Events

July 2013

7/13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Family Fun Day

May 2013

5/7 from 12 to 1 p.m. Who’s Going to Get the Goodies Globally? ASU School of Sustainability is hosting a conversation in the CU29 exhibition with the retired Director of Colorado Geological Survey Vince Matthews, CU29 artist Matthew Moore and ASU geologist Steve Semken. RSVP and more information at http://sustainability.asu.edu/events/rsvp/vince-matthews-2013.

APRIL 2013

4/4 to 4/13 Phoenix Urban Design Week will shine a spotlight on the importance of urban design as an essential ingredient of economic growth, sustainability, and community empowerment. For a breakdown for of the scheduled events, visit: http://asuevents.asu.edu/phoenix-urban-design-week-1. OFF SITE in downtown Phoenix. 

4/5 from 6 to 9 p.m. Solo exhibition by Nao Matsunaga, Ceramic Artist and ASU Art Museum artist in residence. OFF SITE at the ASU International Artist Residency Facility at Combine, 821 N. Third St. in downtown Phoenix.

4/6 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. First Saturday for Families: This free program takes place on the first Saturday of every month and invites children 4-12 and their families to make a creative project in conjunction with exhibitions. No registration required. All materials provided, and families get to bring home their artwork.

4/9 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Penny Party in CU29 with socially engaged practice.

4/10 at 7:00 p.m. Please join us at Combine Studios for an Artist Lecture by Danish artist group Superflex. The group is featured in the current exhibition “Turn Off The Sun: Selections from the Jumex Collection”‘ at the ASU Art Museum. They will be discussing their history and practice as well as plans for future projects with the Museum dealing with desert issues. OFF SITE at the ASU International Artist Residency Facility at Combine, 821 N. Third St. in downtown Phoenix.

4/11 at 7:00 p.m. The ASU Art Museum Ceramics Research Center presents Rose Simpson as featured speaker for the Jan Fisher Memorial Lecture Series. The series is named in honor of Jan Fisher, an art history graduate student and member of Ceramics Leaders of ASU who passed away in 2006. This series brings established and emerging women ceramicists to the Phoenix community. More information: http://asuevents.asu.edu/rose-simpson-jan-fisher-memorial-lecture-series OFF SITE in COOR Hall room 174 on the ASU Tempe Campus.

4/13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rose B. Simpson demo in the ASU School of Art ceramic undergrad studio, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.. Demo free to ASU students, $30 for community members. RSVP for demo to Mary-Beth.Buesgen@asu.edu or 480-965-7092. More information: http://asuevents.asu.edu/rose-simpson-jan-fisher-memorial-lecture-series OFF SITE in ASU School of Art ceramic undergrad studio on ASU Tempe Campus.

4/13 from 2 to 9 p.m. Feast on the Street brings people together around a half-mile long dining table in downtown Phoenix, transforming First Street into a pedestrian promenade in celebration of food and art in the desert. This free public event is a community project initiated by the ASU Art Museum and the Desert Initiative, Roosevelt Row CDC and the artists Clare Patey and Matt Moore. OFF SITE in downtown Phoenix, First Street between Taylor Place and Moreland.

4/27 from 1 to 2 p.m. Wayne Higby lecture, in conjunction with the opening of Infinite Place: The Ceramic Art of Wayne Higby. This landmark retrospective exhibition features the work of ceramist Wayne Higby, who is widely considered one of the most innovative second-generation artists to emerge from the post-World War II American ceramic studio movement.  OFF SITE at Coor Hall, Room 174, reception to follow in the Americas Gallery of the ASU Art Museum from 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. 

MARCH 2013

3/2 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Artist Nao Matsunaga will give a public workshop OFF SITE in the ASU Undergraduate Ceramics Studio. The workshop is free and open to the public.  This is the third installment of the Crafting a Continuum Visiting Artist Series.

3/2 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. First Saturday for Families, free and open to the public. Participants will be invited to create a variety of things inspired by our CU29: Mining for You with copper and even create a collaborative object for the exhibition. Using embossing and punching and wiring techniques, participants will create sculptures and designs that are influenced by Arizona and mining, and will be able to make two to three pieces – one or two to take home and one to contribute to the ‘copper quilt’ – a collection of each participant’s designs, sewn together to create a large piece which will then be contributed to the exhibition. Open to children ages 4-12 and their families. No registration is required, all materials are provided.

3/2 from 2-4 p.m. Artist demonstration by Nathan Youngblood at the Ceramics Research Center. Technical superiority, innovative shapes, traditional designs and a contemporary presentation are the hallmarks to describe the exquisite pottery of Nathan Youngblood (b. 1954), a sixth generation potter and grandson of Margaret Tafoya. Nathan adheres to all the traditional aspects of making a bowl: the clay is gathered from the foothills around Santa Clara, hand-formed and the designs are penciled onto the surface. He begins to carve into the clay with a knife blade and small screwdrivers.  The piece is then sanded and the slip is applied and stone polished.  Each piece is then individually fired.

3/3 from 10 a.m.-noon.  Curator of Ceramics Peter Held and author Charles King will provide a presentation on the Tafoya Family pottery at the Ceramics Research Center. Light refreshments served.

