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

AZPM Az llustrated Channel 6 just previewed a terrific story about the public art on the University of AZ campus (video above). I took this tour about a year ago and was amazed at how many diverse pieces of sculptures there are on the U of A campus.

Info on how to sign up for this free guided walking tour, call 520-621-5130. The tour is on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 10 a.m. and begins at the UA Museum of Art, 1031 N. Olive Rd. Reservations are required, and don’t forget to wear good walking shoes as the tour takes about 2 hours. You can also get a guide for a self-guided tour.

Next tour scheduled is Wed. Dec. 19. No tour in November due to Thanksgiving break.

I think my favorite sculpture is the whimsical one entitled “25 Scientists” in front of the Chemistry Building. Take this tour and find out more about the diverse art collection of sculptures at the campus. You will be amazed.

More photos and background of some of the public art, go to http://artmuseum.arizona.edu/education/Public_Art.shtml.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/ticket/

Click on the Smithsonian Magazine hyperlink above to get free tickets (for 2) to a Smithsonian affiliated museum in Arizona from a list of 29 museums for next Saturday September 24. The choice is varied from the UA Museum of Art, Arizona History Museum & Jewish History Museum in Tucson, to the Tubac Presidio, the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum, to the famous Heard Museum in Phoenix, plus lots & lots of others. The complete list is nationwide!

And if you live in or will be visiting neighboring New Mexico, Utah, Nevada or California, click on the list to find a museum there.

Where is the Deer Valley Rock Art Center or the Zane Grey Cabin (both included on the Arizona state list)?

I followed the instructions & got my free ticket to a museum I’ve never been to in Tucson — one day only, September 24.

Enjoy Museum Day in Arizona (and elsewhere)!

entrance to retablo room at UA Museum of Art

“Secrets of the Divine”: Arizona Public Media Premier showing of the new one-hour PBS-HD documentary produced by Sooyeon Lee Johnston on the University of Arizona Museum of Art’s Altarpiece of Ciudad Rodrigo. The show will air on KUAT Channel 6 on November 18, 8 p.m. MST, narrated by narrated by NPR’s Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg. Encore broadcast Sunday, Nov. 21st at 3 p.m.

Veiled for centuries behind a curtain on the altar of a medieval church in Spain, the Retablo of Ciudad Rodrigo held a history of secrets. Then, over the next 400 years a series of benefactors…and some luck…helped the artworks survive natural disaster, war, and neglect. The sacred masterpieces were meant simply to record the life of Christ. But investigators looking beneath the surface made unexpected discoveries…including images which were never meant to be seen.

Who created these paintings?
Why were they kept hidden from worshippers?
How did they travel from Ciudad Rodrigo to Tucson, Arizona?
Could this Retablo prophesize the end of the world?

Equal parts historical art, mystery and scientific exploration, Secrets of the Divine: The Altarpiece of Ciudad Rodrigo delves into the exhibition “Fernando Gallego & His Workshop: The Altarpiece from Ciudad Rodrigo” —considered by scholars to be some of the most beautiful and iconographical ambitious paintings of the 15th century— which adorned an altar at a cathedral in west central Spain. For the first time in the United States, researchers uncover what lies beneath 500 years of Spanish altar paintings, revealing surprising insights into the lives of Fernando Gallego and the artists of his time. Notable for their size and number, the panels treat the Christian subjects of Genesis, the life of Christ, and the Last Judgment. A five year project of collaborative research uncovers preliminary under drawings beneath the final layers of the paintings that unlock secrets involving art, literature, history, and religion. This hour long documentary follows the journey of the Retablo (altar pieces) which survived earthquakes, damage by the Napoleonic War, trans-Atlantic voyages, and years of storage in a bunker during WW II. Only 26 panels remain, carefully restored by art historians and researchers looking for the answers.

A retablo is an altarpiece, a “picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church.”

My husband, UA University Distinguished Professor Albrecht Classen, was interviewed for this show, as he is a scholar of medieval and early modern culture & history.

View a 3 minute preview of this show by clicking here.

If you miss this show, I highly recommend you visit the UA Museum of Art to see this collection of fabulous medieval paintings for yourself. The museum is at 1031 N. Olive Street, south of Speedway, east of Park Avenue. Phone: (520) 621-7567.  $5 fee for general public, but free to UA faculty/staff/students and those under 18 years old.

Retablo room at UA Musem of Art, photo by Jacob Chinn

2011 UPDATE: PBS HD will show Secrets of the Divine on Easter Sunday April 24, 6 p.m. MST (9 p.m. EST). Don’t miss it.