Hands-on Art?

March 9, 2016

When day to day life leaves us hard-pressed to take hands and eyes away from our devices, an immersive, hands-on arts festival could be just what the doctor ordered. And at spark! Mesa’s Festival of Creativity, interaction with the artwork is not only welcome, it’s encouraged.

With nonstop live music by local bands like Vintage Wednesday and Dry River Yacht Club to works that explore the intersection of art and technology, you’ll have no shortage of things to see and hear at this event. Let the highly sensory works of inventive artists lure you away from your screens!

When you touch one of the 16 electronic “trees” in Christopher Janney’s Sonic Forest you’ll trigger a series of events, from an original score of melodic tones, environmental sounds, and whispered expressions to an ever-changing color palette of LED lights.

In MIZARU, you’ll press the membrane of a large transparent box with a white spandex wall, and watch it spring to life with fiery visual patterns and music that shift according to the depth and pressure of a person’s touch.

In Telepoem Booth, you’ll step inside a relic from the past – a phone booth – and dial up a poem by an Arizona poet.

Much like the treehouses of our childhood imaginations, Human Nests made of reclaimed wood will beckon you to walk through and explore a temporary environment of hut-like structures.

Add to this the sights of live aerosol and chalk art pieces created across campus, re-you’re your hands to contribute to a large-scale kaleidoscope mural of fused beads, or go completely analog in an hour-long studio sampler class like Flameworking or Watercolor.

This free, all-ages festival is the perfect excuse to take your imagination for a date and enjoy the beautiful Arizona outdoors. Celebrate your creative community Friday, March 18 and Saturday, March 19, noon-10pm. www.mesaartscenter.com/spark.