More Fine Art in Scottsdale

 

Today I have a few pieces that appealed to me at the Scottsdale Fine Art Expo.  This first one is made from a gourd.  I've seen gourd art before but these were pretty special.  They are by Jenny Kerr.

Jane Boggs is also a sculptor who uses gourds but these are truly mixed media creations done with paint, beads and feathers.  

I thought these were so extraordinary that I photographed two of them.  They are wonderful.  I think they would be perfect in one of our many southwestern styled resorts. Or maybe over the fireplace of one of those fancy homes I toured recently.  

These last sculptures are by a husband and wife team, Terry & Marilyn Alexander. These are also creations that would fit in at many local resorts around here.  They are made from metal and glass.  

I'm glad I got to see these beautiful creations.  I also wish I had the money and space needed to acquire one or too.  

I hope these art exhibits attract decorators.  They would surely be inspired.

Arizona Fine Art Expo

 

Every year I try to attend the Celebration of Fine Arts in Scottsdale and share some photos with you.  This year I did something different.  I was recently reminded that there is another fine arts event that goes on during those winter months in Scottsdale housed in a similar configuration of white tents.  However this one is much further north in Scottsdale.  I decided to check it out.  First up is this gorgeous painting by Lexi Sundell.  I absolutely love this painting.  

Above is an array of paintings by Peter Freischlag, all of them very colorful.

To right are some paintings by Ted Blaylock.  

It's hard to tell from this photo, but this is part painting and part sculpture.  Those cowboys seem to be racing right out of the painting.  This mixed-media art is by Lori Thompson.  

The copper artistry by Ken Borchardt was another that really appealed me.  I talked to this artist about his process and he uses a type of heat reduction and oxidation to bring out the colors on a piece of copper.  They were literally stunning.  That tree on the end was my favorite.  The sculptures in the photo are by Ken as well.

Tomorrow I'll show you a few more from this show.  I will probably still go to the Celebration of Fine Art but I'm glad I went to this one too.  There is so much talent in this world of ours.  

What's Blooming

 

Here is a few of the things I saw blooming at the Desert Botanical Garden when I was there.  First is a bloom on the Texas Mountain Laurel.  

A perfectly shaped calla lily found in the butterfly pavilion.

Sea lavender was also in the pavilion and attracting lots of white butterflies.

I don't know what these are called.  If you know, let me know.  They are very pretty.

Above are some desert bluebells and to the right are some pretty, yellow desert marigolds.

Lots of pretty flowers to enjoy.  

Three Ladies

 

This mural was another one located in an alley so these three beautiful ladies will only be seen by those who venture into this passage.  It was painted by Ray Rivas Art who I believe works at the Just Blaze shop that sells a lot of paint for street artists.

Taking part in Monday Murals.

The Butterflies Are Back

 

The last two weekends (and this one) have been very busy for me.  It's the time of year when everything is going on before it gets too hot to be outdoors.  I did manage to get to the Desert Botanical Garden and visit the butterfly pavilion which just opened up a week ago.  As usual, there were a lots of zebra longwings fluttering about.

There was also quite a few whites to be seen.

And, there were a few painted ladies enjoying the flowers.  I didn't see any of the larger butterflies.  I need to make a point of going again to see if I can catch any the next time.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I am thinking about my mom and dad.

The View From the Top

 

As I mentioned yesterday, we had another hill to climb to get to this last house on the tour.  This is the hill and this one had no shuttle.  We had to climb this one on foot.  And if we wanted to go further, we could even climb up the the tennis court above this hill.  You can see the fence surrounding the court in the upper left of this photo.

The view from up this high was quite stunning.  We had a full view of Camelback Mountain along with the rooftops of thousands of houses in between.  

In order to get to the pool and garden area, it required descending a little way along a set of stairs.  I decided it was enough to see this area from above.

As you can see, the house itself sits right on the mountainside giving sweeping views across Phoenix and the valley below.  

So that sums up another home and garden tour.  It seems like there is always at least one house on these tours that surprises everyone.  With this house and all its animals clinging to side of the mountain, this one was this year's surprise.

Chickens and Goats

 

The last house on the home and garden tour was full of surprises.  The first surprise was that we had to climb up a very steep mountain to get to it.  In fact, it was so steep, the owners ran a two-car shuttle service to take people up so they wouldn't have to climb that hill.  The car in the photo is one of the shuttles.  