3/3 from 2-4 p.m. Artist demonstration by Linda Tafoya Sanchez at the Ceramics Research Center. Linda is the granddaughter of Santa Clara Pueblo pottery matriarch Margaret Tafoya and the daughter of Lee and Betty Tafoya. The story of her life has been written through her connection to the clay. Growing up in a family of potters, she has long been exposed to the art form, and she began making her first pieces at the age of twelve. Her father taught her to make the vessels and carve the designs, while her mother taught her the sanding and polishing. When they passed away she began working with her aunt, Mary Esther Archuleta, who she credits with being her mentor. Linda works in a classic Santa Clara style, creating both red and black pottery.

3/4 at 6:30 p.m. The Forkosh-Hirshman lecture presents artist Suzanne Lacy, who will discuss “What is Socially Engaged Practice?” Lacy is an internationally known artist whose work includes installations, video and large-scale performances on social themes and urban issues. Responding to the ASU Art Museum’s history in presenting social practice art, Lacy will show and discuss new projects taking place in Columbia, Bristol, Korea and Madrid, exploring topics that include violence against women, working class issues, and feminist political work interfacing with public policy. OFF SITE at Neeb Hall, ASU-Tempe campus. 

3/15 at 7 p.m. Artist talk by Alejandro Almanza Perada, exhibiting artist with Turn off the Sun: Selections from La Colección Jumex. OFF SITE at the ASU International Artist Residency Facility at Combine, 821 N. Third St. in downtown Phoenix.

3/21 at 3 p.m. A talk by Lee Ambrozy, editor-at-large for Artforum.com.cn and the editor and translator of Ai Weiwei’s Blog: Writings, Interviews and Digital Rants 2006–2009 (MIT Press, 2011 http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/ai-weiweis-blog). She is also one of the experts featured in the recent award-winning documentary Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry.

3/22 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Opening reception for the exhibition Turn off the Sun: Selections from La Colección Jumex. Member preview: 5:30-6:30 p.m.

3/23 at 2 p.m. Artist talk by Eduardo Sarabia, exhibiting artist with Turn off the Sun: Selections from La Colección Jumex. Sarabia is known for creating fake evidence for semi-fictional events, using performance, drawing, painting, ceramics, photographs and sculpture to document events and ideas.

FEBRUARY 2013

2/1 from 6-9 p.m. Opening reception for preview exhibition of the 12th Annual Self-Guided Ceramics Studio Tour. Exhibition will be on view through Feb. 24.  OFF SITE at the Night Gallery in the Tempe Marketplace. 

2/2 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. First Saturday for Families. Participants will be invited to create a variety of things inspired by our Japanese print collection exhibition currently on display.  We will be making Japanese inspired fans, “wood block” prints, origami, and Japanese-style books to practice calligraphy.

2/8 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Season opening reception for the ASU Art Museum and the Ceramics Research Center. Free and open to the public. Member preview 5:30-6:30 p.m.

2/23 and 2/24 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The 12th Annual Self-Guided Ceramics Studio Tour, organized by the Artists Advisory Committee of the ASU Art Museum’s Ceramic Research Center, presents the work of more than 50 professional ceramic artists in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The tour is free to the public and offers a rare opportunity to view working and living spaces of participating artists as wells as view demonstrations of wheel-throwing, hand-building and glazing techniques. The map is available here: http://asuartmuseum.asu.edu/studiotour/documents/crc_studio_tour2013.pdf

2/26 at 6 p.m. Nao Matsunaga will deliver a public talk about his work, clay sculptures that feature angular elements inspired by architecture and its inherent balance of oppositions. Nao creates raw organic forms with detailed attention to surface texture. This is the third installment of the Crafting a Continuum Visiting Artist Series.

JANUARY  2013

1/4 from 6-9 p.m. Opening reception for Piece by Piece, a new show by artist-in-residence Christine Lee. OFF SITE at the ASU International Artist Residency Facility at Combine, 821 N. Third St. in downtown Phoenix

1/5 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. First Saturday for Families. Join ASU Ceramics MFA student Tiffany Bailey in exploring the process and techniques used by Margaret Tafoya (1904-2001) and her descendants. Margaret Tafoya, a matriarch of Santa Clara Pueblo potters, was a pioneering artist who sustained the ceramic tradition of her ancestors by helping transform it from a process for making functional vessels to an art form. Create your own vessel out of clay by using the coiling technique used by the Tafoya family. We will fire your creation for you, which means you’ll leave it with us for a few weeks and we will send you a notification when it is ready to be picked up.

1/25 from noon-1 p.m. Brown bag presentation by and conversation with ASU Art Museum curator Julio Cesar Morales on curated Social Practice-based projects. Light refreshments provided.

1/29 at 6:30 p.m. Zócalo Public Square and Arizona State University present a talk by author Bill Streever, titled “Why Do We Love Hot Places?” The author of Heat: Adventures in the World’s Fiery Places, Streever will discuss his encounters with extremes of heat (from candle flames to nuclear reactors) and explain its power, danger, and meaning—and why we were drawn to places like Phoenix in the first place. More information here.

DECEMBER 2012

12/1 First Saturday for Families, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Join us on the first Saturday in December for an exciting day exploring the desert in winter. We’ll have five fun-filled craft tables with winter crafts, desert map making and reptile crafts.  Plus, the Arizona Animal Welfare League is bringing a few desert animals for visitors to meet and learn more about!

