorcycle gang and Conversations with the Dead, which chronicled inmates in Texas in 1971. His work depicts a way of life at that specific moment in time which still resonates today regardless of the time elapsed.

It remains hard to fathom the discrepancy in the way of life in America during this time. Lyon’s work, much like that of acclaimed photographer Robert Frank in his The Americans, captures a world unvarnished and unapologetic. In images that are as simple as a depiction of a water fountain or an entrance divided for use by different races, to images that depict the movement of unrest, arrest and civil disobedience Lyon is an observer and chronicler of a sad chapter in American history. An ironic dignity is imbued in the images of what so recently shamed our country, and the fight to change it that was so hard fought.

© dektol@wordpress.com, courtesy Etherton Gallery.

© dektol@wordpress.com, courtesy Etherton Gallery.

While much will be made of the 50th anniversary of the landmark legislation this month, it remains somewhat easy to forget what the world looked like prior to its institution. Lyon, fresh from college and anxious to capture the world around him traveled from New York to the south at age 20 and managed to create defining and staggering works that retain their power to move an audience more than 50 years later. While many of the images appeared in a civil rights book entitled The Movement, the work may not be as familiar as his other works which he self published later in his career.

The sense of grace in the face of oppression is remarkable and even more so now that many of the people depicted in Lyon’s images are senior citizens or may have died. These images may be the only catalog of their type in the capturing of the faces and events as they happened, as Lyon was surely the only photographer on site when the photos were taken. It’s doubtful that a contemporary group of images, even on the same topic, could carry as much weight as this body of work does in the modern world. The act of revisiting them or even discovering them for the first time is quite remarkable.

Gallery owner Terry Etherton has had a long history with Lyon and he “jumped at the chance” to show the work following the successful showing of the Bikerider series in 2012. This show’s images were curated by Lyon from the larger body and printed in 2006 as one of 10 complete sets. Etherton plans to tour the show much like a museum would, following the exhibition here. Look for a Lyon talk at the UA Center for Creative Photography this spring as a companion piece to this staggering show.

Danny Lyon: Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement is on display at Etherton Gallery February 8 though April 19. The gallery is located at 135 S. Sixth Ave. More details at EthertonGallery.com or by calling (520) 624-7370.

Quench your thirst at Tap + Bottle

July 2, 2013 |

Tap + Bottle soft opening. In its first week of business, T&B went through 46 kegs of beer. Photo by Andrew Brown.

You’d swear there is a brewery or vineyard out back at Tap + Bottle, 403 N. 6th Avenue.

Though they don’t brew beer or tend to grapes, owners Rebecca and Scott Safford are playing right into the turn of the century ambiance firmly in place at their newly opened beer and wine tasting room and bottle shop.

You’ll find exposed brick walls and original wood flooring dating back to when Tucson had maybe 10,000 inhabitants. And now, a spacious bar, beer glasses and growlers on metal shelves, a giant chalkboard menu, and a 10-foot long community table grace the restored building. The Tap + Bottle logo is on the brick wall, appearing as if it’s been there for 100 years. The top half of the logo, created by Dennis Fesenmyer at Fezlab, looks like a keg and the bottom half like a bottle cap.

“This is our beer baby,” says Rebecca, the Safford who you’ll most likely find working at Tap + Bottle. “We got the idea of doing this while traveling up and down the West Coast and in Colorado. We discovered a lot of bottle shops where you can purchase craft beer bottles for take out or stay and drink them on the spot.”

Having opened in late June, Tap + Bottle is a bar but not really a bar. No hard liquor, just beer and wine – on tap and also available by the bottle (or can) to take home. With nearly 400 varieties of bottled beer and 20 tap beers, the concept is clear. Provide an impressive inventory of harder to find beers from around the country and world, add a local feel in an historic setting, and Tap + Bottle becomes a one-of-a-kind destination in Tucson.

The 20 craft beers on tap continually rotate out, some on a daily basis. Two kegs are always “on deck” ready to be tapped once a line opens up. One cask condition beer is also available. The beer goes into the cask flat and the beer’s yeast creates the carbonation. Other elements can be added to the cask such as orange peel or blueberry. In the future, they hope to convince local Tucson breweries to brew one-off varieties just for Tap + Bottle.

