ART
Don't Bicker; Create!
"Make Art (Political)/Hagan Arte (Politico)"
Noon to 6 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 29
Sculpture Resource Center640 N. Stone Ave.
305-3520
A lot of people have become disenchanted with politics—and with many people, you can't even bring up political topics without getting into a heated debate.
Kristine Aman came up with a solution: a workshop where people of various ages with various political backgrounds—or none whatsoever—can express their thoughts on politics and the upcoming presidential election through any type of art.
"This is a day when everyone is welcome to create whatever they want and express whatever they want about politics," Aman said. "Hopefully, it will be a very positive experience."
Aman came up with the idea when she realized that Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential candidate, did not have any iconic art work for her campaign. "I started pitching ideas, because I wanted to contribute to her campaign in some way," Aman said. "And then I thought: What if a bunch of people come together, with all their passion, and transformed their political thoughts into art?"
Aman said she has been interested in politics for as long as she can remember. However, "Make Art (Political)" is the first time Aman has attempted to put on a public event like this. People are welcome to transform their ideas and feelings into a poem, a drawing, a painting or even a song. If enough works are produced, Aman said, she would like to have a showing in one of the galleries at the Sculpture Resource Center.
"Whenever someone brings up politics, everyone puts up their defense walls," Aman said. "With this event, I would like for people to listen to each other again, and not have that animosity whenever politics are brought up."
The event is free. Bring your own supplies. —I.T.
LECTURES
Unearthing Tucson's Abandoned Cemeteries
Archaeology Café: "A Dreary, Bleak, Desolate Place"
6 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 2
Casa Vicente
375 S. Stone Ave.
882-6946, ext. 16
If there's something strange in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call?
If that something strange is an old skeleton, you'd call Homer Thiel. He's a project director at Desert Archaeology and the local go-to guy for historic burial sites in Tucson.
Thiel will speak about five sites during October's Archaeology Café session. The cafés are informal lectures that allow people to participate in a jargon-free discussion.
"It's a chance to meet other people who are interested in archaeology and history—and have some sangria," said Kate Gann, the communications coordinator at Archaeology Southwest, which sponsors the cafés.
The sites in Thiel's talk will range from Native American burial grounds to Spanish cemeteries.
"I'm going to go through each of the five cemeteries and describe what I know, and then tell a story about someone who was buried at the cemetery," Thiel said.
His favorite yarn is set in the Court Street Cemetery and involves a domestic dispute, murder, suicide and a hat.
Thiel has studied archaeology for 26 years. For 20 of them, he has lived in Tucson and has dug into the history of the city's early denizens. "If you want to know where you came from, then you need to know who you came from," Thiel said.
Thiel, who calls himself a "genealogy nerd," traced his ancestry back to a small town in Poland. It turns out that one of his seventh cousins is President Obama.
Thiel estimates he's helped investigate 10 to 20 mystery graves in Tucson. But despite his frequent encounters with the remains of the departed, Thiel doesn't really believe in the supernatural.
"I've always had a boring imagination in that regard," he said.
The event is free. —M.D.
ART
The Un-living Among Us
Underworld Vampyres
Opening reception: 7 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 29; on display through Tuesday, Nov. 6
Hotel Congress311 E. Congress St.
622-8848;
The country these days seems to have a twisted fascination with vampires. They are demonic creatures, eager to perforate our necks and suck all of our blood—but their immortality, freakish powers and porcelain skin are like a magnet for our attention.
When Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli began searching for a theme for his next photography exhibit, it seemed like the universe pointed in one direction: vampires.
At a photography gig in Portland, Ore., Bonuccelli came across the stepping-stones that made Underworld Vampyres his new project.
"I met a guy whose wife had made vampire-like dresses and knew someone who lived at an abandoned church," Bonuccelli said. "He said I could use the dresses and shoot at the church. The universe manifested all these random things that fueled my idea."
Underworld Vampyres features more than 20 photos, each with its own narrative and characters. The exhibit is Bonuccelli's first show in Tucson. He has had numerous shows in Seattle and other cities in Washington state, where he lived for more than 10 years.
Bonuccelli said he wanted this exhibit to be a complete departure from his day-to-day work as a photographer for Lonely Planet guidebooks. "I can't really go too crazy outside the box (at work)," Bonuccelli said. "So I wanted to do a show that was wacked-out and as imaginative as I could come up with."
The reception also will showcase other Tucson artists, such as local band the Mission Creeps, the fire-spinning group Obsessive Combustive Disorder and fire belly-dancer Theadra Taylor.
"Hopefully, the exhibit will also put a spotlight on the amazing underground art that's going on in Tucson," Bonuccelli said.
The event is free. —I.T.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Celebrating Sobriety
The Tucson Recovery Walk, Expo and Youth Rally
Registration at 8 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 29
Reid Park Ramadas 14 and 15
Near 22nd Street and Country Club Road
People recovering from drug or alcohol addiction often remember, with great pride, the day they finally decided to get healthy.
Tippy Atkins has been addiction-free for five years. Prior to that, she was in and out of recovery. "I decided that the pain I was in was far greater than any fear of what to expect living life in recovery," Atkins said.
September has been National Drug and Alcohol Addiction Recovery Month for 23 years. The goal is to increase awareness of methods to prevent addictions and options for beginning the process of recovery.
The Tucson Recovery Walk, Expo and Youth Rally celebrates people such as Atkins who have achieved sobriety. Many local organizations, including the Gospel Rescue Mission and CODAC Behavioral Health Services, come together for a morning of live music, free food and fun activities.
"This event is a great celebration of the strength and resilience of so many people in our community battling addiction," said Kristine Welter, director of development and marketing at CODAC. "We draw attention to the fact that recovery is possible."
Atkins first heard about the event five years ago, when she entered a rehabilitation clinic. She and some other people getting treatment signed up to participate.
"I was so overwhelmed," Atkins said. "I realized that I was not alone in my struggle."
Since then, Recovery Walk has become a tradition in Atkins' family. She brings her husband, who has been sober for 22 years, her children and grandchildren to celebrate her new, healthy life.
Atkins said a person struggling with addiction can come and say, "Wow, look at all these people who have overcome addiction. I can do it, too."
Admission is free. —I.T.