NOVEMBER 2012

11/7-24 The ASU Art Museum presents the premiere of Ross Birrell’s short film “Duet: Lift Me For I Am Dying,” in which Avri Levitan, an Israeli violist, and Tyme Khelifi, a Palestinian violist, perform Birrell’s composition “Lift Me Up For I Am Dying,” with a twist. The two violists are playing the same piece in the same Berlin concert hall, but they are not performing together. Each player plays at their own tempo and with their own flourishes. The video of each performance are put side by side and played together continuously, evoking the possibility of harmony still to come.

OCTOBER 2012

THIS MONTH ONLY: An abridged version of the musical score by Wayne Horvitz and the video by Yohei Saito from the September performances of 55: Music and Dance in Concrete will run continuously during the Museum’s open hours, in the Nyphaeum, just outside the front doors.

10/6 First Saturday for Families, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.  This month we have several activities going on and are lucky to have one of our visiting artists, Miguel Palma, from Portugal, doing a project with the families coming in. Palma will be hosting a mapping workshop in the Multi-Purpose Room. Under the guidance of the artist, participants will use collage and drawing to make original works of art that examine the environment and location. Palma has an exhibition in two galleries at the museum that was commissioned by the ASU Art Museum’s Desert Initiative to develop a mobile project that explores our connection to the desert.

10/9 from 6-8 p.m. The Museum hosts “An Evening of Community Engagement & Civil Dialogue,” a participatory discussion on the topic of citizens ballot initiatives: http://asuevents.asu.edu/evening-community-engagement-civil-dialogue

10/11 at 6 p.m. “Momentum: Women/Art/Technology: Tempe, AZ, Here & Now: [Imagination=Impact]” with artists Adriene Jenik, Muriel Magenta and Mary Neubauer.

10/16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ceramics Research Center Celebrate American Craft Week with a special advance screening of “Crossroads,” the upcoming episode of the acclaimed Craft in America series. For more information, contact Mary-Beth Buesgen, CRC Program Specialist, mary-beth.buesgen@asu.edu

10/25 at 7 p.m. ASU Art Museum Ceramics Research Center presents Lorna Meaden as featured speaker for the Jan Fisher Memorial Lecture Series. OFF SITE at Coor Hall, Room 174, with a reception to follow at the Ceramics Research Center.

10/25 at 7 p.m. Visiting artist Matteo Rubbi discusses his artistic practice, as part of the Socially Engaged Practice Speakers Series. More information here. OFF SITE at the ASU International Artist Residency Facility at Combine, 821 N. Third St. in downtown Phoenix

10/26 from 1:30-2:30 p.m. The Center for Science and the Imagination and the ASU Art Museum present “Landscape, Art and Other Worlds,” a discussion with science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson, Desert Initiative Director Greg Esser and visiting artist Miguel Palma.

10/29 at 7:30 p.m. ASU Art Museum and the Society for Video Art present Political Advertisement VIII: 1952-2012 (85 min., b & w and color, sound), an ongoing project by Muntadas and Marshall Reese., with introduction and closing Q&A led by Marshall Reese. Political Advertisement VII: 1952-2012 will also be on display from Oct. 30 – Nov. 6 in the gallery at the ASU Art Museum. OFF SITE at Neeb Hall

SEPTEMBER 2012

9/1 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. First Saturday for Families.
Join us for activities inspired by the Ant Farm Media Van at the Ceramics Research Center, including a scavenger hunt, car designing and the chance to make your own “time capsule.”

9/11 from 5-6:30 p.m. Open house to welcome ASU Art Museum’s new curator, Julio Cesar Morales. Introductory remarks at 6 p.m. Refreshments served.

9/18 at 6 p.m. “City Council Meeting: This is what democracy looks like.” The Socially Engaged Practice Initiative, ASU Gammage and the ASU Art Museum invite you to listen, discuss and even try out a participatory performance event called City Council Meeting. Artists Aaron Landsman and Mallory Catlett will be on hand to explain the process and thinking behind their work, the way the piece interacts with the Tempe community and the ways you can be a part of the Feb. 16 performance at ASU Gammage.

9/28 at noon. Panel discussion with Chip Lord, Curtis Schreier and Bruce Tomb, creators of Ant Farm Media Van, v.08. At the Ceramics Research Center.

9/28 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Member preview of the Museum’s fall season.

9/28 and 9/29 from 6:30-9 p.m. Fall Season Opening Reception at the Museum and the CRC for Miguel Palma: Trajectory and Ant Farm Media Van, v.08. Featuring performances of composer Wayne Horvitz’s 55: Music and Dance in Concrete both nights at 7:30 p.m., with visiting dancers from Japan, plus appearances by Movement Connections, a group that mixes parkour, martial arts, acrobatics and dance. Food trucks at the Museum both nights.

AUGUST 2012

8/4 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. First Saturday for Families.
Join us for a celebration of community, design and felt! Children are invited to create colorful wall hangings, bookmarks and finger puppets as well as work with Arizona artist Aimee Leon in the first of many development sessions for her Children’s Rug Project.