While they do an excellent job of celebrating beer, they also feature six wines on tap – three red and three white. Their bottled wine section includes over 70 choices.

Don’t expect to find Tap + Bottle within the 4th Avenue or Congress Street bar scene. It’s just north of the 6th Avenue underpass, which is not exactly a spot screaming location, location, location.

“We’re totally one block off,” Rebecca says. “We want to be something different. We’ve watched Borderlands Brewing and EXO Roasting closely. Nearby, they’ve created their own culture and scene without being in the middle of it all.”

Tap + Bottle shares a building with EXO and Old Market Inn Tile Shop. Old Market tile decorates the restroom and denotes the street addresses for all three businesses.

Rebecca and Scott Safford. Photo by Andrew Brown

It makes sense how Rebecca and Scott got into the beer and wine business. They met at the Tap Room at Hotel Congress and live at the Ice House Lofts near Barrio Brewing.

“We grew into it together with our love of beer and love of learning about beer and wine,” she says. “We both did Cicerone wine certification training. We studied together. We talked about it a lot. It really did happen together. It was not one person saying I love beer and now you have to love beer, too.”

As expected, this is a true joint venture in beer proficiency right down to their chalkboard menus detailing not just the beer, brewery and price but also specifying IBU and ABV values (International Bitterness Units and Alcohol by Volume – the percent alcohol). Flip their branded coasters over and you’ll find beer tasting note sheets to mark down sweetness, bitterness, hoppiness, and on the wine coaster, intensity, body, flavors and hue.

Rebecca and Scott are nose-to-nose about having nine different glasses for beer and a stemless tumbler for the wine. Depending on which glass best suits a given beer, you will get your brew in English pub, Belgian or “Munique” glasses in sizes ranging from 10.5  to 23 ounces. Get the right curves in the glass for the right beer and drinking becomes all about aromatics and smell along with the taste.

“It starts with what not to serve it in,” Scott says. “We say, be good to the beer.”

For those less concerned with stemware and more oriented toward take out or volume, you can buy 4-pint and 2-pint Tap + Bottle growler bottles to take along and for later refills.

Like at EXO Roasting, where they offer coffee tastings by flights, you can sample a flight of four 5-ounce beers at Tap + Bottle. Well-briefed employees happily detail any of the nuances.

Not just anybody works at Tap + Bottle. The Safford application process resembles a college essay exam. They’re less concerned with where you’ve worked, your references or your record. Where potential employees score their points is with answering application questions such as “What is your favorite style of beer and why?” and “What do you believe is the most overrated beer and why?”

“We want to hear how they explain it,” says Rebecca.

With a plethora of beer and wine tasting options at Tap + Bottle, some friendly guidance from the staff sounds just about right.

 Tap + Bottle is open from 11 am to 11 pm  Monday to Thursday, 11 am to midnight Friday and Saturday, and noon to 6 pm Sunday. Find them online at www.thetapandbottle.com

Tap + Bottle opens

June 28, 2013 |

Tap + Bottle Opening, just before and right after. Read more about Tap + Bottle,  here

New on the Menu at Cup Cafe

September 10, 2012 |

Cup Café at Hotel Congress has revealed a brand new menu that not only has updated food items, but a fresh new face.

Some of the delicious new additions include:

Cubano – The sandwich that gained a following at Maynards has found a new home across the street on Cup’s lunch menu.  The Cubano features braised pork stuffed into a bakery roll and pressed with Gruyere cheese, caramelized onions, and jalapeno

Peloponnese – a light lunch or small appetizer; a unique, flavorful trio of red pepper, chimichurri-jalapeno, and eggplant-roasted garlic hummus, with marinated Feta, country olive spread, cucumber-tomato salad and griddled pita.

Rigatoni Con Pollo – large tube pasta tossed with house-smoked natural chicken, fresh cream, garlic, basil pesto, tomatoes, spinach and fresh grated Parmesan cheese (lunch and dinner)

Thai Fisherman’s Stew –  a colorful and savory mix of fresh fish, sea scallops, fresh clams and prawns, simmered with potatoes, zucchini, eggplant, chiles and garlic in a green curry broth served over jasmine rice (dinner)

Some of Cup’s classic dishes have received an update, too, like the Gila Monster – house-made Southwest style meatloaf with green chile, caramelized onions and corn, with jalapeno-cilantro dressing on toasted sourdough

Cup regulars may be used to seeing the famous drawings from cowboy artist Pete Martinez as they open the menu; but the menu has received quite a “face” lift – the first page now features John Dillinger’s infamous smirk – hand-drawn by local artist and Hotel Congress’ in-house designer, Hunter King.   The new version also has the red-accented breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert menus tucked together in a sleek black cover.

