The Art of All Possibilities is an interdisciplinary exhibition in conceptual and visual conversation with the scientific research, architecture and culture of Biosphere 2. The exhibition will open on November 17, 2012 and will feature works by internationally acclaimed artists Fritz Buehner (Boston, MA and Lubec, MN), Melo Dominguez (Tucson, AZ), Morgan Schwartz (Providence, RI), Ellen Skotheim (Tucson, AZ), Bently Spang (Billings, MT) and Mary Ellen Strom, (Boston, MA and Basin, MT).

The artists’ projects will be installed at numerous sites in Biosphere 2 from the desert to the lung and will include video projections, sound works, sculpture and performance. The exhibition’s title borrows from the name of the theater group that inhabited Biosphere 2’s first mission in 1991, “The Theater of All Possibilities”.

Art Lab Border Biosphere Exploration was founded through the Rillito River Project to bring together leading artists and educators with scientists and researchers to explore the Sonoran Desert Bioregion and be inspired by the unique environment that surrounds them at the Biosphere 2 and Tumamoc Hill Research Station in Tucson, Arizona, and Cuenca los Ojos’ El Coronado Ranch in Pearce, Arizona. Artist participants learn about how climate change is impacting the environment along the international border region of Southern Arizona, and they create artwork in response. Their work is then presented on the Rillito River Project website, www.RillitoRiverProject.org and in related exhibits and presentations.

Biosphere 2 is located about 30 miles north of Tucson. Go to their website for more information: http://www.b2science.org/

Mel’s beautiful & powerful “Baja Arizona” painting (see below) is now on display at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library (lobby area on 1st floor) through November 30, 2012. (This large mural-like painting was first part of a Fall,2011 to Spring,2012 border show at the University of Arizona Museum of Art). Six other paintings by Mel are on display during regular library hours, 101 N. Stone Ave. See more at her artist website, www.melodominguez.com. Her art is for sale, so contact her at melodominguez@gmail.com.

I went to the Nov. 7 reception of her Main library art show and particularly enjoyed another print entitled “Arizona Highway” which cleverly depicts bus riders, workers computing, border crossers, an ICE agent, banned Mexican American books.

“Arizona Highway” courtesy of Melo Dominguez

Bat Night returns May 19th! (from Ward 3 Councilmember Karin Uhlich’s newsletter)

Back by popular demand, the Rillito River Project hosts the 5th Annual Bat Night, this time in the spring to mark the arrival of our nocturnal neighbors for their summer stay in Tucson. Free and open to the public. Welcome the Bats to Tucson Saturday, May 19th at 6:00pm in the Rillito riverbed just east of the Campbell Avenue Bridge.

This year, 140 students from Rio Vista Elementary School, led by nationally acclaimed choreographer Barbea Williams, will entertain the crowd with their very own Bat Dance and teach us the Bat Dance too! At sunset, watch 45,000 Mexican Free-Tailed bats fly out from under the Campbell Avenue Bridge to forage for food. Be a part of this growing Tucson tradition, the marquee event of the nonprofit Rillito River Project, dedicated to raising awareness of local environmental and ecological issues through art, performance, lectures and special events.

Also speaking will be Bat expert Dr. Yar Petryszyn and entomologist “Bug Man” Carl Olson.

For more info visit www.rillitoriverproject.org.

My husband and I were at that bridge on Campbell Avenue, just south of River Rd. and St. Philip’s Plaza last August, and we thought that about 100,000 bats flew out into the western sky. And we also encountered a young foot long snake on the walkway near the bridge, so beware and definitely wear shoes.

Try counting the bats on Bat Night, as it is an amazing experience to see thousands and thousands of them come out from under that bridge to forage for food (insects) at dusk.