JULY 2012

Please note: There will be no First Saturday for Families this month, but please join us for Family Fun Day on July 14!

7/14 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. ASU Art Museum’s Annual Family Fun Day. Children and their families are invited to enjoy a variety of art-making projects, educational booths and performances by local musicians, dancers, magicians and puppeteers. Community partners include PBS/8, Valley Metro and Changing Hands Bookstore. Free and open to the public.

JUNE 2012

6/2 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. First Saturday for Families.

MAY 2012

5/5 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. First Saturday for Families.

5/22 from noon to 1 p.m. Brown-bag presentation by composer, pianist and electronic musician Wayne Horvitz, who will give a brief overview of his project “55: Music and Dance in Concrete.” The electronic score will be recorded and composed during the summer of 2012 in preparation for a collaborative installation and performance with choreographer Yukio Suzuki and his KINGYO company, engineer and producer Tucker Martine and video artist Yohei Saito. Premiers will take place in September 2012 in Seattle, Wash., Fort Worden in Port Townsend, Wash., and at the ASU Museum of Art in Tempe. For images and a more detailed description please go to this link: http://waynehorvitz.net/projects/55.html

APRIL 2012

4/3 at 6 p.m. The Crafting a Continuum Visiting Artist series present a lecture by visiting artist Matthias Pliessnig, who works predominately with steam-bent wood. More information here.

4/10 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The Museum presents a talk by Ken Krafchek. At the forefront of creating public practice programs, Ken Krafchek has been a member of the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) faculty since 1985. The Founding Director of MICA’s Office of Community Arts Partnerships (CAP, he also funded MICA’s MA and MFA in Community Arts and currently serves as Graduate Director for both programs. Krafchek is also the Project Director and Managing Editor for the Nathan Cummings funded, MICA sponsored Community Arts Journal: Cultural Practice, Research & Higher Education. This presentation is supported by the School of Art, the School of Dance and the ASU Art Museum, all within ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, with special thanks to the Student Museum Advisory Board Committee and the Herberger Institute Alumni Chapter.

4/13 from noon to 1 p.m. The ASU Art Museum and School of Art, both in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, present a talk by Julia Friedman as part of the Visiting Faculty Brown Bag Lecture Series, Spring 2012. Designed to give a wider audience access to visiting faculty, these informal lunch presentations, which take place in the Museum, are free and open to the public.

4/17 from 5  to 8 p.m. Opening reception for 10 for 10 x2: 10th Anniversary New Acquisitions at the Ceramics Research Center, and opening reception for the Emerge exhibition at the ASU Art Museum.

4/20 from noon to 1 p.m. The ASU Art Museum and School of Art, in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, present a talk by Ellie Honl as part of the Visiting Faculty Brown Bag Lecture Series, Spring 2012. Designed to give a wider audience access to visiting faculty, these informal lunch presentations, which take place in the Museum, are free and open to the public.

4/20 from 1:30-4:30pm The Museum hosts the Herberger Institute’s “Internships in the Arts and Design: A Workshop with Community Professionals,” a pilot event intended to connect arts and design students with some of the most prominent arts and design companies and organizations in the greater Phoenix area. For more information, visit: http://herbergerinstitute.asu.edu/events/e_news/fy11/hda_internship0406.html If you have specific questions about the event, please contact Elizabeth Bucura at eedgecom@asu.edu.

4/24 from 9-11 a.m. Juice, coffee, and an opportunity to hear from Shawn Van Sluys, director of the international arts organization Musagetes, based in Guelph, Ontario. Van Sluys will discuss Musagetes’ role as a catalyst for ideas and actions that make the arts more central and meaningful to people’s lives, in order to promote healthier democracies and creative societies. For  more information, visit http://musagetes.ca/

MARCH 2012

1-3 The Museum is hosting the GeoDome Theater from March 1-3 as one of many workshops in conjunction with the campus-wide event Emerge: Artists and Scientists Redesign the Future. The event unites artists, engineers, bioscientists, social scientists, story-tellers and designers in building, drawing, writing and thinking about the future of the human species. For more information on either Emerge or the GeoDome Theater please visit www.emerge.asu.edu and www.geodome.info

3/8 at 7 p.m. The Jan Fisher Memorial Lecture Series presents artist Beth Lo. Lo’s work in ceramics revolves primarily around issues of family and her Asian-American background. Cultural marginality and blending, tradition and Westernization, language and translation are key elements in her work. She also finds inspiration in her personal experiences in childhood, parenting and the challenges living in a minority culture in the United States. OFF-SITE in Coor 174. Reception to follow at the Ceramics Research Center.

3/15 from noon-1 p.m. The ASU Art Museum hosts an informal presentation by sculptor Bob Haozous, the spring 2012 speaker for the Simon Ortiz and Labriola Center Lecture on Indigenous Land, Culture, and Community (see http://english.clas.asu.edu/indigenous). The meeting will take place in the Museum’s Multipurpose Room.

3/15 at 7 p.m. The Crafting a Continuum Visiting Artist series present a lecture at the Ceramics Research Center by Anders Ruhwald, artist-in-residence and head of ceramics at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, with a reception to follow (also at the CRC). More information here.

