Estrella Mountain Community College students installed an art exhibit titled, “Non-Places” in the storefront windows of a retail plaza in Old Town Avondale this week. This is the first art exhibit in the Old Town Avondale’s windowARTspace program that puts artwork in the windows of Western Avenue businesses. The exhibit will be up for two months.
On Tuesday, November 16, 17 students from EMCC’s digital photography class installed art pieces in the storefront windows of Sterling Plaza West, located across the street from the Sam Garcia Western Avenue Library at 506 East Western Avenue.
The Old Town Avondale windowARTspace program is another way to showcase art in Old Town Avondale, expanding beyond the monthly Old Town Avondale Art Walk held on third Fridays of the month during the fall/winter season.
“Exhibiting works of art by local artists in business windows brings excitement and artistic flair to Western Avenue, and gives local artists a chance to get their work out into the community,” explained Ruth Clark, Avondale’s revitalization project manager. “Sterling Plaza West is one of the largest commercial spaces along Western Avenue, located in a strategic spot across from the Sam Garcia Library. The building acts a temporary storefront art gallery through the generosity of its owner who is letting the artists put up their exhibit while the building is for lease,” Clark said.
Non-Places Exhibit: This exhibit arose from an assignment for the EMCC ART 142 digital photography class. Said Jim Fike, EMCC art faculty, “We now traverse and dwell in designations of space that include public, private, commercial, virtual, and natural spaces, each with codes of conduct and loaded expectations. Students were asked to explore different types of contemporary spaces and comment on how each affects identity. The resulting photo images were manipulated through Photoshop, in some cases combining various photos to make one panoramic image. Viewers of the exhibit should ask themselves, ‘How does my sense of identity change as I look at each picture?’ ”
For more information about windowARTspace, contact Ruth Clark at (623) 333-2724.