The annual Tucson Sculpture Festival at Brandi Fenton park could have been broken in two. One show at the permanent exhibition space, the Sculpture Park, and a second show under tents and on the lawn by the soccer pitch.
I went to the permanent space first to see the sheet metal and paint sculptures by Julia Arriola. This installation of dresses commemorates missing and murdered indigenous women. To me they had the appearance of clothes for fragile paper dolls–if the paper dolls were life-size, of indigenous design and caught dancing in the wind. And these women have been lost in the wind, vanished, but now remembered.
The large abstract sculpture is one of several by Hector Ortega.
Taking a closer look at them. These two were labeled as “daughters”. One fancy, one not. Both lost to life.
Shotgun casings, horseshoes, and a “speaking” elephant
Near the soccer pitch were the works of dozens of other artists, including some works by Ralph Prata who creates assemblages from found objects, including shotgun casings he gathered on Mt Lemmon. They have an Only-in-Tucson quality about them.
Large, life-size sculptures of animals–rather than the large abstracts–were drawing a lot of attention at this show. Below is a work by the artist Ukiah Hoy. It’s “Untitled” but clearly two Bighorn Mountain Sheep fighting.
The elephant sculpture, below, was doubly intriguing because there was a sound recording hidden inside it playing soft, subtle noises that didn’t sound exactly like what I have heard from elephants. It was, however, interesting to have sound and sight involved with this artwork. The elephant appears fragile but I don’t know if that was the intent or an environmental message to viewers.
The American Bison was one of several animal sculptures created from horseshoes.
God-like humans in metal and ceramic
The human figure was not ignored, but rather transformed into mysterious godling-like creatures. I first thought the one of the right by Adam Homan was a valkyrie, but found that it is entitled “Victorious”. The ceramic sculpture on the left by David Manje will have to speak for itself. It was one of several life-size human figures with dogs heads he created and I have not the slightest idea what that is all about. I think the gestures by the hands are telling us something.
And what would any festival in Tucson be without the food trucks. These three were perfect for creating a balanced lunch of a Sonoran hotdog followed by a dish of gelato and a handful of churros. An espresso would finish it all. I love the Red-White-and-Blue of this image. The sky and clouds were gorgeous on Sunday!
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