Press RoomPhoenix Art Museum hosts Valentine’s Day Date Night and Artist Lectures; Photography Exhibition Highlighting Environmental Concerns Opens
Phoenix Art Museum hosts Valentine’s Day Date Night and Artist Lectures; Photography Exhibition Highlighting Environmental Concerns Opens
Jan, 27, 2025
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Phoenix Art Museum hosts Valentine’s Day Date Night and Artist Lectures; Photography Exhibition Highlighting Environmental Concerns Opens
PHOENIX (January 27, 2025) – In February, Phoenix Art Museum will host a special Valentine’s Day Date Night on February 14 from 6 – 8 pm, featuring wine tasting, live jazz music, photobooths, Valentine’s Day lounge, and more. The Museum will also host the Spring Lenhardt Lecture on February 5 at 6 pm with artist Charles Gaines and Thema Golden, Director and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem. The lecture is followed by a special performance of Gaines’ piece Manifestos 3 (2018) played live by pianist richard valitutto, with live video operated by Mads Falcone. Gaines’ work is on view now in Charles Gaines: Numbers and Trees (Arizona Series) and Charles Gaines: 1992-2023.
FEATURED FREE-ACCESS PROGRAMS Pay-What-You-Wish Wednesdays Every Wednesday | 3 – 8 pm Voluntary-donation general admission $10 off Memberships when purchased on-site SPECIAL-EXHIBITION TICKETS: $7 for adults | $5 for youth under 17 | FREE for Museum Members and Maricopa County Community College students*
Pay-What-You-Wish Wednesdays are made possible by SRP and City of Phoenix. The Maricopa County Community College District program at Phoenix Art Museum (MC3@PAM) is made possible through the generosity of Presenting Sponsor Men’s Arts Council.
The Maricopa County Community College District program at Phoenix Art Museum (MC3@PAM) is made possible through the generosity of Presenting Sponsor Men’s Arts Council.
Military Discount Active-duty U.S. military personnel and veterans enjoy discounted admission to PhxArt throughout the year. Qualified members must show a valid ID on-site to receive $5 off general admission tickets.
In-gallery sketching with Aileen Martinez (@look.see.draw)
Portrait workshop inspired by Charles Gaines with artist Bryan Beckon (@freebac)
Performance of Manifestos 3 (2018), Charles Gaine’s multimedia installation that transcribes revolutionary texts into musical notation, produced by Mads Falcone (@madsfalcone) and performed by pianist richard valitutto (@pianotutto)
An installation by Black River Life’s Artist Collective (@blackriverlife)
A sound and visual installation by Ashley LaRae Sampson (@ashbash_stylephx) and Cierra Holston (@cxheir)
Conversation with Rashaad Thomas(@blackeyedwitness), poet, freelance journalist, scholar, activist, and genre-fluid artist, and Dr. Rashad Shabazz, Associate Professor of Geography and African American studies at Arizona State University.
First Friday at PhxArt is made possible through the generosity of APS and Lexus.
LEARN // Lenhardt Lecture: Charles Gaines + Thelma Golden February 5 | Lecture @ 6 pm // Special Performance of Manifestos 3 @ 7 pm Free for Members | $5 for the general public The Spring Lenhardt Lecture features multimedia artist Charles Gaines in conversation with Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem. Following Gaines and Golden’s conversation, visitors will experience Gaines’ piece Manifestos 3 (2018). The multimedia performance functions as a systematic transliteration of three revolutionary manifestos into musical notation: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech from 1967, Terry Adkins’s Visionary Recital (1993), and James Baldwin’s essay Princes and Powers (1957). The musical notations, as written and arranged for piano by Gaines, will be played live by pianist richard valitutto with live video operated by Mads Falcone.
A preeminent figure in conceptual art, Gaines is widely known for converting images and text-based documents into numerical structures, musical notations, and other sign systems through rigorous translation mechanisms. In 1992, Gaines’s practice underwent a pivotal shift when he began to replace non-descript images with critical theory frameworks, ranging from the writings of Franz Kafka and Frantz Fanon to the manifestos of the Black Panthers and the American Indian Movement. By doing so, Gaines has channeled decolonial discourses into complex formal and conceptual works, in addition to combining different media such as video and sound. Tickets are available for reservation here.
The Lenhardt Lecture is made possible through the generosity of The Dawn and David Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative.
PhxArt Date Night: VALENTINE’S DAY EDITION February 14 | 6 – 8 pm Free for Members | Included with general admission for the general public Bring a friend, a partner, or family member and enjoy an evening of special arts programming and activities, themed scavenger hunts, food and drinks, and exploring the Museum galleries. This Date Night, celebrate Valentine’s Day with specially themed programming, including:
Live jazz music performed by The Nash (@thenashjazz)
Food and beverage experiences with ARTenders, Waffle Crush (@mywafflecrush), and El Fogón de Joy (@elfogondejoy)
Exclusive Museum Membership deals
+ more!
