PHOENIX (March 4, 2026) – This spring, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) hosts the 2026 Eric Fischl Series in partnership with Phoenix College (PC) celebrating 21 years of the Eric Fischl Lecture Series. The 2026 lecture features Eric Fischl—the event’s namesake—in conversation with contemporary artist Marilyn Minter. Known for her distinguished hyper-realistic style, Minter explores themes of beauty and desire through compositions that offer a close-up, visceral view of the body. Join us for a dynamic conversation between the two artists as they discuss Minter’s studio practice, her evolution as an artist, and the boundaries of contemporary art. The 2026 Eric Fischl series will be hosted on Wednesday, April 8, 2025 from 5 – 7:30 pm. Tickets are $5 for the public and free for Museum Members and are available here. Tickets are free for Phoenix College students with an active ID.

“As we mark the program’s 21st anniversary, Phoenix Art Museum, in partnership with Phoenix College, is proud to spotlight this year’s featured artist, Marilyn Minter, in conversation with Eric Fischl,” said Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Museum’s Sybil Harrington Director and CEO. “Minter has transformed the language of contemporary art through work that is fearless, visually electric and deeply attuned to how images shape power, desire and identity. We’re honored to welcome her for an evening that places her ideas at the center of the conversation and offer a rare opportunity for visitors to engage directly with an artist whose work continues to shape how we see and talk about images.”

Each year, the Eric Fischl series hosted by Phoenix College and held at Phoenix Art Museum draws students, artists, and community members for engaging conversations about art. The 2026 Eric Fischl guest artist is New-York based American visual artist Marilyn Minter. Known as one of the most provocative and influential contemporary artists of our time, Minter is recognized for her raw, hyperreal explorations of beauty, power, and desire across a variety of mediums.

Working across painting, photography and video, she challenges conventional aesthetics by fusing glamour with grit and seduction with subversion. Drawing from fashion, advertising, pornography and art history, Minter’s work examines how pleasure, femininity and consumer culture collide. Her signature style—lush, high-gloss surfaces layered with sweat, glitter and condensation—blurs the boundaries between attraction and repulsion, reality and fantasy. Since the 1970s, Minter has been a fearless disruptor, using her art to critique the idealized images promoted by mass media and the ways women’s bodies are consumed. From her early “bush paintings” to billboard interventions and video works, she continually pushes against cultural taboos surrounding sexuality, feminism and representation. Her work has been exhibited nationally, including at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Brooklyn Museum. Her 2016 retrospective, Pretty/Dirty, cemented her legacy as a pioneering artist who amplifies what others shy away from.

The event on April 8 will begin with an exhibition of artwork by Phoenix College students on view in the Museum’s Cummings Great Hall South. As part of the 2026 Eric Fischl Series, Fischl will also present the prestigious Vanguard Awards to students whose works are selected as “Best in Show” from pieces submitted to the annual exhibition. Fischl created the Vanguard Award in 2005 to recognize emerging student talent in the fine arts, establish Phoenix College as a center for the arts in downtown Phoenix, and create life-changing opportunities for students. Recipients of the award receive $2,500. To date, the Vanguard Award has been presented to 69 students, including some who have received the award more than once. The evening will close with an engaging conversation between Fischl and Minter in Whiteman Hall.

