The Exhibits Program at Tohono Chul presents visual stories linking the nature, culture and arts of the Southwest. Focusing on the work of regional artists, we display vibrant works of art in a diverse array of thematic group exhibits. The charming adobe Exhibit House, built as a private home in 1937, is an ideal environment for visitors to view Southwestern artworks. Galleries in the Exhibit House are open 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily.
Exhibitions currently on display:
COPPER STATE
November 16 – February 6, 2018 | Main Gallery
Tuesday Art Talk with the WILLIAM LESCH: January 29th at 12:00 noon
Arizona is nicknamed the Copper State. The mining of copper in Arizona got seriously underway around the mid-19th century – back then, a quarter of the population were miners. Although Arizona now accounts for about 60% of copper production in the U.S.A., copper is not as important to the state’s economy as it once was. Over the past century, times have changed and populations have shifted and grown. Through the years, booming mines have been shuttered, the towns surrounding them abandoned. Some rising again, artistically and creatively reinvented.
COPPER STATE provides proof that amongst the five C’s that formed the core of Arizona’s early economic success, it is COPPER, more than Climate, Cattle, Citrus, and Cotton that has become artistic ‘ore’ for artwork, nostalgia, and inspiration.
The element copper and the minerals it plays a role in creating are filled with color and content for the artist to explore. The thirty-five artists of COPPER STATE have contributed works of art that reflect the importance of copper to the history, blight, and beauty of Arizona.
For more insight on COPPER STATE please look over this recent piece by Margaret Regan from the TUCSON WEEKLY click here
Image (clockwise from top left, cropped) | Michael Afsa, Fiona Lovelock, Darcy Falk, and William Lesch
Image | William Lesch | archival pigment print
Featured Artist | WILLIAM LESCH
November 16 – February 6, 2018 | Welcome Gallery
Tuesday Art Talk with the WILLIAM LESCH: January 29th at 12:00 noon
William Lesch is a Park favorite and one of the region’s most recognized artists. He is an extraordinary photographer and a meticulous craftsman. Photography is the language William Lesch speaks, it is his way of interacting with the world. He finds this world a miraculous place, and photography a means to explore it.
OLIVIER DUBOIS-CHERRIER | It’s Only A Matter Of Time
December 21, 2018 – January 27, 2019 | Entry Gallery Project Space
Tuesday Art Talk with the Artist: January 22nd at 12:00 noon
It’s Only A Matter Of Time is a philosophical inquiry concerned with the experience of life and its primary components; fundamentally composed of birth (creation), the ensuing interchange of growth and decay, and then, inexorable death (physical disappearance).
A series of paintings on paper evoke our desert environment; their scenic representation of hostile but alluring landscapes, segmented and isolated by the grid, offers the opportunity for the viewer to be placed securely in front of an apparently tamed but shifting wilderness.
An assembly of sculptures combining man-made materials (concrete) with natural elements (flora) speaks of a temporal permanence. Their placement on minimally designed modular furniture delivers a juxtaposition that plays with the boundaries between the natural (wild) and the cultural (refined) as bits of the desert are left to decay and fall away from the parcels that contain them.
A collection of videos surveys vast, empty desert landscapes along with the artist’s creative processes and land art projects; all the while offering contemplative commentary concerning the impact and incongruity of time.
Dubois-Cherrier works in a variety of disciplines striving to create a comfortable, variable, and provocative place in which we are reminded of what it means to be human.
Dubois-Cherrier is currently preparing his MFA thesis, an expansive mixed media installation that will be presented at The University of Arizona Museum of Art in April 2019. Recent exhibitions include: ARIZONA BIENNIAL at Tucson Museum of Art; Expecting Nothing is Going To Change, a site specific land artwork, at The Land With No Name; and the first permutation of It’s Only A Matter Of Time at the Lionel Rombach Gallery at The University of Arizona School of Art. This is Dubois-Cherrier’s first time exhibiting at Tohono Chul and the first exhibition of the 2018-19 Entry Gallery Project Space; a new exhibition series that offers Arizona artists an intimate space for cohesive projects.
Image | Olivier Dubois-Cherrier | Esthetics of Decay | saguaro cactus and concrete
Image | William Lesch | Ocotillo Jungle | archival pigment print
Art du Jour | William Lesch
December 2018 – March 2019 | Garden Bistro
Art du Jour features artwork by local and regional artists displayed throughout the dinning rooms of the Garden Bistro. The work of longtime Tucson artist, William Lesch is currently featured in the Bistro. Lesch is one of the region’s most recognized artists. He is an extraordinary photographer and a meticulous craftsman. He finds this world a miraculous place, and photography a means to explore it. More works by William Lesch are on exhibit in the Welcome Gallery of the Tohono Chul Exhibit House – he is the Featured Artist through February 6, 2019.
Image | Mark Rossi | Javelina Family | bronze
Sculpture in the Gardens | On the Grounds
Sculpture from Tohono Chul’s Permanent Collection by Mark Rossi, Fred Borcherdt, Kioko Mwitiki, David Weinert, Greg Corman, Ned Egan and others can be discovered throughout the Park. Works by Tucson artists Phil Lichtenhan, Tidhar Ozeri, and Stuart Ross Snider are on loan from the artists as part of the project Art in the Gardens.
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