Java.DEC.20162-2

252 • DEC 2016 

JOHN ROMERO • NICOLE ROYSE • JOE JOHNSTON’S BARNONE • SADDLES

PHXART.ORG 

ON VIEW NOW THROUGH 

JANUARY 16, 2017

CONTENTS 

8 

12 

22 

32 

34 

FEATURES 

8 12 22 

34 

JOHN ROMERO 

Sharing Bikes, Sharing Hope 

By Demetrius Burns 

NICOLE ROYSE 

A Life of Art 

By Jenna Duncan 

PAPER DOLLS 

Photography: KÖLLAB, Christian Thomas 

and Niccanor 

SADDLES 

YOKE 

By Mitchell L. Hillman 

JOE JOHNSTON OPENS 

BARNONE IN GILBERT 

By Robert Sentinery 

Cover: Lux Lächeln 

Photo by: KÖLLAB, Christian Thomas and Niccanor 

COLUMNS 

7 

16 

20 

30 

38 

40 

BUZZ 

The Phoenicians 


ARTS 

Geoffrey Bohm’s Solo Debut at The Hive 

By Nicole Royse 

Constance McBride 

A Show of Hands 

By Amy L. Young 

Emphatics 

Avant-Garde Fashion at Phoenix Art Museum 


FOOD FETISH 

Pho Noodles 

Get Your Vietnam On 

By Sloane Burwell 

SOUNDS AROUND TOWN 


GIRL ON FARMER 

What’s That In My Stocking? 

By Celia Beresford 

NIGHT GALLERY 

Photos by Robert Sentinery 

JAVA MAGAZINE 

EDITOR & PUBLISHER 

Robert Sentinery 

ART DIRECTOR 

Victor Vasquez 

ARTS EDITOR 

Amy L. Young 

FOOD EDITOR 

Sloane Burwell 

MUSIC EDITOR 

Mitchell L. Hillman 

ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

Jenna Duncan 

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS 

Rhett Baruch 

Celia Beresford 

Demetrius Burns 

Tom Reardon 

PROOFREADER 

Patricia Sanders 

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS 

KÖLLAB 

ADVERTISING 

(602) 574-6364 

Java Magazine 

Copyright © 2016 

All rights reserved. 

Reproduction in whole or in part of any text, photograph 

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assume responsibility for unsolicited submissions. 

Publisher assumes no liability for the information 

contained herein; all statements are the sole opinions 

of the contributors and/or advertisers. 

JAVA MAGAZINE 

PO Box 45448 Phoenix, AZ 85064 

email: javamag@cox.net 

tel: (480) 966-6352 

www.javamagaz.com 

4 JAVA 

MAGAZINE

Dobet 

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Pavlo 

Feb. 6 

John Scofield’s 

Country for Old Men 

Feb. 17 

Kaki King: The Neck Is a 

Bridge to the Body 

Feb. 18 

Jimmy Webb: 

The Glen Campbell Years 

Mar. 1 & 2 

Niyaz with Azam Ali 

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Aaron Neville Duo 

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JAVA 5 

MAGAZINE

OPENING FEBRUARY 11, 2017 

Inaugural Exhibition 

for the new 

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THE PHOENICIANS 


BUZZ 

This month, we kick off the holiday season with a special edition, featuring several 

praiseworthy Phoenicians who’ve helped bring inspiration and good cheer. 

No one would have guessed Phoenix would become ground zero for one of the 

most progressive bike transportation systems in the country, especially considering 

that urban sprawl and bicycles don’t mix well. But thanks to the vision of 

CycleHop CEO Josh Squire and longtime Phoenix resident John Romero (Cycle- 

Hop’s COO), Phoenix’s Grid Bike Share was a true innovation when it launched in 

2013. Those green smart bikes seen all around CenPho are part of that network. 

CycleHop has expanded to 12 markets and is now the largest bike share operator 

in the country. Romero is responsible for launching programs in new cities and 

making sure each one is operating smoothly before moving to the next one. He 

also owns and runs The Bicycle Cellar in Tempe, a true commuter support facility, 

with lockers and showers, where riders can easily connect to the light rail and 

bus systems. Kudos to Romero for making transportation in the Valley a little bit 

greener (see “John Romero: Sharing Bikes, Sharing Hope,” p. 8). 

Nicole Royse is another person making a difference here. Over the last five years 

she has been responsible for mounting some 60 art exhibitions, acting as curator, 

director and installer at downtown’s monOrchid space, as well as curating 

several other galleries around town. Her dogged efforts have helped to make the 

Phoenix art scene a little more vibrant, and the consistent quality of the work 

shown confirms she has an impeccable eye. 

Royse has had to overcome many obstacles, including a childhood marred by her 

parents’ drug and alcohol addictions. She eventually cut ties with her family in 

California and moved in with her grandparents here in AZ. Her ability to reach 

beyond life’s challenges and become a powerful contributing force in the emerging 

Phoenix art scene is deserving of praise and recognition. Now, after a long 

tenure at monOrchid, she has decided to move on to other opportunities. For all 

her hard work, we commend her (see “Nicole Royse: A Life of Art,” p. 12). 

I first met Joe Johnston in the early ’90s, after he launched the original Coffee 

Plantation on Mill Avenue. That place became a hub for so much creative 

thought, dialogue and social interaction. And it would be fair to say that it had 

a strong influence on the inception of JAVA. Fast forward some 20+ years, and 

Johnston is still influencing thoughts and trends in the Valley. His latest effort, 

called Barnone, opened late last month and is part of the Agritopia residential 

and commercial project that Johnston built more than a decade ago. 

For Barnone, Johnston repurposed a Quonset hut barn that had been on his family 

farm for decades and retrofitted it with 10 commercial spaces to accommodate 

businesses with an artisan/maker emphasis. Two additional businesses are 

housed in new outbuildings to round out the 15,500 square-foot complex. The 

industrial nature of the repurposed barn gives the place a unique architectural 

aesthetic, and the businesses within celebrate a return to craftsmanship (see 

“Joe Johnston Opens Barnone in Gilbert,” p. 34).

JOHN ROMERO 

SHARING BIKES, 

SHARING HOPE 

By Demetrius Burns 

8 JAVA 

MAGAZINE

Phoenix’s John Romero is a bicycle pioneer trying to manifest a more 

environmentally friendly destiny for a city brimming with hope. Phoenix 

isn’t exactly known as a bike-friendly place, but Romero is working to 

buck that trend. 

Historically, Phoenix’s sprawl has created an unfriendly environment for bicycles. 

In recent years, the city has shifted to create a more bicycle-friendly 

infrastructure, and Romero has been at the forefront of that movement. He 

has helped launched a bike share program in Phoenix and 11 other cities 

throughout the country as the Chief Operating Officer of CycleHop, the 

company that operates Grid Bike Share locally. He also owns and operates The 

Bicycle Cellar in Tempe, which is a bike commuter support facility. 

Romero was raised in southern California after his family emigrated from Mexico. 

In many ways, he had to learn things on his own in the United States, putting 

himself through school and developing his life from the ground up. Eventually, after 

attending college in California, he got a job in photo production. He stayed in that 

industry for over 15 years, working his way up to associate photographer with a 

production company, where he had reps and agents selling his own work. 

“It was monotonous, stressful and never ending,” Romero said. “That whole time I 

was into bicycles. I went from using them for recreation as a kid, then for sport and 

eventually for transportation as an adult. The irony was that all of my clients were 

in the automotive industry, yet I had modeled my life around sustainability.” 

As Romero tired of working in commercial photography, one of his friends 

told him about an opportunity with the City of Tempe to build a bicycle 

commuter center—the first of its kind in Arizona. He started doing the 

legwork and research, but didn’t think he had a chance of winning the bid. 

When he was selected as the winner, he became responsible for launching 

the center. 

Breaking from a career in photography wasn’t easy. “I took a 75 percent pay cut, 

but I’m less stressed, happy and doing something that has meaning for me,” said 

Romero. It took four years of lean living before he was able to gain a comfortable 

lifestyle. 

“I was already a believer of the bicycle as a tool,” said Romero, “not just for folly 

or sport. In my mind I saw the potential.” The commuter center has proved a real 

success story for the city. It has been around for about nine years now, and though 

it started with a negative cash flow for the first two years, Romero was able to 

provide his crew with raises. 

“It’s a hard thing for Arizona,” said Romero. “In Santa Monica, for instance— 

immediate success. They are a high-density city with a bike infrastructure already 

in place, the bicycle is far more appealing and they have very pleasant weather 

year round. Since I started this business, I’ve been on an intensive diet of 

NACTO (National Association of City Transportation Officials) vernacular.” 

A lot of things had to come together in order to make The Bicycle Cellar 

successful: the completion of the light rail (the center is located on one of the 

stops) and efforts of the City of Tempe. People really wanted to see this 

project work out for the Valley. As with any large, innovative project, there 

were naysayers who tried to doom it, but it eventually succeeded and 

surpassed expected numbers. 

JAVA 9 

MAGAZINE

Around 2013, Josh Squire, the CEO of CycleHop, came to Arizona looking for 

someone to help launch his bike share program, and Romero answered that call. 

He had to abandon some projects in order to make it happen, but once he started, 

he was all the way in. “Since we cut the ribbon, CycleHop now has contracts with 

12 cities,” said Romero. “We have gone from a staff of three or four people to a 

staff of about 100. As Operations and Launch Director for North America, I go 

into each city to help unveil the program and get it to the point where it has 

legs of its own.” 

The CycleHop initiative is responsible for Grid Bike Share, the green bicycles 

seen around Phoenix and Mesa. They will be coming to Tempe in 2017, as 

another Arizona community joins the tide of cities throughout the country that are 

expanding their bike programs. To ride the GPD-enabled and height-adjustable 

smart bikes costs $7 per hour or $20 per month (for 90 minutes per day). People 

who need to access the bikes have the option of registering online. Once a bike is 

reserved, the rider receives a PIN to unlock it from the docking station. One neat 

aspect of the bike share program is that people can leave the bikes at any rack 

around town, and the Grid team will pick up and redistribute them. 