In addition to the annual Eric Fischl Series, PhxArt will be showing an exclusive film screening of PRETTY DIRTY: The Life and Times of Marilyn Minter on April 7. Directed by Jennifer Ash Rudick and Amanda Benchley, this unfiltered exposé strips away the glittering facade of one of the art world’s most provocative icons. PRETTY DIRTY traces Minter’s improbable journey from a Southern childhood and New York’s raw underground to today’s billion-dollar art market. Known for transforming forbidden subjects—sex, shame, and aging—into hypnotic, larger-than-life masterpieces, Minter blurs the lines between glamour and grit. As she nears 80, she remains an “unapologetic provocateuse,” creating massive paintings of cultural icons like Lizzo, Jane Fonda, Pamela Anderson, and Monica Lewinsky. Featuring rare archival footage and powerful testimonies from art world luminaries and pop culture figures including Glenn Ligon and Padma Lakshmi, the film asks a lingering question: Will the art establishment finally embrace an artist who dares to think differently? The film will be followed by a special 20-minute Q&A with the artist herself, Marilyn Minter, moderated by one of the film’s producers, Debi Wisch, (The Art of Making It, The Price of Everything) as they discuss the making of the documentary and Minter’s lifelong pursuit of an authentic, fearless aesthetic. The screening of Pretty Dirty: The Life and Times of Marilyn Minter will be hosted on Tuesday, April 7, 2025 at 6 pm with the Q&A at 7:30pm. Tickets are $8 for the public and free for Museum Members and are available here.

For more information contact the Communications Office at press@phxart.org or kaylee.weyrauch@phxart.org.

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.

About Eric Fischl

Born in New York City in 1948, Eric Fischl grew up in the suburbs of Long Island. He began his art education in Phoenix and attended Phoenix College, later earning his B.F.A. from the California Institute for the Arts in 1972. After spending time in Chicago, where he worked as a guard at the Museum of Contemporary Art, he moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to teach painting at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Fischl had his first solo exhibition there before relocating to New York City in 1978. Fischl’s suburban upbringing provided him with a backdrop of alcoholism and a country club culture obsessed with image over content. His early work thus became focused on the rift between what was experienced and what could not be said. His first New York City solo exhibition was at Edward Thorp Gallery in 1979, during a time when suburbia was not considered a legitimate genre for art. He received critical attention for depicting the dark, disturbing undercurrents of mainstream American life. An internationally acclaimed American painter and sculptor, Fischl’s artwork is represented in many distinguished museums throughout the world and has been featured in over 1,000 publications. His extraordinary achievements throughout his career have made him one of the most influential figurative painters of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He is a Fellow at both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Science. He lives and works in Sag Harbor, NY, with his wife, the painter April Gornik.

About Marilyn Minter

Marilyn Minter (b. 1948, U.S.) is one of the most influential contemporary artists of her generation, known for her unflinching, hyperreal examinations of beauty, power and desire. Working across painting, photography and video, she challenges conventional aesthetics by fusing glamour with grit and seduction with subversion. Drawing from fashion, advertising, pornography and art history, Minter’s work explores the intersections of pleasure, femininity and consumer culture. Her signature style—lush, high-gloss surfaces layered with sweat, glitter and condensation—collapses the boundaries between attraction and repulsion, reality and fantasy. Since the 1970s, Minter has consistently used her practice to interrogate the idealized images produced by mass media. From her early “bush paintings” to large-scale billboard projects and video works, she confronts cultural taboos surrounding sexuality, gender and feminism. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Brooklyn Museum. Her 2016 retrospective, Pretty/Dirty, further established her as a pioneering artist whose work brings visibility to subjects often pushed to the margins.

About Phoenix College

Founded in 1920, Phoenix College is the flagship institution of the Maricopa County Community College District, one of the largest community college systems in the nation. Serving more than 17,000 students each year, the college offers over 200 degree and certificate programs, including associate degrees, university transfer pathways, workforce training, and select bachelor’s degrees aligned with Arizona’s evolving workforce needs. Committed to access, academic excellence, and student success, Phoenix College helps students build skills, advance their careers, and create better futures for themselves and their families.

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The post Phoenix Art Museum partners with Phoenix College to host 2026 Eric Fischl Series featuring Marilyn Minter; Exclusive screening of PRETTY DIRTY: The Life and Times of Marilyn Minter appeared first on Phoenix Art Museum.