3/30 from noon to 1 p.m. The ASU Art Museum and School of Art, both in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, present a talk by Christopher Colville as part of the Visiting Faculty Brown Bag Lecture Series, Spring 2012. Designed to give a wider audience access to visiting faculty, these informal lunch presentations, which take place in the Museum, are free and open to the public.

FEBRUARY 2012

2/3 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Desert Initiative artist-in-residence Miguel Palma, together with ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) and other community partners, will host an exhibition as part of the Arizona SciTech Festival First Friday Art + Science event, which takes place in conjunction with the First Friday artwalk in downtown Phoenix (more details here: http://azscitechfest.asu.edu/events/first-friday-art-and-science-fusions-science-meets-arts). The public will have an opportunity to interact with a full-scale autonomous rover (RAVEN) designed and built by SESE students. OFF SITE at the Regular Gallery, 918 N. Sixth St., in Phoenix. A model of Palma’s project will be on display at the gallery, along with information from SESE, through Feb. 24.

2/4 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. First Saturdays for Families: This free program takes place on the first Saturday of every month and invites children 4-12 and their families to make a creative project in conjunction with exhibitions. No registration required. All materials provided, and families get to bring home their artwork. PLUS ASU Art Museum Store Spring Trunk Show, featuring local artists and jewelers. More info here.

2/7 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. SEASON OPENING RECEPTION Join us to celebrate the opening of Performing for the Camera, an exhibition that present 50 extraordinary photographs by artists who use performance as a central part of their process, as well as of Soaring Voices at the Ceramics Research Center. Artist Spencer Tunick will speak at the Museum from 6 p.m.-7 p.m., before the opening reception begins. Tunick documents the live nude figure in public with both photography and video in site-specific installations. His installations encompass dozens, hundreds or thousands of volunteers without their clothing, grouped together to metamorphose into a new shape. His photographs are records of these events, ultimately challenging one’s views of nudity and privacy. Tunick will share images of his recent project in Israel when 1,200 Israelis disrobed for him in the Dead Sea. He will be joined by Gordon Knox, Director of ASU Art Museum, and Stéphane Janssen, local art collector and model.

2/13 at 6:30 p.m. Zócalo Public Square presents “Is Internet Freedom at Risk?” with journalist and Tempe native Rebecca MacKinnon, author of Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom. The talk and the reception afterward are both free and open to the public; reservations are recommended and can be made here. Copies of MacKinnon’s book Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom will be available in the ASU Art Museum gift store.

2/17 & 2/18 from 1-4 p.m. The Precession: an 80 foot long internet art performance poem is a project of visiting artists Judd Morrissey and Mark Jeffery. A 3-hour durational digital literary/visual performance art work in 10 parts, The Precession constructs a performance of visual poetics and movement combining writing, text-mining and processing, the real-time positions of celestial objects, and depictions of the laboring body. Each part lasts between 9–18 minutes. Performance components include choreographed readings of texts being generated on ASU Art Museum gallery walls, a Busby-Berkeley inspired movement sequence mixing gestures of labor with embodied formations based on the stars above the building, and live and screen-based responses to works by Sol LeWitt (the sun) and Rebecca Horn (the horned moon). A chorus will sing a song, an incoming stream of Twitter texts, and excerpts from the source code of The Precession. The performance will take place in the Museum’s Top Gallery. Please note that visitors may enter or leave at any point.

2/21 at 6 p.m. In conjunction with the exhibition Performing for the Camera, artist Charlie White will discuss his work. White’s photographs incorporate theatrical settings and cinematic framing, resulting in a still, stage-like drama with multiple actors. He directs scenes that often include sci-fi creatures that proxy for humans in sexually charged environments. A juxtaposition of the strange and the familiar is evident in all his photographs.

2/25-26 The annual Self-Guided Ceramic Studio Tour, organized by the Artists Advisory Committee of the ASU Art Museum’s Ceramics Research Center, presents the work of dozens of professional ceramic artists in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The tour offers the public a rare opportunity to view working and living spaces of participating artists and view demonstrations of wheel-throwing, hand-building and glazing techniques. Participating artists have a wide range of both functional and sculptural artwork on exhibit and for sale. The tour is free to the public. Details here. OFF SITE

2/27 at 6 p.m. Ethnologist and ethnohistorian Christian Feest presents a talk titled“Transformations of a Mask: Confidential Information on the Lifeway of Things.” Sponsored by the School of Human Evolution and Social Change; School of Art; School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies; and the Public History Program (SHPRS). More information here.

2/28 at 6 p.m. In conjunction with the exhibition Performing for the Camera, artist Anthony Goicolea will discuss his work. Goicolea’s staged photographs explore themes ranging from personal history and identity, to cultural traditions and heritage, to alienation and displacement. His diverse oeuvre encompasses self-portraits, landscapes, and narrative tableaux executed through digitally composited imagery predicated on fantasy but rooted in reality.

JANUARY 2012

1/7 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. First Saturdays for Families: This free program takes place on the first Saturday of every month and invites children 4-12 and their families to make a creative project in conjunction with exhibitions. No registration required. All materials provided, and families get to bring home their artwork. This month: book making and calendar books.

1/12 at 7 p.m. “Crossing Generations as Women Artists: An Evening with Beth Ames and Julianne Swartz,” presented by the ASU School of Art in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, moderated by Deborah Sussman Susser. OFF SITE at Coor 174 on the Tempe campus.