Though the bike share program has experienced success, there have been 

challenges along the way. “At the start, bike share was such a fledgling industry,” 

Romero said. “Our product partner was still in its infancy, so product delivery 

was probably the biggest challenge. You have to source the right manufacturers, 

and there are always unknowns. With any of this type [of] early development, the 

first generation is never the end result. Everybody is excited to get into the bike 

share space. The most painful thing to do is go back to a city manager and have to 

push back a date. The capital isn’t always the problem, it’s getting stuff in a timely 

manner, built proven and deployed.” 

A bike share program tends to be used by visitors to the city. It’s a great 

way for people who are unfamiliar with the lay of the land to get around. 

However, it is also a part of the larger shared transportation network many cities 

are developing. “We consider ourselves to be part of the same shared mobility 

movement as Uber and Lyft, light rail and the bus system,” Romero said. “We 

are providing another option. Our hope is to help shift the balance. We want to 

help imbue people in another form of transportation, as we start to identify infill 

points of origin. We will provide launch points to get people where they need 

to go. Through user feedback and patterns of use, these drop points become 

evaluation factors. We try to grow with the demand we see in ridership.” 

CycleHop is the largest operator of smart bikes in North America, and as COO, 

Romero is trying to help bicycles become part of our country’s transportation 

fabric again—especially now, considering the environmental factors 

impacting our world. “Bike share itself is still in its infancy,” said Romero. 

“This is a way to shift the people’s mentality into viewing bicycles as part of 

public transportation. In many countries, it is an integral part of the life fabric. 

In the U.S., we used to have 50 percent of kids riding their bikes to school. 

Now, we are below 10 percent,” Romero said. 

“Back in the day when I was a kid, the bike was your freedom. It was a 

portal to the world beyond your immediate surroundings. We are trying to 

10 JAVA 

MAGAZINE

eintroduce that. In towns like Vancouver, Chico (CA), and Portland, bike 

culture is very much a part of the culture. That is the kind of perception we 

need here. Every bike on the street is a part of traffic. Here, too many people 

that don’t understand bikes still think they belong on the sidewalk. Most of 

us who ride are aware of that. That is our biggest challenge—to educate and 

get the point across that bikes belong,” Romero said. 

Though Phoenix seems like an unlikely city for a pioneering bike share program, 

it is a great beta market to show how a program like this could work anywhere. 

Romero enjoys Phoenix because of its potential for growth and his interest in 

being a part of something emerging. “It’s still a fresh canvas,” he said. “Phoenix 

is emerging. But we have to overcome forty or fifty years of bad planning, sprawl, 

taking over pristine lands and building stucco box farms. Because of all that, 

people and industries require vehicles. These are the factors that communities 

are becoming more aware of. There are many downtown incubators encouraging 

local businesses to settle there. If we aren’t tearing up the desert to build, the 

cost per human goes down exponentially. For example, refurbing a historic home 

instead of building a new one—this is the kind of insight that kept me here. I 

have fallen in love with the Valley because of its tremendous potential.”

Nicole Royse 

A Life of Art 

By Jenna 

Duncan 

12 JAVA 

MAGAZINE

There was a time when Nicole Royse had many hours every week to create 

artwork, which she’d been doing since childhood as a lifelong pursuit, 

passion and outlet. But after college and the birth of her daughter, Royse 

decided to take a break and focus on supporting other local artists 

and the Phoenix art scene in general. “I’ve done something like 55 shows in five 

years,” she recalls. 

Since majoring in art history at Arizona State University in the mid-2000s, Royse 

has managed to really get plugged in with the various museums, galleries and 

venues around town. In the beginning, she was living in the far East Valley, which 

didn’t have a strong arts community. These were the years before the Mesa Arts 

Center. Royse felt a calling to become more connected. She wanted to get the 

juices flowing and help get the arts moving around the Valley. 

At home today, Royse has three kids and a hectic schedule. Her children are 

aged four, six and seven. When she’s not running from one school to another for 

activities (she volunteers four times a week and helps with many extracurricular 

activities), she’s driving back and forth between her home in Tempe and 

monOrchid in the heart of Phoenix’s bustling, though small, arts district, where 

she has been the full-time curator for the last four years. 

Royse grew up in California until high school. Unfortunately, her parents fell into 

drug and alcohol abuse and she battled with that environment her entire young 

life, retreating into art for solace. Eventually Royse, an only child, ended up 

moving in with her grandparents and has had no contact with her parents since. 

Fortunately, she was blessed with a very wonderful grandmother. “She’s been the 

greatest support in my life, outside of my husband and kids,” she says. 

Royse just celebrated 14 years of marriage to her husband, Rob, on Thanksgiving. 

Career-wise, the two seem like day and night: she’s a Phoenix arts booster 

and curator, whereas he is an auditor for Ernst and Young. “I’ve always been 

a self-motivator and a hard worker,” she says. “With my own art, it’s been 

more of a personal thing. I hope to get back into painting, but I’ve been a little 

creatively stinted.” 

After graduating from college, Royse looked for art communities and places to 

engage around the Valley. And while she’s made connections and curated at 

many different places in the last several years, her strongest connection has 

been at monOrchid. For the last four years, serving essentially as a volunteer, 

Royse has served as the main curator and informal director for both Shade and 

Bokeh galleries. 

She patches, she paints, she sands—does all of the installation work—as well as 

writes press releases and more. Christopher Oshana, a veteran, PTSD survivor and 

photo artist, has been there for Nicole to “help when things get heavy in the install 

or when I need to sand and paint walls.” He also provides the gallery with security 

for First Friday openings. 

Royse reports that the galleries now see an average of 3,000 to 4,000 visitors 

every First Friday. MonOrchid is first and foremost an event space, so when 

Royse curates, she often has to plan things around various weddings and 

corporate shindigs. 

One of Royse’s favorite shows to date was “Feminism Today,” a group show 

she mounted last year featuring many female artists from various generations 

in the Valley. “It was really great to bring all these women together because they 

JAVA 13 

MAGAZINE

all have very different backgrounds and styles,” she says. “But they also all have 

strong ideas about what it is to be a woman and an artist.” 

For Royse, some of the highlights from that show were Christine Cassano’s piece 

(Cassano currently has a show on view at Modified Arts through Dec. 10) and a 

large self-portrait by Monica Aissa Martinez showing her husband next to her doing 

a headstand. That year, Martinez was also selected to participate in the Artists of 

America nationwide show hosted by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art 

in Bentonville, Arkansas, along with a handful of other Arizona artists. 

According to Royse, Martinez really knows how to get inside an object and turn things 

inside out. She not only is a painter but also does sculptural works and drawings. “She 

dissects insects and people in her paintings,” Royse says. “She does very biological 

work, makes all her own tempera paints and works very organically.” 

For “Feminism Now” Royse was surprised that some of the highly esteemed local 

artists she originally selected canceled at the last minute. Despite the setback, 

she says it all it worked out—she was glad to have the challenge to rethink some 

things and hustle. The result was something that made her feel truly proud. Not 

only did she get to showcase some of the best local talent, she also came up with 

a show that was aesthetically beautiful. 

Another monOrchid show that stands out in Royse’s memory is the huge and 

elaborately planned “Apache X” that she did with artist Douglas Miles in March 

2014. This was the first time she had the opportunity to work as the sole curator of 

the Shade Gallery at monOrchid. Basically the show was a 10-year retrospective 

of the artist’s work. But anyone familiar with Miles knows that his work takes all 

different forms and shapes (from murals to skateboard decks), and logistically 

balancing it all would be a daunting task for any curator. 

Royse dug deep and spent six months in planning with Miles. During that time, 

she made numerous trips to the San Carlos Apache Reservation in eastern 

Arizona, where the artist resides (a two-and-a-half-hour drive each way). She got 

to spend hours with the artist, poring through his works to make selections for 

the show. 

Royse had a personal connection with Miles, his work and the landscape because 

her grandmother is also Apache. She says it was wonderful for her to get to know 

the artist in a deep way and connect with his family. Once they’d made their 

selections, it was time to return to monOrchid for the install. Royse hung half a 

mobile home inside the gallery. They also presented Miles’ painted doors, parts 

of cars and other large items. 

“He often works on found objects with spray paint, mostly,” she explains. And 

some of these objects are enormous in size and weight. It was certainly a 

challenging show for the walls of monOrchid, which usually only see paintings 

and photographs. 

Another component to the show was Miles’ collections of painted skateboards, 

which he’s been making ever since his son was very little. He expanded this 

into a business, Apache Skateboards, and also something of a movement. Miles 

saw it as a way to connect community members and do something for the youth 

on his reservation to keep them healthy, active and off the streets. By now 

documentaries have been made about this work, and the Heard Museum also 

featured some of it in their “Beautiful Games: American Indian Sport and Art” 

exhibit last year. 

At the end of the day, the show was very well received and generated some of 

the best press monOrchid has had in its years on Roosevelt Row. Miles, too, got a 

14 JAVA 

MAGAZINE

lot of press, including a visit from the New York Times, with the help of Royse’s 

public relations support and referrals. 

Royse also curated for Willo North Gallery steadily for one year, beginning 

in June 2014, until it closed. At the same time, she was also curating at the 

Renaissance Hotel downtown. She estimates that between the three spaces, 

she has curated and hosted more than five dozen shows since 2012. 

Aside from curating, Royse also does art consulting and artist management 

for independents around the Valley. When these artists plan a show, she helps 

them select works, manages their posts on social media and does other public 

relations work for them. She is providing this kind of support for Beth Ames 

Swartz at the moment. 

For the December opening at monOrchid, Royse will feature the photography 

of Marilyn Szabo and ceramics/mixed-media works of Constance McBride. 

Szabo’s show is entitled “Life & Death / Portraits.” “She’s been wanting to 

share this collection of portraits taken over the last 25 years. It will be a really 

beautiful show,” says Royse. 

Constance McBride’s “A Show of Hands” will be in Bokeh Gallery, featuring 

images of women’s hands. There is a theme of life, beauty and aging. 

