ARTS

Arts & Entertainment Scottsdale.org l @ScottsdaleProgress /ScottsdaleProgress

Student art on display at Visions ‘22 exhibition

Fashion Week to strut back into Scottsdale

BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer

Near the turn of the millennium, Scottsdale Arts Learning and Innovation had a vision: display the works of students from high schools across the Valley in one of its facilities.

This had been an ongoing tradition for two decades when Brittany Arnold, the teen and family coordinator for Scottsdale Arts Learning and Innovation, took over the event.

She entered the event ecstatic to show off the work that students had spent almost an entire school year to create. Then, just as the last piece was installed and the exhibit was about to open, the world shut down. Undeterred by having her first exhibition shut down, Arnold brought the vision to computer screens and held a small gallery opening event.

But she admits it did not have the same luster as the event she had hoped to hold.

“It was such a great program that worked well virtually but you just don’t get the same experience when it’s not in person,” she said. “The one-on-one interaction with an artist is really special and the kids of relationships that (the guests) build with the artists is hard to replicate over a computer screen.”

This year is a different story.

As Scottsdale Arts relaxed most of its COVID-19 safety measures, Arnold is over the moon to have the opportunity to open the exhibition to the masses.

This year’s exhibition features 42 students who attend six different schools across the Valley. Each submitted one work of art that is either a painting or a drawing, a sculpture or a piece of multimedia to be displayed.

Each piece was inspired by the prompt of choosing the works of one or two artists who interested the students and creating a piece of art that would be loosely inspired by them.

Visions ’22 will mark the first in-person Visions exhibition in three years after the 2020 gallery was canceled and last year’s gallery was held almost entirely virtually.

(Special to the Progress)

seeVISIONS page 28

BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer

After three years of heartbreak and managing through a worldwide pandemic, Scottsdale Fashion Week is set to strut its way around Scottsdale with events scattered across the city.

This is good news for hotels, shopping centers and Sheree Hartwell, who is the owner and director of FORD/ Robert Black Modeling Agency, which co-produces the event alongside Steve LeVine Entertainment & Public Relations: she remembers the headaches of shutting down her event with no sign of when it would return.

“We were set in 2020 to produce Scottsdale Fashion Week and a week before we were set to take the stages again, everything got shut down,” Hartwell said.

Although the better part of the last three years has been spent working with venues and adhering to health and safety protocols while traveling, Hartwell originally aimed to bring Fashion Week back to Scottsdale during the busiest time of year in March but that time of year brought another wave of uncertainty.

“We were originally scheduled in March but because of what was hap-

After a three-year pandemic-driven hiatus, Scottsdale Fashion Week is strutting back into town when it takes the runway beginning Thursday May 12.

The students spent a day a month outside of their home school learning from 23 different artists about their professional backgrounds, successes and barriers while also teaching new art-making techniques and conceptual approaches.

“It’s always really great to see the different learning experiences students have had throughout the school year, what they take away from that and how the students use those artists as an inspiration point for their work,” Arnold said.

One of the artists who instructed the students was Kendra Sollars, a Phoenixbased artist who works in video-based public installations.

During her class, Sollars tasked students with taking a picture of themselves, of their friends or of an object they found outside and then using photo manipulation software to alter the image to look similar to a desert plant.

She was dazzled by the results her students created. “The pieces that they made were so interesting and unique and it was really cool to see them interpret the prompt in their own way,” Sollars said.

Sollars was even more enthralled by how enthusiastic students were about digital art.

“I was really excited to see how engaged they were in digital art and how many young minds are excited to create digital art,” she said.

One of the students who created a unique digital multimedia project was Chapparal High School junior Mia Jacks, who altered a photo in her final project. “For my final piece, my piece says a lot about self-expression and identity and with a lot of my pieces I like to question the viewer a lot so I incorporated questions and mirrors along with the photos,” Mia said.

Mia was not the only student whose

SCOTTSDALE PROGRESS | WWW.SCOTTSDALE.ORG | MAY 8, 2022 work underscored a contemporary issue.

“A lot of the students tackled important issues like mental health, climate change as well as social issues,” Arnold said. “You see these really complex ideas that these young minds are grappling with every day and I see my duty as the program coordinator is to give the students a platform for that voice to be heard since they are the future generation that’s going to have an impact on what we do to the world and society.”

Although the subjects may be abstract in some of the works, Arnold and Mia hope that the works engage the viewers.

“I hope that people can interpret the art and understand what the artist is trying to convey,” Mia said.

“I hope that viewers are able to hear a different perspective from what is going on in the world today,” Arnold added.

Aside from sharing their works, the exhibition has also served the purpose of creating a community of young artists who have the privilege of displaying their art in the Center Space gallery at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. “Visions really helped me meet new people that art is also artists like me and it helped build connections with other artists,” Mia said. “It helped me get back into the groove of life and creating art.” An official gallery opening reception will be held on Friday May 13 at the Center for the Performing Arts.

If you go

What: Visions ‘22 Opening Reception When: 5 p.m. Friday May 13 Where: 7380 E. 2nd St. Cost: Free Info: Visitors will also be able to see the exhibition for themselves in the Center Space from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays through Oct. 2.

FASHION ���� page 27

pening with the pandemic and what was happening with Spring Training, we ran into scheduling problems when finding the right timing,” she said.

The timing could not have been more perfect as restrictions have begun to ease across the country and it seems like the public is eager to cram in as many in-person events as possible before the blistering summer rolls around.

“We feel as though the timing now with most restrictions lifted across the country that we’re in a safe place finally,” she said. “May almost became the last-ditch effort before everyone goes into hiding and we did not want to lose our opportunity to make a splash this year.”

