T Q&A

Rachelle Diaz is a painter and graphic-design artist who moved to
Tucson from Austin last July with her husband, César. She wanted
to find out what was going on; it was during the summer, a time when
everything seems to slow down—but once summer ended, Diaz didn’t
see much of an improvement. She was inspired to start TÚ Scene,
a blog about local art openings, events and activism. To visit, go to
tuscene.com. For more information on
the downtown project she is working on with artist Julie Ray, visit
popupspaces.org.

What kind of work do you do as an artist?

Painting, graphic design, photography, conceptual … really all
over the place. I think I have more ideas than time. I’ve been
interested in fashion design more and more lately. But I’m lucky I work
in graphic design; I still work for the same company I did in Austin. I
telecommute.

We tend to pick on ourselves around here. Is Austin’s art scene
better than Tucson?

In Austin, the art scene there is very lively. I had several mentors
there who I worked with and helped start a warehouse studio space and
gallery, the Austin Visual Artists Association. We moved here to Tucson
in the summer. I remember thinking to myself, “Where can I go check out
some art openings?” To be honest, I was reluctant to make the move. …
It was weird not to see anything really going on for a couple of
months. And there was nothing online, and many Web sites hadn’t updated
their information. It was kind of disconcerting.

And that’s where you got the idea for the blog?

Yes, but it wasn’t until September. I met Molly McClintock (Maxed
Art), and she invited me to an artists’ forum at Dinnerware. It was a
panel she was involved in, as (was) Julie Ray (Burrito Files). There
was nothing out there about the forum. I only knew about it because I
was invited. And that was when I said to myself, “This is why I’m going
to start this blog.” Now, I’ve noticed more people using the Internet,
and Web sites are getting updated. It’s like a zeitgeist of almost
everyone thinking the same thing at the same time.

You went to a Tucson Pima Arts Council meeting recently and joked
that you were the youngest artist there. What was that like?

I’m glad I was there to participate, although I wish more younger
people would get involved. … It’s not as closed of a door as one
might think. A lot of the older folks who were there said it was kind
of disheartening to see the same faces at these gatherings over and
over again. So there’s definitely a need for some new energy, and I
think the mission statement we came up with … really speaks to that.
We said, “Tucson will be a place in which artists are valued as
catalysts of positive social change.”

Co-workers who went to SXSW said it seemed the arts are
taken more seriously in Austin. Bands even play before City
Council meetings.

Sure, but there are similar conversations in both cities. … They
are speaking about a new fine-arts center and cultural growth in the
city. But, look, Tucson is Tucson. It’s unique geographically. It’s
multifaceted culturally and aesthetically. You don’t have to be stuck
just painting saguaros; you can react to the environment as an artist
from so many different angles.

You’ve gotten involved in downtown and the idea that the arts
community should be recognized as a leader in downtown redevelopment
and growth.

Pop Up Spaces’ first event was a scavenger hunt in which we asked
participants to write, draw and take photographs about their
experiences that day. We’ve now confirmed a display space where we can
show the resulting work, at the McLellan building. … We are trying to
find positive ways to get people to imagine possibilities for all the
vacant space that exists downtown, to be curious and creative rather
than jaded. Julie (Ray) and I are putting the displays together, and it
should be up in early May.

What’s next?

We were waiting for the scavenger-hunt piece to wrap up before we
thought about what we wanted to do next. We want to work with other
people to see what the next phase is going to be. We’re thinking about
open doors … physically open doors: Invite the public downtown inside
the buildings. But we’ve also had requests to do projects in other
spaces, like El Con Mall. Right now, we’re focused on downtown, but
there isn’t any reason we couldn’t think of going to other areas of
town.

This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2009.