Tonight:

MADE in Tucson/BORN in Tucson/LIVE in Tucson: MOCA’s Grand Opening and Inaugural Exhibition
6-8pm
265 S. Church Ave.

To Have And To Hold: David Christiana
6-9pm
Lulubell Toy Bodega
439 N. 6th Avenue, Suite 187

Jessica Kranz
6-9pm
SOHO Hair Salon
439 N 6th Avenue, Suite 139

Christopher Breitenstein: Images from Alaska
assuming 6-9pm
5th on 6th Studio Gallery
439 N 6th Avenue, Suite 153

Native American Artists Exhibition
6-9pm
La Malinche
222 E. 6th ST.

Sins of Love: Lisa Kanouse
7-10pm
Candelabra Gallery
412 E. 7th St.

Celebration of Life *RECOMMENDED*
7-10pm
Raices Taller 222
218 E. 6th St.

Exhibition of work by Haitian artists from the collection of Sherry Teachnor and Michael McCrory (co-owners of Galeria La Sirena). Partial proceeds from this exhibition will be donated to Partners in Health, a health organization that is 98% indigenous Haitian staffed including 160 Haitian doctors working in clinics throughout the country.

Zackey Force Funk & Crime SXSW Fundraiser *RECOMMENDED*
8-12 mid
6419 E. Calle Mercurio

Help local electro-experimental-random-punk music acts Zackey Force Funk and Crime get to SXSW. Art by Donovan White, Keegan Rider, Staring Withoutcaring, Kenzo Butler, Rocky Martinez and many others. Why is this recommended? They are playing in downtown Austin at Silhouette, one of my favorite sushi joints, along with local mainstay DJ Chicken George. The South-By show has been coordinated by my bud Daetron Vargas, elementary school art teacher and DJ, who played out a couple of very memorable shows (along with Wil*B) at my old East Austin art digs, Pump Project. The party is located near Golf Links and Wilmot. Yay, something cool NOT downtown for once!

Anita's Song by Joshua Sarantitus and William Wilson, mural in Barrio Anita along I-10 Frontage Road

A Sunday Drive with Public Art
Sunday, February 28, 1:30-4pm
TPAC Offices in the Pioneer Building, 100 North Stone Avenue #303
Admission $18

Entertaining out-of-town guests this weekend? A Sunday Drive with Public Art, presented by the Tucson Pima Arts Council, would be a nice activity to round out Sunday afternoon. Join TPAC’s art connoisseurs for an exploration into the latest and the greatest public art in downtown, including sculpture, murals and memorials. The tour begins with a presentation about Tucson’s public art collection, followed by a coach ride to the sites. All meter and parking garage spaces are free on Sundays. The afternoon begins with a Power Point orientation at 1:30pm followed by a bus tour from 2-3:40pm. For reservations call (520) 624-0595 ext. 10 or email info@tucsonpimaartscouncil.org.

While others are busy simulating The Factory this weekend*, a few other homegrown events are actually improvising art on the spot. So if you’re headed out for another dose of Warhol on Saturday, don’t miss the opportunity to support the locals early, because these are one-night-only events!

27-6
Reception/Interactive Event: Saturday, February 27, 6-9pm
Open Gallery: Sunday, February 28, 12-5pm
Candelabra Gallery, 412 E. 7th St.

Six months ago, MAXED ART members Molly McClintock, Steve Soloway and Rachelle Diaz (hey, that’s me!) created an experimental photography project that would allow the collective to collaborate in spite of cross-country distances. On the 27th of each month, we pick a different theme simple enough to shoot on a busy weekday, but one that also requires critical thinking and attention to detail. Past themes have included Place, Colors, Reflection, Transport, and Portraits. However, we self-imposed a few limitations in order to make us stretch our imagination further within the given subject, leaving room for nuance and surprises. Images can only be taken within 24 hours on the 27th of the month, and only “lo-fi” cameras including disposable cameras, vintage cameras, toy cameras, cell phones, webcams and even scanners have been used. We’ve shared the resulting images online for commentary and critique within the group, but that is definitely not the same as seeing the work in person! Come to the reception ready to star in a surprise conceptual photoshoot (bring $10 if you’d like to purchase a print of your photo, but it’s not required to participate). Enjoy innovative image-capturing from artists based in Tucson, Brooklyn, Portland, San Francisco and elsewhere, as well as projections, refreshments, and a very special DJ set from PLOY. The gallery will be open on Sunday afternoon for public viewing and then it’s gone — one weekend only! For more information, email tuscene@yahoo.com.