1/20 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Opening reception for the exhibition Miracle Report: Julianne Swartz and Ken Landauer, Social Studies 8. Artist Julianne Swartz will speak about the project.

1/26-28 The Ceramics Research Center hosts Ceram-A-Rama Yaki, a weekend-long event in support of the CRC. To register, visit http://musceramicsgala2012.asu.edu/sites/musceramicsgala2012.asu.edu/files/documents/gala_web_invite.pdf

1/27 Soaring Voices: Recent Ceramics by Women from Japan opens at the Ceramics Research Center. This traveling exhibition features 87 works by 25 exceptional women artists who reflect Japan’s rich and innovative ceramic culture. On view through March 3.

1/28 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Halsey and Alice North, leading private collectors of contemporary Japanese sculptural ceramics, discuss Contemporary Japanese Sculptural Ceramics: An Explosion of Creativity! (in conjunction with Ceram-A-Rama Yaki). Top gallery of the ASU Art Museum, free and open to the public.

1/28 from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m. Ceramicist Akio Takamori gives the guest artist lecture for Ceram-A-Rama Yaki, the ceramics gala. Top gallery of the ASU Art Museum, free and open to the public.

DECEMBER 2011

12/3 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. First Saturdays for Families: This free program takes place on the first Saturday of every month and invites children 4-12 and their families to make a creative project in conjunction with exhibitions. No registration required. All materials provided, and families get to bring home their artwork. This month we present a variety of activities, including felt craft, a recycled orchestra, video production and a parade of hats.

NOVEMBER 2011

11/1 from noon to 1:30 p.m. Public panel/brown bag lunch on how people find security, individually and collectively, in conjunction with the exhibition Securing a free state: The Second Amendment Project – Jennifer Nelson, Social Studies 7. Bring your lunch into the gallery and get ready for a lively conversation with panelists who will discuss security from profoundly different perspectives. Participants include Nick Katkevich, co-director of the Phoenix Nonviolence Truthforce; John Kleinheinz, captain/commander of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Division; Scout McNamara, counselor specializing in trauma resolution, mood disorders, addiction and relationships; Jim Neff, firearm instructor for Generations Firearm Training; and Moylan Ryan, somatic coach.

11/3 from noon to 2 p.m. Nick Katkevich of the Phoenix Nonviolence Truthforce will provide an introduction to Kingian Nonviolence focusing on the fundamental strategies and aspects of nonviolence based on the philosophy and movements led
by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

11/4 from noon to 1 p.m. Brown-bag lunch presentation by Portuguese artist Miguel Palma, who will provide an overview of his artwork and discuss his commission for the Desert Initiative. Free and open to the public.

11/4 from 5 to 7 p.m. Artist reception in the gallery for Jennifer Nelson, Social Studies 7 – Securing a free state: The Second Amendment Project. The artist will speak at 6 p.m.

11/5 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. First Saturdays for Families

11/8 at 6 p.m. In conjunction with Juan Downey: The Invisible Architect, the Museum presents “Cracking up an alligator: Anthropology, Video and Irony,” with Dr. Leif Jonsson. Associate Professor, ASU School of Human Evolution and Social Change, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and respondent Kade Twist, artist.

11/29 from 6:30 to 8:30 ASU Art Museum Director Gordon Knox presents a talk titled “Art=Knowing” and an insiders’ tour of the Museum, as part of the President’s Community Enrichment Programs. Cost is $20, and registration is required.

OCTOBER 2011

10/1 Opening of the exhibition Securing a free state: The Second Amendment Project – Jennifer Nelson, Social Studies 7. Using the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as a starting point, Athens-based artist Jennifer Nelson will enter into a metaphysical examination of the concept of “bearing arms” and explore the question, “How can a person or a collective be securely free?” Exhibition is open through December 31st. The artist residency is from September 24th – November 5th.

10/1 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. First Saturdays for Families invites the public to meet Diablo, the 6-foot anaconda who is living in the Museum for the course of the exhibition Juan Downey: The Invisible Architect, as an integral part of one of Downey’s pieces. Snake-related crafts, plus a presentation by Russ Johnson, of the Phoenix Herpetologoical Society, a non-profit reptile education and conservation group, at noon.

10/13 at 6 p.m. Chip Lord, media artist, co-founder of Ant Farm (“Cadillac Ranch,” “Media Burn”)  and Professor Emeritus at U.C. Santa Cruz, and Adriene Jenik, Director of the ASU School of Art in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts present “Remembering Juan Downey,” a lecture on the artist’s early experimentation with video and technology.

10/13 at 6:30 p.m. In conjunction with the exhibition Securing a free state: The Second Amendment Project, members of the public are invited on a field trip to Artificial Limb Specialists in Phoenix, for a tour of the prosthetics design facility and to hear from an amputee who will share his experience about the physical transformation he has been through. To sign up, please contact Lekha Waitoller at 480.965.0497 or lwaitoll@mainex1.asu.edu OFF SITE

10/15 from noon to 1:30 p.m.  Public opportunity to work with Social Studies artist Jennifer Nelson in the gallery, in conjunction with the exhibition Securing a free state: The Second Amendment Project. Visitors will work in a small group with a martial artist, a shooter and a trauma therapist specializing in somatic treatments to develop choreographies of self-defense and recovery. Please wear loose-fitting clothes and athletic shoes; because the gallery is chilly, some may want to bring an extra layer. Please arrive on time and plan to stay for 90 minutes.

