Almost a century ago, it was a warehouse that manufactured ice. Today, it's what 26 art pieces are going to call home until Third Friday on Sept. 19.
Artlink, one of the biggest support organizations for Phoenix art, is hosting its 16th annual juried exhibition. Featuring more than two dozen artists and more than a dozen different mediums — from acrylic to sculptures to mixed media to photos and videos — the juried exhibition is one of Artlink's most inclusive and diverse events.
Lucretia Torva, one of the artists entered in the exhibition, said local artists want to get in to it, because it’s usually juried by people in are in the arts community.
"It has a certain amount of respectability," she said.
Indeed, the level of prestige this event holds is tremendous due to the high esteem of the jurors. This year, Phoenix Art Museum director Jim Ballinger is serving on the panel alongside Louise Roman, who used to be a gallery director, and local artist Randy Slack. The three sifted through over fifty art submissions from a variety of mediums and chose the 26 artists that have their pieces displayed in the Icehouse.
While the production of the exhibition is formal and paced — each submission and artist statement is scrutinized carefully by the panelists — the artists behind those submissions relied on the spontaneity of their inspirations to create the works of art housed in the Icehouse.
Sandra Ortega, another artist who was selected for the prestigious exhibition and co-owner of an art gallery, Oblique, in downtown Phoenix, was inspired by a very normal Starbucks to create her piece.
"I just thought it was cool, what (the baristas) were doing," Ortega said. "When people are moving, action, daily activity that people just glaze over, I like to capture that."
Torva, who submitted two pieces for Artlink's juried exhibition, had a similar experience. Collaborating on a painting for the first time with artist Aztec Smurf out of the blue, their piece was also chosen to be presented at the juried exhibition. Their piece, "Ranfla," depicts both artists' signature style.
"He’s somewhat particular, and so am I," she said. "We just hit it off...That (collaboration) was just so easy, it was totally natural, it wasn’t forced at all.”
The finalists were announced on Sept. 5. First place was awarded to first-time juried exhibition contributor Ingrid Shults for her painting, “Faultlines of a Saint: Saint Derrick of the Fixie.” Using beautiful visual textures and sunset-inspired colors, Shults's work was one of the most popular displays during First Friday.
Second and third place were awarded to Malena Barnhart and Lucretia Torva, respectively.
A mixture of quiet, refined, and eclectic — almost cartoon-like — art brightened up the hollow, echoey White Column room in the Icehouse in the form of 3-D sculptures, videography, and flat paintings alike.
"Art and the artists and people on the ground caring about the art and creating galleries ... it's that kind of activity that makes a place interesting," Artlink member Jill Bernstein said.
The exhibition closes on Sept. 19, but it will remain one of the most interesting collections of art in downtown Phoenix.
Reach the reporter at kvedanta@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @keerthivedantam
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