PHOENIX (April 23, 2025) – This fall, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) presents Eric Fischl: Stories Told, organized by PhxArt and guest curated by Heather Sealy Lineberry, Curator Emeritus at the Arizona State University Art Museum. The major exhibition explores several notable series created by the figurative painter from the late 1970s to today, foregrounding his career-long commitment to depicting the human figure amid middle-class suburban settings inspired by his childhood and personal experiences. Eric Fischl: Stories Told will be on view at PhxArt from November 7, 2025 – June 14, 2026.

“Phoenix Art Museum is honored to premiere Eric Fischl: Stories Told in the very city where Fischl began his artistic career,” said Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Museum’s Sybil Harrington Director and CEO. “For decades, Eric Fischl’s painting, drawing, and sculptural practice have garnered tremendous art-world acclaim, especially from artists with a particular interest in the human figure. In addition to his international stature, Fischl has had a profound impact on the Phoenix arts scene through longtime mentorship and philanthropic endeavors at Phoenix College, making this survey of signature works—the first full-scale, solo exhibition of Fischl’s art since 2018—a homecoming of sorts.” 

Fischl (b. 1948) grew up in Long Island, New York, and Phoenix, Arizona, where he attended Phoenix College and Arizona State University in the late 1960s. After studying under contemporary landscape painter Merrill Mahaffey, Fischl received his B.F.A. in 1972 as part of the first graduating class at the California Institute for the Arts (CalArts). During a time when new art forms and ideas reigned at CalArts, Fischl largely had to teach himself to paint in the traditional manner, studying early modern artists like Manet and Degas. Working with figurative painting and narrative content in the late 1970s, when it was decidedly out of favor in the art world, Fischl made his subject what he knew best: memories of suburban life and the nuclear family of his childhood. Across his oeuvre, Fischl has explored themes such as the aspirational American Dream of the 1950s, the radical social and aesthetic shifts of the 1960s and 1970s, and the heady culture of New York City and its defining art movements of the 1980s. Throughout his long career, Fischl  has consistently centered the human figure in his work, placing it in fraught, ambiguous moments where social taboos, anxieties, family secrets, masculinity, unacknowledged privilege, the collision of the public and the private, and more bubble just below the surface.

Eric Fischl: Stories Told brings together approximately 40 large-scale works that prominently display Fischl’s astounding consistency in and commitment to painting the human form within the context of middle-class America. Organized into four thematic sections, the exhibition showcases Fischl’s well-known early paintings and works on paper in conversation with paintings from series created later in Fischl’s career, including Late America, My Old Neighborhood, Presence of an Absence, Complications from an Already Unfulfilled Life, Melancholia, and Hotel Stories. The sections are defined by their key compositional element—the human body—depicted alone, in a couple, as part of a family, or in a crowd. This straightforward approach underlines Fischl’s constant consideration of the relationship between individual and collective identities, and highlights recurring themes throughout his career.

“For more than 45 years, Eric Fischl has used figurative painting to examine the defining social issues and current events of our time,” said Heather Sealy Lineberry, the exhibition’s curator. “Eric Fischl: Stories Told is a timely opportunity to recontextualize the artist’s work within our contemporary moment as figure painting experiences an international resurgence and as Fischl continues to examine the possibilities and promises, the disparities and contradictions of the American experience.”

Eric Fischl: Stories Told is accompanied by a fully illustrated, 160-page catalogue published by Scala Arts Publishers, Inc., with an introduction by curator Heather Sealy Lineberry and essays by art historian Dr. Kathryn Brown; art critic and curator Eleanor Heartney; and Eleanor Nairne, the Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art and Department Head, Modern and Contemporary at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The publication also features a conversation between Eric Fischl and artist Arcmanoro Niles, as well as an annotated chronology of Fischl’s life and career.

High-resolution photography for Eric Fischl: Stories Told can be downloaded here. To request interviews, contact the Communications Office of Phoenix Art Museum at 602.257.2117 or samantha.santos@phxart.org.