When we got to the top, we were greeted by a selection of farm animals.  These two goats were putting on quite a show with a lot of head-butting action taking place.

In addition to the the playful goats, there was quite a selection of chickens wandering around.  These were not just your average farm-yard chickens, they were a colorful bunch.

The adventure did not stop with the friendly farm animals.  We had yet another hill to climb to get to the house.  Tomorrow I'll show you the view from the top.

By the way, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Sculptures Around the Garden

 

There was an abundance of art to admire at the third house on the tour.  We start with these sculpted chairs.  These look a lot like they might have belonged to the Flintstones.  None of us tried to sit in them.  

This little lady was spotted hiding among the tall plants.

This might look like an ordinary table and chair but it is actually a sculpture.

This last piece is a sculpted bicycle that is also serves as a planter for more flowering plants.  

At this house, we were offered refreshments.  I loved the plate of mini-cupcakes adorned with "sculpted" icing.  They were made to look like a variety of botanicals.  What a nice touch!  They were tasty too!

Made for Outdoor Living

 

The first thing you see when you step out onto the back patio is a wonderful seating area perfect for entertaining.  The outdoor fireplace is the perfect focal point.

When you turn around and face the opposite direction, you get a view over the beautifully landscaped yard and a very inviting swimming pool.

Looking at the pool from another direction, we see the hot tub in the foreground along with lots of blooming plants to brighten up the sculpted landscape.

Tomorrow I'll have one more post from this house.  These owners added lots of artistic touches to their landscape and we will take a look at those.

The Third House

 

The third house on the home and garden tour was also open for guests to walk through.  Basically, only the living room of the home was open so we could walk through to the garden. 

It was a pretty living room with a few art pieces to admire along the way.  This house was much more traditional than the modern/contemporary house I featured before.  

Tomorrow we will see the back garden. 

Frida is a Popular Subject

 

I just spotted this bright mural on the end of a commercial building a few days ago.  Frida Kahlo is a popular mural subject.  I've seen several different portrayals of her in the Phoenix area and I've seen a few others posted on the Colorful World blog.  I'd say that Frida is well loved around the world.

Combining Nature With Art

 

I'm taking a little pause from my home and garden tour to show you some more art by the artist Mayme Kratz that I featured in one of my photos posted on Friday.  She is a local artist who works exclusively with natural materials found in the desert southwest.  I saw a notice that she had an exhibit of her works at the Lisa Sette Gallery so I made a point of going last week to see more of her work.  The one above was my favorite of them but I will admit, it was hard to choose a favorite.

This one was also impressive.  She uses natural things like plants and insects, seeds and seed pods.  She arranges them artistically and then seals them in resin.  

She makes amazing works of art.  If you click the link above, you can see more of the pieces that were  on exhibit at the show.  Her works go perfectly in contemporary homes like the one I featured over the past three days.  

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I'm continuing my friends trip to Antarctica.

More Art Outside

 

The back garden of the house I've featured the last two days, has a nice covered patio and lovely pool for those hot summer days.

There was also a small building located back in the corner that contained a lot of exercise equipment.  The path to the building featured another interesting sculpture.

The front of the house is nicely landscaped with desert plants. The plain, concrete walls complete the contemporary look of the house.  

Art Fills the House

 

Above is a view of the living area of the second home on the home and garden tour.  In this view, we can see a large sculpture located on the patio just outside.  I recognized the piece immediately.  It's one of Jun Kaneko's famous Dangos.  And, a beautiful one it is too.  

After spotting the Kaneko sculpture, I noticed the piece hanging on the living room wall.  I recognized that artist too.  It's a piece by Mayme Kratz, a local artist who works with natural materials to make creative and eye-catching works of art.  The natural contribution to the piece above is a selection of wings from cicadas. They have been arranged in a circular pattern and sealed in resin.  The home owner told me the piece was extremely heavy and they had to build a special brace for it to hang on the wall.  As a coincidence, I went to an exhibit of Mayme's work on Thursday afternoon.  I'll have some photos to share in the future.

These last two pieces were found in different locations of the house.   I don't know the artist for either of these pieces.  The one to the left is a great ballerina sculpture. 

I admired the minimalist nature of this piece so I snapped a photo of it too. It has a natural look that goes well with the Mayme Kratz piece in the photo above.

Tomorrow I'll spend some time in the back garden of this house.  There were some interesting things to see there too.