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FLORENTINE BAROQUE: THE HAUKOHL COLLECTION
Through July 26, 2026 Cummings Great Hall North
STEP OUT OF THE ORDINARY AND INTO THE EXTRAORDINARY —no plane ticket required. Travel across space and time when you explore Florentine Baroque: The Haukohl Collection at Phoenix Art Museum. With gilded paintings and delicate sculpture from 17th and 18th century Florence, this special-engagement exhibition is a rare opportunity to experience Florentine Baroque artworks outside of Italy. Discover how Florence’s art industry flourished well beyond the Renaissance, thanks in large part to the patronage of the Medici Grand Dukes.
Florentine Baroque: The Haukohl Collection is made possible by FOCUS on European Art, with additional support provided by Holualoa Companies and Joanna and Mick Levin. All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin. image credit: Installation view of Florentine Baroque: The Haukohl Collection, 2025. Photo: Airi Katsuta; 17th Century Florentine Silk Tapestry (detail). Four red silk brocade panels. Haukohl Collection. Photo Credit: MNAHA, Tom Lucas.
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CONTENTS
Jeremy Mikolajczak
The Sybil Harrington Director + CEO
Donald Opatrny
Chair of the Board of Trustees
FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 2 5 - 2 0 2 6
EDITORIAL / DESIGN STAFF Samantha Andreacchi Executive Editor
Charlotte Quinney Associate Editor
Airi Katsuta
Creative Director
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
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Nikki DeLeon-Martin Deputy Director
Jessica Jacobson
Director of Education
Claudia López
Senior Interpretation Specialist
Emilia Mickevicius
The Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography
Colin Pearson
Curator of Asian Art
Christian Ramírez
The Cohn Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art + Director of Engagement
JoAnna Reyes
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Adjunct Curator for Art of the Americas
Rachel Sadvary Zebro
Associate Curator of Collections
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Olga Viso
Letter from the Director Museum News Alden @ PhxArt Scrollathon
The Selig Family Chief Curator + Director of Curatorial Affairs
Kaylee Weyrauch
Department Administrator – External Affairs
9 James K. Ballinger Wing 14 Thorne Miniature Rooms 16 Eric Fischl: Stories Told 20 Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan 25 2024 Arizona Artist Awards 27 Coming Soon: Cara Romero: Panûpünüwügai 28 Muscle Memory: Lens on the Body 24 Why We Give 30 Acknowledgements 31 In Memoriam: Howard Katz 34 Events @ PhxArt 35 Save the Date: The pARTy in the Garden 36 Holiday Gift Guide 2
PHX ART MAGAZINE
CHECK OUT OUR MUSEUM STORE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE ON THE REVERSE OF THIS ISSUE.
@phxart
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image credits: (cover) Tanaka Yu, Fukuromono (Bag Work), 2018. Glazed Shigaraki stoneware. Carol & Jeffrey Horvitz Collection of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics. Photography by Richard Goodbody; (p. 2) Thomas Moran, Zoroaster Temple at Sunset, 1916 (detail). Oil on canvas. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Kieckhefer; Shingu Sayaka, Erosion No. 4 Shokka (Eroding Flower), 2021 (detail). Glazed and unglazed stoneware. Carol & Jeffrey Horvitz Collection of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics. Photography by Richard Goodbody; Eric Fischl, Broken Hallelujah, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen. 68 x 96 in. Arora Collection, UK. Image courtesy of the artist. © 2025 Eric Fischl; Courtesy of Omar Soto. (p.3) Photo: Bill Timmerman
FROM THE DIRECTOR
PHOENIX ART MUSEUM
BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2025 - 2026 CHAIR Donald Opatrny VICE CHAIRS Andrew Cooper chair elect David Lenhardt SECRETARY Terry Roman TREASURER Blair J. Portigal
Ruben E. Alvarez Oliver Badgio Alice Bazlen Alexander Bradley Drew Brown* Joel Coen Jenna Condas Mike Cohn Gloria P. Cowen Jacquie Dorrance* Carter Emerson Nancy Hanley Eriksson Michele M. Feeney Martin R. Galbut Eric F. Garcia Jeannine Gillikin Judy Goldberg Sara T. Gordon John W. Graham Michael Greenbaum* Lila Harnett* Oliver J. Harper, MD John Horseman Barbara Noble Howard Lindsay Jewell Ellen Katz* Don Kile Sally Lehmann Beth McMullen Mitch Menchaca** Jeanne Miraglia Bettina Nava Doris Ong Rose C. Papp Sally Pope Jordan Rose Vanessa Ruiz Iris Singer Rob Taylor Catherine Tuton *Honorary Trustee **Ex-Officio
Dear Friends,
F
all 2025 has been a truly historic season at Phoenix Art Museum. In October, we opened the Museum’s new on-site restaurant, Alden. Named in honor of Alden B. Dow, the visionary architect behind the institution’s original building, this contemporary culinary experience, created in partnership with CS Hospitality, features New American fare with flavors and cultural influences found throughout the Valley. To celebrate the restaurant’s opening, the Museum welcomed Mayor Kate Gallego, Vice Mayor Ann O’Brien, and Councilmember Laura Pastor at an official ribbon-cutting ceremony. We remain grateful for the support from the City of Phoenix throughout the restaurant’s renovation period and beyond. Then in November, the Museum premiered yet another renovated space—our refreshed Art of the Americas + Europe galleries in the newly dedicated James K. Ballinger Wing. The Museum extends its immense gratitude to the Virginia M. Ullman Foundation, the Kemper & Ethel Marley Foundation, the Margaret T Morris Foundation, the Carl and Marilynn Thoma Foundation, Cathie Lemon, the Men’s Arts Council, and Harry and Rose Papp for their generous support of this five-month venture. Named in honor of the Museum’s Director Emeritus, who led the Museum for four decades, the Ballinger Wing now houses our foundational historic collections of the Art of the Americas, the Art of the American West, Viceregal Art of Latin America, and European Art. To bring new context and perspectives to these beloved works, the space additionally features contemporary acquisitions and strategic loans by living artists who consider topics of identity, migration, cross-cultural influence, and more, in addition to special curated encounters that offer deep dives into the work of Arizona artists Ed Mell and George Elbert Burr. Included in the Ballinger Wing is our beloved Thorne Miniature Rooms, which have undergone a modern refresh, as well as the newly relocated and reimagined Ullman Center for the Art of Philip C. Curtis. We are deeply grateful to the Cattle Track Arts Compound, home to Curtis’ preserved studio and archive, as well as the Philip C. Curtis Trust for their ongoing support of this important Center, created in honor of the artist who established the Phoenix Federal Art Center, the precursor to our Museum.