WORKSHOP // Family Studio February 22 | 10 am – 12:30 pm $20 for Members/$10 for youth (8-17)| $40 for the general public/$20 for youth (ages 8-17) Presented in the classroom located in the admin building. Limited capacity. Advance registration required. Join artist educator Mary Strawn from Walter Hive for a hands-on workshop inspired by Dutch painting techniques and the expressive art of blind contour drawing. Participants will explore how Dutch artists captured light, shadow, and detail in their work, while embracing the spontaneity of blind contour drawing to create their own unique masterpieces. This workshop emphasizes that everyone is an artist and encourages creative freedom and self-expression.
Family Studio is a collaborative workshop designed for children ages eight and up, along with their parents or caregivers, to experience and create art together. You’ll be guided through the art-making activity, gaining insights into its artistic value and unique characteristics. Each session includes a conversation in the galleries about the workshop’s inspired artwork on display, followed by a hands-on studio art activity. All children must be accompanied by a parent or caregiver. Tickets are available for reservation here.
Family Studio is made possible by Jane A. Lehman and Alan G. Lehman Foundation.
LEARN // Widening the Lens Artists’ Panel February 25 | 6:30 pm Free for Members and $8 for the general public Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape examines environmental histories and futures, climate change, andecological trauma, particularly in the American landscape. Enjoy a paneldiscussion between featured artists, who discuss how environmentalconcerns intersect with racial, economic, and political issues, moderated byEmilia Mickevicius, Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography.
Following the discussion, explore the exhibition before the Museum closes at 9 pm. Tickets are available for reservation here.
NOW OPEN Carlos Amorales: Black Cloud January 17, 2025 – ongoing Carlos Amorales has described Black Cloud as his way of saying goodbye to his grandmother, offering an intensely personal origin for an artwork that inspires a universal sense of wonder in each of us. Made up of 25,000 black paper moths and butterflies of 30 different species, the installation forms a surreal yet sublime gathering of insects delicately poised in sculptural formations.
Carlos Amorales: Black Cloud is on loan from the Diane and Bruce Halle Collection. All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin.
OPENING SOON Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape February 26 – June 15, 2025 Featuring nearly 65 works by 18 lens-based artists, including black-and-white images and sculptural installations, Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape defies traditional conceptions of photography to infuse the landscape with a greater awareness of histories, natural forces, and inhabitants going back thousands of years. The exhibition is arranged across four thematic sections. Archive challenges dominant narratives established in historical photographs. Remembering delves into nature as a memorial landscape, charged with the complexity of human identity and personal relationships. Pathfinding features works of art that illuminate human adaptability, complicity, and paralysis in the environment. Finally, Horizon looks toward the future and considers environmental anxiety, anticipation, possibility, and alternative paths forward. Widening the Lens offers a compelling view into ecological trauma, our personal and collective relationships to land, and how photography can help us envision paths forward.
Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape is organized by the Carnegie Museum of Art and curated by Dan Leers, curator of photography, with Keenan Saiz, former Hillman Photography Initiative project curatorial assistant. The exhibition’s presentation at Phoenix Art Museum is coordinated by Emilia Mickevicius, the Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography at Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography. Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape is made possible through the generosity of The William Talbott Hillman Foundation, The Henry L. Hillman Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Henry Luce Foundation, The Teiger Foundation, and The National Endowment for the Arts. All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation, with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin.
OTHER EVENTS KIDS // Create Playdate February 1, 8, 15, 22 | 10 am – 2 pm Free for Members | Included with general admission for the general public For more information, click here.
Create Playdate is made possible by First Things First, The Discount Tire Endowment for Children’s Art Programs, and the William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fund for Education Programs.
KIDS // Storytime February 6 | 10:30 am Free for Members | Included in general admission for the general public Advance registration recommended. For more information, click here.
Storytime is made possible by the Angela and Leonard Singer Endowment for Performing Arts, The Discount Tire Endowment for Children’s Art Programs, the William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fund for Education Programs, Legacy Traditional Schools, and First Things First.
FILM // National Theatre Live: Prima Facie February 6 | 6 pm $15 for Members | $20 for the general public Presented in Whiteman Hall. Limited capacity. Tickets are available for reservation here.
National Theatre Live screenings are made possible in part by the Angela and Leonard Singer Endowment for Performing Arts.
FILM // National Theatre Live: Prima Facie February 9 | 1 pm $15 for Members | $20 for the general public Presented in Whiteman Hall. Limited capacity. Tickets are available for reservation here.
National Theatre Live screenings are made possible in part by the Angela and Leonard Singer Endowment for Performing Arts.
FILM // Now Showing: Touki Bouki February 19 | 6 pm Free for Members | $8 for the general public Presented in Whiteman Hall. Limited capacity. Tickets are available for reservation here.
Films@PhxArt is made possible by Fit Via Vi Films.
About Phoenix Art Museum Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) has engaged millions of visitors with the art of our region and world. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, PhxArt creates spaces of exchange and belonging for all audiences through dynamic exhibitions, collections, and experiences with art. Each year, 300,000 guests on average engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of more than 21,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern, and contemporary art and fashion design, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson. PhxArt also presents live performances, outstanding examples of global cinema, arts-education programs and workshops, an art+music festival, and more for the community. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.
