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FINE ART CONNOISSEUR.COM | November/December 2011

d e s t i n a t i o n a r t

Arizona’s Got an Eye for ArtBY ROSEMARY CARSTENS

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N icknamed the “Land of Sunshine” and blessed with a climate that right about now is luring millions of people from colder

climes, the southwestern state of Arizona offers a unique blend of modern comforts and Old West charms. Its still-wide-open landscapes shift from arid Mexican borderlands in the south through forests of sentinel-like saguaro cacti, stunning blood-red mesas, and rainbow-hued sedimen-tary mountains right up to the awesome Grand Canyon along the state’s northern border. All along the way are enough museums and galleries to satisfy even the most worldly art enthusiast.

SEDONALocated in Arizona’s spectacular Red Rock Country, Sedona is a

four-seasons community offering history, archeology, arts, adventure sports, and a setting endowed (according to its New Age residents) with beneficent spiritual and metaphysical qualities. Sedona’s art scene runs the gamut from ruggedly individualistic to realist to visionary, and from traditional Native American to cutting-edge. There are three main gal-lery enclaves along Highway 179: Hozho, Hillside, and the Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village. The first Friday evening of each month brings

rounds of openings, demonstrations, and receptions, with free shuttles making a continuous loop among the venues. Every October, the Sedona Arts Center hosts a plein air festival that draws landscapists from across the country to take on the challenge of capturing the region’s spectacular palette. And on December 10, Tlaquepaque’s Festival of Lights will again impart some sparkle to the holiday season.

In November the Goldenstein Gallery will celebrate its tenth anni-versary all month long. While there, look for Art Decker’s richly hued paintings of mesas, buttes, and canyons thrust against startlingly blue skies, iconic images that echo the remarkable landscape of Red Rock Country. Lanning Gallery offers paintings, sculpture, glass, and ceramics, as well as handmade furniture and exquisite jewelry. Jonathan Howard’s monochro-matic cityscape paintings are memorable, as are the bright, mysteriously primitive acrylics of Billy Woolway. While exploring Tlaquepaque, check

Bruce Cody (b. 1941)Mapping the Route

2010, Oil on canvas, 18 x 40 in.Joan Cawley Gallery, Scottsdale

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FINE ART CONNOISSEUR.COM | November/December 2011

out Mountain Trails Galleries, which handles many of the Southwest’s most acclaimed artists. Among them, Arturo Chávez’s paintings reveal his deep love and understanding of nature, while Vic Payne’s bronzes bring to life dynamic narratives from the history of the Old West.

WICKENBURGA little more than two hours south of Sedona, the 145-year-old

community of Wickenburg still evokes the Old West of our daydreams, and its residents cherish the best traditions of those colorful years. The collection of the Desert Caballeros Western Museum reanimates this history through the eyes and hands of great artists past and pre-sent, including Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell, and the Taos Society of Artists. On view is a mind-boggling array of gear and memorabilia dating back to the Mexican vaquero (cowboy) era, a Hall of History, and even a reconstruction of an early Wickenburg street. Every March the museum hosts Cowgirl Up! Art from the Other Half of the West, an invitational exhibition and sale that is the world’s largest gathering of female Western artists. This fun-filled weekend is packed with events highlighting the talented women who create this art, including Sherry Salari Sander, whose Young Stallions took first prize in 2010.

SCOTTSDALEBoasting 314 sunny days per year and a dramatic desert setting, Scotts-

dale offers golf courses, restaurants, shopping, and a lively art scene. Main Street is where most of the artistic activity occurs. Beginning December 1, galleries will be decked out for the season; many will host opening recep-tions on December 2. Altermann Galleries & Auctioneers schedules shows and sales year-round; next up (on March 24) is a huge auction of important artworks at the Doubletree Paradise Valley Resort. Founded by a group of artists, Biltmore Galleries specializes in 19th- and 20th century American painters and sculptors. For the rest of 2011, its newly opened Biltmore East Door will feature realists Bruce Aiken and Benjamin Wu; in the main gal-lery, works from the estate of R. Brownell McGrew are showcased.

Bonner David Galleries offers such top-quality artists as Brad Aldridge and Lu Cong. Three shows are set to open in November and December: Michael Carson’s Drawing the Figure Out; Eric Boos and

Robert LaDuke’s A Feast for the Eyes; and Peregrine Heathcote’s The Path to Enlightenment.Over at Joan Cawley Gallery is an impres-sive display of contemporary works in various media, including Bruce Cody’s Road Trip paintings of small-town life.