“Typically, photography would be in Bokeh and painting/sculpture in Shade,” 

Royse explains. “But for this show it’s reversed.” 

December is usually a strong month for attendance. MonOrchid gets great 

crowds and everyone is usually positive. Hopefully this will boost sales. While 

the gallery seemed to be on a constant upswing the last few years, mirroring 

the economy’s slow but steady recovery, in this election year with all of its 

uncertainty, sales have not been great. 

The big news for Royse is her announcement that after four years she will 

be leaving her role as chief curator at monOrchid. She says she has simply 

outgrown it there. Royse says it was a difficult announcement for her to make, 

but she timed it to coincide with the end of the year, and one final show at the 

gallery that she can be proud of. Royse says it will be good for owner Wayne 

Rainey and the Shade Projects team to have someone different in that role 

because they seem to want to take the space “in a new direction to keep up 

with changes in the Roosevelt area.” 

Royse says she hopes her departure from monOrchid will eventually be a very 

calming and positive experience for everyone. She’s done so much in the last 

four years and has been so deeply engaged and busy that now she is looking to 

be more selective about the shows she works on. “It’s a little sad, but I think it’s 

best for everyone involved,” she says. 

Royse will continue to work with other galleries and artists independently. She 

wants to help Phoenix break into the national arts scene and get the coverage 

it’s been lacking. She recently curated “XXXX, the Bad and the Ugly” with 

Los Angeles-based artists Emmeric Konrad and Richard Kessler at the Tieken 

Gallery in Paradise Valley. This show will be on view through December 12. 

nicoleroyse.com

ARTS 

GEOFFREY BOHM’S SOLO 

DEBUT AT THE HIVE 

By Nicole Royse 

Native Phoenician and emerging self-taught 

painter Geoffrey Bohm makes his debut with a solo 

exhibition at The Hive. Titled Trotting Through the 

Glue Factory, the show features a cohesive, yet 

diverse collection of works created over that last 

few years. Bohm’s paintings have a raw quality that 

effortlessly captures life’s everyday struggles in an 

unfiltered and often crude manner. 

“Geoffrey’s work provides a peephole into the world of 

the down and out, a celebration of hard times, and the 

strange and the beautiful,” says The Hive owner and 

curator Julia Fournier. “Trotting Through the Glue Factory 

is a collection of paintings I did following a series of 

personal downfalls,” says Bohm, who went on to say, 

“The work is essentially a toast to the many strengths 

and weaknesses of the human spirit. It’s about ‘trotting’ 

through life without limitation.” 

Fournier knew she wanted to exhibit Bohm’s work 

after seeing only a few small pieces. “I was surprised 

that he had never shown before, never sold work and 

that he is virtually self taught,” says Fournier. “As a 

second-generation native Phoenician myself [Bohm is as 

well], the images are familiar yet strange, intense and 

magnetic in a way.” 

“In 2013 I was drifting from one place to another, 

moving in and out of spare bedrooms and apartments 

and through all the madness, I was still working on art in 

some capacity or another,” says Bohm. This was when 

he decided to focus solely on painting and only recently 

began exhibiting his artwork, participating in a few 

group exhibitions at the {9} The Gallery. 

Bohm’s subject matter is engaging with a distinctive 

style that utilizes graphic lines, subtly distorted forms, 

explosive brushstrokes and a rich color palette. He 

has created a world filled with eclectic array imagery, 

symbolism and fantastical characters, as seen in 

intriguing works like “Trigger Fingers” and “Stable 

hand in a Ketamine Hole.” His paintings seamlessly 

blend pop art with expressionism, with a post-modern 

sensibility. He is inspired by “Picasso and Matisse who both 

created masterpieces at such a furious rate. Contemporary 

British painters Danny Fox and Samuel Bassett, along 

with LA-based painter Henry Taylor, have significantly 

changed the world as I see it,” says Bohm. 

His paintings offer a modern aesthetic reminiscent 

of Fritz Scholder with surrealist undertones. This is 

evident the painting titled “White Man with Double,” 

a striking portrait of an elderly man decked out in a 

suit and sunglasses, sitting alone drinking. Fournier 

describes Bohm’s work as having, “Southwestern 

boozy tones, with beautiful losers and honkey tonk 

regulars, like out of a Robert Rodriguez movie.” 

Bohm also presents several mixed media works that 

incorporate an interesting combination of materials 

including anything from cardboard and gold to 

Oxycontin. His piece “Rolls” depicts the many faces of 

gambling and integrates dice and imagery of a racing dog. 

Bohm is excited for 2017 and plans to focus on 

exploring new techniques and mediums. 

Trotting Through the Glue Factory 

Through December 11 

The Hive Gallery 

2222 N. 16th St, Phoenix. 

www.geoffreybohm.com 

White Man With A Double, 24” x 24.5”, acrylic on board, 2016 

West Lemonade, 4’ x 5’, acrylic on canvas, 2016 

It’s The Flowers Cutting You, Down, 4’ x 4’, acrylic and stain on panel, 2016 

16 JAVA 

MAGAZINE

CONSTANCE MCBRIDE 


By Amy L. Young 

The exhibition, A Show of Hands, featuring figurative 

sculptural work by Constance McBride opens on 

December 2. Bokeh Gallery at downtown’s monOrchid 

will be the month-long home to seven pieces by 

McBride, each one showing human hands in a 

different configuration. It’s a fantastic exemplification 

of that classic adage, “a little goes a long way,” as 

this small body of work is all you need to understand 

the artist’s mastery of her medium. 

Stepping beyond that evident elevated skill level, 

the show is an intimate and intricate reflection of 

McBride’s personal and sincere relationship with 

both her medium and her subject matter. The pure 

skill these pieces exude make it easy to assume that 

McBride’s lifelong history of creating art has involved 

clay since the beginning, but her discovery of that 

material came much later. Fulfilling her inherent need 

to create, she chose a variety of other mediums to 

express herself, including painting, drawing, handpainted 

clothes and mosaics. 

McBride, a Philadelphia native, came to Arizona in 

the early 2000s and in 2006 took some sculpture 

classes that fueled a new relationship with clay. She 

started exhibiting figurative sculptures a couple of 

years later. Since then, her clay works have been 

shown not only around Arizona, but in numerous 

prestigious exhibitions, like the ClayHouston 

Biennial in Texas, the Clay Studio National in 

Pennsylvania, and the international exhibition 

Beyond the Brickyard at the Archie Bray Foundation 

for Ceramic Arts in Montana. 

McBride’s sculptures tell us that her relationship with 

clay was meant to be. That’s something she knew 

immediately upon working with the material. “I never 

had to think twice about it,” she said. “I love touching 

it. It’s a visceral thing. It’s the earth; it’s part of you. 

It’s the oldest element a person can work with,” 

she added. There’s not a part of it that she doesn’t 

embrace. “It’s tactile, and three-dimensional. It forces 

you to experiment with the processes. You have to 

battle yourself,” McBride says about why clay is so 

fascinating. She loves how “limitless” it is. 

She hand builds her pieces, rolling out the slabs and 

coils and digging in to make her provocative takes 

on not only the human body, but also the human 

condition. McBride keeps her surfaces dry. That 

matte look, combined with her need to present the 

realistic weathering that comes from living, results in 

finished pieces that are haunting and meaningful. By 

showing the age in these hands, as well as in much 

of her other work, McBride examines the timeless 

body issues that women face, as well as how a 

woman’s age is addressed in our society. Her work 

is delicate and powerful, just like the nature of most 

humans, and it encourages us to find those elements 

of ourselves. 

Earlier this year, McBride, along with four other 

artists, received an Emerging Artist grant from the 

Phoenix Art Museum’s support group, Contemporary 

Forum. In addition to the cash award, the artists will 

have work on displayed in the museum next year. 


Through December 26 

Bokeh Gallery at monOrchid 

www.monorchid.com. 

Portait by Suzie Kline Barber 

Balasana from “Presence of Absence,” photo by William LeGoullon 

Giving Bowl, photo by Michael Healy 

JAVA 17 

MAGAZINE

EMPHATICS: AVANT-GARDE 

FASHION 

at Phoenix Art Museum 


From 1963 to 2013, the fashion-loving couple James 

and Karin Legato operated their high-end, fashionforward 

boutique Emphatics at One Oxford Centre 

in Pittsburgh. When the family announced that the 

50-year-old boutique would be closing its doors, the 

community recoiled. Emphatics was highly visible and 

well loved, not just in Pittsburgh but in international 

fashion circles. Its imprint would be left on the world 

of fashion for decades to come. 

So it was welcome news for many when, at the 

beginning of 2015, Phoenix Art Museum (PAM) 

announced that it would be acquiring the couple’s 

collection of garments and related ephemera, and 

soon runway and couture highlights from the 1960s 

through today would be on view in the museum. 

“When they closed the store in 2013, they were advised 

by Eric Shiner, director of the Andy Warhol Museum, 

that they had a really important archive and they should 

place it somewhere,” says Dennita Sewell, PAM’s 

Jacquie Dorrance Curator of Fashion Design. 

“It’s a capsule from a particular time period,” Sewell 

says. The collection begins in the late 1960s, when 

the Legatos were regularly traveling to New York 

City for buying trips. They began to acquire pieces for 

their shop by designers whose names were unknown 

to most shoppers at the time, people like John 

Galliano and Betsey Johnson. 

The Legatos expanded their fashion purchasing forays 

to Paris in the late 1970s through the 1980s, Sewell 

explains. Emphatics was the first clothing shop in the 

United States to feature Jean Paul Gaultier. As a 

result, they began to draw a following of fashion 

worshipers from New York City and surrounding 

regions to their cutting-edge Pittsburgh boutique. 

“That’s part of why it’s special. They had this very 

fashion-forward store in a very unlikely place,” 

Sewell says. The Legatos actively engaged and 

educated their customers about haute trends and 

high fashion. Shoppers at Emphatics did not simply 

come home with loaded shopping bags, they became 

immersed in a unique cultural lifestyle, as well. 

