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:
POLLEN PATH
February 14 – April 17, 2019 | Main Gallery
Reception with the Artists | Thursday, February 14 | 5:30 – 8:00 pm
Pollination begins with the flower and ends with the seed. It is a fascinating process that leads to the fertilization and reproduction of all flowering plants. The Sonoran Desert, in every season, is home to a wide variety of flowering plants and numerous pollinators that keep them moving forward.
POLLEN PATH will follow the many directions pollen flows through the air – on the wind and on the bodies of pollinators in the accidental acts of self-pollination and cross pollination.
The flowering plants of the Sonoran Desert are filled with myriad colors, shapes, textures, and lines; fertile territory for any artist. In combination with the pattern, decoration and unpredictable movement of the desert’s fantastic pollinators another story unfolds. Artists are asked to contribute works of art that focus on the desert’s pollen producers and transporters – in isolation or in concert – in microcosm or macrocosm. The possibilities are endless.
Image | Tom Baumgartner | Ocotillix Rosario | offset lithograph
Image | Erinn Kennedy | Desert Dusk | acrylic and pencil on panel
Featured Artist | ERINN KENNEDY
February 14 – April 17, 2019 | Welcome Gallery
Reception with the Artist | Thursday, February 14 | 5:30 – 8:00 pm
Erinn Kennedy paints the objects and places that she loves and are a part her everyday life. She finds inspiration in the Sonoran Desert landscape in and around Tucson, Arizona where she lives. Erinn is very interested in the natural beauty, historic manmade structures, and the stories left behind. She is equally interested in the atmosphere that surrounds these places and the moods they evoke.
LAURIE McKENNA | The Undesirables
February 1 – March 17, 2019 | Entry Gallery Project Space
Tuesday Art Talk with the Artist: February 26th at 12:00 Noon
On the morning of July 12, 1917 in Bisbee, Arizona, two mining companies and the Sheriff armed over a thousand citizens known as the Loyalty League and rounded up 1,186 striking miners at gunpoint, marched them to the baseball park 4 miles away, loaded them onto cattle cars, and banished them to the desert of New Mexico. The workers were accused of being subversive, anti-American Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) or Wobblies. The use of the term “deportation” creates the impression that this was an immigration event but it was not – it was a kidnapping and banishment. The roads were guarded for months afterwards to stop any undesirables from returning.
In commemoration of the deported men, Laurie McKenna created 1,186 rubbings of a 1917 penny, one for each man deported. This action is referencing the rubbings of gravestones as a commemorative act. This is her laborious memorial to them.
The Undesirables exhibition features the penny rubbings along side drawings created by the artist based on historical events and photographs with a video.
Image | Laurie McKenna | Undesirables Poster | ink on paper
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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