Hartwell plans to do so literally by dripping events across the city and making the biggest waves at the newly opened Senna House Scottdale, Hilton Curio Collection hotel among other venues.

She also plans to wow audiences by treating them to an evening to remember centered around a remarkable fashion show.

“At a traditional fashion week, guests simply go to an hour-long show,” Hartwell said. “Whereas what we wanted to create and what we

Scottsdale Fashion Week is set to strut its way about the city with stops at venues ranging from car lots, a hotel pool and Scottsdale Fashion Square. (Special to the Progress)

have created over the years has been evenings and opportunities for amazing entertainment, food, drinks and of course a fashion show. It’s more of a night out than sitting down for a show and then leaving.”

Scottsdale Fashion Week accomplishes this by kicking the evening off in a way that is unlike any other fashion week.

“For us, most of the evenings begin with cocktails and crafted food that is on par with the evening and live entertainment,” Hartwell said. “We want to portray things that are over the top so that by the time they get to their seats, they’re having a good time and are excited to see a fashion show.”

The show also jockeys attendees across the city at different venues for shows each day.

“As opposed to many of the fashion weeks that are housed at one venue, ours transfers every night to a different venue,” Hartwell said. “We try to match up the designers and the brands that we’re showing.”

She plans to hook audiences right away when Scottsdale Fashion Week kicks off on the night of Thursday, May 12, at Mercedes-Benz of Scottsdale, where the showroom will transform into a runway displaying the designs of Saks Fifth Avenue.

“Mercedes-Benz of Scottsdale has been an incredible partner of ours since its inception and they will host us on opening night inside their incredible showroom to create a sophisticated evening where Saks Fifth Avenue will be showing its clothes,” Hartwell said.

The showroom will also provide a perfect backdrop for the couture runway show.

“Mercedes-Benz was a great tie-in since they are on the same level when it comes to the aesthetic, clientele and the demographic,” Hartwell said.

The next night, Scottsdale Fashion

week will make a splash by bringing its “Splash Into Swim” show to Scottsdale’s freshest waters at Senna House hotel.

“We felt like it was a great partner for us to be able to showcase amazing swimwear while kicking off the summer,” Hartwell said.

“The purpose for us and the vibe that we want to execute is that we’re attracting an affluent lifestyle and knowing that Senna House and Cala is the new hot hotel and restaurant in town, we thought this would such a great opportunity to showcase that to a lot of people.” After drying off, guests will flock the next night over to The Vault – a 16,000 square foot vehicle storage facility equipped with a collection of the hottest rods in the city – to witness the collections of Greta Constantine, one of the more eclectic fashion designers displayed throughout the week.

“Her designs are fantastic and over the top and it’s a couture runway show with clothes that most people wouldn’t wear every day,” Hartwell said. “These are the things that people think of when they think of Fashion Week.”

Hartwell thinks that the bright neon signs and an array of sports and luxury vehicles will serve as the ideal setting to show off Constantine’s clothes.

“I think that her line will be really well received there because it is really bold and out of the box,” she said. “I’m looking forward to transforming that place into something that people haven’t seen before.”

The week will then conclude with Wardrobe Apparel doing its show at Scottsdale Fashion Square mall, capping the weekend off with the earliest show of the week.

The week is expected to draw over 1,200 people to Scottsdale and attract northwards of 300 attendees at each event.

“With our demographic of people who attend Scottsdale Fashion Week, there’s almost a night for everybody,” Hartwell said. “Being able to do this gives each night its own identity and the opportunity to build it out into being a different experience each night.”

Info: Scottsdalefashionweek.com

Scottsdale Fashion Week Events

Thursday May 12

Opening Night 2022: Saks Fifth Avenue at Mercedes Benz of Scottsdale. 4725 N. Scottsdale Road 7 p.m. Tickets start at $125 and 10% of the evening’s proceeds will benefi t Magical Builders — a non-profi t that tries to advance the well-being of children and their communities.

Friday May 13 Splash Into Swim at Senna House Scottsdale, Hilton Curio Collection by Hilton and Cala Scottsdale

featuring brands: Avery Rose, Cotton On and CAMI AND JAX. 7501 E. Camelback Road 8 p.m. Tickets start at $75.

Saturday May 14

Greta Constantine presented by Wardrobe Apparel at The Vault Scottsdale. 15882 N. 77th Street 7 p.m. Tickets start at $125.

Sunday May 15

Sunday Soiree: Wardrobe Apparel at Scottsdale Fashion Square 7014 E. Camelback Road 11 a.m. Tickets start at $75.

BE DEBT FREE IN 24–48 MONTHS!

If you owe more than $10,000 in credit card or other debt, see how we can help.

ANY TWO

SPECIALTY PIZZAS $29.99

NO COUPON NECESSARY

$6.79

Choose from a variety of handcrafted pizzas, fresh salads, pasta & delicious desserts. Served Monday-Friday, 11am-2pm.

TWO

CHEESE PIZZAS $23

Valid at McDowell and Miller location only. Limit one coupon per customer per visit, plus applicable tax. Not for sale. Restrictions may apply. No cash value. Prices may vary. Not valid with any other offer or discount. Coupon may not be altered, photocopied or truncated. Valid for dine-in only. Expires 5/31/22. ©2021 Peter Piper, LLC. All rights reserved.

Dine-in or Carry out!

7607 E. McDowell Rd. • Scottsdale, AZ 85257 480-947-9901 Order online at peterpiperpizza.com

WANT DELIVERY? Order from DoorDash or Uber East®, where available.