Phoenix Art Museum had the opportunity to purchase 

the archive last year, and this is the first time that it 

has been on view in the United States. The museum 

had to make room in its storage vault for the many 

new pieces. Sewell estimates there are about 400 

items in the collection, and around 80 percent is 

currently on view, she says. 

At the entry to the exhibition, there is a small 

video-viewing cove that is plastered with images of 

Karin Legato, looking like a young, bleached-blonde 

Donatella Versace. The large, airy Steele Gallery is 

encircled by looks, with ensembles mostly grouped 

by designer. Most of the garments PAM acquired are 

unworn and many still have the tags on them. Also 

on view in the center of the room is an assortment of 

invitations, posters, perfume bottles and boxes, and 

other unique ephemera. 

There’s a 1984 photo of Karin Legato with Azzedine 

Alaïa, who had been named fashion designer 

of the year, at the very first Oscars de la Mode, 

hosted by the French Ministry of Culture. The 

south wall is adorned with posters, including three 

very colorful ones from Issey Miyake’s 1994, 1995 

and 1998 runway shows. There’s another poster 

autographed by Thierry Mugler (“’84 L.A.!”) and 

a Hitchcock-like parody by Alexander McQueen, 

titled “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” done in 

the style of a Vertigo movie poster. 

There are many runway videos available to view, 

including Balenciaga’s shows from the years 

2000 through 2010 and Mugler’s shows from 

18 JAVA 

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1984 through 1990. Mugler’s late-’80s runway 

looks, with their poofy jacket sleeves, geometric 

parkas and tall, spiraling beehive hair, seem like 

period pieces today, and his iconic red and black 

“flaming” bustiers look like costumes straight out 

of a Bob Fosse musical. 

In the mix are looks for all seasons, including 

outerwear and even swimsuits. One section of the 

gallery features more couture looks in black. An 

area devoted to Alaïa’s work includes everything 

from short and flirty pieces to more demure 

evening dresses. One grouping of mannequins 

looks like an updated, short-skirt-wearing gaggle 

of flappers. A gorgeous collection of avant garde 

black gowns stands nearby, created by Olivier 

Theyskens, dubbed the dark prince of Belgian 

Goth. Theyskens outfitted Madonna in her draping 

satin gown for the 1998 Oscars (think the “Ray of 

Light” video aesthetic). 

Along the west wall are much more varied, highamplitude 

color and pattern collections. There’s a 

small army of velvet blouses for men and women 

by Gaultier and some incredible deconstructed 

looks by some of the more obscure designers of 

the ’80s and ’90s. A very girly, highly patterned 

dress by Betsey Johnson is flanked by splashy, 

flashy and flirty ensembles by Norma Kamali. 

While viewing Emphatics: Avant-Garde Fashion 

1963–2013, visitors will get a distinct impression of 

the highest in trends for each decade, as well as a 

sense of the most iconic and well-loved selections to 

grace the display windows of Madison Avenue and 

the runways of New York and Paris. And to think this 

collection once lived in the Steel City—the heart of 

America’s Rust Belt. 

Emphatics: Avant-Garde Fashion 1963–2013 

Through January 16 

Phoenix Art Museum’s Steele Gallery 

Admission for this special exhibit is $5 per person in 

addition to the museum’s regular admission 

www.phxart.org/emphatics 

Thierry Mugler, French, born 1948 Strasbourg, France. 

Museum purchase of Emphatics Archive with funds provided by: Barbara 

Anderson, Arizona Costume Institute, Milena and Tony Astorga, Jacquie 

Dorrance, The Ellman Foundation, Michael and Heather Greenbaum, 

Diane and Bruce Halle, Nancy R. Hanley, Ellen and Howard Katz, Miriam 

Sukhman. Photo by Ken Howie 

Azzedine Alaïa, Tunisian, born 1940 Tunis, Tunisia. 

Jacket, FW 1989. Wool Gabardine. Museum purchase of Emphatics 

Archive with funds provided by: Barbara Anderson, Arizona Costume 

Institute, Milena and Tony Astorga, Jacquie Dorrance, The Ellman Foundation, 

Michael and Heather Greenbaum, Diane and Bruce Halle, Nancy R. 

Hanley, Ellen and Howard Katz, Miriam Sukhman. Photo by Ken Howie. 


Apron, FW 1980’s. Silk tulle. Museum purchase of Emphatics Archive with 

funds provided by: Barbara Anderson, Arizona Costume Institute, Milena 

and Tony Astorga, Jacquie Dorrance, The Ellman Foundation, Michael and 

Heather Greenbaum, Diane and Bruce Halle, Nancy R. Hanley, Ellen and 

Howard Katz, Miriam Sukhman. Photo by Ken Howie 

Claude Montana, French, born 1949 Paris, France. 

Jacket “Ideal Cuir”, SS 1990. Studded leather. Museum purchase of 

Emphatics Archive with funds provided by: Barbara Anderson, Arizona 

Costume Institute, Milena and Tony Astorga, Jacquie Dorrance, The 

Ellman Foundation, Michael and Heather Greenbaum, Diane and Bruce 

Halle, Nancy R. Hanley, Ellen and Howard Katz, Miriam Sukhman. Photo 

by Ken Howie 


Bustier, FW 1987. Silk Satin. Museum purchase of Emphatics Archive with 

funds provided by: Barbara Anderson, Arizona Costume Institute, Milena 

and Tony Astorga, Jacquie Dorrance, The Ellman Foundation, Michael and 

Heather Greenbaum, Diane and Bruce Halle, Nancy R. Hanley, Ellen and 

Howard Katz, Miriam Sukhman. Photo by Ken Howie 

JAVA 19 

MAGAZINE

PHO NOODLES 

GET YOUR VIETNAM ON 

By Sloane Burwell 

Right about now everyone in town is loving the final arrival of fall. And 

if you are like me, that can mean only one thing: time for pho. CenPho 

pho (see what I did there?) fans traditionally had two choices. Thanks to 

Pho Noodles, we can add another spot into the mix. A worthy addition, I 

might add. 

Tucked into the strip mall that houses a Safeway (not the hipster one), 

Pho Noodles sits in a smallish space next to Subway. Given their excellent 

flavors and all-around charm, I would not be surprised if an expansion is 

in their future. I have nothing to report with respect to the transformation 

of the space, because even though this spot is in my neighborhood, I have 

no recollection of anything else being there. What I can tell you is that it is 

spotless and well tended. Someone invested hours on designing a brandnew 

bathroom (pro tip: never eat at a place that skimps on the bathroom. 

Imagine what their kitchen is like.) and dropped some cash getting fancy 

embossed wallpaper installed correctly. They also didn’t skimp on the 

production of a full-color trifold to-go menu. Clearly someone loves details. 

Which bodes well for the food. 

I love their varied options on spring rolls. These you’ll find loaded with 

lettuce instead of herbs, which makes them seem more homey. Their Grilled 

Pork Sausage Rolls ($3.25) come with a crunchy strip inside that gives 

textural interest and is unexpectedly good. Vegetarians and vegans will love 

their Tofu and Veggie Roll ($2.75), a flavorful choice loaded with long slices 

of marinated tofu. 

I don’t remember the last time I saw vegetarian options like this. 

This is why your veggie-loving friends will appreciate an entire section of 

the menu dedicated to vegetarian dishes. I love their Tofu Range Music a 

crispy tofu coated in some kind of salty quasi-breading. Crunchy and savory, 

I love this as an appetizer or a way to convince tofu haters all is not lost. 

Ap Chao Chay ($9.25) is a quasi-Ramen choice comprised of crispy noodles 

with tofu and veggies. This broth is so flavorful you will forget that it’s 

vegetarian. Cubes of tofu somehow keep their crispy texture, and a heady 

mix of greens including baby bok choy swims with crispy noodles. The 

serving size, like all their pho, is gargantuan. Expect leftovers. 

I’ve never met a banh mi I didn’t like. My favorite here is the BBQ Beef 

($4.00). They toast their mini baguettes to peak crispy and then load up with 

chunks of slightly smoky and sweet beef, carrots, shredded radish and tons 

of herbs. The only thing missing (which they will bring you) is fresh jalapeño 

slices. Personally I prefer Sriracha. 

And now, the pho. Pho Noodles isn’t playing around here. You’ll find 10 

different varieties, most of which skew toward beef (the veggie pho is in the 

vegetarian section). My two favorites are Pho Tai Nam ($6.95) and Pho Tai 

Bo Vien ($6.95). The former comes loaded with steak and flank. I was a bit 

confused by the well-done flank description. However, when I ordered this to 

go, it made sense. The fillet of steak is raw and gets cooked once dunked in 

the broth. The flank is already cooked. Both were excellent. The broth was full 

bodied and flavorful. As you’d expect, a plate of herbs, jalapeños and limes 

comes alongside to help you flavor it your way. The pho with meatballs and 

steak had the same steak as the first, but the meatballs were entirely different. 

I loved them. I dig an unctuous, soft meatball that tastes like they’ve been 

cooking all day. On one visit a friend thought it was a touch fatty. To me that is 

a bonus in pho. Not a deal breaker for my friend, but he felt it worth noting. 

If you aren’t seeking pho, try the Tam Suon Nuong ($7.25), also known as broken 

rice, with grilled pork chop. Broken rice is a treat. It is literally broken during 

production. The resulting rice is much firmer with a less starchy taste. I also 

think broken rice is much better at soaking up sauces. The pork chop itself is 

quite tasty and smoky from the grill. The marinade is slightly sweet, like a very 

mild teriyaki. This dish feels like a bargain for the price. 

You’ll enjoy the hospitality, too. Run by a charming couple who are there night 

and day, Pho Noodles makes you feel welcome and part of the family. Even 

when I picked up to-go orders, they insisted I sit down and have a glass of 

water. Initially I wondered about their hours. I mean, pho for breakfast? Until it 

rained and I couldn’t get there fast enough. Seriously, pho for breakfast while 

it’s raining is quite possibly the most calming and nurturing thing you can do. 

And when it’s this good, affordable and friendly, I plan on doing it a lot. 

