Best of Show!

Last Friday I went with friends to the Scottsdale Arts Festival in the Scottsdale Civic Center Park.  I can't recall that I've ever gone to this show before and this year was the 47th.  There are so many arts festivals but, somehow I've missed this one.

However, I'm glad I made it to this one.  I got to meet Fred Stodder, the creator of these fabulous ceramic pieces.  I had never seen anything quite like these before.  They are in such bold colors and interesting shapes that give them a whole new dimension.  Fred lives in San Juan Capistrano, a beautiful southern California location.  Check his website to see more of his work.  Fred won the "Best in Show" prize for his work and it was his first trip to this show.  Congratulations Fred!

We went late in the afternoon on Friday and it couldn't have been a more perfect time.  There were no crowds and the late afternoon sun was lighting up the art just perfectly.

The other thing I liked about this show was the music.  There were two stages. When we entered, there was a band playing some great Latin rhythms.  They were called "Zona Libre".   On the other side of the park was this very colorful group called "Jerusafunk" and they were play some fantastic Klezmer sounds.

 I do enjoy a really good klezmer band and these guys were great.


Tomorrow I'll show you a few more of the great art works we saw here.

Warrior Armor

As promised yesterday, here are some more of the samurai armor that is on display at the Phoenix Art Museum right now.  This first one was extremely dramatic with the tall tail ornament called a "sashimono".  That is pretty darn spectacular, don't you think?

This parade of warriors was equally imposing and colorful.

The fellow in the back was well worth taking a closer look.

This fellow also makes quite a figure with his arrows and sword and to add that last fashionable detail, a fan!  

If you live in the Phoenix area, get over the art museum to see this exhibit.  It's well worth a look for both young and old.  

Samurai Invasion

An army of Samurai have invaded the Phoenix Art Museum and word has it they are going to hang around until July 16th.  Earlier this month, the art museum began a wonderfully dramatic exhibit of Samurai armor and other warrior regalia that will transport visitors back to a time when Japanese Samurai warriors were both revered and feared.

The collection belongs to Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller of Dallas Texas and includes more than 140 items.

This is called a Frontal Crest and sits atop a helmet.  It's fashioned to look like a mythical animal, part bird and part fish.

This helmet is shaped like an "oni" demon from Japanese folk lore.

Tomorrow I'll show you some of the armor that is on display.

Butterfly Encore

I went back to the Desert Botanical Garden and the Butterfly Pavilion last week on a sunny day this time.  There were no crowds at all so it was much easier to snap some shots of these beauties.  And, it was unseasonably warm which means the butterflies were very active flying all around and stopping to taste the flowers.  I like the white on white effect in the top shot.

I heard a lady say she loved the one's that look like a tiger and I had never thought of that before.  They do kind of look like a tiger.  They are called Gulf Fritillary.  After I took this shot, he flew around the back of this plant so.....

....I took a shot from the underside.  Wow, it's even prettier from underneath.

The Giant Swallowtail butterflies are rather difficult to photograph.  When they stop to take a sip from the flowers, they beat their beautiful wings almost like a hummingbird does.  I snapped 20 shots of these hoping for the best.

Out of twenty shots, these two were the only ones that looked acceptable.

Someone mentioned when I posted the butterflies last week that they've seen some of these in the wild in Florida.  That makes sense because the garden gets their supply of butterflies from a butterfly farm in Florida.

North and South

Last weekend we had some heavy skies that looked like they might pour down with rain at any moment.  They didn't.  We got a few sprinkles here and there but that's all.  I was driving on a residential street in Paradise Valley when I decided to stop and get a shot of those low hanging clouds.  This view is looking to the north.

I turned around and took another shot looking to the south and what a difference.  Patches of blue amongst some scattered white clouds.  Honestly, I am standing in the exact same spot for both of these photos.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  How many golfers are out there?

Mud Slinger

With as little rain as we get in the desert, mud is usually not a problem so to get your truck looking like this, you really have to work at it.  I found this truck parked in a Scottsdale parking lot last weekend.  I'm betting there is a track someplace around here where boys and girls can play with their big toys.

Eagle Dance

In addition to all the beautiful art works for sale, the Indian Fair and Market also celebrated performance talents too.  This hoop dancer was performing an eagle dance with his collection of hoops.  These dancers are so interesting to watch as they take each individual hoop up from the ground while never stopping their dance, and then forming them into various shapes.  This shape represents an eagle.

It really is beautiful to watch these performers in action.

Indian Fair & Market

Another major event that was happening last weekend was the Heard Museum's annual Indian Fair & Market.

Meet Beverly "Bear King" Moran, a Hunkpapa Lakota Artist who specializes in very intricate bead work.  Doesn't she look fabulous in her hand beaded costume?  And you can see two blue ribbons that she won for her outstanding work.

The lady who made this wonderful "rodeo" rug was also demonstrating her weaving technique.  

One of my favorite things to see are the colorful figurines.  I fell in love with this little clown with his watermelon slice.  But, I didn't bring him home with me.

I spent nearly 4 hours at the event admiring all of the wonderful works of art and visiting with artists that I see every year.  I hope they all had a very successful market day.

Three Different Kind of Blooms

I have three more shots from my visit to the Desert Botanical Garden last Sunday.  I found the first one just at the entrance where I saw this yucca plant in full bloom.  So, I lined it up with one of the tall Chihuly sculptures to get this view.