About the Exhibition
Eric Fischl: Stories Told is organized by Phoenix Art Museum and guest curated by Heather Sealy Lineberry, Curator Emeritus at the Arizona State University Art Museum, faculty associate in the ASU School of Art’s Museum Studies program. The exhibition is made possible by Men’s Arts Council, Margaret T. Morris Foundation, Steven Martin and Anne Stringfield, James and Janet Dicke, Bruce and Suzie Kovner, and DL Winters Foundation, with additional support provided by Rafael Jablonka.

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.

Admission is free for Museum Members; youth aged 5 and younger; and Maricopa County Community Colleges students. Entrance into the exhibition is included in general admission for the public. Visitors may also enjoy reduced admission to the exhibition during voluntary-donation times on Wednesdays from 3 – 8 pm, made possible by SRP and City of Phoenix, and First Fridays from 5 – 8 pm, made possible by APS and Lexus. For a full breakdown of general admission prices and hours, see phxart.org/visit/.

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.

About Eric Fischl
Eric Fischl was born in 1948 in New York City and grew up in the suburbs of Long Island. He began his art education in Phoenix, Arizona, where his parents had moved in 1967. He attended Phoenix College and Arizona State University before earning his B.F.A. from the California Institute for the Arts in 1972. He then spent some time in Chicago, where he worked as a guard at the Museum of Contemporary Art. In 1974, he moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to teach painting at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Fischl had his first solo show, curated by Bruce W. Ferguson, at Dalhousie Art Gallery in Nova Scotia in 1975 before relocating to New York City in 1978.

Fischl’s suburban upbringing provided him with a backdrop of alcoholism and a country club culture obsessed with image over content. His early work thus became focused on the rift between what was experienced and what could not be said. His first New York City solo show was at Edward Thorp Gallery in 1979, during a time when suburbia was not considered a legitimate genre for art. He first received critical attention for depicting the dark, disturbing undercurrents of mainstream American life. Fischl’s paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints have been the subject of numerous solo and major group exhibitions, and his work is represented in many museums, as well as prestigious private and corporate collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Museum of Modem Art in New York City, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, St. Louis Art Museum, Louisiana Museum of Art in Denmark, Musèe Beaubourg in Paris, The Paine Weber Collection, and many others. Fischl has collaborated with other artists and authors, including E.L. Doctorow, Allen Ginsberg, Jamaica Kincaid, Jerry Saltz and Frederic Tuten. He is also the founder, President, and lead curator for America: Now and Here, an project that launched in 2011 and featured 150 of some of America’s most celebrated visual artists, musicians, poets, playwrights, and filmmakers.

The post Phoenix Art Museum to premiere first Eric Fischl survey in nearly a decade appeared first on Phoenix Art Museum.

FREE-ACCESS EVENT
PhxArt AfterHours: PAPARRAZI
April 7 | 5 – 9 pmComplimentary admission | Free-access event
PhxArt AfterHours: PAPARAZZI returns on April 7 from 5 – 9pm, activated by free admission to every gallery and exhibition, live music, art-making workshops, specialty food and drink experiences inspired by photography exhibition Fashioning Self: The Photography of Everyday Expression, including:

• Ten Tiny Dances® pop-up performances on a 4’x4’ stage across the Museum, presented by CONDER/dance (@conderdance)

• Music by DJ LittleOffOfCenter (@littleoffofcenter) and DJ Alex Castles (@alexcvstles)

• Learn how to pose for the perfect photo with members from Style Line Magazine (@stylelinemagazine) and have your photo featured in Fashioning Self: The Photography of Everyday Expression on a rotating display of social media images

• Indulge in soulful melodies and rhythmic beats of talented local jazz students from The Nash (@thenashjazz)

• Live in-gallery sketching with (@thegarmentleague) and (@triceethomas)

• Lemon Art Research Library pop-up featuring fashion magazines and books

• Specialty food and beverage experiences with ArtTenders, Palette Restaurant, Beignet Babe (@beignet_babe), and StrEAT Gyros (@streatgyro)

• + Much more!