Pho Noodles 

3417 N. 7th Ave., Phoenix 

Monday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. 

Sunday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

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KOLLAB 

christian thomas 

niccanor 

Model/Designer 

lux lacheln 

Makeup Artist / Hair Stylist 

bethany eskandani

Saddles 


30 JAVA 

MAGAZINE

In the three years since the release of Shell Art, 

Saddles has gone through a lot of changes. 

For one thing, their live show is an explosive 

five-piece band, but the recordings remain true 

to the core duo of George White and Charles Barth. 

A lot of folks like the expanded sound, while others 

enjoy the intimacy of the recordings. YOKE shows 

a tremendous amount of growth for the duo. They 

clearly have developed a better idea of how to write 

songs that will instantly translate to their live show. 

YOKE sounds like something of a transition record as 

Saddles further explore their range. It feels slightly 

schizophrenic, but in a good way. The newer songs 

sound like they are reaching into new synth-scapes 

while they also rev up the guitars. Other songs seem 

more in line with the sound they defined on Shell Art, 

but YOKE is a brand-new beast. Upon listening, it’s 

hard to believe that the entire live band isn’t on the 

recordings, but it’s just Barth and White. 

YOKE begins with a weird intro of hypnotic tones and 

background crowd noise, before it kicks into “Tarot,” 

one of the two preview singles released immediately 

before the album. It definitely shows the dynamic 

duo laying down tracks with the intention of playing 

them live with a band. It’s got luscious synth work. 

Barth’s vocals come across with a Pet Shop Boys 

vibe, and there’s a definite electronica leaning to 

this one. They keep it real with a bizarre interlude 

smack dab in the middle that feels like a free fall 

in sound. There is a lot more going on in this song 

than what immediately meets the ear, and it becomes 

more fascinating with scrutiny. 

“Lottery” carries on the more traditional Saddles 

sound that their audience has come to know and 

love. It also shows off the angelic vocals of Barth a 

bit better than when they get slightly lost in the mix 

live. There is a lot more soundscape experimentation 

here, as well, and it comes down to near Philip Glass 

minimalism for the first minute before exploding into 

shoegazing guitars, reeling them in only for the sake 

of more vocals. It’s a rousing, driving number that’s 

been a live favorite for some time, and it’s captured 

accurately on the record. 

The second pre-release single was “Face Paint” and, 

like “Tarot,” it shows a different side of the band’s 

sound, with a deeper, darker feel. There is a cherubic 

quality to Barth’s charming vocals. The breakdown in 

the middle is dizzying and elevating at once, and it 

very nearly reaches a crossroads of dream pop and 

darkwave. It’s an alluring, intoxicating number to say 

the very least. 

The church organ opening for “The Altruist” is a nice 

touch to a comforting synth song. It features clever 

samples, which are scattered here and elsewhere 

throughout the album for artistry as much as 

emphasis. The mix between the melodic piano line 

and the grunge-fuzzed guitar is maddening, as they 

seem to duel, turning an otherwise electro-pop single 

into near Math Rock territory and one of the more 

unusually successful experiments on the album. 

“Comfort” was released nearly a year and a half 

ago, and here it shines as the centerpiece of the 

album. It sounds like the transitional piece that ties 

this album to its predecessor. Upon its release last 

year, it seemed to be more of an oddity that didn’t 

really seem to belong to Shell Art, but it doesn’t feel 

entirely at home on YOKE, either. That’s the genius, 

falling smack dab in the middle, while standing out 

like a blazing star. 

The backing track to “Eraser/How’s My Writing” 

sounds back-masked, and the entire track is luxuriously 

disorienting due to the beautifully complex percussion 

strewn throughout. It’s something that would oddly 

make one hell of a dance remix. The music swirls 

around the soothing vocal, creating a convincing 

aural vortex that’s damned danceable. None of that 

is an easy trick, much less getting a little trip hoppy 

here and there. 

Meanwhile, “Red Carpet” may be the best thing 

Saddles has ever written or recorded. It starts with 

just a surf guitar and Barth’s vocal, delivered with a 

near Neutral Milk Hotel vibe. Harmonies join in here 

and there, but when the pop explodes, it goes big and 

is all-out sonic bliss, filled with mad, complicated pop 

obsessions. It’s the entire arrangement here—the 

choir vocals, swooning keys and driving guitars—that 

leaves your ears in awe. It only quiets for a moment 

before the final explosion, the last crescendo with a 

triumphant tone, before returning to only guitar and 

Barth, as it began, before fading away. 

“Old Sin” is a more traditional Saddles song and 

just feels damn good on your ears. It must be 

said that YOKE has near-perfect song sequencing; 

every turn is interesting, every moment needed. 

This is a comfort tune after the ride that was “Red 

Carpet,” which is why it feels so good to relax 

with this celestial dream pop. 

“Rolodex” is more in vein with the newer-sounding 

material, which means awesome synth-play and 

soundscape fantasies with a darkwave edge. It 

has a heavy Gothic vibe with various flourishes, 

from haunting keys to a darker backdrop. This only 

serves to highlight Barth’s golden throat and one 

of his finest vocal performances. It’s a beautiful, 

moving piece that could be one of those surprise 

ballads that takes everyone’s breath away with its 

damned intimate vibe. 

YOKE finishes with “White Flag,” drenched in heavy 

layers of textured guitar with soaring vocals that will 

leave your head spinning. It’s a fast-paced, driving 

number and one of their most aggressive songs to 

date for the spirit of the guitars alone. Granted, 

the slight snarl of the vocals and the lyrics of 

desperation lend a hand in that regard. Still, it’s 

another fully realized composition like “Red Carpet,” 

and a brilliant way to end an album. Let’s hope we 

don’t have to wait another three years for Saddles to 

follow up this album. 

Be sure to catch Saddles when they release YOKE at 

The Rebel Lounge on December 16, where they will 

be joined by Snake! Snake! Snakes!, Celebration 

Guns, dent and Whither Is God. 

JAVA 31 

MAGAZINE

A TASTE OF CHRISTMAS 

PUDDING 2016 

SURF 

Intentions for Intimacy 

CITRUS CLOUDS 

Imagination 

It’s that time of year again, and this year’s Christmas 

Pudding compilation is truly a stunner. There probably 

couldn’t be a more heart-wrenching opening than 

Keli Rutledge’s version of “All I Want for Christmas 

Is You.” Rutledge was a rising star among local 

vocalists who lost her life in a car accident earlier 

this year. This is a beautiful, albeit haunting, rendition 

of the modern holiday classic. 

Analog Outlaws has one of my favorite numbers, 

“Christmas Is Finally Here,” which is one of the least 

carol-sounding of the lot. John Caufield lays down 

“Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” like I’d imagine 

Ryan Adams or Rhett Miller would, while Vintage 

Wednesday will blow you away with “What Child 

Is This,” invoking their inner Fleetwood Mac. It’s not 

hard to understand why they won this year’s Proof 

Is in the Pudding contest. Jam Now is the solo outfit 

for Vintage Wednesday guitarist Jam Austin Murray, 

and he throws down the delightful “Christmas Time,” 

while Callie Young contributes a lovely acoustic take 

on “Baby Please Come Home.” 

Ironkill’s “Dear Santa” is one of the best metal 

Christmas songs I’ve ever heard. Pop wunderkinds 

People Who Could Fly take on “Last Christmas” and 

knock it right out of the park. Kailin Kay’s sweet 

take on “Christmas Is the Time” should be a local 

classic. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” is one 

of my favorite seasonal songs, and this version by 

Good Boy Daisy has an infectious arrangement with 

raging guitars and a truly rocking pace. Elizabeth 

Tighe lovingly performs “Hallelujah.” “Jingle Bells” 

by Innocent Elaine is a perfect punk-rock take on 

the Christmas classic, while Night 3 Nations’ take 

on “Little Drummer Boy” feels slightly sinister. The 

compilation concludes perfectly with Aaron Honda 

delivering the beautiful piano-driven “Song for Winter.” 

Aaron “Surf” Tijerina has been on something of a roll 

in 2016, having just released his third album in less 

than a year. Quick on the heels of Islands from last 

spring and the all-instrumental What You Wanted, 

Intentions for Intimacy is probably his best work to 

date and the first SURF album to invite more than 

just Tijerina as sole songwriter. This may be what 

makes it more dynamic than previous records, not to 

mention that Tijerina’s sheer prolific approach speaks 

of a revitalized sense of purpose. 

Matt Uhler’s presence is immediately felt on the 

opener, “Lipstick,” but it’s not just the songs where 

he wrote the rhythm and bass that stand out here. 

Songs like “Forever” by Tijerina make an enormous 

musical leap from the laid-back sounds of the SURF 

we’ve come to expect. It must be said that Tijerina 

takes more vocal risks here than ever before, and 

it pays off really well as he abandons his normal 

delivery for a bit of a growl here and there. For fans 

of SURF, there is still plenty of ocean-side pop to 

be found, with the likes of “Floating,” “Evil,” “New 

Ocean” and a few others, but the chemistry between 

Uhler and Tijerina makes new things possible. 

A sample of Alan Watts introduces “Serendipitous,” 

which is another classic SURF tune, while “Autumn 

Oranges” has a classic garage element with a 

rounded Brit Rock polish. “Splashin’” has my favorite 

guitar intro; it’s another coastline vignette that 

sounds like how it feels to watch children playing 

at the beach. Meanwhile “Stars” sounds almost 

synthpop, as the sole instrumental of the album, but 

still somehow feels oceanic. “Windows” finishes the 

record proper, with an acoustic version of “Floating” 

as a hidden bonus. 

What started out as a side project to Tierra Firme 

for Erick Pineda, Citrus Clouds has clearly become 

his main project and delightfully so. Joined by Stacy 

Huttleston on bass and vocals and Anthony Jarero 

on drums, singer Pineda creates a hurricane with 

his guitars. On their debut EP, In Time I Am, their 

live dynamics didn’t seem to translate to record 

completely. But on the full-length Imagination, their 

capabilities in the studio can no longer be in doubt, 

and the sound fully represents their massive stage 

presence. 