We encourage everyone to enjoy the Ballinger Wing with family and friends this holiday season. Along with these major campus renovations, the Museum continues to present outstanding exhibitions and new public programs. We are honored to be the presenting institution behind Eric Fischl: Stories Told, the first major survey on the renowned figurative painter in nearly a decade. In addition to his global reputation, Fischl has deep roots in the Valley through numerous philanthropic and educational endeavors at Phoenix College, making this exhibition a homecoming of sorts. And if you haven’t yet experienced Splendors of East Asian Cloisonné, Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists of Japan and Flowers of the Punjab: Textiles of India and Beyond in our Art of Asia Wing, I highly recommend you do so. Each offers an extraordinary view into how artists continue to draw inspiration from traditional art forms and practices while also making them uniquely their own. If you’re looking for something exciting to do with friends and family, I encourage you to check out two new monthly series at PhxArt. SOUNDCHECK brings fantastic local and regional bands and musical acts to the Museum every third Thursday to enliven our galleries and Museum experience, and for families with children, we now offer monthly Kids Days. Presented every second Saturday, Kids Day is a great way for families to make art together, share stories, and experience live performances inspired by the Museum’s exhibitions and collections. To all our Members, donors, friends, neighbors, community members, and arts advocates, we are deeply grateful for your continued support. It remains an honor and privilege to serve our community, region, and state. Thank you for making this season—and every season—at PhxArt one to remember. Sincerely,
Jeremy Mikolajczak
the sybil harrington director + ceo phoenix art museum
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MUSEUM NEWS
PHXART WELCOMES NEW TRUSTEES
Installation view of Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan, 2025. Phoenix Art Museum. Photo: Leon Huynh (@ok.leon)
Oliver Badgio is the Chief Brand Officer of Prime Steak Concepts, the restaurant group behind Steak 44, Steak 48, Dominick’s Steakhouse, Ocean 44, Ocean 48, and Durant’s Steakhouse. Badgio began his career in 1992 under the mentorship of James Beard-nominated restaurateurs Michael and Jeffrey Mastro and their father, Dennis. Rising through the ranks from a bar-back to his current leadership role, he has been instrumental in helping to shape the company’s brand and public relations strategies. Badgio represents Prime Steak Concepts and the Mastro Family’s community and philanthropic interests by serving on the boards of directors and trustees for Make-A-Wish Arizona, Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, Charlotte Ballet in North Carolina, Phoenix Suns Charities, Phoenix Theatre, and Phoenix Art Museum. Alexander Bradley is the Chief Financial Officer of First Solar, Inc, a leading American solar technology company and global provider of responsibly produced, eco-efficient solar modules. He joined First Solar in May 2008 and previously served as Vice President of both Treasury and Project Finance. From 2016 to 2018, Bradley also served as an officer and board member of 8point3 Energy Partners, a publicly listed assets that owned and operated PV Assets. Prior to joining First Solar, Bradley worked at HSBC in investment banking and leveraged finance in London, Hong Kong, and New York, covering the energy and utilities sector. Jennifer Condas is an art historian, philanthropist, and dedicated Museum supporter with decades of leadership experience in the arts and non-profit sectors. At PhxArt, Condas serves as co-chair of the Circles of Support Advisory Committee. She also serves on the Board of the Arizona Costume Institute as the 2025–2026 Membership Chair and is an active Docent. Condas’ philanthropic impact extends beyond Phoenix to Orange County, California, where she co-founded The Dream Guild and served three terms on the Orange County Chapter Board of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, chairing four major galas. Additionally, Condas held a 10-year leadership role with Visionaries, the largest support group of the Orange County Museum of Art, where she co-chaired Art Studies.
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Photo: Valerie Echeverria
Photo: Leon Huynh (@ok.leon)
NEW MONTHLY MUSIC + KIDS SERIES PhxArt has launched two new monthly series that engage audiences of all ages and interests through music, artmaking, and family friendly programing. SOUNDCHECK is the Museum’s new live-music series. Hosted every third Thursday evening of the month, Museum guests enjoy raw, unmissable performances by local and regional musical acts, all included with general admission. The series kick-off in October featured Phoenixborn, Nashville-based pop/rock duo 76th St. For tickets to SOUNDCHECK performances, visit phxart.org.
PhxArt has also launched monthly Kids Days. Hosted every second Saturday of the month from 10 am – 2 pm, Kids Day programming features an artmaking activity, a live performance, Storytime, and more to engage youth audiences with the Museum’s collections and special exhibitions. For tickets to Kids Day, visit phxart.org. SOUNDCHECK is made possible through the generosity of Presenting Sponsor Men’s Arts Council, with additional support from Desert Financial Credit Union and the Angela and Leonard Singer Endowment for the Performing Arts. Kids Day is made possible by the Angela and Leonard Singer Endowment for Performing Arts, The Discount Tire Endowment for Children’s Art Programs, and the William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fund for Education Programs.
LENHARDT LECTURE
Photo: Airi Katsuta
In October, PhxArt presented the Fall Lenhardt Lecture, featuring contemporary American painter Adam Pendleton in conversation with Dr. Adrienne Edwards, the Engell Speyer Family Senior Curator and Associate Director of Curatorial Programs at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Pendleton and Edwards discussed the artist’s career and impact on the medium as it relates to process and abstraction. The Lenhardt Lecture is made possible through the generosity of The Dawn and David Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative and supported in part by Prime Steak Concepts.
2025 ARIZONA ARTIST AWARDS WINNERS PhxArt has named the recipients of its 2025 Arizona Artist Awards. Alice Leora Briggs is the recipient of the 2025 Scult Family Artist Award, and Chris Ignacio and Jan Talmadge Davids are the recipients of the 2025 Sally and Richard Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards. The Museum also launched a new Arizona Artist Award—the Sette/Cohn Artist Award. Shaunté Glover is the inaugural Sette/Cohn Artist Award recipient. As part of the awards, each artist receives a lifetime PhxArt Membership and funds to support their artistic practice. Briggs, Ignacio, and Talmadge Davids have the opportunity to exhibit their work at the Museum in Summer 2026. The Arizona Artist Awards are made possible by the Scult Family; Sally and Richard Lehmann; and the Cohn Fund for Arts and Culture, a founding gift of the Phoenix Art Museum Education and Engagement Excellence Fund.
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ON VIEW CLOSING SOON Funny Business: Photography and Humor Photo: Airi Katsuta
norton family photogr a phy ga llery
Through January 4, 2026
Safwat Saleem: The Unrequited Love Institute (T.U.L.I.) 2024 Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards Exhibition k atz wing second floor
Through January 25, 2026
The Collection: Greatest Fits (Vol. 1): The Art of Archiving Fashion kelly ellman fashion ga lleries
Through March 1, 2026
COMING SOON Muscle Memory: Lens on the Body norton family photogr a phy ga llery
January 24 – June 28, 2026
Cara Romero: Panûpünüwügai (Living Light) k atz wing second floor
February 27 – June 28, 2026
ON VIEW The Collection: 1960 - Now k atz wing first floor
Through April 12, 2026
American Modern k atz wing lower level
Through May 10, 2026
MARS SYMPOSIUM In September, PhxArt hosted MARS: Revisited, a one-day symposium that explored the cultural history, artistic development, and community impact of El Movimiento Artístico del Río Salado (MARS), a Phoenix-based artist collective and gallery established in 1978 by and for local Chicano artists. The event served as a precursor to a forthcoming retrospective at PhxArt scheduled for 2028, which will feature works by MARS artists and other contemporary creators impacted by the collective’s legacy. The exhibition will be accompanied by an original monograph, the first of its kind. MARS: Revisited was coordinated by Christian Ramírez, the Cohn Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art and Director of Engagement at Phoenix Art Museum, and Dr. Mathew Sandoval, Associate Professor and Dean’s Fellow for Access and Inclusive Excellence at ASU Barrett the Honors College, with assistance from artist and former MARS artist Annie Lopez and Dr. Anita Huizar-Hernández, Associate Professor of Border Studies at ASU and Associate Director of the Hispanic Research Center. Project partners included ASU’s Hispanic Research Center, Cultural Coalition, and Xico Inc. MARS: Revisited is made possible through the generosity of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Terra Foundation for American Art.
Eric Fischl: Stories Told steele ga llery
Through June 14, 2026
Florentine Baroque: The Haukohl Collection cummings gr eat ha ll north
Through July 26, 2026
Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan a rt of asia wing
Through September 13, 2026
Flowers of the Punjab: Textiles of India and Beyond khanuja family sikh a rt ga llery
Through September 13, 2026
Carlos Amorales: Black Cloud
gr eenbaum lobby and john mor r ell promena de
The Collection: Art of the Americas + Europe The Art of Philip C. Curtis Ed Mell: In the Studio George Elbert Burr: The Desert Etchings james k . ba llinger wing
Yayoi Kusama: You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies a rt of asia wing
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PHXART LAUNCHES FIRST KIDS' BOOK PhxArt has launched its first kids' book—Southwest ABC— highlighting artworks from the PhxArt Collection that feature canyons and monsoons, animals and insects, and so much more. To purchase your copy, visit The Museum Store on-site or online. The first edition of Southwest ABC is made possible through the generous support of the Papp Family Foundation in honor of Lucas and Aurora. Additional support provided by The Burton Family Foundation and First Things First.
INTRODUCING….
The new on-site restaurant at PhxArt
Contemporary American cuisine with an artful twist MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS TODAY!