The Remembering: A Community Shapeshift
Potluck: Saturday, February 27, 6-9pm
Solar Culture Gallery, 31 E. Toole

The flyer pretty much says it all: art, spirituality, creativity… and food. Solar Culture is accepting work today, February 24 and tomorrow, Thursday, February 25 for the Saturday reception.

The Process
Saturday, February 27, 7-10pm
416 E. 9th St.

Paintings by John Thornton and Donovan White, live music from Zacman and the Pleasure Boys in an intimate setting just off 4th Ave.

Wave Rave
Saturday, February 27, 7:30pm-2am
Rhythm Industry Performance Factory, 1013 S. Tyndall Avenue
$10 suggested donation

Fundraiser for The Water Project Festival and Aquarian/Piscean warehouse dance party with performances, an art-making station, video projections, face-painting, refreshments and more. Presentations start at 8:30pm; water-themed costumes, stilts, hoops, glow poi are all welcome and encouraged. DJs 7nfoRed (Atmosphere Engineers, Tucson), Humation (Ras Reuven, Tucson), Jay Eric (Overmind Works, Tucson), Jumbafri (Glitch.fm / FormB Music, Phoenix), Moksha Mind (Overmind Works, Phoenix), Vostek (TheNext.Us, Tucson) will be playing a Watery world-ethno-dub-step-psy-trance-glitch-hop genre mashup. Questions? Contact info@WaterProjectFestival.org or (520) 791-9359.

*And I don’t think Andy would have it commodified any other way. Although I wonder what his legacy will be after those of us who remember Elvis and Marilyn’s fame firsthand, or whose memories touch which those who remember their heyday, are dead and gone? I’m already seeing comments on 80’s videos on YouTube from people who admit they weren’t born yet saying it looked like a pretty lame time to be around.

Andy Warhol Portfolios: Life & Legends, ¡Viva David Tineo! A Retrospective of Tucson’s Muralist and Art Educator and Ed Mell: Paintings of the New West
Receptions: Friday, February 26, see times below
Director’s Circle Champagne reception starts at 4:30pm
Museum members, sponsors, and special guests reception starts at 5:30pm (non-members $10)
Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main

Members only receptions at the TMA kick off  the weekend, so if you’re special, you get to go to these for free.  The 5:30pm reception is open to the public, but non-members must pay $10. Tucson icon, muralist, educator, and activist David Tineo and Phoenix painter, sculptor and illustrator Ed Mell will be there in person. Tineo is most famous for his scores of murals and paintings celebrating Chicano culture and examining Mexican and American history. Mell’s work is standard Western genre fare consisting largely of romanticized landscapes and nature studies, but his quartz-like treatment of these subjects give many pieces unexpectedly futuristic edge.

Ed Mell: "Desert Flare"

Factory Party with Under Velvetground
Starts at 7:30pm
The Rialto, 318 E. Congress
$10

Experience a recreation of Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory, right down to the “man” himself — guests are welcome to lounge with “Warhol” and his “Super Stars.” Music from Under Velvetground — a Velvet Underground cover band — projections, dancers, and other shenanigans. Guests are encouraged to dress in their 1960s worst.

POP
Starts at 10:30pm
The Rialto, 318 E. Congress
$3

The Factory Party changes hands with Powhaus Productions taking over the Rialto once again for POP, so be as wild as you want to be as a Warhol film character, art piece, 60s scenester. Musical guests include Naim Amor and other surprise guests, rock and roll music DJed by Dan Shapiro, and hosted by Kitty Katt, Desert Diamond Dallas, and Clif Taylor. This time they are finally adding a photobooth set — probably along with their usual party photogs documenting dancefloor revelers — so you can order prints and proudly display yourself in all your outrageous costumed glory above the fireplace mantle.

Warhol: Dylan to Duchamp
Reception: Saturday, February 27, 6pm-12 mid
Eric Firestone Gallery, 403 N. 6th Ave.

Kroll recently unearthed a mother lode of photographs exclusive to the show by local photographer Bob Broder who spent two days on location with Warhol on “Lonesome Cowboys” in Oracle, Arizona in 1968. His black-and-white prints of the pale, bleached blond, Arriflex-toting greenhorn in a cowboy hat haunting the ghost town sets of Rancho Linda Vista and Old Tucson are the revelation of the show. In tandem will be a continuous viewing of “Warhol Out West,” local auteur Charles Littler’s Super-8 documentary on “Cowboys.”

Kroll says of the exhibit, “Like any important phenomena, it is the documentation that colors the subject, that defines the artist and the time. Andy was a major cultural force. He lived in the limelight. He loved to be in front, as well as behind, the camera.”