This PhxArt AfterHours event is made possible through the generosity of Partner Sponsor APS, with the support of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

ON VIEW NOW
Fashioning Self: The Photography of Everyday Expression
Through November 12, 2023
Fashioning Self: The Photography of Everyday Expression explores the long-intertwined relationship between fashion as a tool for self-expression and photography’s role in chronicling it. Organized by Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography (CCP), the exhibition features 54 works of street, documentary, and self-portrait photography from 1912 to 2015. Iconic views by Dennis Feldman, Laura Volkerding, Linda Rich, John Simmons, David Hume Kennerly, Teenie Harris, and more illuminate the dialogue that occurs between photographer and subject—the give-and-take between self-performance and art making. Alongside these works, Fashioning Self also features a rotating display of social media images shared by community members and individuals from across the United States via the hashtag #FashioningSelf.

Fashioning Self: The Photography of Everyday Expression is organized by Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography. It is made possible through the generosity of the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members.

MOVE: The Modern Cut of Geoffrey Beene
Through July 23, 2023
MOVE: The Modern Cut of Geoffrey Beene celebrates the dynamic fashions of the late designer renowned for revolutionizing American sportswear and for his trailblazing runway ballets. Featuring garments drawn from the institution’s Geoffrey Beene Archive, the exhibition showcases a wide array of jumpsuits, jackets, dresses, and more, along with materials and ephemera from Beene’s personal archive, on loan from Authentic Brands Group and on view publicly for the first time.

MOVE: The Modern Cut of Geoffrey Beene is organized by Phoenix Art Museum with the support of Authentic Brands Group, LLC. It is made possible through the generosity of Major Sponsors Ellen and Howard C. Katz, Partner Sponsor The Virginia M. Ullman Foundation, Contributing Sponsors Miriam and Yefim Sukhman, and Media Sponsor KJZZ/KBACH.

Additional support provided by Arizona Costume Institute, the Kelly Ellman Fashion Design Endowment Fund, and Kimpton Hotel Palomar.

FEATURED APRIL 2023 EVENTS
Art Talk – Vitalizing Spaces: Public Art in Phoenix
April 5 | 6 – 7 pm
Free for Members and the general public during Pay-What-You-Wish-Wednesday
Presented in Singer Hall                                                                                                                                           
Public art installations, like Julian and Suzanne Walking (2006) by Julian Opie, provide accessible and inclusive art-engagement experiences. Hear from Danielle Foushée, designer, artist, and ASU professor, and Mitch Menchaca, executive director of the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, during this free presentation as they discuss the vitality of public art in Phoenix and how it enriches the city’s cultural life. Before and after the talk, visitors can stop by the Lemon Art Research Library for a pop-up featuring rare books, periodicals, and other ephemera centered on Julian Opie and the subject of public art. For more information, click here.

Pay-What-You-Wish Wednesdays are made possible through the generosity of SRP and the City of Phoenix.

2023 Eric Fischl Lecture Series: Scott Avett
April 12 | Student Art Exhibition @ 5:30 pm /// Lecture @ 7 pm
Free for Members | $5 for the general public
Presented in Whiteman Hall. Limited capacity.
The Eric Fischl Lecture Series, hosted by Phoenix College and held at Phoenix Art Museum, draws students, artists, and community members for engaging conversations about art. The 2023 Eric Fischl Lecture guest artist is internationally recognized musician Scott Avett, co-founder of the Grammy-nominated band The Avett Brothers. Avett’s creativity is fueled by music and the visual arts, and until recently, his art making has largely been a solitary creative pursuit. The 2023 Fischl Series is sure to capture the hearts and minds of artists and musicians alike, as Scott and Eric discuss the parallels between visual art, songwriting, and music development. The evening will begin with a student art exhibition and Vanguard awards ceremony, before moving into the lecture. Limited tickets are available for reservation here.

The 2023 Fischl Series is hosted with support from Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix College, Varitec Solutions, Blick Art Materials, Lisa Sette Gallery, DL Withers Foundation, and Art Solutions & Installation, LLC.