Mon + Tues • Closed Wed - Fri • 10 am - 9 pm Sat + Sun • 10 am - 8 pm
Alden is the newest concept by CS Hospitality, the team behind Kaizen Sushi, Conceptually Social Catering, and Silo Tempe. P H X A R T.O R G
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ENGAGEMENT
ART, CONNECTION,
COMMUNITY
I
n 2006, artists and brothers Steven and William Ladd founded Scrollathon, a series of collaborative projects where community members used found and upcycled materials to engage in the creative process. Inspired by the traditions of quilting bees and story circles, artist-guided Scrollathon workshops provide participants with pressurefree opportunities to play, talk, and think while creating handmade, tightly wound fabric scrolls imbued with personal and universal meaning. But what began in the artists’ hometown of St. Louis quickly grew. Fast forward to today and the Ladds have since worked with thousands of people of various ages, backgrounds, and abilities—everyone from specialeducation students, to individuals in custody at Rikers Island, to older adult groups experiencing cognitive decline, and more—building not just a community-art project model but a movement that has now reached all corners of the United States. In September 2025, the Ladds launched the Arizona chapter of National Scrollathon® at PhxArt. Through workshops led by the artists, individuals representing nine organizations that serve various communities in Arizona came together across three days to participate in community scrollmaking. Each participant created two scrolls made from two strips of fabric that were tightly rolled and secured with a pin. The first scroll was for the participant to keep, while the second scroll was used to create a larger masterwork. After the workshops, these secondary scrolls were brought together into a wooden frame and affixed into place. Participants’ photographic portraits were then incorporated into a photo mural. The completed installation, titled Core Values, is now on view at PhxArt for Arizona audiences to discover as they explore the galleries. The work has also been acquired into the Museum's permanent collection so that future generations can experience the collaborative work.
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THANK YOU TO OUR PARTICIPATING COMMUNITY GROUPS: Beatitudes Campus
Opportunity Tree
Cultural Creatives with Channel Powe
PhxArt Staff, Board of Trustees, and 21st Century Society Members
Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona
PhxArt Docents
Montessori Academy
Phoenix College
one-n-ten
Phoenix Indian Center
Scrollathon at Phoenix Art Museum is organized by Phoenix Art Museum with Steven and William Ladd. Its presentation at Phoenix Art Museum is coordinated by Jessica Jacobson, Director of Education, and Christian Ramírez, Cohn Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art and Director of Engagement. It is made possible by Alice and Jim Bazlen, with additional support from the Angela and Leonard Singer Endowment for Performing Arts. Contemporary art exhibitions and projects are made possible in part by the Rob Walton, Jordan Rose, and Rose Law Group Fund for Contemporary Art. All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation, with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin. image credits: Core Values, 2025. Fiber, rubber bands, pins, ink, glue, wood, paint.
Collaborative masterwork created with more than 170 participants at Phoenix Art Museum during the National Scrollathon in Phoenix, Arizona; Portrait mural featuring participants of the National Scrollathon in Phoenix, Arizona, 2025.
EXHIBITIONS
Ed Mell, Towering Clouds/Lake Powell, 1990. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of The Stéphane Janssen Art Foundation.© Edmund Paul Mell Jr Trust
UNVEILING OF THE
O
BALLINGER WING
n November 28, PhxArt reopened its Art of the Americas + Europe galleries in the newly dedicated James K. Ballinger Wing, named for the Museum’s Director Emeritus. Home to 10 gallery spaces, the Ballinger Wing houses outstanding examples of historical American, Art of the American West, Viceregal Latin American, and European art from the PhxArt Collection, presented alongside contemporary works, new acquisitions, and significant loans. Here’s more of what to expect when you visit the Ballinger Wing this season. P H X A R T.O R G
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image credits: Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, Profile of Larry Ossei, 2022. Oil on canvas.
Museum purchase with funds provided by the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative; Santa Gertrudis la Grande (Saint Gertrude the Great), early 18th century, Peru. Oil on canvas. Gift of Diane and Bruce Halle; Paul Pletka, Nuestro Señor el Desollado (Our Lord, The One Who is Flayed), 2004. Acrylic on canvas. Museum purchase with funds provided by Western Art Associates, Eddie Basha, Drew and Laurie Brown, Bennett and Jacquie Dorrance, Bennett Dorrance, Jr., Dr. Anthony and Jenny Hedley, Dennis and Janis Lyon, Russ Jr. and Rosie Lyon, David E. Reese, John and Ellen Stiteler, Terry and Naomi Thomas, Don and Sharon Ulrich, Mike and Cindy Watts, Riva Yares, Charlie and Barbara Young, Dr. Frederick and Patti Lau, Mary Hamilton, Richard Mallery, James and Jean Meenaghan, William and Jill Pilcher, Ray and Amy Thurston, Betty Wusich, Myer Alperin, Mike and Sherry Maxwell, Linda Marcus, Lee R. Lyon, Lance Ross, and Sandra Schocker; William Henry Powell, Columbus Before the Council of Salamanca, 1847. Oil on canvas. Museum purchase. Photo: Ken Howie; Thomas Moran, Zoroaster Temple at Sunset, 1916. Oil on canvas. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Kieckhefer ; William Merritt Chase, The White Rose (Portrait of Miss Jessup), c. 1886. Pastel on paper mounted on canvas. Gift of Miss Margaret Mallory. Photo: Mike Lundgren .
Art of the Americas Galleries Rediscover the Museum’s Art of the Americas collection from a fresh, hemispheric perspective and consider how the region’s history and art has been shaped by exchange, migration, and cultural interplay among Indigenous, European, African, African American, Hispanic, Latine, and Asian traditions. Landscapes of the American West The Art of the American West collection at PhxArt is distinguished by outstanding holdings of landscape painting. Featured works by Georgia O’Keeffe, MaryRussell Ferrell Colton, Maxfield Parrish, and others depict dramatic light and color, vast geologic forms, flora and fauna, and human-made dwellings. Life and Legend in the West The American West is a region characterized by distinctive lifestyles and cultural histories rooted in Latin American and Hispanic cultures, along with the rich traditions of Indigenous peoples such as the Diné (Navajo), Apache, Hopi, Pueblo, Pima, Havasupai, and Tohono O’odham. Alongside historical works by Joseph Henry Sharp and E. Irving Couse, contemporary perspectives from Ivan McClellan, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, Grace Kennison, and Virgil Ortiz challenge common perceptions of the American West, centering Black cowboy culture, Indigenous futurism, cowgirl culture, and more. 18th- and 19th-century American Art Works in the Museum’s 18th- and 19th-century American Art collection trace the artistic and cultural development of the United States. Portraits by John Singleton Copley and William Merritt Chase reflect the nation’s formative years and the transatlantic traditions that shaped early painting, while later portraits by John Singer Sargent, Julius LeBlanc Stewart, and others reveal the growing sophistication of American art. Landscape paintings by Alexander Helwig Wyant, Elihu Vedder, and more signal the traditions of the Hudson River School, Tonalism, and American Impressionism.
Art and an Evolving Nation Throughout history, art has been used to examine issues of power, sovereignty, justice, identity, nation-building, protest, dissent, and more. Placed in dialogue, historical and contemporary works reflect how artists throughout U.S. history have documented and engaged with moments of social change. Featured artists include Fritz Scholder, Ali Dipp, William Henry Powell, Gilbert Stuart, and Federico Solmi. Viceregal Art of Latin America Learn more about the traditions and innovations from 16th-19th century Latin America, when territories in the Americas and Asia were governed by viceroys, or Spanish administrators. Latin American viceroyalties were important hubs of cultural and economic exchange, and featured works demonstrate how local artists adapted to the tastes of an increasingly globalized clientele. In Dialogue: Amalia Mesa-Bains Experience a large-scale installation by artist and Chicana feminist art scholar and writer Amalia Mesa-Bains who established altar-making as a cornerstone of Chicana/o art. Queen of the Waters, Mother of the Land of the Dead: Homenaje a Tonatzin/Guadalupe (1992) is an offering to the divine mother goddesses from three cultures that shaped Mexico—the Indigenous Nahua, or Aztec, represented by the goddess Tonantzin; the Spanish, represented by the Virgen de Guadalupe; and West African culture, represented by the Queen of the Waters, Yemayá.
