Roy J. Kurtz Collection of American Indian Art
Main Gallery | February 11 – April 27, 2022
Tohono Chul’s Permanent Collection is growing with the acquisition of Roy J. Kurtz Collection of American Indian Art. The Roy J. Kurtz Collection is vast and will provide endless possibilities for Tohono Chul’s Education and Exhibits programs for years to come. This exhibition will provide the first look at this large collection of baskets and American Indian artwork.
“Tohono Chul is a place to be proud of,” Roy said, “I sincerely believe The Collection will reach its true potential at Tohono Chul.” Roy’s gift has filled our hearts with amazement and delight, and we are overjoyed and humbled to carry on his life’s passion and legacy.
Tom Baumgartner | Codex Sonora
Welcome Gallery | February 11 – April 27, 2022
Deserts harbor mysteries, from lost civilizations to rarely seen creatures. They invite reverence, awe, and not a little fear. They spawn legends of ghosts, jackalopes, lost treasures. And, of course, they’re places where occupants of extraplanetary spacecraft are locked away in caves inside mountains and government laboratories, carefully hidden from view at sites such as Area 51 and Roswell.
Imagine that the pilot of one of those craft set it down in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, an alien in an alien landscape. Imagine further that our pilot—who is also artist and shaman—retreated to a quiet corner of an abandoned adobe out somewhere in the rocks and sand and, amazed, combined the most modern of graphic technologies with a found crow quill pen and India ink to record observations of the lifeforms and landscapes he (or she, or it) encountered along the way.
Codex Sonora is that record. It’s a fittingly mysterious book, made up of extraordinary portraits accompanied by eldritch, nearly indecipherable text, along with elusive graphs and symbols and strange diagrams that point outward to the stars. Timeless and enchanting, it’s the Sonoran Desert’s answer to the Voynich manuscript and the Codex Seraphinianus, both eccentric and enchanting.
Image | Tom Baumgarner | Sonoran Deserex | offset lithograph
The Elements – Air
Main Gallery | May 6 – August 6, 2022
AIR is the second exhibition in the series, The ELEMENTS. The series will investigate how artists utilize the elements of fire, air, water, and earth as medium, process, and subject. And how, as a subject, these elements reflect some of the social, economic, political, and environmental issues Arizona currently faces.
The exhibitions of FIRE and WATER will follow. The sequence of the two projects will be determined by the number and quality of the entries received.
The crux of each installment is to contemplate human presence and responsibility (or lack of); move toward, hover, and dig at the intersection of art and science, all the while remaining focused on medium, process, and subject; never losing sight of the beauty, wonder, and essence before you.
Prospectus Coming Soon.
Image | Paul Anders-Stout | Azul | blown glass pressed with creosote and wood ash
Queen of the Night
Entry Gallery | June-July 2022
For one night each year, this fragrant and stunning flower reveals itself to anyone lucky enough to greet it. To celebrate the treasured Peniocereus greggii or night-blooming cereus, in 2022 an exhibition in the Entry Gallery will feature the Queen of the Night in all her glory.
For 2022, artists are asked to contribute works that represent the Peniocereus greggii plant: the bloom, flower, cactus, tuber or fruit. Artists can submit 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional works in any media for consideration in this curated exhibition. The Entry Gallery is an intimate space that only allows for a small number of works.
Annie Antone | Queen of the Night | white and green yucca, light and dark devil’s claw | gift of Peggy and Michel Hazard | 2007.6.1
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