Film Premiere: Rotraut: l’énergie de la ligne (Rotraut: The Energy of the Line)
April 19 | 6:30 pm
Free for Members | $5 for the general public
Presented in Whiteman Hall. Limited capacity.
Discover the extraordinary life of internationally renowned German-French contemporary artist Rotraut during the world premiere of Rotraut: l’énergie de la ligne (Rotraut: The Energy of the Line). The documentary film offers an intimate look into Arizona-based artist’s practice, specifically her long fascination with the universe and how her work explores the energy of the seasons and the cosmos. Now 84 years old, Rotraut reveals for the first time the magic of her life with Yves Klein, how her poetic thoughts and authenticity feed her work, and how she forged her own way in the art world. The 60-minute documentary created by Carole Morgane Hamel is presented in French with English subtitles. Not rated. Estimated runtime: 1 h. French with English subtitles. More information available soon at phxart.org.

Rotraut: l’énergie de la ligne (Rotraut: The Energy of the Line), is a new documentary by Carole Morgane Hamel.

OTHER APRIL 2023 EVENTS
Object of the Month: Curves for E.S. by Dan Graham
April 1, 6, 20, 27 | 11:30 am
Free for Members | Included with general admission for the general public
Neither clearly architecture nor art, Dan Graham’s pavilion is a sinuous structure of steel, mirrors, and glass, realized once visitors move in and out of it. Join Docent Betsy Pai for a closer look at two-way mirror space and experience how it changes as the sunlight shifts. For more information, click here.

Storytime in the Garden
April 5 | 10:30 am
Free for Members | Included in general admission for the general public
Advance registration recommended
Designed for our youngest PhxArt visitors (ages 0-5) and their parents or caregivers, Storytime in the Garden is a wonderful opportunity to share the joy of early literacy, art-inspired play, and hands-on learning with family and friends. The Storytime in the Garden series is offered on the first Wednesday of each month in the Dorrance Sculpture Garden. Tickets are available for reservation here.

Storytime in the Garden is made possible in part by the Angela and Leonard Singer Endowment for Performing Arts, The Discount Tire Endowment for Children’s Art Programs, and the William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fund for Education Programs.

Weekly Virtual Mindfulness Sessions
April 6, 13, 20, 27 | Noon
Free for Members | $5 suggested donation for the general public
Scientific studies show the art of mindfulness can relieve anxiety, depression, pain, and stress and actually change the way we feel, think, work, and play by opening new pathways in the brain. Presented in collaboration with Hospice of the Valley, this free, 30-minute, at-home mindfulness session promotes living in the present. This session is hosted live on Zoom, a video-conference platform. For more information, click here.

Lemon Library Book Club: Entanglement: The Secret Lives of Hair
April 15 | 1:30 pm
Free for Members and the general public
Presented in the Lemon Art Research Library
Join librarian Jesse Lopez for the next installment of the Lemon Art Research Library Book Club, featuring Emma Tarlo’s Entanglement: The Secret Lives of Hair. This book club selection is inspired by the artwork of Sam Frésquez and Merryn Omotayo Alaka featured in the 2021 Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards exhibition. More information available soon at phxart.org.

Pop-In Poetry with Spoken Word Artist Melissa Dunmore
April 19 | 4 – 7 pm
Open to the public during Pay-What-You-Wish-Wednesday
Celebrate National Poetry Month in the galleries! Join Phoenix-based spoken word artist Melissa Dunmore and write your own artwork-inspired poem. Visitors of all ages and abilities are welcome. For more information, click here.

This workshop and dance performance is free and open to the public during Pay-What-You-Wish Wednesday. It is supported in part through the generosity of the Angela and Leonard Singer Endowment for Performing Arts.

National Theatre Live: Othello
April 23 | 1 – 4 pm
$15 for Members | $20 for the general public
Simulcast presented in Whiteman Hall. Limited capacity.
Wed in secret, Desdemona and Othello crave a new life together. But as unseen forces conspire against them, they find their future is not theirs to decide. Rated PG-13. Estimated runtime: 3 h. Tickets are available here.

