Byron Fenix

MRCH

Mesa Synth

Kristin Wesley - Altar of Awen

Kristin Wesley is a multi-media public artist using installations, assemblages and murals to connect with communities, invigorate spaces and inspire others. She shares the power of creativity through workshops, projects and events at Roosevelt ArtWorks, a Creative Arts Studio, Gallery and Tattoo Shop in Phoenix, Arizona’s colorful Grand Avenue Historic Arts District. Here, Wesley weaves together modalities and materials to create art and experiences for galleries, collectors, events and the public.

Altar of Awen: Temple of Reflection, House of the Radiant Heart, an interactive sculptural environment that serves as both a literal and figurative reflective space, inspired by the Welsh concept of 'inspiration,’ inviting participants into a world of shared creativity. 

Lily Reeves - Incantations and the Aura of Dreaming

“The Aura of Dreaming” is a line from Pauline Oliveros’ short book “Quantum Listening,” which encourages a deep awareness of time and place as a way to tap into the mysteries of reality itself. Modern advances in quantum mechanics are proving what spiritualists and traditional practices have known for centuries; that deep meditation can alter time — that perception can co-author reality — and that intention can have rippling effects throughout time and place. Neon, a word deriving from the greek “neos,” meaning new, contextualizes this idea by laying embedded into granite rocks sourced from southern Arizona. The spiral, the oldest symbol known to humanity, which is strewn across the globe into stone and surviving artifacts, is a reminder that even with every new technology and advancement, knowing is a tool that we have held onto since the beginning of time: we simply need to deeply listen. By leaning on tools practiced in modern witchcraft, Reeves’ sculptures call into question the establishment of time and reality. Using light as incantation, she projects the idea that time is crafted, not linear, and we are able to author instead of simply experiencing it.

Liberty Wildlife

Liberty Wildlife’s mission is to nurture the nature of Arizona through wildlife rehabilitation, natural history education, and conservation services to the community. Liberty Wildlife believes strongly in connecting the public, especially children, with the natural world. Our Education group visits classroom and civic event settings with non-releasable wildlife. Well-trained presenters teach about the natural history of each animal, and tell how each came to be at Liberty Wildlife.

Lauren Strohacker - Terra Occasio (Land of Opportunity)

In the year of America’s Semiquincentennial, Eco-Political artist Lauren Strohacker transforms Mesa Arts Center's campus into a multimedia homage to the coyote–an animal considered by Joseph Beuys to be the spirit of the country. Coyotes are the only carnivore to defy government eradication programs, hate campaigns, and human cruelty to expand their habitat over the last 250 years. Coyotes roam the entirety of the country; evidence shows there is a coyote living within a mile of every person in the continental United States. It is said that one coyote is killed every minute in America. Controversial and charismatic, the coyote continues to hallow the wild, rural, suburban, and urban ground as rebellion incarnate. Terra Occasio is a one-night encounter with with the coyote, our last ambassador from the Howling Wilderness.

Quilted Rummage

We use up-cycled, recycled, and scavenged material sourced from our community to build collective art projects created by, for, and in our wider community. Our use of elements derived solely from our surroundings (natural or human made) means every project is inherently an exploration of our shared spaces and how we choose to fill them as individuals and a community.

Virtual Reality Installations

Kevin Clark’s virtual art gallery

Phoenix-based artist and immersive educator Kevin Clark has created a virtual art gallery featuring artwork by Mesa artists. Put on a VR headset and step into the dynamic digital world he’s built for this event—an immersive experience celebrating art by and for the Mesa community.

Carla LynDale Bishop

Her work explores ways that media can be used to bring communities together to promote social change. She blends traditional documentary with immersive media such as augmented reality, geotagging and 360 video to tell place-based narratives of historically black communities.

Introduction to Hoverlay

Hoverlay is made of two parts:

1. A free, iOS and Android camera app for anyone to find and explore channels.
2. A set of web apps, like spaces.hoverlay.com, used to to publish content on your channel.

Channels are like radio stations: any user using the hoverlay app can “tune” into a channel, and uncover visual augmented content published on that channel at that location or time.

App Instructions

1. Access your mobile device’s app store, download the Hoverlay app, and follow instructions to install the Hoverlay camera browser app on your mobile device. Please note: the app requires an augmented reality-capable device running iOS 13 or later or Android 7.0 or later.

2. Open your phone’s camera and point it at the QR code. Click the yellow button that appears to launch the experience. Move your phone around to see the experience.