10/20 at 7:30 p.m. The Jan Fisher Memorial Lecture Series presents ceramicist Deborah Schwartzkopf. Free admission. OFF SITE at Coor 170 on the Tempe campus. Reception to follow at the Ceramics Research Center.

10/21 from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Visiting artist/dancer Tim O’Donnell performs within the context of the Social Studies project Securing a free state: The Second Amendment Project. O’Donnell, who works with improvisation, and contact improvisation, in particular, will be working with the public/community who gather in the gallery at 2:30 and then performing with musician Monica Page and another dancer for two short sets. See more about contact improvisation here.

10/22 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Demonstration workshop by ceramicist Deborah Schwartzkopf, OFF SITE at the ASU Undergraduate Ceramic Studio. Cost: $30. To register, contact Mary-Beth Buesgen:  mary-beth.buesgen@asu.edu or 480.965.7092.

10/22 at 1 p.m. In conjunction with the exhibition Securing a free state: The Second Amendment Project, the Museum presents a publicpanel with rotating moderators in the gallery for a discussion of the question: How do people find security?

10/23 at 11 a.m. In conjunction with the exhibition Securing a free state: The Second Amendment Project, members of the public are invited on a a tour of GPS Defense Sniper School to understand the physical and psychological training for snipers. To sign up, please contact Lekha Waitoller at 480.965.0497 or lwaitoll@mainex1.asu.edu OFF SITE

10/25 at 7 p.m. The Elaine Horwitch Memorial Lecture on Contemporary Art and Visual Culture presents artist Janine Antoni. Free admission. OFF SITE at Coor 170, on the Tempe campus. Reception with Janine Antoni at the ASU Art Museum immediately following the lecture.

SEPTEMBER 2011

9/3 Opening day of the exhibition 100 Museums: Paintings of Buildings That Have Paintings Inside. ArtistRico Solinas uses saw blades as the canvas as for his portraits of art museums, as a way of paying tribute to the American work ethic. Exhibition is open through November 26th.

9/3  First Saturdays for Families: This free program takes place on the first Saturday of every month and invites children 4-12 and their families to make a creative project in conjunction with exhibitions. No registration required. All materials provided, and families get to bring home their artwork. This month’s project is inspired by Rico Solinas’ paintings of museums around the world, which he executes in extraordinary detail on old-fashioned saw blades. (Concerned parents please note: We’ll be using paper and paint for the project, not actual saw blades…)

9/24 Opening day of the exhibition Juan Downey: The Invisible Architect, the first U.S. museum survey of the work of Chilean artist and unsung video art pioneer Juan Downey. Exhibition is open through December 31st.

9/30 from 6-9 p.m FALL OPENING RECEPTION of Juan Downey: The Invisible Architect; Securing a free state: The Second Amendment Project – Jennifer Nelson, Social Studies 7; Rico Solinas’ 100 Paintings of Buildings that Have Paintings Inside; and, at the Ceramics Research Center, Franco Mondini-Ruiz’s Dulce: Bisque Without Borders, featuring the performance/market  Tienda Franco. From 6 to 7 p.m., the Museum presents a conversation wtih Valerie Smith, curator of Juan Downey: The Invisible Architect for the MIT List Visual Arts Center and head of the Department of Visual Art, Film and Media at Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt, and Marilys Belt de Downey, director of the Juan Downey Foundation. Reception begins at 7 p.m in the Museum and at the CRC. Also starting at 7 p.m at the CRC and continuing on Saturday the 1st from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. is Tienda Franco, a market/party/performance where Mondini-Ruiz will be peddling his readymade objects, making art accesible and affordable for all.

AUGUST 2011

8/27 Opening day of the Ceramics Research Center exhibition Dulce: Bisque Without Borders. San Antonio-based artist Franco Mondini-Ruiz mines ASU’s ceramics collection for both favorite gems and objects that have been stored for decades. Then join us reception weekend September 30th-October 1st for Mondini-Ruiz’s performance/market/party Tienda Franco. Exhibition is open through December 31st.

8/6 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. First Saturdays for Families this month is inspired by the group video exhibition By myself and with my friends… and features animal-related crafts with clay, improvised dance exercises led by dancer/choreographer Elizabeth Johnson and a visit from the Arizona Animal Welfare League/SPCA.

JULY 2011

7/2 Opening day of the video exhibition By myself and with my friends… Six artists explore the complexities of human nature by looking at some of the things we have in common with animals, from our herd mentality to our moments of solace. Featuring videos by Krista Birnbaum, Donna Conlon, Rivane Neuenschwander, Corinna Schnitt and Connie Samaras.

7/9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Family Fun Day! This free annual event features art-making projects, performances and a visit from a PBS character from Eight/KAET. Support for the family exhibition and event is provided by the Windgate Charitable Foundation, ASU Art Museum Advisory Board, Friends of the ASU Art Museum, the Scottsdale League for the Arts, Valley Metro, Eight/KAET and Changing Hands Bookstore.

