Art in Tucson...

Yesterday I finally made it back to the Tucson Museum of Art. I went for a talk called, "Niki de Saint Phalle: High Priestess of the Tarot Garden". Apparently they have a new talk every Wednesday. I was only roughly familiar with Niki de Saint Phalle's work (mostly the "Nanas", but had a great time hearing more about it and learning about the artist. What a fascinating, productive and multi-talented artist!

After the talk, I had the opportunity to finally check out the rest of the collection.

Unfortunately, they don't allow photography indoors. Otherwise I would share some of the highlights. I particularly enjoyed the galleries in the Historic Buildings. The Pre-Columbian collection is really amazing. I spent about an hour sketching in there. In the main galleries, I had a nice time looking at the Chinese art and the more contemporary pieces from the permanent collection. Some of my favorite's from the Chinese exhibit were the ceramic Lokapalas from the Tang Dynasty and the "Veseel with embedded Bronze coins" from the Han Dynasty.

Just behind the art museum is Old Town Artisans. What a fantastic collection of local artistry, imports, and interesting finds! The old building with the meandering shops is truly a gem.

I had the chance to talk with one of the shop owners, Eddy. He's one of the six shop owners and has a space full of imported treasures. Hopefully we'll be able to arrange for the students in the first section of the Capturing the Moment workshop to come by for a special event! He's having authentic Amazonian dancers in full, feathered regalia coming in. What a rare treat!

It was a nice day spent absorbing work, both ancient and contemporary – learning about new artists, traditions, and ways of making.