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European Art Galleries The Museum’s European art collection has been at the heart of the institution's holdings since 1959, and today is home to more than 1,200 paintings, drawings, and sculptures. Through new installations across three gallery spaces, explore the art-historical movements of the Renaissance, the Baroque period, and Impressionism. Featured artists include Master of Astorga, Gustave Courbet, Claude Monet, and JeanLéon Gérôme, with modern and contemporary works by Marc Chagall and Sean Scully.
image credits: Jean-Léon Gérôme, Pollice Verso (Thumbs Down), 1872. Oil on canvas. Museum purchase. Photo: Mike
Lundgren; Marco Palmezzano, Holy Family with Infant St. John the Baptist, c. 1530. Oil on poplar panel. Museum purchase with funds provided by an anonymous New York foundation. Photo: Ken Howie; Pierre Auguste Renoir, Roses and Landscape, not dated. Oil on canvas. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Donald D. Harrington. Photo: Ken Howie; Camille Pissarro, Landscape at Varengeville, Gray Weather, 1899. Oil on canvas. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Donald D. Harrington. Photo: Mike Lundgren; Sean Scully, Landline Yellow, 2014. Oil on linen. Gift of Lee and Mike Cohn.
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The Art of Philip C. Curtis Philip C. Curtis (1907–2000) is considered one of Arizona’s most celebrated artists. After helping establish the state’s first art center through the Works Progress Administration and making Scottsdale his lifelong home, Curtis created dreamlike narratives inspired by the circus, entertainment, and his turn-ofthe-century childhood. In the late 1990s, PhxArt established the Ullman Center for the Art of Philip C. Curtis, which opened in 2001 as a permanent space to celebrate the artist’s work. The reimagined and newly relocated Ullman Center features paintings from the PhxArt Collection and archival materials from Curtis’ personal archives to deepen understanding of the artist’s process.
Ed Mell: In the Studio Born in Phoenix, Ed Mell was engaged in Arizona’s arts community for more than 50 years, establishing his studio just blocks away from PhxArt. Mell is known for his use of vibrant color and angular compositions depicting monumental cloud formations, geologic strata, and desert life of the Colorado Plateau and Sonoran Desert. At the time of his death in 2024, he left behind a studio filled with small-scale paintings and works on paper. Ed Mell: In the Studio presents for the first time a selection of oil studies and works on paper from 1974 through 2023 that have never been exhibited publicly, including Mell's final paintings.
George Elbert Burr: The Desert Etchings This fall, the Museum’s Orme Lewis Gallery reopened as a dedicated space for prints and drawings, one of the largest yet least exhibited parts of the PhxArt Collection. George Elbert Burr: The Desert Etchings features more than 50 prints by the artist, who was an instrumental figure in the history of PhxArt. Although less recognized than his European predecessors, Burr’s etchings of resolutely American subjects have been exhibited alongside those of revolutionary printmaker Albrecht Durër and revered Golden Age artist Rembrandt van Rijn. image credits: Philip C. Curtis, Whistler, 1963. Oil on board. Gift of Bank One Arizona. ©
Philip C. Curtis Restated Trust U/A/D April 7, 1994; Ed Mell, Opening Cactus Bud, 1990. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of The Stéphane Janssen Art Foundation. © Edmund Paul Mell Jr Trust;; George Elbert Burr, Camelback Mountain-Phoenix, 19th-20th century. Etching. Gift of the Estate of Carolann Smurthwaite.
The inaugural installation of the James K. Ballinger Wing, an initiative honoring the historic collections of Phoenix Art Museum and the visionary leadership of Director Emeritus James K. Ballinger, is organized by Phoenix Art Museum and made possible by generous gifts from the Virginia M. Ullman Foundation, the Kemper & Ethel Marley Foundation, and Cathie Lemon. Additional support provided by Men's Arts Council, Margaret T Morris Foundation, Carl and Marilynn Thoma Foundation, and Harry and Rose Papp. The installation in the Ullman Center for the Art of Philip C. Curtis is curated by Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Sybil Harrington Director and CEO. It is made possible by the Virginia M. Ullman Foundation. Installations of American Art and Art of the American West in the Tooker and Wayland galleries are curated by Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Sybil Harrington Director and CEO. The installation in the Kemper & Ethel Marley Gallery for Art of the American West is curated by Jeremy Mikolajczak,
the Sybil Harrington Director and CEO. It is made possible by the Kemper & Ethel Marley Foundation. Ed Mell: In the Studio in the Woodyard Gallery is curated by Olga Viso, the Selig Family Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs. It is presented by the Kemper & Ethel Marley Foundation. George Elbert Burr: The Desert Etchings is curated by Olga Viso, the Selig Family Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs. The installation of Viceregal Art of Latin America in the Astorga Gallery is curated by JoAnna Reyes, PhD, Adjunct Curator for Art of the Americas. It is made possible by the Carl and Marilynn Thoma Foundation. Installations of European Art in the Harrington, Sukhman, and Stegall galleries are curated by Rachel Zebro, Associate Curator of Collections. All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin.
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I SPY... THORNE MINIATURE ROOMS
I
spy, with my little eye, something… tiny! As part of the refresh of our Art of the Americas + Europe galleries, PhxArt will unveil the newly renovated Thorne Miniature Rooms this winter season. To celebrate, enjoy this special-edition, close-looking activity page featuring one of 16 Thorne Miniature Rooms in the Museum’s collection. It’s a wonderful way to discover hidden details and treasures with your family or as a quiet activity on your own.
THINGS TO SPY
Cat
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PHX ART MAGAZINE
Mouse
Birdcage
Doll
Bread
Keys
EXHIBITIONS
ABOUT THE THORNE ROOMS The Thorne Rooms provide a glimpse into replications of historical room designs from the United States and Europe at an exacting 1:12 scale. The rooms were conceived, designed, and in large part crafted by Narcissa Niblack Thorne (1882-1966). Born in Indiana, Thorne began to collect miniature furniture and household accessories during her travels to England and Asia in the early 20th century. Beginning in 1931, Thorne began to place her growing collection of miniature objects in interior scenes inspired by the grand traditions of 18th-century Europe and American colonial design. She and the craftspeople with whom she worked completed nearly 100 rooms that could substitute for costly and space-consuming full-scale period rooms that museums across the country were beginning to acquire.
The original 30 Thorne Rooms were displayed at the 1933 Chicago Century of Progress Exposition and gained national attention in 1940 after a feature in a LIFE Magazine article. In 1962, Thorne donated 16 of the original 30 rooms to PhxArt, then celebrating its third anniversary, and these interiors have been on view since that time. Other examples of the Thorne Rooms are also housed at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Knoxville Museum of Art. image credit : Narcissa Niblack Thorne, English Lodge Kitchen, c. 1840-1850, 1932-1937.Miniature room. Gift of Niblack Thorne.
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EXHIBITIONS
FREEZE FRAME ERIC FISCHL: STORIES TOLD Through June 14, 2026 Steele Gallery
T
he lights dim, and the music strikes. In the darkened movie theater, you gaze silently upon the drama of someone else’s life. CUT TO: a brightly lit yet similarly hushed and contemplative moment, but instead of a moving image, the scene is still. Without dialogue, a musical score, or sequential camera shots, you’re left to imagine how the story unfolds, your own experiences and perspectives determining the action. The large-scale figurative paintings of Eric Fischl come into focus much like a movie, his characters occupied by the drama in the scene, only at times making intentional eye contact with the viewer. Fischl invites his audience to peer unabashedly into intimate and off-kilter moments. The artist, who spent his childhood in Long Island and moved to Phoenix as a young adult, acknowledges that he grew up with television and not art. Classic movies, cartoons, and Howdy Doody were his early visual frames of reference. As his painting language evolved, Fischl’s cinematic eye remained, with his work exhibiting the sense of animation and emotional intensity we associate with film. During a visit to the special-engagement exhibition Eric Fischl: Stories Told at Phoenix Art Museum, guests can discover references to 20th-century movies by visionary directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Mike Nichols, and Robert Altman who have influenced Fischl’s storytelling.