The title track opens the album and is one of the 

best songs of the year. With a bass line borrowed 

from Joy Division and incessant driving guitars, it 

launches you right into the mindset where you need 

to be. “The Sun Is in My Eyes” is up next and only 

drives home that Citrus Clouds are at the forefront 

of the local shoegaze revival and are also at the top 

of their game. It’s as much psychedelic pop as it is 

shoegaze, though, to be fair. The original shoegazers 

were as well, which I suppose makes Citrus Clouds 

sound supremely authentic in the genre. This album 

is a testament that this kind of music can be just as 

relevant and refreshing a quarter century later. 

This is an album to be experienced in its entirety, 

to get lost in like a daydream. The wall of sound, 

waves of feedback, crashing guitars, delicate 

vocals, hypnotic bass and thrashing drums all wind 

together like a melodic buzz saw. The song titles 

make allusions to ’60s pop records at the height 

of psychedelia and the Brit Invasion: “Be Eternal,” 

“Always Tomorrow” and “Shapes and Things,” for 

instance. This album comes across as a labor of love 

for noise pop eternal. It is an intoxicating long player 

and feels like it’s going to be considered a classic. 

32 JAVA 

MAGAZINE 

Sounds Around Town By Mitchell L. Hillman

I.AM.HOLOGRAM 

Idiot Savant 

PHOENIX AFROBEAT ORCHESTRA 

PAO! 

WOLFZIE 

The Memory Department, Pt. 1 

Richard Nihil is releasing records like a man racing 

against time. Idiot Savant is the second of three 

full-length albums planned for this year; it will be 

followed quickly by a five-track EP. Twenty-sixteen 

is the year that i.am.hologram decided to take the 

stage show that’s been amazing audiences for years 

and put it on record. Still, Nihil shows himself as one 

of the most original and prolific songwriters in town, 

which is impressive because he’s a one-man show 

that doesn’t actually suck. 

This is also unexpected in that the show is completely 

acoustic, which is its complete and harrowing strength. 

Somehow less is more with this particular release, and 

the spare arrangements shine the spotlight not only 

on Nihil’s vocal gymnastics, but also on the intensity 

of his guitar playing without being plugged in. This 

is immediately apparent on “Uncomfortably Numb,” 

where he evokes musical voodoo from the desert 

sands that surround him. It’s somehow grittier than 

the comparatively polished Rejecting the Program, 

released earlier this year. Just try to listen to “Dope 

Sick” without feeling a little sick yourself. You can 

taste the nausea. 

Each song is like a different method that Nihil uses 

to quantify his life experience, such as “Derelict 

Starchild” and “Not Today Satan, Not Today.” 

Here is the portrait of an artist armed with only 

his voice and a guitar, not unlike blues stars of the 

past. This is all that a man of this caliber needs to 

convey his vision. “Blood on the Pavement” gives 

a big nod to Dylan, but it’s taken to a place where 

only i.am.hologram could go. I would recommend 

that you get the CD directly from Nihil, because 

it’s got bits between the songs, studio chatter 

and false starts, that give a more authentic flavor, 

brilliantly produced by Blaine Coffee. 

David Marquez has spent six years building Phoenix 

Afrobeat Orchestra into a 16-piece, all-star local 

music extravaganza that has a habit of selling out 

nearly every show they put on. Their long overdue 

record has finally been released, and fans of the band 

can rest assured that it’s everything they hoped it 

would be and more. 

I love that even though this could be listened to as 

nothing more than a great party record, it begins with 

the overtly political “Oppression Scatter,” an anthem 

of devastation. With the greatest of Afrobeat in mind, 

from Fela Kuti to Tony Allen to the polyrhythmic hornladen 

big band ensembles, it moves like the music 

on seminal records from the ’60s and ’70s. Brilliantly 

filled with funk, Camille Sledge’s vocals are somehow 

able to stand up to the vast tapestry of sound 

surrounding them. She leads the band in vision and 

beauty and makes every show a ritual, and her voice 

somehow conveys that on the record. Just listen to 

“Come With Us” and try not to dance. 

Even when Sledge isn’t present on “Push,” the ensemble 

keeps the groove going just fine. There may only be 

five songs, including the bonus track, but with each 

one in seven-minute territory, it makes for a pretty 

cohesive album to introduce the world to Phoenix 

Afrobeat Orchestra. It should also be noted that 

this is another production achievement for 513 

Analog. The only thing that could and should 

logically follow this record is a double live 

album that captures their entire performance and 

the absolutely electric, eclectic energy they present 

in front of a crowd. Plus, with a band so steeped in 

the sounds of the ’70s, it seems right in line with 

their aesthetic. 

Sounds Around Town By Mitchell L. Hillman 

I had heard WOLFZiE’s soundscapes on a few 

projects, including a track on Dadadoh’s Radical, and 

couldn’t wait to hear what he had going on his own. 

This has to be one of the most hypnotic pieces of 

music released locally this year, and it is the perfect 

soundtrack for chilling with your substance of choice, 

whether it’s booze, smoke or psychedelics. Even if it’s 

meditation, this little album will wrap your mind in 

effluvial enchantments, setting you adrift into mental 

spaces not often visited. 

This would also make a hell of a background record 

at a chill gathering, over dinner with cannibals and 

at airports and coffee shops everywhere. It’s poetry 

with electronica as the medium. Deep into the 

record listeners can lose their identities in the place 

where they stop and the music begins, achieving a 

universality around the end of “Wildermuth.” 

“Lion Eyes” is even better when you try to remember 

but you can’t because you’ve been examining yourself 

sonically and the album is literally demanding your 

attention and you couldn’t turn away if you wanted 

to. As arresting as it is unsettling, something as 

utterly comforting as it is uneasy, it leaves you dazed. 

The second half of the record gets lost in some 

seriously beautiful soundscape collages, adding an 

ethereal effervescence to the entire affair. “How 

Humble” is the sole hip hop selection here, and it’s 

as mind bending as the chillwave surrounding it. This 

is a mind-blowing debut from a serious budding talent, 

and it leaves you eagerly anticipating The Memory 

Department, Pt. 2 or whatever follows this from WOLFZiE. 

For more on these events and other highlights of 

the Phoenix music scene, check out Mitchell’s blog 

at http://soundsaroundtown.net. For submissions 

or suggestions contact him at mitchell@ 

soundsaroundtown.net 

JAVA 33 

MAGAZINE

34 JAVA 

MAGAZINE 

Photo by Ryan Neal Cordwell 

Things are changing rapidly in Gilbert, AZ, and 

the once dusty farm town miles from the hub 

of central Phoenix has become an interesting 

urban center of its own. Downtown Gilbert 

was like any other place in Main Street America, 

a couple of rows of old buildings along a main 

thoroughfare, tapering off into farms and fields. 

Gilbert was primarily known for agriculture and was 

once considered the hay capital of the world due 

to the prominence of alfalfa grown there. Now it 

is the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Arizona, 

behind Phoenix, Tucson and Mesa, with a population 

approaching 300,000. 

In some ways, Gilbert still has that wholesome, 

small-town feel, which is what attracts so many 

young families; thus, it has dodged the fate of 

many towns across America filled with boarded-up 

storefronts and folks who’d rather shop at Walmart. 

Downtown Gilbert offers an interesting array of 

shops and especially restaurants catering to those 

looking for something a little different from the fast 

food and chain dining options that tend to service 

suburban communities. 

Joe Johnston was raised on a farm in Gilbert and is 

certainly one of the pioneers who helped revitalize its 

downtown, with Joe’s Real BBQ, his first restaurant 

foray in the area in 1998. Later, in 2008, his Liberty 

Market, which retains the name of its original 1935 

building, was an immediate success despite opening 

in a deep recession. Both of these establishments 

cater to a certain sensibility regarding local products, 

craftsmanship and a return to honest values. Thanks 

to Johnston’s early efforts, Gilbert’s Heritage District 

has become one of the Valley’s liveliest dining 

destinations, featuring such locally grown favorites 

as Postino, Lo-Lo’s Chicken & Waffles, Joyride Taco 

House, Zinburger and Clever Koi, to name a few that 

have migrated eastward. 

Perhaps the centerpiece of Johnston’s achievements 

is the residential and commercial community called 

Agritopia, built on land that was once the Johnston 

family farm. Agritopia, which began construction in 

2001, is a neo-traditional neighborhood without block 

walls between properties. The homes have front 

porches, and urban agriculture is at its core. There is 

a working farm on site (The Farm at Agritopia) that 

grows dates, olives, herbs and seasonal vegetables. 

The Johnston family home, built in 1967, has been 

converted to Joe’s Farm Grill, which is essentially 

an elevated burger stand, taking a casual grill menu 

and enhancing flavor profiles by using fresh local

ingredients, including Arizona-raised beef for their 

burgers and produce grown at the surrounding farm. 

The newest thing happening at Agritopia is a project 

that just opened late last month called Barnone. 

When asked whether it is pronounced “barn one” 

or “bar none,” the publicist said it is meant to be 

ambiguous. This new collection of restaurants, shops 

and studios is housed in a barn that was built in 1950. 

The Quonset hut structure is skinned in reclaimed 

aluminum from melted-down WWII aircraft. For 

the longest time, it was literally just a barn at the 

farm. But Johnston saw potential beyond anyone’s 

imagination. Now 10 businesses inhabit the original 

barn structure, and two others are housed in newly 

constructed outbuildings. The commercial spaces 

are smaller to accommodate a more artisan/maker 

approach. In its literature, Barnone describes itself as 

a “craftsman community.” 

Johnston had to fight long and hard with Gilbert city 

planners to get the project approved. He insisted 

on keeping the original arched trusses and exposed 

corrugated aluminum visible, which meant no interior 

insulation. Johnston seems confident in the building’s 

ability to stay cool during our brutal summer months, 

and each of the interior spaces has its own climatecontrol 

system. “I remember from my childhood 

that this place always stayed somewhat cool even 

in the summers,” says Johnston. He hired architect 

Jack DeBartolo and builder Caliente Construction to 

bring the project to life. This particular team (owner, 

architect and builder) has managed to pull off an 

impressive feat, revealing the beautiful industrial 

qualities of the original structure, while making the 

interior spaces eminently habitable. 