For more than 20 years, Legacy Gallery has promoted Western legends like Frank Ten-ney Johnson and Carl Rungius, as well as such contemporary inheritors as Mary Ross Buch-holz, Scott Christensen, and John Coleman; the next edition of its Scottsdale Art Auction (March 31) will surely sustain this association

with superb Western art. More recently, Legacy has emerged as a leader in contemporary realism by representing such Fine Art Connoisseur favorites as Kathy Anderson, Bryce Cameron Liston, and Kate Sam-mons. This direction took clearer shape in April, when Legacy hosted the first annual Scottsdale Salon of Fine Art, at which juror John Ger-aghty named Benjamin Wu Best in Show for his highly realistic scene of Chinese village life.

Now in its 34th year, Leslie Levy Fine Art represents such tal-ented painters as Joellyn Duesberry, Steve Hanks, Matthew Innis, and Charles Pompilius, as well as leading sculptors like Roberto Cardi-nale and Vala Ola. Marshall-LeKae Gallery is deeply committed to contemporary realism, offering such impressive works as Mario Andres Robinson’s dazzling portraits, Anne Gregerson’s sculptures, and Andrzej Skorut’s moody landscapes. Mitchell Brown Fine Art offers artworks from the 19th century to the present, including the outstanding sculptures of George Carlson. And S.R. Brennen Galler-ies represents such top contemporary artists as Cyrus Afsary, Michael Klein, and Jerry Malzahn.

Featuring Soviet and Russian impressionism as well as American realism and impressionism, Overland Gallery of Fine Art’s annual small paintings show, The Tradition Continues, runs through year’s end. Among the Americans showing here are G. Russell Case, David A. Leffel, Joseph Lorusso, Ed Mell, Gary Ernest Smith, and Michael Workman. Gallery Russia offers a diverse inventory of art from the former Soviet Union, ranging from deceased Soviet masters to young artists just starting out. Specializing in impressionist paintings and bronze sculptures, Scotts-dale Fine Art always offers surprises; if landscapes are your passion, be sure to find Carol Swinney’s palette-knife paintings here.

Elsewhere in town, Trailside Galleries in the Scottsdale Mall is an ideal destination to see contemporary artists working in the West-ern, Native American, impressionist, figurative, landscape, and wild-life modes. The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art presents exhibitions of cutting-edge art, architecture, and design from around the world. If you are spending more than a few days in the area, con-sider taking an art class at the Scottsdale Artists’ School, which offers instruction by an outstanding faculty and impressive facilities on North Marshall Way.

Mario Andres Robinson (b. 1970)Mr. Jones2009, Graphite on paper, 16 1/4 x 21 in.Marshall-LeKae Gallery, Scottsdale

FINE ART CONNOISSEUR.COM | November/December 2011

PHOENIXAlthough Phoenix doesn’t offer the volume of galleries that neigh-

boring Scottsdale does, its museums are certainly worth visiting. A key example is the Phoenix Art Museum, with its rich permanent collection and fascinating temporary exhibitions. Of particular interest (through January 23) is a show of paintings by Rebecca Campbell (b. 1970) and installations by Angela Ellsworth (b. 1964); both were raised as Mor-mons in Utah and offer fascinating takes on that culture’s distinctive worldview. And in celebration of the 75th anniversary of Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home/studio in Scottsdale, the Phoenix Art Museum will soon present an exhibition highlighting the organic nature of his architectural designs (December 18-April 29).

The world-class Heard Museum has its main site in Phoenix, as well as a North Scottsdale branch. Each explores the heritage and living cultures of Native peoples, especially those of the Southwest. In the main facility’s gift shop is the Berlin Gallery, which sells enticing examples of contemporary Indian painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, and drawing.

TUCSONNot enough out-of-towners realize what a cultural feast there is to

savor in Arizona’s second-largest city, which is set in a desert valley sur-rounded by vast forests and parks. There are three major areas to find art in Tucson: downtown, the warehouse district, and in the foothills at Campbell and Skyline. For more than 35 years, Settlers West Gallery has presented historical and contemporary artworks depicting wildlife, sporting scenes, and the West. November’s Great American West exhibi-tion of new paintings and sculptures showcases, among others, William Acheff, Francois Koch, George Molnar, and Howard Terpning. And every February, Settlers West’s American Miniatures show draws crowds seeking small pieces by stars both established and rising.