National Theatre Live screenings are made possible in part by the Angela and Leonard Singer Endowment for Performing Arts.

FREE-ACCESS PROGRAMS
Pay-What-You-Wish Wednesdays
Every Wednesday | 3 – 9 pm
Voluntary-donation general admission
SPECIAL-EXHIBITION TICKETS: $6 for adults | FREE for Museum Members and Maricopa County Community College Students*
From 3 – 9 pm every Wednesday, the Museum offers voluntary-donation general admission and reduced rates to view special-engagement exhibitions.

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.

PhxArt AfterHours
September 1 /// December 1, 2023
5 – 9 pmComplimentary admission | Free-access eventAt select times throughout the year, Phoenix Art Museum opens for free after dark for PhxArt AfterHours, activated by live music, art-making workshops, specialty food and drink experiences, and other performances and entertainment. Visit the Museum during an AfterHours event to expand the way you interact with art.

PhxArt AfterHours are made possible through the generosity of Partner Sponsor APS, with the support of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

PhxArt Family Fundays
May 28 /// July 30 /// October 29
10 am – 5 pmComplimentary admission | Free-access dayAt select times throughout the year, Phoenix Art Museum hosts PhxArt Family Fundays, an all-ages, free-access day with complimentary admission to every gallery and exhibition and arts-engagement programming suitable for visitors of all ages, interests, and abilities.

PhxArt Family Fundays are made possible through the generosity of Presenting Sponsor Men’s Arts Council.

Free Admission for Maricopa County Community Colleges Students
Through the MC³@PAM program at PhxArt, all Maricopa County Community Colleges students who attend any of the 10 colleges or affiliated skill centers will enjoy free general admission to PhxArt, including admission into special-engagement exhibitions. Visitors must present an active student ID at the time of admission.

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.

SCHOOL AND ADULT TOURS
On-site school and adult tours have returned to Phoenix Art Museum. To learn more about school-tour offerings and planning a school visit, click here. For adult and college group tour requests, click here.

In addition, Phoenix Art Museum offers live virtual presentations for school classrooms and community organizations. For more information on Virtual Classroom Visits, click here. For more information on Virtual Presentations for Adults, click here.

School Tours and Virtual Classroom Visits are made possible in part by Carolyn Dunkin Schulte Educational Endowment Fund, The Discount Tire Endowment for Children’s Art Programs the and William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fund for Education Programs.

PHXARTIST SPOTLIGHTS
Presented by Phoenix Art Museum, PhxArtist Spotlight is a monthly series that explores what inspires and motivates Valley creatives, while leveraging the Museum’s reach in its community to support and expand awareness of working artists. Each month, the Museum highlights a different artist working in Arizona, posting a Q&A with the artist and images of their work on the Museum’s Instagram and Facebook channels and on the Museum’s bilingual blog. The artist is also highlighted in a monthly email sent to Museum Members, Circles of Support donors, and a subscriber list of more than 65,000 followers.For more information on the series, click here. For recent spotlights on Selina A. Scott and Blaise Danio, click here.

About Phoenix Art Museum
Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum has provided millions of guests with access to world-class art and experiences in an effort to ignite imaginations, create meaningful connections, and serve as a brave space for all people who wish to experience the transformative power of art. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, the Museum is a vibrant destination for the visual arts and the largest art museum in the southwestern United States. Each year, more than 300,000 guests engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of more than 20,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern and contemporary art, and fashion design. The Museum also presents a comprehensive film program, live performances, and educational programs designed for visitors of all ages, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.

The post Phoenix Art Museum hosts free photography-themed AfterHours event; presents conversation on importance of public art; welcomes Scott Avett as 2023 Eric Fischl Lecture Series speaker     appeared first on Phoenix Art Museum.