The Texas Mountain Laurel were in full bloom on Sunday with their gorgeous purple flowers.  They look a whole lot like lilacs which we don't get to see in this part of the desert but alas, no lilac fragrance.

And another colorful aloe bloom to end this group.  There is a bee hanging on down there at the bottom.  The bees do love the aloe blooms.

Hopi Butterfly Dance

There was a group from the Ryan Polequaptewa Dance Group on hand at the Desert Botanical Garden on Sunday to perform the Hopi Butterfly Dance for the crowds who gathered.  Their costumes where colorful, just like the butterflies they were representing.

The group performed several dances and at the end presented the garden with a placard signed by all of them to display inside the new butterfly pavilion.

A Herd of Zebras & Other Friends

Not the four-legged zebras but, the two winged zebra butterflies.

Yesterday I made my way to the Desert Botanical Gardens to see the brand new Butterfly Pavilion that just opened this weekend.  The crowds were huge but, I timed my visit perfectly and only had to wait in line for 5 minutes before I passed through the portal to wander among these flying beauties.

This group of zebra butterflies seemed to be very fond of this palm plant.

They have filled the pavilion with a real variety of colorful flowers for the butterflies to enjoy and they seemed to be making the best of it.

There was even a large lily plant.  I don't remember seeing one of those in the old pavilion.  This white peacock butterfly found the large bloom to be a good place to rest for a while.

I think this might be a cloudless giant sulfur butterfly who found a flower he could blend right into.
This is the time of year when there is a lot going on in the Phoenix area.  Everything seems to cluster into the February, March and April months to beat the heat of the summer.  I had a busy weekend seeking out all the events and gathering photos.  I'll have lots to share in the coming days.

Stories Worth Singing

Across the street from the Phoenix Art Museum is the new headquarters of the Arizona Opera Company.  They've been in this building about two years now.  I had to take the photo through the light rail line so sorry about all the wires.  That banner to the left says "Stories Worth Singing", an appropriate motto for the opera.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I've found a little known Southern California gem.

Phoenix Art Museum Odds and Ends

While I was looking through my photos from the Phoenix Art Museum to find the two I posted yesterday, I found quite a few photos I had never posted in a variety of places around the museum.  So, today I have an assortment of odds and ends all from the art museum.  Above is a view of the entrance with the fountain in the foreground.  I love that fountain that has a long beam-like arm that hangs over the pool with a double waterfall.

Right up by the front door is another little fountain with a beautiful wall sculpture in the background.

One time when I was on the second floor I took this photo looking down on the hall that leads from the museum entrance area into the galleries.  

Another long hallway on the second floor leads from one end of the museum to the other.  It's a sort of bridge that spans over a garden area below.

Here's one for my readers who are long time Phoenix residents.  This was taken back when they had that wonderful display of all kinds of designer shoes.  This shoe is from the Goldwater's Department Store.  Anyone remember that store?  I loved shopping there when I first moved to Phoenix.  It has long since been swallowed up by one of the big department store chains.

And, this last photo is from the current display in the designer fashion gallery.  The reason I snapped this photo is that I once owned  this set.  (That's probably way too much information, right?)

The display label says it's by Vanity Fair from the 60's and it was certainly the 60's when I had the set.  

Vanity Fair lingerie was not expensive so I can assure you I didn't pay designer prices.  It just brought back some memories.  

Irruption

This was the photo I was going to use for theme day before I found that great piece at the Heard Museum last weekend.  I took this photo back in 2015 of an artwork at the Phoenix Art Museum called Irruption Series by Regina Silveira.  I checked her website and she has others in this series in Houston, Taipei and Sao Paulo.  Ours appears to be the smallest.  One picture I saw covered the outside of the museum!

I took this photo in June of last year when the museum positioned a black sculpture in front of this piece.  I'm afraid I don't know the artist who did the tire-themed sculpture.

So these two photos have been sitting in my archives just waiting for an appropriate use and I think that theme of Black and White in Color was just the thing to set them free.

A Place Where We Emerge

The title to this post is the name of this artwork that I admired last weekend at the Heard Museum.  I featured a small piece of it yesterday for theme day.  Today I'll show you some more of it.

There is a lot to see in this piece.  I studied it for a very long time.  

I had to climb to the second floor to capture the whole thing.  The artist is Tony Abeyta, a Navajo artist and his piece is done in India Ink and Charcoal.  I think it makes an outstanding addition to the museum. Over to the left of this shot you see a door leading to the Grand Gallery.  That is a new gallery that was recently added and oh, the beauty that was inside.  I'll be scattering some of the fabulous things I saw in there in some future posts.

Theme Day: Black & White in Color

As most of you know, the first of the month is always theme day for City Daily Photo Bloggers.  Everyone posts a photo based on one chosen theme.  The theme for March is "Black and White in Color" and we were in search of a photo subject that looks black and white even though we took it in color.  I had one picked out and was ready to use it until last weekend when I made a visit to the Heard Museum to see a new gallery they recently opened.  That's where I found a huge India Ink and Charcoal drawing by Tony Abeyta that covered one whole wall.  This is just a tiny section of it.  It's amazing.  I'll show you more of it tomorrow!

If you would like to see the theme presented by other City Daily Photo Bloggers, click the link.