Allan Houser at the Desert Botanical Garden

This year the Desert Botanical Garden is featuring the sculptures of Native American artist Allan Houser during Las Noches de las Luminarias. (Last year, it was the work of Chiluly.) Houser, who died in 1994 at the age of 80, is often referred to as the father of American Indian sculpture. Here are a few of the works I photographed (not very well) recently at the Luminarias:

Tempe Art Galleries

In my last post, I talked about the Tempe Center for the Arts, which includes a small art gallery and a sculpture garden. I wanted to take a few minutes here, though, and talk about the other galleries in Tempe.

The Tempe Public Library, located at 3500 S. Rural Road, displays art on both its first and second floors. Exhibits rotate and include student work. At Connections Cafe, also within the library, local artists have an opportunity to show their work. Upcoming exhibits include Othman and Thomas; Bruns and Keaton; Kaster and Klotz; and Carlton and Farias.

The Tempe Post Office, located at 500 S. Mill Avenue, also showcases local artists. Displays here emphasize fun, eye-catching and unusual work.

The recently refurbished Gallery at the Vihel Center also offers the community a chance to see local artwork. The center, located at 3340 S. Rural Road, holds classes, too, in dance, music, theater and visual arts for both children and adults.

And, then there's ASU. Check out the ASU Art Museum at the corner of Mill Avenue and 10th Street. This contemporary art museum is free to the public and is home to the very first Georgia O'Keefe skull painting. As part of your visit, cross 10th Street and tour the Ceramics Research Center's displays of 3-dimensional art.

Tempe Festival of the Arts

Here are some photos to enjoy of this weekend's Tempe Festival of the Arts. The festival features the works of more than 400 artists and attracts nearly 250,000 people to the Mill Avenue District. If you missed this weekend's event, be sure to catch the spring festival, March 26-28.

Tempe Center for the Arts

I took a tour yesterday of the Tempe Center for the Arts (TCA) and wanted to share a little of what I learned. Opened in 2007, the facility was designed to house nine arts groups including Childsplay, Tempe Little Theater, the Tempe Symphony Orchestra, and the Arizona Wind Ensemble. Two stages showcase the groups' performances. The main theater accommodates up to 600 and features African mahogany and stylistic seating. No seat is further than 55 feet from the stage. The smaller theater can accommodate up to 300, depending on what its used for: performance, dance, cabaret or even banquet space.

The TCA also houses a 3,500-square-foot art gallery and, just outside the gallery's doors, a sculpture garden. Banquet and meeting facilities offer stunning views of downtown Tempe, the town lake and Papago Park.

You don't have to wait for a performance to visit the TCA. Stop by, visit the gallery, and take the elevator up to the third floor balcony. It's all free. In fact, even some of the performances are free. "Performance with a View" presents local talent including jazz vocalists and the ASU Saxophone Choir. "Walk-In Wednesdays" is an open mic night allowing for musicians take center stage. Check online for a list of current events.

The Tempe Center for the Arts is located at 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway in Tempe. Telephone: 480-350-2822. Website: www.tempe.gov/TCA.

Coming Attractions!

I wanted to mention two new attractions opening in 2010. I'm really excited about them both.

Sea Life Aquarium: Opening "by June" at the Arizona Mills Mall in Tempe, this aquarium will feature 5,000 sea creatures in a 165,000 gallon tank. Visitors walk through a 360-degree tunnel, encircled by the tank and its marine life. There will also be more than 30 aquarium tanks, tide pools and replicas of a sunken ship and dinosaur fossils. Ticket prices are yet to be determined but one-day tickets to the California aquarium are $18.95 for adults and $11.95 for children.

Musical Instrument Museum: This one-of-a-kind museum in the north Phoenix is scheduled to open April 24, 2010. It will display as many as 5,000 popular and indigenous instruments representing every country in the world. From what I've heard, as you approach a display, you will be able to hear the instrument playing. Very cool! Of course, they also plan to hold frequent performances and demonstrations of instrument making. Can't wait!

The Missions of Father Kino

Yesterday I posted about Ted DeGrazia's Mission in the Sun. By chance today, I found a recent article in the AZ Republic about San Jose de Tumacacori and San Xavier del Bac, Father Kino's Southern Arizona missions. I thought it was only appropriate that I take a few minutes today to write about Father Kino and these missions.

Father Kino was born Eusebio Francesco Chini (Kino was the German-ized version of his name, probably adopted while studying in Austria) in Italy in 1645. After recuperating from a serious illness, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1665 and became a priest. Though Kino wanted to evangelize in the Orient, he was sent to establish missions in Northern Mexico and Southern Arizona instead.

Kino arrived in Mexico in 1687 and started northward. In 1691, he founded Arizona's oldest mission, Tumacacori, near Tubac. A national park, Tumacacori has a small museum and offers tours of the grounds, cemetery and the church. From time to time, other areas of the park are open for tours. Los Santos de Guevavi--a visitas or country church--can be visited during the fall and winter. The first captain of the Tubac presidio, Juan Tomas de Beldarrain, was mortally wounded by Seri Indians at Los Santos and is buried beneath the church's altar. Also available for guided tours is San Cayetano de Calabazas. Although it was founded later by Father Francisco Pauer, it had an interesting history of Apache attacks and eventually became Fort Mason for a short time.

San Xavier del Bac, located just south of Tucson, stands as a monument to Kino's achievements. Built in 1692, it is still a functioning Catholic church and is considered by many to be the finest example of mission architecture in the United States (although it remains a mystery as to why only one of the towers is completed and the other is not).

Admission to San Xavier del Bac is free; admission to Tumacacori is $3.

Ted DeGrazia's Gallery & Mission in the Sun

I think this little studio in North Tucson is one of Arizona's hidden treasures. It's quirky, it's beautiful and it's free.

Ettore "Ted" DeGrazia, the son of Italian immigrants, painted mostly Southwestern designs with an emphasis on Native Americans, missionaries and Spanish soldiers. He built his studio (pictured above) and studio out of adobe brick.

The beautiful mission (pictured above) nearby was built to honor Father Kino, the missionary who established a system of missions in Arizona. DeGrazia dedicated his mission to the Virgin of Guadalupe and painted her image on the altar.

An interesting bit of trivia: To protest inheritance taxes on works of art, DeGrazia took about 100 of his paintings into the Superstition Mountains (yes, the same place where the Lost Dutchman's Goldmine is supposedly located), and he burned them.