Eric Fischl, Best Western, 1983. Oil on canvas. 108 x 78 in. Private Collection. Image courtesy of the artist and Skarstedt Gallery, New York. © 2025 Eric Fischl
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INT. NORMAN'S PARLOR – NIGHT In the darkened room, lit only by the light from the office spilling in, we see Norman placing the tray on a table. —Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho (1960)
Eri Fischl, Krefeld Project; Dining Room, Scene #2, 2003. Oil on linen. 89 x 124 in. Seattle Art Museum, 2014.25.19. Gift of the Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum. Photographer: Nathaniel Wilson. © 2025 Eric Fischl
Fischl’s paintings often depict the dramatic shadows and morally ambiguous characters of film noir, like in a typical Alfred Hitchcock film. Inspired by Hitchcock’s aesthetics, artificial light from a lamp or a television slices through the artist’s dimly lit interior scenes, illuminating a tense moment or throwing distorted shadows from a nearby
figure or sculpture. In some paintings, exterior light streams through Venetian blinds casting bar-like shadows that create a sense of entrapment. This stylistic lighting underscores the mystery of a film noir, in which the threat of corruption always lurks.
EXT. BRADDOCK BACKYARD AND POOL AREA – DAY The midsummer sun beats down on the Braddock swimming pool and on Ben who lies on a rubber raft in the middle of the pool. DISSOLVE TO: CLOSER SHOT – BEN drifting. —Mike Nichols, The Graduate (1967)
Eric Fischl, Island of the Cyclops: The Early Years, 2018. Oil on linen. 80 x 98 in. Lenhardt Collection. Image courtesy of the artist. © 2025 Eric Fischl
Fischl also explores male coming-of-age stories much like his friend, the director Mike Nichols. Both represent from their perspective what it is like to be a boy, become a man, and grow old. As in the iconic scenes of Ben Braddock in Nichols’ The Graduate, the male characters in Fischl’s paintings are sometimes set in affluent backyards with
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sparkling pools and an ominous sense of the future. Nichols’ wide-frame shots, which carefully orchestrate the relationships between characters like theatrical chamber pieces, can also be seen as a parallel to Fischl’s large-format paintings that explore psychological drama and uneven power dynamics.
INT. PURPLE SAGE APARTMENTS - DAY PINKY ROSE You’re the most perfect person I’ve ever met. —Robert Altman, 3 Women (1977)
Eric Fischl, Barbeque, 1982. Oil on canvas. 65 x 100 in. Steve Martin and Anne Stringfield. Image courtesy of the artist. © 2025 Eric Fischl
Fischl’s characters, like those of rebel director Robert Altman, inhabit sunny settings where the American Dream is distorted like a mirage in the blistering desert heat. In Altman’s 3 Women, a direct source of inspiration for Fischl, the characters’ identities swirl around the artifice of media culture, from the intricacies of pairing pigs in blankets with chocolate pudding to the illusion of the Western gunslinger. Their actions unfold alongside bodies that are aging and grotesque—from the rehabilitation center inhabitants to the cackling animatronic crone and the primordial and violent creatures of Willie’s murals. In his painterly dramas, Fischl, like Altman, provokes us to question “the real thing,” privileging the messiness of reality over cultural values of heroism, youth, and consumerism. Like the films referenced here, Fischl’s paintings invite the viewer to consider what is happening in the scene. Unlike the dynamic medium of the moving image, which depicts the passage of time and often concludes with a resolution— solidifying the why, what, who, and how—the freeze frame of the painting opens up a more uncertain and uncomfortable
space to imagine the action, to contemplate the moments before and after, and to determine where morality and propriety begin and end. There are no spoilers for a visit to Eric Fischl: Stories Told, but instead an opportunity to revel in suspense and share one's own reactions in real time. Eric Fischl: Stories Told is organized by Phoenix Art Museum and guest-curated by Heather Sealy Lineberry, Curator Emeritus at the Arizona State University Art Museum and faculty associate in the ASU School of Art’s Museum Studies program. The exhibition is presented by the Men’s Arts Council, with leadership support from Margaret T. Morris Foundation, and Steven Martin and Anne Stringfield. Major support provided by Michael and Nancy Gifford, James and Janet Dicke, Bruce and Suzie Kovner, and DL Withers Foundation. Additional support is provided by Rafael Jablonka, Erica Samuels, and Skarstedt Gallery. In-kind support provided by Kimpton Hotel Palomar Phoenix. Contemporary art exhibitions and projects are made possible in part by the Rob Walton, Jordan Rose, and Rose Law Group Fund for Contemporary Art. All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation, with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin. Leadership support for the exhibition publication, Eric Fischl: Late America, is provided by Skarstedt Gallery.
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RADICAL CLAY: CONTEMPORARY WOMEN ARTISTS FROM JAPAN
Through September 13, 2026 Art of Asia Wing
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EXHIBITIONS
RE-FORMED C
lay is one of the most ancient artistic media—earthy, tactile, and elemental. Long before we first applied paint to stretched canvas, we shaped clay by hand, pressing it into vessels that held food and water—the sustenance of life. Across cultures, clay has served as both medium and metaphor, and artists have long employed clay to create sculptures, decorative arts, and functional vessels. Despite this ancient lineage, Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan, now at Phoenix Art Museum, reveals that primordial clay—born of earth and fire—continues to be reimagined, as women artists use their hands and imaginative vision to break from historical precedent and express radical new possibilities.
Organized by the Art Institute of Chicago from the Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz Collection, the special exhibition showcases 40 sculptures by 36 contemporary Japanese ceramists, and simply by virtue of being women working with clay, engage in the radical act of subverting the traditions of their homeland. Ceramics have more than 15,000 years of history in Japan, but the practice has for centuries been dominated by men, who traditionally remained anonymous until the 16th century, when some Japanese ceramists finally began signing their works as individual artists. The emergence of women artists into the world of Japanese fine art ceramics is an even newer shift in the field and has blossomed since the 1970s. Drawn from the Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz Collection, the private collection of longtime Museum supporters and Massachusetts-based collectors who began focusing on contemporary Japanese ceramics in 2008, the works featured in Radical Clay represent the cutting edge of ceramic sculpture in Japan today. While there is no formal link between all of the artists, there are several concepts that connect the artworks to each other—biomorphic design, creating artworks that appear to be unique life forms; trompe l’oeil, fooling the eye by making clay look like textiles or other materials; obsessive processes that require the artists to make hundreds and hundreds of individual components; the avantgarde influence of Japan’s post-war Sōdeisha artists; and an embrace of sometimes creepy, grotesque aesthetics. Because of this, the exhibition features a broad array of visual styles and textures, offering something for every viewer to connect with on an emotional level. Tanaka Tomomi, Yume hiko (Dream Flight), 2019. Porcelaneous stoneware. Carol & Jeffrey Horvitz Collection of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics. Photography: Richard Goodbody.
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Most of the artists featured in Radical Clay do not rely on the potter’s wheel and instead prefer to sculpt their works by hand, building and molding through direct touch. This approach is clear not only in the abundance of organic forms throughout the exhibition, but in the numerous abstract works that convey deeply emotional and evocative qualities.
Visitors also discover the artist’s hand in Tanaka Tomomoi’s sculpture Yume hiko (Dream Flight). The sculpture is built up from thousands of thin, clay lamellae, in a seemingly organic form that leaves traditional pottery vessels behind. The piece implies a swirling motion, with small, delicate layers that build upon themselves like the images of the dream state the work’s title calls to mind.
Futamura Yoshimi’s Big Birth, for example, calls to mind a large, sun-bleached piece of crotch wood. In a kind of trompe l’oiel style, the work suggests a natural formation as much as it evokes the female body, an effect enhanced by the cracks and firing accidents that the artist regards as “gifts of the kiln.” Shingu Sayaka’s Erosion No. 4 Shokka (Eroding Flower) captures a fantastical blossom not at the peak of its vibrance but when its glory has faded, colored a streaked dove grey with desiccated stamens at its center. Despite appearing soft and delicate, these elements are actually hundreds of hand-shaped needlelike ceramic filaments.