PHOENIX (March 13, 2023) – This spring, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) hosts the 2023 Eric Fischl Series in partnership with contemporary painter, sculptor, author, and Phoenix College (PC) alumnus Eric Fischl. The event includes a student art exhibition and reception in Cummings Great Hall, followed by the Vanguard Awards presentation and a conversation between Eric Fischl and guest artist Scott Avett in Whiteman Hall. The 2023 Eric Fischl series will be hosted on Wednesday, April 12, 2023 from 5:30 – 8:30 pm. Tickets are $5 for the public and free for Museum Members and are available here.

Each year, the Eric Fischl series hosted by Phoenix College and held at Phoenix Art Museum draws students, artists, and community members for engaging conversations about art. The 2023 Eric Fischl guest artist is Scott Avett, an accomplished painter and printmaker best known as co-founder of the Grammy-nominated folk-rock band The Avett Brothers. Avett earned a BFA in studio art in 2000 from East Carolina University and explores life in the American south in large-scale figurative paintings with vibrant palettes.  His work is described on Artsy as “psychologically charged and emotionally intense, featuring at times intimate, vulnerable and honest portrayals of his family and himself.” 

Although Avett grew up in the rural south and is now raising a family there, his work is also influenced by the cultural and artistic influences he encountered in the years he spent on the road touring with his band.  His art-making has been a solitary creative pursuit compared to his life as a musician, singer, and songwriter. After decades of creating visual art, free of exhibition deadlines or audience expectation, Avett had his first museum exhibition in October 2019 at the North Carolina Museum of Art, which highlighted his work across 20 years spanning multiple disciplines, including painting, printmaking, and sculptural objects. An extensive catalogue, Scott Avett INVISIBLE, accompanied the exhibition. Avett is represented by the Hexton Gallery.

The celebration on April 12 will begin with an exhibition of artwork by Phoenix College students on view in the Museum’s Cummings Great Hall. As part of the 2023 Eric Fischl Series, Fischl and Avett will also present the prestigious Vanguard Awards to students whose works are selected as “Best in Show” from pieces submitted to the annual exhibition. Fischl created the Vanguard Award in 2005 to recognize emerging student talent in the fine arts, establish Phoenix College as a center for the arts in downtown Phoenix, and create life-changing opportunities for students. Recipients of the award receive $2,500. To date, more than 62 students have been presented with the Vanguard Award.

The evening will close with an engaging conversation between Fischl and Avett in Whiteman Hall, during which visitors will learn about Avett’s visual art practice and the parallels to his songwriting and music development.

The 2023 Fischl Series is made possible with support from Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix College, Varitec Solutions, Blick Art Materials, Lisa Sette Gallery, DL Withers Foundation, Matt Young Photography, and Art Solutions & Installation, LLC.

For more information, high-resolution photography, or a copy of this news release in Spanish, contact the Communications Office at 602.257.2117 or samantha.santos@phxart.org.

About Phoenix Art Museum
Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum has provided millions of guests with access to world-class art and experiences in an effort to ignite imaginations, create meaningful connections, and serve as a brave space for all people who wish to experience the transformative power of art. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, the Museum is a vibrant destination for the visual arts and the largest art museum in the southwestern United States. Each year, more than 300,000 guests engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of more than 20,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern and contemporary art, and fashion design. The Museum also presents a comprehensive film program, live performances, and educational programs designed for visitors of all ages, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.

About Phoenix College
Phoenix College is the flagship of the Maricopa County Community College District, one of the largest community college districts in the nation. Established in 1920, PC offers academic courses leading to associate degrees, university transfer, certificates and short-term job training.

The Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) is an EEO/AA institution and an equal opportunity employer of protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, or national origin. A lack of English language skills will not be a barrier to admission and participation in the career and technical education programs of the District.  The Maricopa County Community College District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability or age in its programs or activities. For Title IX/504 concerns, call the following number to reach the appointed coordinator: (480) 731-8499. For additional information, as well as a listing of all coordinators within the Maricopa College system, maricopa.edu/non-discrimination.

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