For the second year, Arizona Arts is proud to present this fall’s Arizona Arts Signature Series, highlighting programs and experiences from Family Weekend to Homecoming in October.
October is National Arts & Humanities Month, a collective recognition of the importance of culture in America, launched by Americans for the Arts.
“The Arizona Arts Signature Series is a curated set of events and experiences this fall designed to highlight the amazing work being done across the division,” said Andy Schulz, vice president for the arts at the University of Arizona. “We have an outstanding and diverse lineup for 2022 and I’m proud to say that many of these events are free.”
Arizona Arts became the University’s newest division in 2019, creating a unified gateway to the unique visual and performing arts assets, experiences, and educational programs on campus. The division brings together the highly regarded academic programs of the College of Fine Arts with world-renowned offerings from Arizona Arts Live, Center for Creative Photography, and the University of Arizona Museum of Art.
The division was created, in part, to help the University reach its strategic goals related to the arts: to integrate the arts throughout the university experience; to give all students, regardless of major, access to meaningful experiences in the arts; and to ensure that the arts play an essential role in realizing the University’s mission of community engagement.
In 2021, the University of Arizona’s arts and humanities programs were ranked No. 10 among public universities and No. 26 among all U.S. institutions in the 2021 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
2022 Arizona Arts Signature Series
An Evening with the Creative Class
// Oct. 5 / School of Dance / Stevie Eller Dance Theatre
Impulse
// Oct. 5 – Nov. 8 / Arizona Arts Live / University of Arizona Mall
Restored: The Return of Woman-Ochre
// Oct. 8-May 20 / University of Arizona Museum of Art
Musical Murals
// Oct. 17 / Fred Fox School of Music / Downtown Tucson
32 Sounds
// Oct. 21-22 / Arizona Arts Live / Marroney Theatre
Sama Alshaibi: Generation After Generation
// On view throughout October / Phoenix Art Museum
Embodying Self as Subject with Sama Alshaibi and Deborah Willis
// Oct. 27 / School of Art / Center for Creative Photography
An Evening with the Creative Class
School of Dance | Oct. 5, 2022
This forum, moderated by new School of Dance Director, Duane Cyrus, that takes audiences behind the scenes to learn about artists and their creative process; to be a think tank for how creativity can SPARK change in our society, and to discuss thought-provoking topics with the performing and visual arts as catalyst or entry point for that discussion. The audience will have the opportunity to discuss and ask questions about a specific topic selected and shared in advance by Cyrus. A curated panel of guest artists and speakers will share their work and ideas in an informal setting. Cyrus has produced this event on the East Coast for over a decade and is thrilled to bring the programming to the University of Arizona. Admission is free.
Impulse
Arizona Arts Live | Oct. 5 – Nov. 8
“Impulse” is an installation on the University of Arizona Mall, presented by Arizona Arts Live. where audiences become musicians and artists. Using repetitive units of light and sound, the university campus is transformed into a space of urban play through a series of interactive, illuminated see‐saws. When not in use, the seesaws will stabilize to the horizontal and remain at a lower glowing level. When activated by users and inclined, the seesaws, augmented by LED lights and speakers, will increase in light intensity, and emit a randomized sound sequence. Admission is free.
Restored: The Return of Woman-Ochre
University of Arizona Museum of Art | Opens Oct. 8, 2022
Willem de Kooning’s Woman-Ochre – stolen from University of Arizona Museum of Art in 1985, recovered in 2017 and now expertly restored by the J. Paul Getty Museum – returns to Tucson this fall. Visitors can see the prized painting at the UAMA for the first time in 37 years and learn about its harrowing, but heartwarming, journey home. A companion exhibition, Abstract Perspectives in Mid-Century Art, examines the cultural milieu that surrounded de Kooning’s artistic development from 1950-1970 with works by peers like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Louise Nevelson and Elaine de Kooning. The historic homecoming will be marked by events and programming on topics ranging from art crime to art conservation.
The exhibition runs through May 20, 2023. Admission is free for Museum members, students with ID, University faculty and staff, active military personnel, AAM members, visitors with a SNAP card or Tribal ID, and children.
On Oct. 6 at Centennial Hall, the Tucson community is invited to a free, ticketed screening of “The Thief Collector” – a documentary that explores Woman-Ochre’s disappearance and how a mild-mannered couple could have pulled one of the greatest art heists of a generation. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers.
Musical Murals
Fred Fox School of Music | Oct. 17
In collaboration with Meet Me at Maynards, live music and visual art will once again come together for a night of Musical Murals. Student chamber ensembles from the Fred Fox School of Music will perform along a walking route that connects the colorful walls of art in downtown Tucson. Muralists include University of Arizona alumni Jessica Gonzales (BFA ’12, 2D Art), local favorites like Ignacio Garcia and more. The event debuted in 2021 with over 650 friends of music and murals enjoying the movable feast of immersive art. Admission is free.
32 Sounds
Arizona Arts Live | Oct. 21-22
Discover the power of sound to bend time, cross borders, and profoundly shape our perception of the world with “32 Sounds.” The film weaves 32 specific audio recordings into a cinematic meditation on the power of sound. The performance begins with each audience member receiving a set of headphones. Guests settle into their seats as film projects onto the screen. Music icon JD Samson together with Michael O’Neill then compose the film live while Oscar-nominated director Sam Green narrates.
“32 Sounds” was commissioned by Arizona Arts Live at the University of Arizona, Stanford Live, The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi; Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Institute of Technology; and Green Music Center of Sonoma State University.
Sama Alshaibi: Generation After Generation
Phoenix Art Museum | On view throughout October
School of Art Regents Professor Sama Alshaibi‘s solo exhibition “Generation After Generation” showcases her recent work that explores the legacy of colonial era photography and newsreel cinema produced in the Middle East and North Africa by Western photographers. Reframing Orientalist clichés and tropes found in these images, Alshaibi’s replicates the traditional print processes along photography’s historical timeline, while unsettling the Orientalist portrait captured by the ever-evolving technology. Alshaibi received the 2021 Arlene and Morton Scult Artist Award from the Phoenix Art Museum. Alshaibi, a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, was named a Regents Professor by the Arizona Board of Regents this past year. The show runs from Sept. 17 – May 14, 2023 with an opening event with artist talk on Sept. 28.
Embodying Self as Subject with Sama Alshaibi and Deborah Willis
Center for Creative Photography / School of Art | Oct. 27
School of Art Regents Professor Sama Alshaibi and Dr. Deborah Willis, professor at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, will take an immersive look into the visual and identity politics of portraiture and self-portraiture, into imagining the body as a setting in which political and personal narratives intersect and unfold. Together they will inquire into the registers of photography and the human experience—of gender, race, religion, politics and art. This event is presented with the generous support from the College of Fine Arts Diversity and Inclusion Committee grant, the Arizona Arts’ Racial Justice Studio, John and Sandi Flint, and the University of Arizona School of Art and VASE Lecture Series. Admission is free.
Visit the Arizona Arts website to catch creativity in action and view a calendar of art events and experiences. Find us on social @UArizonaArts. #ArizonaArtsSeries
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