Radical Clay also features sculptures that use clay to evoke other media entirely. In Tanaka Yu’s Fukuromono (Bag Work), the artist has created a convincing illusion of a pot wrapped in luxurious fabric. Tanaka used a double-glazing process before the initial firing to yield the work’s saturated goldenrod, and by hand-shaping the clay, tied at one side in a knot, she creates the effect of soft fabric wrapped around an invisible vessel. Tanaka took inspiration from the Sōdeisha group, a Kyoto-based artist collective whose avant-garde philosophy was born out of the post-war era and challenged the traditional notion that ceramic artworks needed to be functional vessels.
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Fukuromono (Bag Work) builds on the idea of a vessel but subverts its usability, challenging gravity and rendering the piece illusory and fragile. Similarly, Mishima Kimiyo’s featured works manipulate clay to create the illusion of discarded trash. The artist’s Untitled (Crushed Asahi Beer Box) is a handcrafted sculpture of a crushed beer box that has been crammed with crumpled newsprint and perhaps smashed underfoot. The work was created using fragile sheets of clay that were screen-printed with the original graphic designs. Afterward, Mishima shaped the pieces into their final damaged and discarded forms before firing them. The 40 sculptures in Radical Clay defy traditional expectations, redefining the boundaries of the medium. Through their radical acts of creation, these women assert a vision of clay unbounded by gender, form, or function, with sculptures that exist at the intersection of material and metaphor—earthly yet transcendent, rooted in tradition yet unmistakably contemporary. In their hands,
clay reclaims its vitality as a living language, one that continues to evolve, provoke, and astonish.
Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan is organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz Collection and curated by Janice Katz, Roger L. Weston Curator of Japanese Art. Its presentation at Phoenix Art Museum is coordinated by Colin Pearson, Curator of Asian Art. Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan is made possible by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation and Katharine and Nicholas J. Feduska, M.D. Contemporary art exhibitions and projects are made possible in part by the Rob Walton, Jordan Rose, and Rose Law Group Fund for Contemporary Art. All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin. image credits: Futamura Yoshimi, Big Birth, 2016. Stoneware coated with white porcelain and natural ash glaze. Carol & Jeffrey Horvitz Collection of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics. Photography: Richard Goodbody; Mishima Kimiyo, Untitled (Crushed Asahi Beer Box), 2007. Glazed and silkscreened stoneware. Carol & Jeffrey Horvitz Collection of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics.Photography: Richard Goodbody; Shingu Sayaka, Erosion No. 4 Shokka (Eroding Flower), 2021. Glazed and unglazed stoneware. Carol & Jeffrey Horvitz Collection of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics. Photography: Richard Goodbody.
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SUPPORT
WHY WE GIVE
KATHARINE AND NICHOLAS J. FEDUSKA, M.D. Supporting Phoenix Art Museum since 2022
THROUGH OUR INVOLVEMENT, WE HAVE COME TO VIEW PHOENIX ART MUSEUM AS A TRUE GEM AND A PILLAR OF OUR COMMUNITY.
W
e were inspired to support Phoenix Art Museum from our very first visit, when we experienced You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies by Yayoi Kusuma. We have long admired Kusama’s work and found this particular Infinity Mirror Room inspiring, just as we had other installations by the artist that we’d seen in Las Vegas and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. Our interest and admiration for her work was further enhanced by our visit to Matsumoto, Japan, her hometown, where a local museum is largely dedicated to her creations. Since then, as relatively new residents to Arizona, we’ve continually found sources of inspiration at PhxArt, thanks to its impressive collection of art and fashion. Our particular interest in Asian art has also evolved through the increasing number of Asian art exhibitions the Museum brings to the community, including Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan. To deepen our support of the Museum’s mission, we are excited to work in the coming year with leadership to develop an interactive welcome center in the Museum’s Greenbaum Lobby, its main visitor entrance. The center will be a first touchpoint for visitors of all ages to learn about the Museum’s multiplicity of educational experiences and art offerings. Through our involvement with the Museum, we have come to view PhxArt as a true gem and a pillar of our community, worthy of support from all who value the arts and want to ensure access for future generations.
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PPHHXX AARRTT MMAAGGAAZZIINNEE
EXHIBITIONS
ARRIVING
W
ell before the region acquired its name and borders, migration has long shaped Arizona’s cultural landscape and served as inspiration to many artists across backgrounds and disciplines. In the 2024 Arizona Artist Awards exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum, guests discover the thoughtful and inventive ways Arizona artists address movement and displacement to reveal layered experiences of identity, belonging, and loss within immigrant and migrant communities. In his first solo museum exhibition, multidisciplinary artist and 2024 Scult Family Artist Award recipient Safwat Saleem transforms the gallery into an immersive, satirical
SAFWAT SALEEM: THE UNREQUITED LOVE INSTITUTE THE 2024 SALLY AND RICHARD LEHMANN EMERGING ARTIST AWARDS EXHIBITION Through January 25, 2026 Second Floor Katz Wing
environment to create Safwat Saleem: The Unrequited Love Institute (T.U.L.I.). Through graphic design, sound, film, installation, and the masterful balancing of sharp wit with tender insight, Saleem examines the everyday joys and anxieties of parenthood as a Pakistani-born, Muslim immigrant raising a multicultural family in the American Southwest. At T.U.L.I., visitors encounter conceptual tools for assimilation—an “immigrant clock,” a self-help library, and orientation videos—all parodying the systems meant to regulate identity and belonging. In Saleem’s work, humor becomes resistance and release, reframing the experience of migration.
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In a group exhibition of works by the recipients of the 2024 Lehman Emerging Artist Awards, Elizabeth Z. Pineda and Omar Soto reflect on their own experiences of identity and belonging. Originally from Mexico City, Pineda integrates printmaking, papermaking, and book arts to meditate on displacement and loss in the Arizona desert. Her work bears witness to migrant deaths and the fragile notion of “home,” transforming data into acts of remembrance through a subtle visual language that honors those who have succumbed to the desert's harshness in search of refuge. Soto, a photographer born in Tijuana and now based in Phoenix, turns to their community and the surreal to merge the aesthetic traditions of high art with hyperlocal nuance. In their series Mediums of Hope, iconic artworks—such as Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus—are recast with QTBIPOC (queer, trans, Black, and Indigenous people of color) subjects, reclaiming presence within the art historical canon. Collaborating with models, stylists and fabricators, Soto conjures vibrant, dreamlike scenes that celebrate queer bliss while challenging legacies of exclusion and erasure. Together, these artists remind us that migration is not only a story of survival—and sometimes loss—but also one of creativity, community, and radical hope. Their work invites audiences to consider what it truly means to belong—and the journeys it takes to arrive there.
The Arizona Artist Awards are made possible by the Scult Family; Sally and Richard Lehmann; and the Cohn Fund for Arts and Culture, a founding gift of the Phoenix Art Museum Education and Engagement Excellence Fund. Safwat Saleem: The Unrequited Love Institute and 2024 Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards are organized by Phoenix Art Museum and curated by Christian Ramírez, the Cohn Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art and Director of Engagement. The exhibitions are made possible by the Cohn Fund for Arts and Culture, a founding gift of the Phoenix Art Museum Education and Engagement Excellence Fund. Contemporary art exhibitions and projects are made possible in part by the Rob Walton, Jordan Rose, and Rose Law Group Fund for Contemporary Art. All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by the Opatrny Family Foundation, with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin.
image credits: Safwat Saleem, T.U.L.I Logo, Tagline: Forget who you were. We already did., 2025. Installation view of 2024 Arizona Artist Awards, 2025. Phoenix Art Museum. Photo:
Katie Jones-Weinert; Installation views of 2024 Arizona Artist Awards, 2025. Phoenix Art Museum. Photo: Sam Chow; Omar Soto, The Birth of Venus, 2023. Digital photograph. Courtesy of the artist; Elizabeth Z. Pineda, Ceremonia En Esta Tierra Sagrada, 2023. Single channel video. Courtesy of the Artist.
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COMING SOON
FEBRUARY 27–JUNE 28, 2026
CARA ROMERO PANÛPÜNÜWÜGAI (LIVING LIGHT)
Celebrate the multiplicity, beauty, and resilience of Native American and Indigenous experiences.
