Michelle Dock
Senior visual arts curator, Gallery @ TCA
What makes the Gallery at TCA unique?
At our core, the Gallery at TCA’s focus is making the work of Arizona artists approachable and accessible. We are committed to showcasing local talent and creating a warm and welcoming environment for unique artistic experiences in the Valley. Additionally, I believe our free admission and programs are a great value for visitors seeking opportunities to learn and grow.
What kinds of works/artists are generally shown?
Would it be too much to say everything? Over our 16-year history, we have explored many ideas and community topics. We pick three exhibition themes each that reflect interests and current events. Our goal is to seek out the artists and artworks that help tell those stories from various points of view. I often tell our team members and volunteers that there will be something in each exhibition for someone. Visitors will find an artwork(s) that speaks to them and stays in their thoughts long after the visit. But what resonates with one person may not speak in the same way to another. That’s kind of the fun part of curating—finding the puzzle pieces (or artworks) that build on one another to convey an idea or ask a question.
Currently on view?
The Moments, Memory and Time exhibition runs through the end of this year (Dec. 30). Our next exhibition is called Storytellers. It will run Jan. 13 - April 20, 2024.
Mikey Estes
Galleries Director, ASU School of Art
What are the four galleries at ASU?
The School of Art Galleries showcase the work of students, faculty, alumni, and visiting artists from multiple areas of the school: animation, ceramics, expanded arts, painting and drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and textiles.
What makes them unique?
The galleries are educational spaces that provide students with opportunities to curate and organize exhibitions and engage with the local arts scene.
Why are they special for the community?
Our exhibitions present an opportunity to see new, experimental work by emerging artists that addresses today’s pressing challenges, shapes the cultural narratives of our time, and influences the systems that define our world.
Currently on view?
On view Dec.11–Jan.10 at Harry Wood Gallery: The Winter BFA Juried Exhibition features a selection of works submitted by School of Art undergraduate students.
Anything else we should know?
Step and Northlight Galleries are in the Phoenix Warehouse District. Exhibition receptions are on First and Third Fridays.
Nayeli Lopez
Communications program coordinator, ASU Art Museum
There are two locations of ASU Art Museum—can you describe each?
The ASU Art Museum has two locations: one location is the renowned Antoine Predock-designed building at the Nelson Fine Arts Center on the ASU Tempe campus, and the second location is the Ceramics Research Center at the Brickyard in downtown Tempe.
What types and genres of art are featured?
Largely focused on contemporary art, spotlighting underrepresented artists and themes of social justice and community wellbeing.
What makes each location unique from other galleries?
What if centering social justice restored public trust in museums? What if museums, designed to honor objects, change their model to honor people? With a social justice and equity lens and the experimental, scholarly nature of the university art museum, ASU will have a meteoric impact on museums in the future.
ASU Art Museum is free admission always!
Currently on view?
Making Visible (Jan. 14 - April 2024); Everything is a Little Fuzzy (July 22 – Dec. 31); Crafting Resistance (Aug. 19 - July 14, 2024); Luis Rivera Jimenez: A Brief Proposal on Race and Cultural Cosplay (Aug. 19 — Dec. 31); and Contours: The Essential Form (Sept. 30 - March 31).
Anything else we should know?
The museum collection was founded in 1950 with a generous donation of largely American and Mexican artworks by a prominent local attorney named Oliver B. James.
"That’s kind of the fun part of curating—finding the puzzle pieces (or artworks) that build on one another to convey an idea or ask a question."
