The Alwun House is transforming an entire neighborhood, one piece of art at a time By Ashley Naftule. Photos courtesy of Alwun House.
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ome things can’t help but live up to their clichés. You’d expect that a city named after a mythical bird that keeps resurrecting itself by bursting into flames would also be in a constant state of reinvention, and Phoenix doesn’t disappoint. Any sense of enduring local history and permanence seems to get paved over and forgotten every few years. Venues close, art galleries open and shutter, visionary artists submit to the siren’s call of Portland or Seattle, developers transform funky neighborhoods into craft bar districts. Sift through the ashes of those flashfires of change and only a handful of local landmarks and organizations endure. Places like the indomitable Alwun House. A bungalow style manor house situated on the corner of 12th and Roosevelt
streets, the Alwun House is an art oasis that has thrived for nearly 50 years in the desert. Once known as the Sedler House (named for its builder and original owner, John Sedler, who erected the house in 1912), the Alwun House has become a big enough fixture in the community for the building to have landed on both the City of Phoenix’s list of registered historical properties and the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office’s Inventory of Historic Properties (making it eligible for National Historic Registration). It’s also, in many respects, the alpha and omega of the downtown arts scene. Started in 1971, the Alwun House has been an active gallery and venue space in the Garfield neighborhood for decades. In a local arts culture where most venues are considered venerable elders if they make it to their 10th anniversary, Alwun House’s nearly five decade long existence is without equal. First to the art party and the last to leave, Alwun House’s Kim Moody and Dana Johnson credit sheer stubbornness as the secret to their success. “Perseverance and stubbornness,” Johnson says, seated with Moody in the house’s backyard. A lush backdrop of koi ponds, trees, and rock formations dot the landscape, creating an environment
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Alwun History jpg caption: Founders laying down a literal foundation (from left to right): Larry Vanderbeek, Tomas Houlon, and Kim Moody.
that’s part Zen garden and part exotica album cover. “For many years we were renting this house at a pretty good rate that we could still barely afford. But we worked hard and now we own this house free and clear.” In addition to dogged persistence, Moody thinks the key to Alwun’s longevity has been its dedication to values. “Vision, purpose, all of the arts in one place. Progressive, always progressive,” Moody drawls. “Like when we did the recall for Evan Meacham.” Central to the art organization’s FEATURE STORY