Cara Romero: Panûpünüwügai (Living Light) is organized by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, and curated by Jami Powell, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Indigenous Art at the Hood Museum of Art. Its presentation at Phoenix Art Museum is coordinated by Emilia Mickevicius, PhD, the Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography. Its Phoenix premiere is made possible by the Carl and Marilynn Thoma Foundation, Every Page Foundation, and John and Lois Rogers. Additional support provided by Prime Steak Concepts.Contemporary art exhibitions and projects are made possible in part by the Rob Walton, Jordan Rose, and Rose Law Group Fund for Contemporary Art. All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin. image credit : Cara Romero, The Zenith, 2022. Archival
pigment print. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Acquisition and Preservation of Native American Art Fund; 2022.47.1. © Cara Romero. Image courtesy of the artist.
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EXHIBITIONS
IN THE
FLESH MUSCLE MEMORY: LENS ON THE BODY
January 24 – June 28, 2026 Norton Photography Gallery
B
odies are complicated and unique. Defined by numerical statistics, physical contours, and social perception, the discomforts and pleasures of inhabiting a body are both a shared experience and a personal journey. Opening on January 24, 2026, Muscle Memory: Lens on the Body will feature photographs and videos from the Center for Creative Photography, the Phoenix Art Museum Collection, and regional artists that focus on the visceral surfaces and sensations of the body. The images in this exhibition prompt you to consider the comforts and discomforts of muscle, flesh, and skin. Unlike the perfectly chiseled or anatomically ideal nudes of classical sculpture or academic painting, artworks in the exhibition give visibility to bodies that are marked,
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scarred, wrinkled, fragile, tough, awkward, and euphoric. In what Norton Assistant Curator of Photography Emilia Mickevicius calls “surface tension,” the works teeter on the verge of exploitation and empowerment, challenging us to distinguish between private and public selves, internal experience and external appearance. Subjects such as trailblazing bodybuilder Lisa Lyon— muse of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe—confront conventional expectations of female beauty, and sideshow performers rendered in high contrast and hyper definition defiantly meet the camera lens. They prompt questions such as: What can we learn or unlearn about someone by looking at them? And do their outward appearances reflect how they feel inside?
Other works explore the body’s kinetic beauty. From Eadweard Muybridge’s 1880s motion studies to contemporary sports photography by Terrell Groggins and Walter looss, featured photographs offer a greater scientific understanding of how bodies work, while also capturing their fluidly operatic movements. Images of Muybridge using a shovel, the dramatic action of Michael Jordan, and the lyrical strength of boxers Hanna Gabriels and Clarissa Shields showcase the body’s physical endurance. Muscle Memory will show viewers how bodies endure—how they withstand pressure, scrutiny, injury, growth, and change. But as Mickevicius intends to demonstrate, bodies can also experience a riotous sense of joy.
Muscle Memory: Lens on the Body is co-organized by Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography. The exhibition is curated by Emilia Mickevicius, PhD, the Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography. All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin. image credit: Terrell Groggins, Gabriels and Shields Square Up Round
1, 2018, printed 2021. Inkjet print. Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona: Center for Creative Photography Photojournalism Fund, 2021.01.06. © Terrell Groggins My Art My Rule
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THANK YOU.
This list recognizes those donors who made a gift to PhxArt in Fiscal Year 2025 (July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025). For donors who gave starting July 1, 2025, including Members at the Fellow level, please be assured you will be recognized in the spring issue of PhxArt Magazine as part of our Fiscal Year 2026 philanthropic community.
$100,000+
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Lois and John Rogers
*Lindsay Jewell and Charles Morrow
Anonymous
Anonymous
*Terry Roman and Stephen H. Roman
°Jane and Mal Jozoff
APS
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Arizona Community Foundation
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°Joan D. Cremin
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FOCUS on European Art
Thomas Carlton Rogers II *Jordan Rose and Rob Walton The Virginia M. Ullman Foundation °Conley Wolfswinkel
$50,000–$99,999 ARTenders
*Eric F. Garcia and Sarah Gnyr-Maez *Jeannine and Ben Gillikin *Judy and Bill Goldberg *John and Kathleen Graham *Nancy Hanley Eriksson Jackson Family Foundation The Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix
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$10,000–$24,999
Gebert Contemporary Hugh and Barbara Lytle Foundation M Catering by Michael's James and Dhira Mahoney Marcus P. Mamolen *Beth McMullen
Anonymous (3)
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Arizona Commission on the Arts
Andrew Nava and*Bettina Nava
Atlasta Catering Avnet, Inc.
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Bank of America
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Dr. and *Mrs. Hong-Kee Ong
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Desert Diamond Casino
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DOXA Central, LLC
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°Matthew Boland and Christopher Greulich
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Lana Breen and Britt Rand Sanchez Richard and Ann Carr The Carl and Rene Cohen Foundation Andrew and °Amy Cohn *Glenn and Mary Beth Evans Jane and Rob Freres Vivian Fung and Daniel Cheung Gammage & Burnham, PLC Elizabeth Garrett °Erin and John Gogolak George and Margaret Greig Carol Guimarin Warstler and Jack Davito Brooks T. Hozier and Alan Schiffman John G. Inch Rafael Jablonka Jomar Jenkins Jewels From Ipanema Stephen and Donna Johnson Adrianne Kalyna and Scott Michel Kenneth Kasses Tracy and Jeff Katz Laurie and Sean Kelly °Margot and Dennis Knight Ina Smeets-Kort and Jim Kort Judy and °Alan Kosloff Leor and Bess Landa
°Angela and Leonard Singer & The Angela and Leonard Singer Endowment for Performing Arts Lucia Stellato Nancy Swanson The Estate Watch and Jewelry Company The Scout Guide Tran Tran, Axis Employment Services Charles and Vonnie Wanner Daryl and °Chip Weil Pat Petznick Wick Marilyn Winter Ziggy's Cleaning Service
$2,500–$4,999
Sue Fletcher Aaron Forbes Dr. Paul and Amy Gause Carrie Lynn Richardson and Paul Giancola Aaron Genova Michael and Nancy Gifford Chip and Janet Glaser Rodney Glassman Daniel and Kathy Grubb Ashley Harder Karen and Lawrence Harris °Richard and Susan Goldsmith Hillary and John Gurley Honor Health Foundation
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Ambiente Sedona
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John Brooks, Inc.
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Thomas S. and Sheri A. Levin
Jorge Adam Cordova
Rob and Bethany Longo
Lynne K. Love
Richard Corton
Ben Lytle
Julia and Tim Maguire
Meghan Cox
Laura and Ed Madden
Wally and Martha Martin Henkel
Oscar De las salas and Gary Jackson
James and Flower Manley
Nathaniel Meek
Sharon Del Duca-France and Pam Del Duca
May, Potenza, Baran & Gillespie, P.C.
Landings Credit Union Lee Family Foundation Jane A. Lehman and Alan G. Lehman Foundation Eugene and Janet Lerner Family Foundation, Inc.
Robert Meza Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Nissa Dell and Terrence Glomski
SUPPORT
Josh and Tracey McCarter
LET US THANK YOU If you have already included Phoenix Art Museum in your estate plans, please let us know. We would love an opportunity to thank you for your generosity, to make sure the purpose of your gift is fully understood and will be appropriately allocated, and to recognize you as a member of our 21st Century Society so that you can begin to enjoy those benefits immediately. Contact Planned Giving at plannedgiving@phxart.org
image credit: Philip C. Curtis, Gift Bearers, 1971. Collection of Phoenix Art Museum, Gift of the Philip C. Curtis Restated Trust U/A/D April 7, 1994.
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$2,500–$4,999 continued
$1,500–$2,499
Allison Gee
Kenneth O'Connor and Deedee Rowe
Ben Menke
ABC Kids Eyes
Elton Gilbert
Leah Pallin-Hill and Bryan Hill
Amy Menousek
Bert and Jill Alanko
Jeffrey and Angela Glosser
David and Mary Patino
Andrew J. Meyer
Caralee Allsworth
Charles and Laurie Goldstein
Jody Pelusi and Craig Graves
Rotraut Moquay
Andrew Ameduri and Peter Strub
Victoria and Rod Granberry
Ms. Mary Beth Herbert and Mr. Cecil Penn
Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust, Inc.