The scale of the individual shops at Barnone is 

reminiscent of the former Union Shops at Biltmore 

Fashion Park, which closed earlier this year. But overall 

Barnone seems slightly larger and more diverse: 

FIRE & BRIMSTONE 

Fire & Brimstone is community-focused restaurant 

featuring local ingredients cooked over an open 

flame or in a wood-burning oven. While pizza is in 

the spotlight here, the eatery also features farmfresh 

salads and a rotating seasonal menu, including 

fire-grilled meats and seafood. Founder and chef 

James Johnston (son of Joe) cut his teeth working 

in the family restaurants and on the farm, gaining 

experience literally from the ground up. This is what 

real farm-to-table cooking is all about: ingredients 

pulled straight from the soil at Agritopia and then 

washed, prepped and cooked. Food has become all 

about trends and creative complexity, but Johnston’s 

mission is to veer away from that and reestablish a 

connection between farm and community. 

LETTERCRAFT 

LetterCraft is Brandon and Katie Young, a husbandand-wife 

team dedicated to making reclaimed 

wood-burned decor and laser-cut wood gifts. They 

produce handmade signs, walls, furniture, coasters, 

ornaments, key chains, magnets, puzzles and more, 

all out of repurposed wood. LetterCraft specializes in 

custom orders and branding, working with clients to 

create the perfect piece for a wedding or event, home 

or office. Brandon and Katie are teachers who needed 

a creative outlet, and they have found it in working 

together to make local, handcrafted wood products 

and custom artwork. 

EVERYBODY LOVES FLOWERS 

Arizona’s desert landscape may not have flower 

stands dotting every street corner, like Paris or San 

Diego, but Mireille Helm believes that, especially in 

the desert, everybody loves flowers. Helm, founder 

and operator of Everybody Loves Flowers at Barnone, 

blends her longtime love of flowers with a passion 

for educating clients and creating unconventional, 

beautiful floral arrangements that add a much-needed

pop of color to our neutral desert terrain. Aside from the 

work she does for weddings and special occasions, 

Helm also offers curbside flower pickup, floral soiree 

classes and elements of home décor. 

PRICKLY PEAR PAPER 

Founded in 2016 by Mark Johnston and Lauren Elliott, 

Prickly Pear Paper combines a passion for graphic 

design with fun, adventurous cards and stationery 

designed to make people smile. As partners in love 

and life, Johnston and Elliot appreciate the small 

things, like brightening someone’s day with a witty 

card or fun piece of artwork. From start to finish, 

Prickly Pear Paper designs, produces and hand prints 

unforgettable invitations for big life events, like 

weddings. They use a Kelsey King Jobber letterpress, 

which leaves impressions in the paper, making it 

stand apart from modern digital printing. They also 

carry a wide array of curated stationery, greeting 

cards and gifts. 

THE UPROOTED KITCHEN 

Everything created in The Uprooted Kitchen is plantbased 

and organic. Chad and Erin Romanoff want 

to show that eating healthy foods from the earth 

can be can be attainable and affordable. Their open 

kitchen further reinforces that point, allowing guests 

to witness their meals being crafted. The Romanoffs 

want their guests to eat happy, knowing exactly 

what is going into their bodies. The restaurant can 

accommodate guests with 24 seats indoors and 24 

outdoors. Chad and Erin got their start in 2012 serving 

out of a 1968 Avion travel trailer transformed into 

a food truck, and the interior décor of their Barnone 

space is inspired by those humble beginnings, with 

lots of aluminum and natural materials. 

JOHNSTON MACHINE CO. 

Unbeknownst to many, Joe Johnston has several 

engineering degrees from Stanford University (bachelor’s 

degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering, and 

a master’s in industrial engineering), and he worked 

in the field for seven years. In 1989, he launched his 

first concept, the wildly successful Coffee Plantation 

on Mill Ave. in Tempe, which in 1992 alone served 

over a million people. Needless to say, Johnston’s 

engineering career took a backseat to the string of 

successes that would follow, including his visionary 

Agritopia community. Johnston Machine Co. is an 

opportunity for Joe to get back in touch with his more 

scientific side. The space is almost completely filled 

by two large prototyping machines (American made, 

Johnston is quick to note). I’ve heard that Johnston’s 

lineage is tied to the Hobart family, famous for 

its commercial food mixers, so it makes sense 

that Johnston Machine specializes in developing 

“tools and equipment to support the culinary arts, 

intended for the professional kitchen and serious 

amateur.” Also check out the exquisite terrazzo 

flooring and wainscoting in this machine shop. It 

looks like Johnston may have blown the budget on it. 

FINAL ASSEMBLY 

Directly adjacent to Johnston Machine, Final 

Assembly is a “place for assembling machines, 

a place for people to assemble and a place for 

creative ideas to come together.” For lack of a 

better description, Final Assembly is like an informal 

meeting space without walls. It would be a great 

place to put some pieces of a machine together on 

the large industrial table or to have a brainstorming 

session around that same table. The place is fully 

wired for sound and projection, so I could see some 

seriously creative assemblies happening here. 

JOHNSTON ARMS 

Steve Johnston’s identity as a craftsman is tied to 

his lifelong love of hunting and the outdoors, which 

36 JAVA 

MAGAZINE

evolved into an interest in firearms. But he gives 

credit to local saddlemaker Rocky Minster, whose 

philosophy and talent inspired his craft. Johnston 

loves to produce fine firearms and often wonders 

what kinds of stories they will inspire. For instance, 

if he could grab a drink with the gunsmith who made 

the pair of 100-year-old English shotguns he owns, 

what would he have to say about his process? And 

did the gun’s previous owners ever imagine their 

shotguns would still be in use today, in the Arizona 

desert? Steve makes his firearms with the hope that 

they, too, will stand the test of time and become 

family heirlooms that can be cherished and talked 

about for generations. 

WANDER 

Shelly Miera has been styling hair since she was a 

young girl, and now her dream of creating her own 

salon is a reality. Wander is place for both men and 

women to come share their journeys and adventures 

while they indulge in out-of-this-world salon services. 

Wander’s intimate space at Barnone features only 

two hair stations, so clients will never get caught in 

the crowd, and one-on-one personal service is key. 

The space feels hip but comfortable, with just the 

right modern décor touches. 

12WEST BREWING CO. 

Noel Garcia of 12West Brewing believes beer is a 

catalyst in creating community. After more than a 

decade of home brewing and craft beer industry 

experience, he and Bryan McCormick founded 

12West in 2016. Now, they want their space at 

Barnone to reflect their passion for craft as much 

as it reflects the community binding the world of 

beer together, and to accommodate everyone, 

from the longtime craft beer aficionado looking 

for an inventive hop-heavy brew, to the newbie 

sipping a balanced wheat beer. “I really want 

the taproom to be a space where you can sit 

and people-watch or come and socialize,” says 

Garcia, who draws his flavor inspirations from a 

combination of the culinary and beer worlds. “This 

is going to be a really big year for craft beer,” Garcia 

says. “I’m excited to bring that east.” 

GARAGE EAST 

Todd and Kelly Bastock of Dos Cabezas WineWorks 

in Sonoita have joined Brian and Megan Ruffentine 

to create a Gilbert-based winery that produces 

exclusively from Arizona grapes. The Garage East 

team has taken a common passion for wine and 

turned it into a one-of-a-kind artistic experience. 

“A lot of things we’ll be making are small batch 

and utilize traditional winemaking styles,” says 

Ruffentine. This is not a traditional winery, though 

wine production is a part of what they do. You will 

also find a broad range of agricultural preservation 

and exploration endeavors going on through 

fermentation. Since wine production happens on site, 

guest can taste vintages straight out of the barrel 

during different stages. Also, guests can bring bottles 

of wine purchased here to the surrounding restaurants 

and enjoy them with their meal. This is a place to 

come to with friends and enjoy the pioneering spirit of 

Arizona in a glass, bottle or to-go growler. 

THE FARM AT AGRITOPIA 

The freshly built outbuilding is the new home for 

the operations of the organic farm at the center of 

Agritopia, perhaps the best known urban farm in the 

state. This will also be location of a 24-hour cashierfree 

farm stand, where community members can pick 

up farm-fresh produce on the honor system. 

www.barnoneaz.com 

JAVA 37 

MAGAZINE

GIRL ON FARMER 

December is here and we’re ready for some winter 

wonderland. In our final month before the Trump 

takeover, we should take inventory of life as we know 

it and be thankful for the little things. And the big 

sale aisles at all the grocery stores where we can get 

last-minute gifts. 

The moment Halloween passed I noticed that Fry’s 

was preparing for the Christmas holiday by decking 

the halls and dedicating an aisle to all the things 

that hadn’t already sold by their 2016 expiration 

date. Among the fossilized baby formula, evaporated 

milk and cat treats, something caught my eye. A 

stack of stationery items that I knew couldn’t have 

reached a state beyond ingestible had me so excited. 

I thought I had just stumbled upon some cheap gifts 

for extended family members. At the top of the stack 

were some cards that were probably written in 1960, 

but in the thicker contents beneath was where I 

assumed the real goods would be. 

It was here that I found a cookbook called Dump 

Dinners. Now, you and I understand why this was 

not a hot seller. But the question is, who decided 

this was a good idea? The book itself was innocent 

enough, full of one-pot meals that you could make 

from ingredients the authors assumed would likely be 

found in any home kitchen. But Dump Dinners? This 

passed by the entire editorial team and no one was 

like, “I think the title will make people think about 

someone crapping in a big Crock-Pot and serving it 

as a meal”? 

Even if no one wanted to be this graphic, there 

wasn’t one person who pointed out that Dump 

Dinners isn’t quite the image one wants to conjure 

up when thinking about food? I’m clearly not a 

chef, but I have watched “Chopped,” and even 

when they’re cooking with a vegetable that smells 

like someone took a dump, they definitely give it a 

more appealing name. 

