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contact: 
David Hoyt Johnson, Deputy Director 
(520) 624-0595 ext. 15
dhjohnson@tucsonpimaartscouncil.org  

FEATURE ARTICLE SUGGESTION:    TUCSON IS UNDISCOVERED ARTS MECCA

STEP BEHIND THE SCENES DURING CITYWIDE OPEN STUDIO TOUR NOV. 8 & 9

TUCSON, Ariz. - All around Tucson all year long, the visual arts blossom behind hundreds of closed doors - in converted garages, gardens, desert sanctuaries, lofts and shared studios. This Southwestern city of one million is an undiscovered arts mecca.

Once each fall on a November weekend those studio doors open wide to reveal more than 100 artists, their centers of creativity and new works in progress. The Open Studio Tour is a Tucson tradition that spans two decades.

Step inside the creative spaces to see what inspires these inventors, painters, potters, sculptors, jewelers, photographers, weavers, and metalsmiths as they work with alabaster, fiber, glass, wood, gold, bronze, found objects, clay, acrylics, oils, gouache, paper, ink, even the sun itself.

The annual Open Studio Tour features more than 100 established and emerging artists who make Southern Arizona their home. The studios are open Saturday and Sunday, November 8 & 9, from 12 to 5 p.m. A preview exhibition features one piece from each participating artist from Oct. 25 through Nov. 6. A meet-the-artist reception will be on Thursday, Nov. 6. The exhibit, reception and tour are all free to the public.

This Open Studio Tour reveals the depth and breadth of greater Tucson's arts community today. This region is artistically and culturally rich. Its roots are deep, the climate moderate and the lifestyle relaxed. The quality of light attracts and inspires many artists.

The art spans the spectrum of styles - traditional, contemporary, abstract, ethnic, and shock art. Expect the unexpected - bright and bold, subtle and ethereal, provocative or poignant. Discover giant alien flowers, solar photograms, tin collages, whimsical carvings, free-form sculpture, pop art, and painted books. These artists can be political, mythical, surreal or downright funny.

Tucson Pima Arts Council organizes this annual art event and publishes a detailed program with maps to make finding the studios easy. The full-color program also is a 14-month calendar featuring an image from every participating artist. It is available at locations throughout the metropolitan area and is posted the Arts Council website. For a Sneak Preview of the 2008 event, visit the website at http://www.tucsonpimaartscouncil.org.  

Yesteryear, through its Western movie and the dude ranch days, Tucson had a cowboys-and-Indians image and still is home to acclaimed Western artists. Yet today's art scene is far more scintillating and diverse - ranging from nationally known glass artist Tom Philabaum, "super realist" bronze sculptor Mark Rossi and award-winning Latino and Native American artists to teaching artist Simon Donovan who designed Tucson's iconic Diamondback Bridge.

Meet a few of the artists who participate in the Open Studio Tour:

• Navajo artist Glory Tacheenie-Campoy creates paintings and works on paper. She directs visitors to her ‘brown house with purple doors."
• Loren Dawn's abstract paintings are "sometimes shorthand for long stories or still clips from a constantly moving stream."
• Inspired by ancient petroglyphs etched in Southwestern canyons, Patte and Mark Johnson create using blown, fused, cast, stained and sand-carved glass.
• Fiber artist Kathy Withers raises llamas, angora rabbits, goats, and sheep, then spins her own yarns.
• Sculptor Ed Davenport manifests in stone the sensuality and intrinsic beauty of organic forms, working primarily in marble.
• Spanjers "recycles art from the ground to your heart." Her email moniker is "bottlecapgirl."
• Wil Taylor's totemic style is imbued with symbolic, mythological, and dream-inspired images as well as graffiti.
• Aureleo Rosano combines the strength of steel with the fragility of glass mosaics to create 3-D wall hangings and sculpture reminiscent of oversized jewelry.
• Metal artist Lynn Rae Lowe says she is "a believer in surrounding oneself with images that uplift the soul and make the spirit dance."

For desert-dwelling Tucsonans, autumn color can mean the vivid, vibrant hues of new art, not the changing leaves on trees. All over Pima County, people are welding, sanding, drawing, assembling, thinking, painting, molding, or pondering their art. Some work alone in intimate indoors spaces, on rooftops or outdoors. Others draw inspiration and energy by creating together in large shared spaces. Engaging with artists "at home" can be far more casual, intriguing and revealing than meeting them at a gallery exhibit.

In addition to the Open Studio Tour, the Arts Council oversees the City of Tucson and Pima County's public art programs, which have produced more than 100 public art installations. The Community Arts program serves neighborhoods and rural areas, including residencies for professional artists.

The Tucson Pima Arts Council is the designated local arts agency for the City of Tucson and Pima County. It promotes arts and culture as a vital part of Southern Arizona by providing support to artists and communities through grants, technical assistance, public art programming, advocacy, promotion and special projects. For more information on the Tucson Pima Arts Council call (520) 624-0595 or visit http://www.tucsonpimaartscouncil.org/.