Small Museums in Tucson Arizona

-

Yeibichai Textile - Navajo

 

When visiting the city of Tucson, Arizona, you might want to find places to spend time away from the desert sun and heat. Luckily there are several museums you can visit with good art and great air conditioning. Today I will explore two of them.

Tucson Desert Art Museum

 


A strip mall on the east side of Tucson may not be where you would expect to find an art museum, but you would be wrong. In 2013, James E. Conley (1943-2020) decided to take part of his extensive art collection and create a museum to share it with the public. He worked with Rhonda R. Smith to create the Tucson Desert Art Museum, using his collection of art, artifacts and textiles.

 

The Desert Art Museum has an amazing collection of Navajo and Hopi textiles, in a wide variety of styles and designs.
 


Navajo Late Classic Blanket

Transitional Textile - Navajo

Germantown Eyedazzler - Navajo

Optical Pattern Saddle Blanket - Navajo

Teec Nos Pos - Red Mesa Trading Post - Navajo

Tree of Life - Navajo



It also offers a very nice collection of artwork from and about the southwest.


Winter Warmth by Ray Roberts

Sunburst Canyon by Mark Weber

In Navajo Country by Gerard Curtis Delano


The Tucson Desert Art Museum also host temporary shows by contemporary artists. When I visited, it was home to Cruzendo la Linea - Crossing the Line. These pieces are in reaction to the issues brought by lives and families split by the border between the United States and Mexico.



Agent by Alejandro Macias

Sombra de Nopalitos by Alfred J. Quiroz

Border Is-Shoes by Alfred J. Quiroz

Semi de la Muerte by Alfred J. Quiroz


The Mini Time Machine - museum of miniatures


 


Patricia (1933-2022) and Walter Arnell (1924-2015) were ardent collectors of fine miniatures. Patricia began collecting doll houses as a young child, and her passion grew when they moved to Tucson in the 1970’s. They enjoyed sharing their collection, and in 2009 they opened the Mini Time Machine museum of miniatures.






The museum is divided into sections based on the type of miniature; doll house, store front, neighborhood street, all get their due. There are even a winter wonderland and a garden of mythical creatures.







When I visited there was a special exhibit of the work of Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013). Harryhausen was a master of miniature stop-motion photography. His work made movies like The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Clash of the Titans, and many more films to remember.






Nuts and Bolts


  • Tucson Desert Art Museum - 7000 E. Tanque Verde Road. Open Wed - Sat, 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Entrance fee is Adults $12/ Seniors $10/ Students $6
  • Mini Time Maschine museum of miniatures - 4455 E. Camp Lowell Drive. Open Tue - Sun 9:00AM - 4:00PM. Entrance fee is Adults $15/ Seniors and Students $13/ Youth $9 
Location: 7000 E Tanque Verde Rd, Tucson, AZ 85715, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Locks of the Erie Canal

-
Image
There is something about setting a series of tasks for yourself, especially if there is a time limit to complete them. It sets in your mind. After an initial burst of energy it becomes zen, a focus that blocks out other things. In this case I gave myself 33 tasks and 72 hours. Some were longer than others. Some were more interesting. I set out to photographs every lock on the Erie Canal. This year is the bicentennial of the beginning of construction on the original Erie Canal. Finished in 1825, the Erie Canal opened the west to the direct transport of goods. Prior to that everything had to be taken by cart over land. The canal spurred the settlement of western New York and Pennsylvania by taking a trip of up to 45 days and shortening it to about 9. It provided a faster and cheaper way for farmers to send grain to the cities along the coast and for industries in those cities to send manufactured goods to new settlers. It also allowed industry to develop along the rivers ...
Read more

Callicoon NY is a beautiful place to visit

-
Image
Delaware River near Narrowsburg NY   When I take a road trip, I love to travel on small roads, avoiding the major highways. It helps that I am retired, and rarely on a tight schedule. One of the things I look forward to is discovering the small towns that the interstate passes by. I am often surprised by what I find. A recent trip through the Catskill Mountains of New York brought me just such a find.  In the northwest corner of Sullivan county, where the Delaware river serves as the border between New York and Pennsylvania, is the town of Callicoon . The town sits in a valley along the river. It was founded in 1842, when the Erie Railroad came through this part of the state. This part of the Catskills was already a center of the timber industry. In 1849 a tannery was built, taking advantage of the local hemlock trees, whose bark played a key role in preparing leather for boots and industrial belts. The railroad allowed for an influx of farmers, offering them a reliable way to...
Read more

The Real NYC #28 - City College of New York

-
Image
 As I wrote in my last post, I am a graduate of the City College of New York. And despite wondering what I missed by not going away to a large university, CCNY will always feel like home. I grew up in New York and have lived here my whole life, and City College really represents the New York I love. It is truly a cross section of the city. I started college in 1979 at The Cooper Union, a small, elite engineering/art/architecture college in Greenwich Village but I never really felt comfortable there. I quickly learned that while I loved studying chemistry, I really hated engineering courses. I also really didn’t fit in. The students were almost all white, suburban kids who viewed their studies as a fast path to a big paycheck. Even worse, Cooper Union is the first place that I had to deal with the casual racism that exists. . I grew up in the very integrated Upper West Side of Manhattan and in a family that celebrated diversity and actively fought against racism. I rem...
Read more