Catherine M. Jablonsky and John Antanies
Dr. Mark and Melissa Gulinson
Phoenix Theatre Company
Milena and °Tony Astorga
Christine and David Gustafson
Julie and Mitchell Pierce
Logan Ax
Missi Harrington
Tobi Placenti
Mathis and Barbara Becker
Michael Hawksworth and Anna Sokolova
William and Mary Kay Post
Ann and Brian Balusek
The Head Family Foundation
Prada USA Corp.
°Peter and Pari Banko
Maxine Henig and Jodi Freeman
Phyllis and James Rector
Multistudio National Bank of Arizona Michael and Kathleen Norton Joanne Osborne Pearl Med Spa Phoenix Home & Garden Magazine Gerald Pitts Elliott Pollack Denise Reddy and Naveen Reddy Reyes Contemporary Art Leslie and Jeffrey Rich Bradley Robertson Ilana Ron Levey Merle and Steve Rosskam *Vanessa Ruiz and Samuel Alpert
Lauren and Jamie Baxter
Martha Martin Henkel and Wally Henkel
Gail Rineberg °Kim and Steve Robson
Neil Berman
Heritage Auctions
Bonnie Radow Designs
Linda M. Herold
Bea Rocklin and Erika De La Darza
Madelaine Braggs
Hill Art Valuation LLC
Vincent and Janie Russo
Nancy and Joe Braucher
Mimi Horwitz
James and Linda Saunders
Dorothy Bron
William and Kimberly Jacobsen
Mort Scult
Chucho Rodriguez and Mate Borja
Ellen and Bob Kant
Mary and Stanley Seidler
Camelback Flowershop
Debbie Monti-Keland and H. William Keland
°Sue and Bud Selig & The Selig Family Chief Curator Endowment
Dr. Jasleen Khanuja and Nathan Punwani
Joshua Shaver
Eleanor and Bruce Knappenberger
°Armity and °John Simon
Susan Kovarik and Brian Schneider
Donald and Dorothea Smith
Jerry and Stefanie Cargill Iris Cashdan-Fishman and Spencer Cashdan
Louie Sampedro
Marc and Mary Ann Cavness
Santa Fama Jewels
Bill and Jennifer Clark
Daniel and Linda Kramer
Marilynne A. Smith
Steven Schellhaas and Ryan Evans
David and Marilee Clarke
°Carolyn R. Laflin
Judy Stanley
Jennifer and Michiel Schuitemaker
CMI Gold & Silver
Bruce and Jane Lawson
Leo and Jean Craig Stengel
Shelley Cohn and Mollie C. Trivers
Ashleigh Leite
Wallace and Robin Steiner
The Honorable Sam Coppersmith and The Honorable Alicia Lawler
Benjamin and Cindy Lenhardt
Kathleen and Stephen Taddie
Lisa Sette Gallery
Gerald A. Lewis
Paula N. Taylor and Troy Corbridge
George Sheer and Linda Porter
°Janet and John Cotton
Dr. Dorothy Lincoln-Smith
Heidi Teets
Charles and Susan Shields
Alexis Hill
Tracey and Larry Lytle
Nick Smith
Lee Courtney
Kalidas and Darlene Madhavpeddi
Irene H. Vasquez, in memory of Mildred B. Williams
Dr. and Mrs. Robert Spetzler
Jon and Alicia Crumpton
Daniel and Nancy Maloney
Strong Choices
Vincent and Gabriela de Sarthe
Mr. and Mrs. Murray Manaster
Christopher Stuart and Shahlla Zahedi
dialog
Logan and James Mandes
Catharine and Wayne Teeter
Kristy Dillashaw
Carolyn Mani
MJ Insurance
Darcie Divita-Levin
Sandra Matteucci
Sandra and Frank Trznadel
Jim and Betsy Donley
Katherine and Randal May
Vicki and Vernon Vaughn
Sydney and L. Michael Dye
Mary Ellen McKee
Jacqueline Schenkein and Michael Schwimmer
Legacy Traditional Schools
Stuart W. Early
Tammy McLeod and John Hamilton
Janet Walzer
Jeffrey Ellish
Bill Dougherty and Beth McRae
Patricia Watts
Katherine Emery and Bob Coons
Drs. Ellen and Andrew Meltzer
Charlene Whitfill
John Engen and Lisa Spahr
Kayla J. Merriweather
Daniel and Joy Wilhelm
Thomas and Maureen Eye
Arthur Messinger
Stephen and Georgia Wolfe
Dr. Katalin Festy-Sandor
Sherrel Miller
Noel and Anne Fidel
Katie and Mike Mueller
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PHX ART MAGAZINE
Christy Vezolles Annie Waters Kelly Welty Gerald H. Weiner Iris Wigal Stephen and Jeanne Winograd Delwyn and Diana Worthington Sheila and Michael Zuieback
Deanna Fierro and Michelle Fierro
Karen Nackard
* Current Trustee
George and Ann Fisher
°Priscilla and Michael Nicholas
° Past Trustee
Amy Flood and Larry West
°Patricia E. Nolan
Bill Keffeler and Cyndy Gaughan
Liz O'Brien and Steve Emrick
IN MEMORIAM
A
New Yorker at heart, Howard first became involved with the Museum in 2001 alongside his wife, Ellen, when they moved to Arizona from their longtime home in Manhattan. Howard was a stalwart supporter of his beloved wife as she served as chairman of the Museum’s Board of Trustees in the late 2000s during one of the most challenging moments in the Museum’s now 65+ year history. But he also played his own crucial role in the future vision of the Museum and many other Arizona cultural and educational institutions in his adopted home state, including the Arizona Science Center. Howard lent his incredible expertise by serving as a longtime trustee of the Museum’s endowment fund, working alongside his cohort of volunteer leaders to steward our most vital resources and chart an investment and growth strategy that would enable PhxArt to thrive long into the future. In 2006, Howard and Ellen together made a gift of profound generosity that enabled the Museum to open the Ellen and Howard C. Katz Wing for Modern Art, a gift that would forever transform PhxArt and expand our ability to present world-class art of our time as never before. Today, the Katz Wing stands as a symbol of the Katz family’s commitment and generosity to this institution.
HOWARD KATZ
It is with deep sadness that Phoenix Art Museum shares the passing of Howard Katz, who was a longtime leader, donor, and dear friend to the Museum over the past 25 years.
When we think of the time and dedication Howard invested in institutions of community benefit across the Valley, we are reminded of the Greek proverb that tells us the greatness of a society is measured not by its wealth or by its population size, but by the actions of individuals who “plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit." These words perfectly describe Howard Katz, who worked tirelessly and gave so much of himself in pursuit of a future that would stretch long beyond his own lifetime. On behalf of all of us at Phoenix Art Museum, we are profoundly grateful to Howard and his family for their generosity, courage, loyalty, and commitment, and we extend our deepest condolences to his wife, Ellen, and to their blended and extended families. image credit: Tanya Arianne Malott
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YOUR MEMORIES,
YOUR MUSEUM. BOOK YOUR NEXT EVENT AT PHXART. WE’RE HERE TO HELP YOU CREATE THE UNFORGETTABLE.
events@phxart.org 34
PHX ART MAGAZINE
Discover a place where creativity is a family tradition and art sparks conversation and innovation. Phoenix Art Museum is honored to be a home not only for world-class art but for countless opportunities to make memories that last a lifetime. From weddings and anniversary celebrations, to gala dinners and cocktail receptions, we are a space where you and your guests will always feel welcomed and cared for—like family. Photo: Andriana Maria
PHOENIX ART MUSEUM PRESENTS
CELEBRATING THE EXHIBITION
Florentine Baroque The Haukohl Collection
Gala
2026 PARTY CHAIRS CATHERINE & JIM TUTON MATTHEW BOLAND & CHRIS GREULICH FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT SPECIAL.EVENTS@PHXART.ORG
SAVE THE DATE
FRIDAY APRIL 10, 2026 6 - 9 PM FOLLOWED BY THE AFTERPARTY 9 PM - MIDNIGHT P H X A R T.O R G
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