"Flower of the Shower" by Jorge Gonzalez. Photo: Katelyn Swanson
The Tucson Sculpture Festival has downsized this year for your benefit.
Rather than expanding to multiple galleries in the downtown area, the annual event has put the brunt of the works by its 50-plus artists on display at the Sculpture Resource Center, 640 N. Stone Ave.
The Mat Bevel Museum of Kinetic Sculpture and Studio 108 also are participating, but only to showcase pieces created by their owners, Mat Bevel and Susan Kay Johnson.
“They are more like satellite galleries,” said spokesman Danny Wolverton, who helped launch the first sculpture festival with his arts collective, the Parasol Project, three years ago. “We are trying to consolidate into fewer locations. We want to make it easier for people to get around and view the different pieces.”
The festival began as a way to expose out-of-town guests, in Tucson for the gem and mineral show, to the range of talent that inhabits the Old Pueblo. That hasn’t changed, Wolverton said.
This year’s festivities started on January 27 and will end on February 12, running concurrently with gem show activities.
“We want to make sure Tucson is on the map for people, as a city that has the ability to produce really great art,” Wolverton said. At the same time, he added, Tucsonans get a chance to celebrate its own creative community.
The pieces featured this year come in all shapes in sizes, made from just about every material imaginable, from wood to bronze to found objects.
Local sculptor Moises Orozco works with glass, metal and wood and has three pieces on display; an elephant made from scrap metal, a dragon-like creature created from a tree trunk and a female centaur, also metal, that stands seven feet tall and weighs around 500 pounds.
“She definitely catches your eye,” he said.
Orozco, 35, has been creating art in Tucson since he was 13-years-old and participated in the first two sculpture festivals. A fabricator by trade, Orozco has sold pieces and received commissions through the event.
“I love that they are trying to show our sculptures to people who appreciate art, stones and minerals,” he said. “Most stones are formed by nature. Sculptures are a way for humans to put our thumbprint into the world and our energy into creating something the way nature does.”
Other artists participating in the festival include well-known local names, such as Gonzalo Espinosa, Jorge Vergeli and Andy Thurlow.
Sculpture fest viewing hours are noon-7 p.m., Tuesdays-Sundays at the Sculpture Resource Center; 1 p.m.-7 p.m. Fridays-Sundays at Studio 108, 108 W. Fifth St.; and 6 p.m.-9 p.m. Saturdays at the Mat Bevel Museum of Kinetic Sculpture, 530 N. Stone Ave. Admission to all three galleries is free. For more information, visit SculptureResourceCenter.com.