Nearby is Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, which highlights the famed Western painter Maynard Dixon (1875-1946) and houses a museum displaying his artworks, manuscripts of poetry, and even his easel. This gallery is also known for its strength in the early Taos and Santa Fe artists, contemporary Western art by such talents as Stephen C. Datz, Walt Gonske, and Josh Elliott, and Native art of all eras. If photog-raphy is your passion, visit Etherton Gallery for museum-quality works using vintage and digital technologies; Etherton also exhibits paintings, prints, sculpture, and mixed-media works by local and regional artists.

Though it is regularly cited as one of the world’s great botanical gardens, Tohono Chul Park is not recognized enough for its excellent art gallery, which supports the park’s stated mission to present “visual stories linking the nature, culture, and arts of the Southwest.” Usually highlighting regional artists, this gallery’s shows change every eight weeks, and are displayed in an adobe built in 1937 as a private home. The “Art in the Park” tour given on Tuesdays and Thursdays is an ideal way to explore the whole site.

Encompassing an entire block downtown, the Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block presents original and traveling exhibitions. On view into January is Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, which underscores photographers’ key role in the evolution of rock music since 1955. (Through November 12, Etherton Gallery is complementing the museum’s show with its own display, Rockin’ the Desert: Photographs by Baron Wolman and Lynn Goldsmith.)

Tucson’s University of Arizona is home to two important museums. Best known is its Center for Creative Photography, which houses the

Yana Golubyatnikova (b. 1967)Lilacs

2007, Oil on canvas, 23 5/8 x 47 in.Gallery Russia, Scottsdale

FINE ART CONNOISSEUR.COM | November/December 2011

world’s largest collection of 20th-century American photographs (more than 100,000 images), as well as a trove of archival materials. On view through November 27, the exhibition Creative Continuum is organized according to when the Center’s photographs were acquired; it features masterworks by Ansel Adams, Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, Richard Avedon, Andy Warhol, Lola Alvarez Bravo, Edward Weston, and many others. Also here is the University of Arizona Museum of Art, a teach-ing institution with wide-ranging collections and particular strength in Italian Renaissance art and sculpture by the modernist Jacques Lipchitz.

On Tucson’s southwestern perim-eter stands the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Surrounded by saguaro-covered rolling desert, washes, and arroyos, this institution encompasses a world-renowned zoo, natural history museum, and botani-cal garden. The Art Institute on its grounds offers studio art classes “to inspire people to live in harmony with the natural world by fostering love, appreciation, and under-standing of the Sonoran Desert.” The 21-acre property, with almost two miles of walking paths, features many site-specific sculptures, plus the Ironwood Gallery, where regional artists depict mammals, insects, plants, and other desert subjects.

TUBACAn hour south of Tucson, the his-

toric village of Tubac comprises more than 100 shops, galleries, and artists’ stu-dios, as well as restaurants, hotels, and golf courses. Clustered together are more artworks per square foot than you might expect, and it’s all walkable. Among the highlights during the busy winter ahead is the Fall ArtWalk (November 5-6), fea-turing artists’ demonstrations and musi-cal performances. December 2-3 brings the magic of Luminaria, with thousands of traditional lanterns illuminating the streets and most establishments remain-ing open late.

This season K. Newby Gallery will unveil its new 4,900-square-foot build-ing and two-acre sculpture garden. Decorated for the holidays, the gallery will exhibit the works of such highly regarded painters as Louisa McElwain, Tom Hill, Nicholas Wilson, and Walter Blakelock Wilson, plus top-notch sculp-tors like Gary Lee Price, Bill Worrell, and

Star York. Down the street is Big Horn Galleries, which handles Western landscapes and wildlife scenes by such notables as Donna Howell-Sickles, Darcie Peet, Howard Post, and Rebecca Tobey.

February 8-12 will bring Tubac’s 52nd annual Festival of the Arts, claimed to be Arizona’s longest-running such event. During this major event, hundreds of artists, craftspersons, and musicians from around the U.S. and Canada share the streets with whimsical sculptures, New Age music, and an abundance of ethnic foods.

As you can see, Arizonans truly have a discerning eye for art. Head west, art lovers, head west. n

ROSEMARY CARSTENS writes about books, art, film, and travel for several national maga-

zines and publishes an award-winning online magazine available at FEASTofBooks.com.

Louis Akin (1868-1913)Scene of Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, inscribed “To My Good Friend Mrs. Thomas”c. 1910, Oil on panel, 13 3/4 x 10 1/2 in.Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson and Santa Fe