culturenow.org

Vol. 2  Issue 5 - May, 2012

ALTERNATE REALITIES

Arizona has been in the news a lot lately. Scarcely a day goes by where every hot button social issue of our time plays out upon the Arizona landscape. The endless loop of images of guns, of immigrants, of vigilante justice punctuates our nightly news and is creating an alternate reality that reinforces the 'redness of the red state'. In a sense, it's causing people to zone out, to lose sight of the big picture and see it as yet another trouble spot sandwiched in the national consciousness between Florida and Mali.

To us, this is not what Arizona is truly about. None of these pictures focus on we find inspiring. We wanted to reframe the discussion, to look at what is wonderful about the place and why vibrant, exciting, creative and interesting people would want to move there. To start with, you cannot escape the picture postcard quality of the desert landscape and the sheer majestry and poetry of the natural setting. People who lived here had a 'light footprint on the land'; they lived in the rocks, they took shelter under tents. And they traveled very long distances under a harsh blazing sun. We thought about the landscape, the light, the infrastructure, the imagery of tents and fences and we turned to Phoenix as the 'Capital of Desert Country' for this issue. Take a look at its wonderful public art collection. Hovering over downtown is 'Her Secret is Patience' by Janet Echelman. A few blocks away is another incredible tensile structure, roofing over the largest reading room in North America by will bruder + PARTNERS. And what you'll find is that Phoenix is really on the cutting edge of technology, of sustainability, of integrating art into architecture and it's not a backwater at all.

Abby Suckle, President

Featured Art Collection: OFFICE OF PHOENIX ART & CULTURE It was hard to select a few projects that illustrate the depth and breadth of this collection because there is a lot to choose from. We wanted to highlight a range of pieces that are both recent and less recent, that address the landscape and Arizona culture. Phoenix has been focussing on infrastructure projects that pair Artists with Engineers to design pedestrian bridges. Spanning State Highway 51 are two utilizing different methods of sunscreening. The imagery for the Chain Link 'bridge' of Mountain Pass comes from the mountains beyond, different than at Paradise lane which features a basket weave of galvanized metal strips. More recently, Phoenix has begun a citywide system of Park & Ride stations that integrate public art. Arizona Artist Mary Lucking created 'In a Big Country' to shelter commuters; they are vertical because the in the very early morning and late afternoon this is most effective for shading. This piece was inspired by the agricultural history of the area and refers the active ranches still in the community. Sometimes simple moves change everything. We often think of public art as major insertions. But it can be something as straightforward as adding lighting. Here Paul Deeb completed an LED installation at the Hertzberger Theater. We thought that it would be interesting to compare it with Janet Echelman's tour de force which is also about light and cloudforms in the Phoenix sky.	Blues to Be There (2011) Paul Deeb Photo courtesy of the Office of Phoenix Art & Culture	Mountain Pass (Nisbet) Pedestrian Bridge (1998) Laurie Lundquist, HDR Engineering
	In a Big Country 27th Avenue Park-and-Ride (2012) Mary Lucking (Photo courtesy of the Artist)	Paradise Lane Pedestrian Bridge (1998) Linnea Glatt, HDR Engineering