I Heart Art!
Create Your City Art Party
6:30 p.m., Friday, Aug. 21
Pre-show: Winsett Park
Fourth Avenue and Eighth Street
Followed by
procession to Rialto Theatre
318 E. Congress St.
$10 to $25 donation
791-9359;
Imagine taking dozens of Tucson’s art organizations—the
Parasol Project, Opening Minds Through the Arts, Tucson Arts Brigade,
Dinnerware and Tucson Puppet Works (to name a few)—and getting
them all together in one place to throw a party.
Essentially, that’s what Creative City is doing this Friday at their
Create Your City Art Party.
The coalition, which was founded in February, is a merger of all
different kinds of people involved in the arts, beyond painters and
musicians, explains Michael Schwartz, an event organizer and artist
himself.
“There’s no one person in charge of it; each of those groups is on
the steering committee, and we all decide, you know, what happens
next,” he says. “Each time we meet, we meet at a different
space—we aren’t done building the coalition (yet).”
For this Friday’s party, there will be a little bit of everything:
puppets, stilt-walkers, performance installations and eight local
bands, including Mr. Free and the Satellite Freakout, in addition to
much more, Schwartz explains.
Guests are encouraged to get creative and dress up, though there
isn’t an “official” theme.
“The theme is kind of the re-opening of the Fourth Avenue underpass,
but, really, what this is about is that both Creative City and Parasol
believe that building community through the arts helps to reconnect
people,” he says.
The money raised at the event will go to the performers, with 5
percent also going each to Parasol and Creative City—to put
toward similar events in the future.
“The goal is to put money into the pockets of artists and arts
organizations here in Tucson, (and) to make sure that we can continue
doing this very important work,” Schwartz says. —A.B.
If It Ain’t Got That Swing
Chip Ritter with the Shadz Big Band
7:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 22
La Encantada
2905 E. Skyline Drive
797-3959;
The results are in, and it appears bigger actually is
better—at least for Chip Ritter’s new 20-piece big band. The
newly formed Shadz Big Band will be performing live swing-dancing music
and big-band classics at La Encantada on Saturday night.
The group of talented musicians, put together by drummer Ritter and
director Joel Dunst, has never performed together in public
before—and is taking the opportunity to give something back. The
show is part of the nonprofit Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural
Alliance’s annual series of summer concerts.
Jonas Hunter, special events director for SAACA, explains that money
from the Summer Concert Series is redirected to the Musicians in the
Classroom project. The program brings professional musicians from the
Tucson Symphony Orchestra into local schools, giving kids hands-on
musical experience. Several members of the Shadz Big Band actually
benefited from the program as kids—and now, they get to help give
others what received.
Hunter explains that SAACA used to be known as GOVAC (Greater Oro
Valley Arts Council).
“It became necessary to branch out from Oro Valley,” he says. “We’d
become pigeonholed.”
Concerts like these allow SAACA to become more involved in other
areas of Tucson and to offer more types of programs, he says.
“We’re here to support and sustain the arts through diverse events,”
he continues. Even though this is the sixth of seven concerts set for
the summer, Hunter says SAACA has plenty of other events lined up,
including gallery displays and even car shows.
Doors open for the concert at 6:30 p.m., and tickets are available
online or at the door for $10. —S.J.
Lower-Class Landscape
Heritage by Chris McGinnis
9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday, Aug. 24 through Sept. 9
Lionel Rombach Gallery
UA campus, southeast corner of Park Avenue and Speedway
Boulevard
626-4215;
Starting Monday, you may be surprised at what you find—or
don’t find—on the walls of the UA Lionel Rombach Gallery. Instead
of displaying his art in the traditional way, Chris McGinnis will be
installing more than 30 paintings of landscape on the floor of
the gallery.
“It’s definitely not traditional,” says McGinnis, a MFA student at
the UA. His exhibition, Heritage, examines the roots of our
American landscape and ideologies through our blue-collar industrial
history, so working against the high-class traditions in art makes
sense.
He explains that putting his art on the floor rather than the walls
is like a slap in the face for high art; we’re literally walking all
over it. But, he continues, installing his landscapes on the floor
allows for another opportunity: It allows “landscape to act as
landscape.”
“Growing up in Pittsburgh was a huge inspiration,” he says.
McGinnis hopes to capture that city’s increasingly relevant
blue-collar history, particularly in terms of its relationship with the
automotive industry. He says that because members of his family work in
the industry, the exhibit hits especially close to home for him.
McGinnis explains that to include this idea in the show, the only
sculpture in the exhibit will be made out of various cheap construction
materials and coated in high-gloss automotive enamel; the “spire-like”
sculpture will be the most illuminated and central piece of the show.
It directly references the Washington Monument, adding another
dimension of American identity. As visitors walk around the structure,
they become part of the exhibit, alluding to the water in the
reflecting pool at the monument.
Admission is free. —S.J.
Aerosol Action
Graffiti Mural Art: History, Culture and Controversy
5:30 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 25
Tucson Museum of Art
140 N. Main Ave.
624-2333;
What is it exactly that elevates graffiti art from the level of
simply being graffiti? Where is the line between the two?
On Tuesday, Tucsonans will attempt to find the answers to these
questions.
In a collaboration between The Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson Parks
and Recreation, the El Presidio Neighborhood Association, the Tucson
Pima Arts Council and City Councilmember Regina Romero, a new
graffiti-art mural will be unveiled on a wall of the Tucson Water
building, adjacent to the Tucson Museum of Art. The event will also
include a discussion about the merits of aerosol graffiti art and its
place in Tucson’s contemporary art scene.
Meredith Hayes, a spokeswoman for the Tucson Museum of Art, explains
that for years, the concrete back wall of the Tucson Water building lay
blank and untouched, until the city allowed artist Rocky Martinez to
use the wall as a canvas for a graffiti competition last December.
However, says Hayes, the nearby neighborhoods were not too happy about
what had been put on the wall—so the neighborhoods, along with
several other local arts organizations, came together to decide on
something more pleasing, yet still in the spirit of the original
contemporary “graffiti art.”
The event will give the public a chance to view and understand
graffiti art and its relationship with young Tucson artists.
“It’s going to be a great opportunity to talk about aerosol art,”
Hayes says, “and it will give us a chance to talk about the difference
between graffiti and art.”
The event is free; food and drinks will be available.
—S.J.
This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2009.
