NUNCA, Untitled 2011 Spray Paint on DC 3 Aircraft

THE BONEYARD PROJECT: RETURN TRIP  opens on Saturday, January 28^th.

Conceived in 2011 by Eric Firestone and organized by Firestone with curators Carlo McCormick, Lesley Oliver and Med Sobio, the exhibit resurrects disused airplanes from America’s military history through the creative intervention of contemporary artists. Each of the artists included in the exhibit has utilized airplanes and aircraft parts found among the airplane graveyards located in the Arizona desert, known throughout the region as “boneyards.”

SPY TIGER by Andrew Scholutz 2012

Artists have transformed entire aircraft, nose cones, wings and cockpits into a stunning array of works that celebrate the glorious  history of the aeronautic industry as well as cutting edge contemporary, street and graffiti art. For the graffiti artist, Retna, an abandoned DC3 comes to life through the use of his own dramatic visual language that transforms the metal giant into a living canvas. With a nod to the airplane graffiti and ‘nose art’ that became popular in WWI and WWII, the project offers a vision of the wonder of air travel as seen through the eyes of some of the most prominent and acclaimed artists working today.

RETNA, Warning Shot, 2011 Ink & Spray Paint on DC 3

THE BONEYARD PROJECT: RETURN TRIP includes works from more than 30 artists including 3 DC Super 3 airplanes painted by graffiti artists How & Nosm, Nunca and Retna; a C97 cockpit by Saner; and C45 aircraft reinvented by Faile and Andrew Schoultz. New nose cones and works on various aircraft elements have been created by BAST, Colin Chilag, Crash, Daze, Daniel Martin Diaz, Tristan Eaton, TRUSTOCORP, Jameson Ellis, Ron English, Faile, Erik Foss, Luster Kaboom, Mark Kostabi, Lisa Lebofsky, Alex Markwith, Walter Robinson, Hector Ruiz, Randy Slack, Ryan Wallace and Eric White. Still other works, exhibited in the first iteration of the Boneyard Project in the exhibit, Nose Job (summer, 2011 at Eric Firestone Gallery in East Hampton, NY) will be on view with works by Aiko, Dan Colen, Peter Dayton, Shepard Fairey, Futura, How and Nosm, Juan James, Tara McPherson, Richard Prince, Lee Quinones, Saner, Kenny Scharf, Shelter Serra and JJ Veronis.

The PIMA AIR & SPACE MUSEUM is the largest non-government funded aviation museum in the United States, and one of the largest in the world. It maintains a collection of more than 300 aircraft and spacecraft from around the globe and more than 125,000 artifacts.

The museum is located at 6000 East Valencia Road in Tucson, Arizona and is open to the public from 9:00am – 5:00pm daily. T: 520-574-0462

THE BONEYARD PROJECT: RETURN TRIP

Exhibit opens  Saturday, January 28th with a reception from 6:00pm to 11:00pm.

There is a $5.00 entrance fee.

The exhibition is on view through the end of May, 2012

For further information please visit

 www.ericfirestonegallery.com

or contact us by email at info@theboneyardprojects.com

A great new coffee house in downtown Tucson just opened January 14. It is similar to the great spacious ones in San Francisco with an interesting and reasonable menu.  Coffee is only $1.50 with a free refill!

This unique space located on the west side of  6^th Ave. between Congress and Pennington is now in need of some professional artwork for its many walls. I personally feel it offers great exposure to local artists in a very friendly environment. They expect to have music on occasions and have great rooms for meetings and get-togethers.  It is a very large space and extremely comfortable with sofas and easy chairs as well as the regular tables and chairs.

The new artwork will be selected by their art committee for upcoming shows. Interested artists should contact Kate Preble at BREWD  (A coffee lounge) Email: brewdtucson@gmail.com. Phone: 520-623-2336. ADDRESS: 39 North 6^th Ave., Tucson, AZ 85701.

Visitors to Valley of the Moon

Bring the whole family for an afternoon of storytelling at historic Valley of the Moon’s storytelling event on January 7^th from 2PM till 7PM.  Visitors will listen to some favorite childhood stories of Gabe Zimmerman and Christina Taylor-Green while taking a tour of Tucson’s only historic fairyland dedicated to spreading a message of Kindness.  Admission is free.

This Event is part of the larger BEYOND:Commemorate*Celebrate*Commit Event designed to commemorate and celebrate loved ones injured and lost on January 8th. Our community will come together on January 7th to remember what happened, acknowledge how it changed us and commit to building a stronger community by engaging in activities that are good for the mind, body and spirit!

Bring a gently used book to donate to Make Way For Books, which promotes early literacy, especially in limited-resource areas in Tucson and southern Arizona providing children (birth through age 5) the opportunity to fall in love with books and reading. MWFB envisions a community in which all children enter kindergarten with the necessary early literacy skills to be successful in school and throughout life.

There will be a box on site for people to drop off stories for Stories That Soar offering children an open invitation to write about anything they choose.  Transforming words and ideas into high quality artistic expression, Stories that Soar tap into the wellspring of children’s imagination, inspiring creativity, promoting active literacy, and building engaged communities through the empowerment of children from kindergarten through high school.

Ben’s Bells will have a booth with ‘be kind’ stickers, tattoos and kindness contracts to sign. When people sign a kindness contract they get to paint their name on a tile that will be part of our “Tucsonans Commit to Kindness” mural.

Valley of the Moon is a non-profit historic fantasy fairyland garden park dedicated to the idea that Kindness to All is the Golden Key to Happiness. Built by George Legler in the 1920′s for spiritual relaxation, it continues as an all volunteer organization dedicated to preserving the historic sculptures, and a philosophy that Happiness is Given and Not Sold.

Valley of the Moon is located at 2544 East Allen Road.  For more information visit www.beyond-tucson.org, or call Valley of the Moon at 323-1331, or find Valley of the Moon on Facebook.