Arts
www.SanTanSun.com
March 5 - March 18, 2016
59
TechShop is an unexpected venue to feature art BY SRIANTHI PERERA
TechShop Chandler is an engineeringand technology-based education and research center in the city. Nowadays, it also doubles as an art gallery. Amid the computer paraphernalia, cutting-edge tools and the 3-D printing, it may be hard to spot the creative piece. But suspended high above the hub, on the ceiling’s steel framework, is Mary Shindell’s “Digital Desert, Agave Unfurling,” a three-part work of the IN FLUX Cycle 6 art project. And it’s no less innovative. Shindell, whose work is often themed by plants and desert landscapes, used Plexiglas discs and steel to depict the rapidly growing agave tree, whose stalk grows inches every day and contains a powerful energy within. “As agave plants grow, they spiral up,” she said. “Their geometry unfurls as they grow and then they gradually fall.” Hummingbirds are incorporated in the piece “because they are always around when the plant is growing,” she said. Shindell used a CNC router to cut the discs, which is one of the reasons that TechShop chose her to do the artwork. For IN FLUX, “We don’t pick venue,” she said. “I was selected for this spot because my work is computer generated and a lot of people here do computer generated work.” This year, the IN FLUX initiative brings together six Valley municipalities— Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale and Phoenix—plus Valley
Artist Mary Shiller used an electric power ladder to hoist herself and her assistants to install her artwork for the IN FLUX Cycle 6 project, entitled “Digital Desert, Agave Unfurling” (pictured behind her). STSN photo by Srianthi Perera
Metro that contract with area artists to create temporary art installations to provide a positive impact on local communities and artists. It was begun by Scottsdale Public Art in 2010, to call attention to the vacant storefronts that were a result of the recession, and to inspire property owners to rent them for art displays. “Since then, it’s expanded to other cities and organizations and seen other venues for temporary art and what can be activated through temporary art, whether it’s vacant lot or a space in a library,” said Kevin Vaughan-Brubaker of Scottsdale Public Art. “It’s really grown beyond just
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the storefront project.” In its sixth year, the focus is to build bridges across the Valley with communities using temporary art. It took three days and an electric power ladder to hoist Shindell and her assistants to install the art. Come October, the ladder will once again hoist her up to bring the work down. “The whole idea is to get arts going into an unexpected place,” she said. “This is a very, very unexpected place.” TechShop Chandler is located at 249 E. Chicago St. in downtown Chandler.
Sun Lakes Community Theatre performing fall production again Sun Lakes Community Theatre is bringing back its fall production, “Murder on the Oriental Rug,” which spoofs old-fashioned whodunits, the medical profession, theater folks and those with hot flashes. It’s a play within a play. When half of the cast of “Murder on the Oriental Rug” bails out, the remaining performers are stuck playing all the roles. Clues will be given throughout the show and there will be a prize for someone who correctly guesses the murderer and the motives. The shows will be held at the Cottonwood Country Club on Friday, April 8, and Saturday, April 9. Tickets are $36 for dinner and show and can be purchased at www.slctinfo.com. Info: (480) 382-6290.