P.S. I hear there is some sort of afterparty for this at the gallery that’s supposed to go till 4am. VSP’s (Very Special People) only? I don’t know, but now you do.

TYP First Fridays: Pop Art
Friday, March 5, 8pm-12 mid
Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main
Admission: $10 before 8:30pm, $20 after 8:30pm; bring 3 canned goods for the Tucson Community Food Bank and receive $5 off admission

TYP (Tucson Young Professionals) First Fridays provides the opportunity for corporate types of all ages to network and get a dose of culture. The evening starts off with a special community event – two local organizations Tucson Digital Arts Community (TDAC) and American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) will compete in an interactive “Canned Art Extravaganza” fundraiser for the Tucson Community Food Bank. Each group will be challenged to create a piece of art inspired by Andy Warhol, using canned goods donated by guests. Bring three cans to donate for the event and receive $5 off admission, then watch as these artists go to work. In celebration of the Pop Art theme, a DJ will get the dance floor hopping inside while a local band provided by Tucson Rock Alliance will perform in the museum courtyard. The main gallery will be open for the Andy Warhol Portfolios: Life & Legends exhibition, including portraits of Muhammad Ali, Marilyn Monroe and a Campbell’s Soup series.  Hors d’oevures are free, but bring cash for the bar and business cards to swap for the 8-9pm networking reception.

POP! Goes The Loft
Thursdays in March, 8pm
The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway
Admission: $10 general, $8 members

Every Thursday in March starting at 8pm, The Loft will be screening various Warhol films including Poor Little Rich Girl, Kitchen, Vinyl, Couch, Blow Job and My Hustler. Bring a can of Campbell’s Soup to any of the four Warhol nights in March (all soup collected will be donated to the Tucson Community Food Bank), and you’ll be entered into the POP RAFFLE for a Warhol-inspired prize pack. The series kicks off on Thursday, March 4 with Lonesome Cowboys.  Filmed at Old Tucson Studios and Linda Vista Dude Ranch, the film is Andy Warhol’s bizarre satire of Hollywood westerns, very loosely inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. There will also be a costume contest before the movie, so come in your best Warhol-inspired get-up for the chance win a (sur)prize.

Picture This! Art for Families: Wonder of Warhol
Sunday, March 7 at 1pm
Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main
Free

Mondays at the Museum: Wine, Chocolate and Warhol
Monday, March 8 at 3pm
$45 each session or $110 for all three Mondays at the Museum
Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main

Join Ryan Granruth, sommelier, The Lodge at Ventana Canyon, and experience a pairing of wine/champagne and chocolate, and then tour the Andy Warhol Portfolios: Life & Legends exhibition with Chief Curator Julie Sasse. Mondays at the Museum is a series of seminars leading up to the CRUSH Wine Festival on April 9 and 10. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 520-624-2333 ext. 111.

ink drawing by Rachelle Diaz

Valentine’s Day weekend art events:

Paper Hearts and Golden Boots
Reception: TONIGHT! Friday, February 12, 6-9pm
M.A.S.T.
299 S. Park Ave.

Gallery 801 will celebrate Valentine’s Day by offering gifts and artwork created by local artists including Steven Derks, Carolyn Anne Anderson, Bryan Crow, Peter Eisner, Dan Lehman, Ian Houghton, Don Gerard, Ed Muren, and Dana Smith. See a wide selection of unique sculptures, paintings, ceramics, prints, photography and original artwork in all price ranges, starting as low as $35 for a signed Anderson print and $200-400 for an original Steven Derks sculpture. Can’t decide? The Gallery also offers gift certificates.

All You Need Is Love
Saturday, February 13, 11am-5pm
Kuzu Salon
1991 E. Ajo Way, Suite 161

Kuzu is having a store sale with all fine art at 10% off and clothing/accessories at 20% off.  Food, art, plus jewelry and clothing for sale, artwork by Colt Macias, and new 2010 accessory line by Mariko & Laurel Burton. Snacks and coffee will be provided for a nice time to shop and relax. Stay tuned for details about Kuzu’s spring fashion show happening in mid-March.

Liz Vaughn

Heart of Dangerous Obscurity: New work by Liz Vaughn
Reception: Saturday, February 13, 7-10pm
Bohemia
2920 E. Broadway

Liz’s dangerous he(art) will be unveiled on Saturday, February 13.  Music by Hans Hutchison at the reception and Valentine’s treats… or the antidote to Valentine’s with a little retail therapy (it’s really up to you!).

STREET SCIENCE V-Day
Sunday, February 14 starting at 9pm
Sports
254 E. Congress

Local artists and members of Golden Mean Clothing, Chase Euerle and Dave Carender will be art-jammin’ to Zackey Force Funk.