For Julie Sasse, chief curator at the Tucson Museum of Art, summer is the time to highlight some of the best artists in Arizona. It’s this focus on local art that has helped establish the museum as a southwestern cultural mecca.
“(Museums) seemed to feel they had to go outside the region to show New York or Chicago artists because that was the important stuff,” Sasse said. “That idea is over, people are saying the art right in front of us is valid, it’s important.”
The Tucson Museum of Art showcases emerging Arizona artists through Oct. 1 as part of its renowned Biennial Exhibition. The gallery not only allows artists to exhibit their work within the museum but for many, it’s their public debut.
“The Biennial Exhibition is a chance for these artists to get noticed,” Sasse explained, “instead of waiting years to maybe have somebody discover them.”
In this year’s 37th exhibition, more than 400 artists submitted their work and the museum narrowed its final selection to 56. Of the chosen applicants, 68 pieces were put on display in the James and Louise Glasser Gallery and the Chann Gallery.
Sasse noted this year’s works reflect the search for a sense of place.
“There’s a real self-awareness that we live in a really unique environment and a unique place positioned at the border,” Sasse said. “They’re maybe not so much seeing themselves solely as an artist in the world… but they are attuned to what’s affecting them directly. I find that very interesting.”
Many pieces comment on the physical, emotional and spiritual impacts of the southwestern landscape, with two recurring topics: the U.S.-Mexico borderland and human interactions with the environment. Other themes include the impact of the Covid pandemic, migration, labor automation and political polarization.
All work is depicted through a variety of media and materials, including painting, fiber works, sculptures and electronics. Many artworks feature distinctly Sonoran creativity; a presidential speech is portrayed as a mound of individually cut-out letters.
“They put their hearts into these works,” Sasse said of this year’s artists. “They’re thinking, they’re observing and distilling it into something that’s beautiful or into something you can’t take your mind off of. That’s to me where the good artists rise above because they do stop you in your tracks.”
Every year, the museum chooses a juror from outside of Arizona to judge hundreds of artist entries. Staff organized every work into a presentation, and the selection process took a whole day to complete.
This year’s juror is Taína Caragol, curator of painting, sculpture and Latinx art and history at the National Portrait Gallery. She works to uplift Latinx and Latin American art into the public sphere and recover stories and history suppressed through colonialism.
“I thought she would be perfect, especially with our strong representation of Latinx artists,” Sasse explained. “These curators are highly trained. For the most part, they’ve seen so much art they know what is going to make an impact.”
Along with the exhibition, the Tucson Museum of Art hosts a lecture series for artists to discuss their work. The final lecture is 5:30 p.m. Sept. 7 in the Stonewall Community Foundation Room.
The museum is open Thursday-Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The first Thursday of every month will have free entry from 5-8 p.m.
Sasse is excited to feature so many emerging artists in this year’s Biennial Exhibition. She noted the work of Arizona creatives, from local to international origins, will continue to awe the world for some time to come.
“It’s been so gratifying to help share with people that people from the Southwest aren’t just ‘cowboys and indigenous’ but it’s people from Vietnam, from Guinea, from all over and they’re doing very interesting work,” Sasse said. “It keeps the art vital, to have that diversity of all kinds.”
Arizona Biennial Exhibition
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Oct. 1
WHERE: 140 N. Main Avenue, Tucson
COST: $7 to $12 (free every first Thursday)
INFO: tucsonmuseumofart.org
