Some "Artologist"

That would be me... where's the art???? While I must admit that there isn't a whole lot of of art making going on in my studio, I've had some opportunities to get out there and see more of what's going on.

Two weeks ago I broke my streak and attended my first Phoenix First Friday since 2002. The date is easy to remember. It was the last exhibition in the history of MARS-Movimiento Artistico del Rio Salado. It was an artist cooperative with a focus on Hispanic and Arizona artists.

When I've spoken of MARS to a few people, they refer to it as something they've heard in passing. Like some kind of mythical dinosaur of long ago. I've felt ancient....Crowds make me nervous but I focused on going to see these two exhibits. First we visited Chaos Theory X. (Sorry don't have the address info here but google it and it's sure to come up). The gallery was located on 5th Avenue south of Van Buren.

Great space, big, well lit. It was a good show. Plenty of quality art to look at. Good food for thought. I'm so far removed from the art seen but it felt good to be in it again.

We also saw "Wonderland." An exhibition at (merz) Project located south of the Phoenix Art Museum. The New Times invited artists to make art reflecting the theme of Phoenix as "Wonderland." The pieces were smaller than I'd anticipated but they invited the viewer to take a closer look. Some pieces were just fun, some made me scratch my head. Overall, in my humble opinion there's a lot of good work generated in the Phoenix art scene. I'd had an experience that left me really wondering about that. Relief!
The Chicklet had an all day Girl Scouts event at the Heard Museum the following Sat. Six hours was a long day to be sitting around so I wandered. I wandered on the grounds and took pics. I wandered to McD's and bought coffee. I wandered off as the girls toured the museum. I wandered into the Berlin Gallery...

Oh heaven! The Berlin Gallery is a treasure! I missed seeing it last time we were at the museum over the summer. Wow, so much cool art to describe. Just go see it for yourself. (Perhaps it's cheating but since it's off the Museum Store, entrance to the gallery is FREE).

After my visit, I'm looking at brown paper bags in a whole new way. Isn't that just perfect? Don't I have enough crap as it is??????
Marissa