I thought that Dump Dinners would be a great gift at 

my work white elephant party. Then I remembered I 

work from home and not in a real office, so my office 

party would consist of me, my cat and some plants; 

no one to appreciate the subtle humor of the DD 

cookbook. But, last week someone in a virtual phone 

offi ce meeting did suggest that we should all post 

38 JAVA 

MAGAZINE

I’m clearly not a chef, but I have watched 

“Chopped,” and even when they’re cooking 

with a vegetable that smells like someone 

took a dump, they definitely give it a more 

appealing name. 

pictures of our home offices decorated for the holidays. Maybe DD could have a 

place in the background, left for more discerning eyes to discover and wonder if I 

was being funny or if I like to cook meals in my toilet bowl. 

Every year I say the same thing: I will find gifts throughout the year. I will be 

a five-star gift giver—one of those people who gives gifts that make people 

say, “Where did you find this?” in a tone that expresses an equal measure of 

excitement and genuine wonder. Behind my back people will whisper about my 

thoughtfulness and ability to find just the right gift. They will try and think of 

ways to get me something as wonderful as I’ve given them. I will overhear this 

chatter and nonchalantly wave my hand and say, “Oh god, don’t worry about it, I 

just picked it up.” 

Unfortunately, this never happens. I am so short-term thinking that even if I see 

something one week before someone’s birthday I think they will like, I don’t buy 

it, assuming I will stumble upon something more wonderful in the next few days. 

It never happens. A few weeks ago in Tucson I visited a few stores that sold 

local art and interesting things. I went as far as to say out loud to my husband, 

“Maybe we should get this for so and so for Christmas.” Then we both shook our 

heads as if we were planning for a retirement dinner and it was ridiculous to get 

something so far in advance. This is why I am a bad gift giver. I have no doubt 

that this year, like every other, I will cram-shop between Changing Hands, Urban 

Outfitters, World Market and the Mexican store in Guadalupe to get every gift. 

The five-star gift givers, like my sister, listen to every random item you wish 

for throughout the year and then surprise you with them on special days like 

Christmas. And they say things like, “I remember in August you said you liked 

that skirt that girl was wearing. So when you went to the bathroom, I ran to 

her table and asked her where she got it. She said Spain. Then I researched for 

two weeks and found the village where the skirts are made. They don’t have a 

website. So I tracked down a person who lives in the village and bought it for 

you. It just arrived last month!” And she’s serious. 

There’s always next year. This Christmas, I’m sure I will end up stuffing 

someone’s stocking with Dump Dinners. So, even if you forget all year long to 

stock up on five-star gifts, there’s always the gift aisle at Fry’s. Don’t forget the 

toilet paper.

NIGHT 

GALLERY 

Photos By 

Robert Sentinery 

1 

2 

3 4 

5 

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7 

8 9 

10 11 

1. Yai has a close encounter at Tieken Gallery 

2. Gatsby Lawn Party at Scottsdale Grand Prix 

3. Lady Luck Tattoo Gallery 10-year anniversary event 

4. A couple of rockin’ lobsters 

5. Champagne wishes 

6. Emmeric Konrad with his art at Tieken Gallery 

7. More Gatsby party fun with these guys 

8. Fine wine time at the VHRA Media Reception 

9. Steve Hanson and Jel Martinez 

10. District American Kitchen doll at the VHRA Reception 

11. Snapped this power trio at the AZ Biltmore

12 13 14 15 16 

17 18 19 20 21 

22 23 24 25 26 

27 28 29 

12. Justin and Bassim check out Jel’s painting 

13. Costume party fun art Lara’s place 

14. This is what happens in Scottsdale 

15. Kim and her beau at the Gatsby Lawn Party 

16. These guys loaded us with bites at the VHRA mixer 

17. Laura Spalding Best at Chartreuse Gallery 

18. Flapper babes getting their Gatsby on 

19. In Chef Szabo’s kitchen at Match Cuisine + Cocktails 

20. Pair of pretty dress wearers 

21. Handsome couple at Abe Zucca Gallery 

22. Parisa and pal at For The People 

23. Dapper dudes at Scottsdale Grand Prix 

24. Painted ladies at the Lady Luck 10-year 

25. Cute couple at the Tieken Gallery 

26. Mike and company at the FOUND:RE Hotel media preview 

27. Artist Richard Kessler’s opening at Tieken Gallery 

28. Tara takes a stroll at Bragg’s Pie Factory 

29. More Scottsdale Grand Prix attendees

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30 31 

32 33 34 

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47 

30. Fat Ox pre-opening dinner 

31. Selfie time with Mia and Alejandra 

32. I spy Joe and Vaiden 

33. Snapped at “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” opening 

34. Good folks and fun at Tieken Gallery 

35. Fat Ox friends & family dinner attendees 

36. Dia de los Muertos familia 

37. Knight Agency crew at Scottsdale Grand Prix 

38. Lady Luck 10-year anniversary bash at Monarch 

39. A toast to these two at Tieken Gallery 

40. Sassy wine pourer at the Gatsby party 

41. Sharped dressed art scene couple 

42. French artist Robin Lebel and his girl are touring the US 

43. Behind the bar at the brand new Fat Ox 

44. Rafael is (Freddie) Mercury 

45. These guys nailed their outfits for the Gatsby party 

46. Richard & Jocelyn check out Yai & Ashley’s new studio 

47. Chaundra and Ashley at Teiken Gallery

48 49 

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48. Bumped into this very surreal fellow 

49. Looking fresh at the Scottsdale Grand Prix 

50. Wren House brewery in the house at Phoenix Pizza Fest 

51. Delicious Italian food and friendly people at the Fat Ox 

52. Fun in the sun at Scottsdale Grand Prix 

53. Wine tasting with Mia at the VHRA Media Reception 

54. Gatsby girls 

55. Janel Garza’s “Sonoran Shapes” show at Treeo 

56. Gold diggers starting at an early age 

57. Vicious Circle Pizza mama at Phoenix Pizza Fest 

58. Joe and his lady at Tieken Gallery 

59. A toast to Janel’s artwork at Treeo 

60. Four Peak’s Pumpkin Porter a seasonal favorite 

61. Gatsby Lawn Party ladies 

62. Housewarming fun for Ashley & Yai’s new place 

63. Prickly Pear Paper at Barnone 

64. Fred & Stacy at “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” opening 

65. Snapped the trio at Treeo

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66. Lady Luck 10 year at Monarch 

67. Doing the Scottsdale Grand Prix stroll 

68. FOUND:RE Hotel sneak peak 

69. These cuties have all the Gatsby gear 

70. Faces in the crowd at Yai & Ashley’s studio 

71. Freak Brothers babes at Phoenix Pizza Fest 

72. Fire & Brimstone founder and chef James Johnston 

73. “Bread&Butter” show with Christina, Daniel and friends 

74. Gennaro is sharing some delicious vino from Baja, Mexico 

75. Michelle is wearing her Jackson Pollock shirt 

76. The Fabio on Fire crew really brought it for Pizza Fest 

77. Julio and Jorge at Palabra 

78. Joe Johnston at Barnone in Gilbert 

79. Todd and Kelly Bostock’s new venture, Garage East winery 

80. 12West Brewing Co at Barnone in Gilbert 

81. Some friendly volunteers at Scottsdale Grand Prix 

82. Brandon and Katie from LetterCraft 

83. These ladies had the tastiest wine at Pizza Fest

Karen Jilly, Looking For The 

Golden Sun, 2016, Acrylic 

and varnish on wood 

panel, 42 x 48 inches. 

Alternative Beauty*FREE 

The Work of Karen Jilly 

A Twenty-five Year Survey 

December 9, 2016 – March 19, 2017 

Admission! 

Marlys Kubicek, 

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Matter 

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Reduction 

linoleum relief. 

Preorder your 

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For more information, please visit 

MesaArtsCenter.com/index.php/museum/programs 

One East Main Street • Mesa, Arizona 85201 • 480-644-6567 • MesaArtsCenter.com

celebrate 

@smoca 

Take a holiday from the holidays and visit two 

engaging exhibitions at SMoCA: Architecture + Art: 

Everything Falls Into Place When It Collapses and 

Push Comes to Shove: Women and Power. 

Visit the Shop@SMoCA for art-focused books, toys, 

gifts and one-of-a-kind originals from local creatives. 

Upcoming Events 

Thursday, December 8 I 7 p.m. I Ticketed 

Screening: VICELAND @SMoCA: Pakistan 

Thursday, January 12 I 7 p.m. I Ticketed 

Screening: VICELAND @SMoCA: Russia and USA 

Thursday, January 19 I 5:45 p.m. I Ticketed 

Lit Happy Hour: My Life on the Road 

by Gloria Steinem 

Push Comes to Shove: Women and Power is organized by Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. Curated 

by Muriel Magenta, Ph.D., Professor of Intermedia, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State 

University, and Sara Cochran, Ph.D., SMoCA Director and Chief Curator, with the assistance of Julie Ganas, 

SMoCA Curatorial Coordinator. Presenting Sponsors: SmithGroupJJR and Carrie Lynn Richardson and 

Paul Giancola. Supporting Sponsors: Tamar Weiss, in loving memory of Emil Weiss. 

Architecture + Art: Everything Falls into Place When It Collapses is organized by Scottsdale Museum of 

Contemporary Art. Curated by Sara Cochran, Ph.D., SMoCA Director and Chief Curator, and Emily Stamey, 

Ph.D., Curator of Exhibitions, Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. 

Presenting Sponsors: Walter and Karla Goldschmidt Foundation. Supporting Sponsors: Tamar Weiss, 

in loving memory of Emil Weiss. 

This exhibition is made possible through the generous support 

of the Mexican Agency AMEXCID and the Consulate General 

of Mexico. 

Image: Hilary Harp and Suzie Silver, Better Out Than In (detail), 

2016. Mixed media installation. Courtesy of the artists and 

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. © Hilary Harp and 

Suzie Silver. Photo: Sean Deckert 

SMoCA.org I 7374 E. Second Street I 480-874-4666

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