TEMPE, AZ — The latest exhibition to take over the "gallery" space at the Tempe Center for the Arts highlights Arizona artists and the ideas that inspired them to create their art.
"Retro Reaction is sort of one of those things that came out of questions we got from the public," said Michelle Nichols Dock, visual arts curator at Tempe Center for the Arts, in an interview with ABC15. "A lot of questions the public has is: "where do artists get their ideas? Where on Earth do these crazy, colorful, these really unique ways of making things, come from?"
The exhibition opened on Jan. 18 and runs through May 11, 2019. There is no cost to see it.
There are 10 Arizona artists featured throughout the gallery, including Angela Johnson, who takes old t-shirts and stitches them together to create washable ballgowns, dresses and suit jackets.
"I really love pop culture, and I really love graphics and lots of color," she said. She has a Star Wars-themed suit jacket on display, as well as a gown made from 30-40 t-shirts about breast cancer awareness that she made for a friend who survived her fight.
For her, being in the gallery was a way not only learn about other artists, but to let people in on her process.
"If people could talk talk to the artist and really understand why they created it, and what they created it for, and learn about the message it's providing, I think that's priceless," she said. Johnson also co-founded F.A.B.R.I.C. -- Fashion and Business Resource Innovation Center -- a start-up incubator for up-and-coming fashion designers and manufacturers.
Other artists include Heidi Abrahamson, Bob Allen, Malena Barnhart, Kristin Bauer, Fausto Fernandez, Jacob Meders, Rembrandt Quiballo, Kazuma Sambe and Henry Schoebel.
Because of construction happening next door, TCA's parking lot entrance has temporarily moved to Hardy. You can either walk to the entrance or someone in a golf cart can shuttle you over.
IF YOU GO:
Tempe Center for the Arts
700 W. Rio Salado, Tempe, AZ 85281
www.tempecenterforthearts.com