JUNE 2011

6/4 Opening day of our 12th Annual Family Exhibition, Words of Art: Selections from the ASU Art Museum Permanent Collection, on view through September 3

MAY 2011

5/5 at 5 p.m.  Angela Davis speaks on “Incarceration or Education” at Neeb Hall, followed by a reception/book signing at the Museum

5/21  Opening day of the exhibition Self-Referential: Art About Art, featuring work from Enrique Chagoya, Max Ernst, Julian Schnabel and Steve Yazzie, among others

APRIL 2011

4/5 at 6 p.m. “Re-Thinking the Museum” lecture with Ralph Lemon, dancer, choreographer and “conceptualist”

4/7 from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Artist talk with Muntadas, followed by opening reception for his About Academia

4/23 at 8 p.m 15th Annual ASU Art Museum Short Film and Video Festival. Free! BYOS (Bring Your Own Seating). Nelson Fine Arts Center Plaza (behind the Museum)

MARCH 2011

3/4 at 11 a.m. Dr. Claudia Mesch, associate professor of art history in the ASU School of Art, on the games of the French Surrealists and how they challenge established ideas about modern art, in connection with Re-Thinking the Faculty Exhibition 2011

3/5 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.  First Saturdays for Families: A free program that invites children 4-12 and their families to make a creative project in conjunction with exhibitions. Takes place on the first Saturday of every month. No registration required. All materials provided, and families get to bring home their artwork. For this month’s project, participants will make their own colorful bricks for a citadel based on the installation at the Ceramics Research Center.

3/13 at 3 p.m. Three-time Caldecott medalist David Wiesner—creator of the classics Flotsam, The Three Pigs, and Tuesday—visits Changing Hands Bookstore with  his new picture book Art & Max. Co-sponsored by the ASU Art Museum. OFF SITE at Changing Hands Bookstore.

3/25 at 11 a.m., at the CRC: Friday Conversation with Kostelena Michelaki, ASU associate professor from the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, speaking on “Use of Clay Throughout Time and Cultures – Citadel.”

FEBRUARY 2011

2/1 at 6 p.m. “Re-Thinking the Museum” panel discussion with Gordon Knox, Adriene Jenik and Richard Toon, moderated by Darren Petrucci, at the Museum

2/4 at 11 a.m. Patricia Sannit on her installation Citadel, at the Ceramics Research Center

2/8 at 6 p.m. “Re-Thinking the Museum” lecture by contemporary art specialist Ian Berry, from the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore: “A Manifesto of Yes: Optimistic Practices in Art and Teaching”

2/11 at 11 a.m. Rory Schmitt on Collecting Contemporary Art: The FUNd at ASU Art Museum, at the Museum

2/16 at 11:40 a.m. ASU Art Museum Director Gordon Knox on “Re-Thinking the Museum” as part of the Public History and Scholarly Publishing Brown-Bag Lecture Series sponsored by ASU’s School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies.  OFF SITE at Coor 174, on the Tempe campus

2/18 at 11 a.m. Panel discussion on the faculty show, at the Museum

2/18 from 7-9 p.m  SEASON OPENING RECEPTION of Re-Thinking the Faculty Exhibition 2011; It’s not just black and white: Gregory Sale — Social Studies Project 6; Collecting Contemporary Art: the FUNd at ASU; and Citadel, at the CRC. From 6 to 7 p.m., ASU Art Museum Director Gordon Knox and ASU School of Art Director Adriene Jenik will introduce the faculty exhibition, followed by a special preview tour with curator Robert Atkins. Also at 6 p.m., a silent auction begins at the Ceramics Research Center. Reception begins at 7 p.m. at both the Museum and the CRC, as does Angela Ellsworth’s performance “Where the Skies Are Blue.” From 7:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., artist Patricia Sannit will be speaking at the CRC about Citadel, her installation there.

2/22 at 7 p.m Joyce Farmer presents Special Exits, her graphic memoir, which R. Crumb calls “One of the best long-narrative comics I’ve ever read, right up there with Maus,” and talks with artist and ASU faculty member Jon Haddock, co-founder of the Comic Book Creators’ Support Group. OFF SITE at Changing Hands Bookstore

2/25 at 11 a.m. ASU Art Museum Senior Curator and Associate Director Heather Sealy Lineberry on Collecting Contemporary Art: The FUNd at ASU Art Museum, at the Museum

2/26-2/27 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The annual Self-Guided Ceramics Studio Tour presents the work of more than 50 professional ceramic artists in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Participating artists have a wide range of both functional and sculptural artwork on exhibit and for sale. The tour is free to the public. Printable map here: http://asuartmuseum.asu.edu/studiotour/

JANUARY 2011

1/21 at 11 a.m. Friday Conversation: Curator of Education Andrea Feller on Guyton\Walker, at the Museum

1/27 at 7 p.m. Jan Fisher Memorial Lecture Series with Ayumi Horie, Coor Hall

1/28 at 11 a.m. Friday Conversation: Artists Cyndi Coon, Jen Urso and Nic Wiesinger on Open for Business, at the Museum

1/29 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Demonstration workshop with Ayumi Horie. For information on price and location call 480.965.7092.