Cup Café at Hotel Congress is open 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Breakfast is from 7am-4pm; lunch 11am – 4pm; dinner 4pm – 10pm Sun – Thurs , and until midnight  on Fri & Sat.

Information for this post was provided by Hotel Congress.

Congress Street Awaits Saint House, Lulu’s Shake Shoppe and New Things for the Rialto Building

September 2, 2012 |

This article is from DowntownTucson.org

The people behind the popular HUB Restaurant & Ice Creamery, Playground Lounge, 47 Scott and Scott & Co., and the Rialto Exhibition Center are ready to make their next moves as soon as streetcar construction wraps up on Congress Street.

All of it revolves around the empire of Scott Stiteler, owner of the Congress Street properties on both sides of the street between Fifth Avenue and the Arizona Avenue alley and co-owner of the Rialto Exhibition Center building across from Hotel Congress.

A new life is coming for the Rialto Exhibition Center, hints Stiteler, who co-owns the building with Don Martin.

“We couldn’t have scripted that better to have four exhibitions in succession,” Stiteler said.

But time has come for perhaps something else in the historic building attached to the Rialto Theatre.

Stiteler has eight spaces ranging from 800 to 1,500 square feet on the three blocks. So far, eateries of one sort or another fill much of his holdings in the One North Fifth Apartments commercial space at 245 E. Congress and across the street from 256 E. Congress to 278 E. Congress.

“I’ve been very mindful to keep space open for retail,” Stiteler said.

“That’s highly coveted,” he said about the vacant space between HUB and Playground. All of his available space garners interest but he has never rushed to lease to just any business. “I get lots of offers. I’m waiting for that eureka moment when I say ‘perfect.’”

Kade Mislinski is at it again, too, in his share of Stiteler’s property, this time with what he’s calling Lulu’s Shake Shoppe, 270 E. Congress St.

Mislinski is the out-of-the-box visionary behind Playground Lounge, where he recreated the pleasures of the childhood playground, and HUB Restaurant & Ice Creamery, where ice cream gets equal billing with beef and beer.

Lulu’s follows the same scratch-your-head wackiness. The name may be shake shoppe but Mislinski sees it as a cross between a little league baseball snack bar (expect hot dogs) and a French fry/falafel stand in Amsterdam, where fries come with mayonnaise.

Lulu’s will have four standard shake flavors and two special flavors every day.

Lulu’s will be located behind HUB, serving out of the same window as Chocolate Fox. Chocolate Fox will continuing delivering chocolate creations during the day, and Lulu’s will do its thing from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. seven days a week.

“I think we need a pick-up window. We need a snack bar Downtown.”

Lulu’s Shake Shoppe opens for business on Oct. 15 at 5 p.m.

Travis Reese and Nicole Flowers are finally ready for their Congress Street debut after two years on a stretch of Scott Avenue that an Olympic long jumper could leap sidewalk-to-sidewalk.

Reese and Flowers instantly became media darlings when they opened 47 Scott in May 2010, followed next door with Scott & Co. in October 2010.

Sunset magazine, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, the Los Angeles times and numerous airline magazines have short-listed 47 Scott as a Tucson dining must.

“I just got an email. Food & Wine wants to do something,” Reese said.

Travel and dining media will undoubtedly have more to write about once Reese and Flowers open their Saint House, 256 E. Congress, in the former Sharks Lounge location at the westernmost extent of Stiteler’s Congress holdings.

“We have just been wanting to work with Scott because he has such a vision,” Reese said. “We wanted to work with people doing such great projects. 47 Scott was always supposed to be the start of something. We never knew what.”

They have dreamed up a Caribbean theme for Congress Street.

“Saint House is based on cuisine where rum is made, from Venezuela to Miami,” Reese said. “We are encompassing food from that region. We wanted to do something unique.”

Reese said the ambition is to open Saint House before the gem show.

“January 1 would make us happy. Jan. 20 would make us just as happy,” Reese said.