Weekend o' Art

The 'Summer Art Cruise' is now ready for boarding

For anyone who's been missing the outdoor David Tineo mural taken down last winter at the Tucson Museum of Art, here's good news.

Tineo opens a solo show of paintings at Contreras Gallery Saturday night, June 4, during the Summer Art Cruise, an evening of multiple gallery openings downtown and around Sixth and Sixth.

"We'll have about 18 paintings," says gallery owner Michael Contreras, "mostly medium-sized and priced to sell."

Tineo is best known for his large murals, including "Nuestro futuro/Nuestras raices humanas," the big TMA piece he painted with Antonio Pazos way back in 1992. The extravagant homage to Aztec history and culture was created to celebrate the opening of a major exhibition of Chicano art at the museum. Painted on plywood, it was meant to last just a few months; 18 years later, museum officials deemed that it had weathered beyond repair.

In December, the mural was dismantled; pieces of it were cut up and sent to South Tucson's Galeria Mistica, Tineo's usual gallery.

Contreras is calling the new show Tineo Libre (Free Tineo), after the painting "Libre." An acrylic on canvas, the lush piece depicts a dancing female figure enmeshed in bright strokes of blue and green.

Despite the fading of his eyesight in the last half-dozen years, the artist has continued to explore Latino iconography. But now it's simpler and bolder; sometimes, as in "Libre," it's radiant. 110 E. Sixth St.; 398-6557; www. contrerashousefineart.com; reception 6 to 10 p.m.

Not all of the members of the Central Tucson Gallery Association will join the flotilla in the Summer Art Cruise. Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery at Pima Community College is closed for the summer. Joseph Gross Gallery at the UA isn't open on weekends. And while Philabaum will be open during the day Saturday, it will be closed during for the gala evening.

Even so, there are plenty of galleries for art-lubbers to cruise to. The parties start at 6 p.m., but ending times vary. Here's a list:

Davis Dominguez Gallery, just up the block from Contreras, contributes Small Things Considered, its annual small-works show. This year, about 80 local artists sent in paintings 12 inches square or less, or sculptures no more than 18 inches high. David F. Brown came up with a fine little drawing that's equal parts charcoal, coffee stains and footprints. Jan Olsson, Paris-based but Tucson-raised, submitted "Two Models," an excellent riff on Toulouse-Lautrec; it's a loosely drawn rendering of two women in white. Miles Conrad's tiny "Convene," just 6 inches square, is in his usual smooth encaustics, but this time in dreamy earth tones. 154 E. Sixth St.; 629-9759; www.davisdominguez.com; reception 6 to 8 p.m.

Conrad's own gallery, Conrad Wilde, has pulled off a coup with a solo show for Barbara Rogers, an eminent Tucson painter now retired from the UA. In Bloom is a solo show of Rogers' botanical paintings, in her trademark layers and shimmering colors. Rogers will give a talk a week after the opening, at 6 p.m., Saturday, June 11; 439 N. Sixth Ave., Suite 171 (front door is on Sixth Street); 622-8997; www.conradwildegallery.com; reception 6 to 9 p.m.

Platform Gallery, at the corner of Sixth and Sixth, reviews the past season in a group show. Ironic art-history paintings by Jack Balas are a highlight; painted in deft oils, watercolor and acrylics, they feature buff young men and a poster aesthetic. "Anselm Kiefer: Next Year in Jerusalem" has a tattooed guy in a landscape, with his arms flung out crucifixion-style. Other titles: "Who Was Grant Wood?" and "Norman Rockwell Knockout." 439 N. Sixth Ave.; 882-3886; www.platformart.com; reception 6 to 9 p.m.

Summer storms rock the cruise boat at Raices Taller 222. ¡Chubasco! A Monsoon Exhibition is a group show of works in multiple media celebrating Tucson's beloved, elusive thunder squalls. 218 E. Sixth St.; 881-5335; www.raicestaller222.webs.com; reception 6 to 9 p.m.

Santa Theresa Tile Works, the studio and gallery of tile artist Susan Gamble, is filled with thousands of glossy tiles customers can choose for custom-made artworks. Also on display are some finished pieces, including, last week, a marvelous monsoon montage. 440 N. Sixth Ave. (entrance on south side of building); 623-8640; www.santatheresatileworks.com; reception 6 to 9 p.m.

Downtown, The Drawing Studio pays homage to the many printmaking techniques it teaches in its classes, from relief to intaglio to monotype. Following up on the gallery's winter show of work by master printmakers, Tool, Metal, Wood, Ink, Paper exhibits pieces by the studio's adult students. 33 S. Sixth Ave.; 620-0947; www.thedrawingstudio.org; reception 6 to 9 p.m.

The new Dinnerware Artspace hosts a number of arts-related enterprises. For Art Cruise, Central Arts Gallery opens a members' exhibition. Fabric artist Eleonor Leon debuts La Fashionista, a clothing store where she will teach classes in sewing and wearable art. Borealis Framing opens its new frame shop; the business also plans to conduct framing workshops for artists. 119 E. Toole Ave.; 869-3166; www.dinnerwarearts.com; reception 6 to 10 p.m.

If you want to make an early start to your art evening, stop by Philabaum Glass Studio and Gallery before 5 p.m. (The gallery opens at 10 a.m.) The current show exhibits colorful fused glass panels by Helen Rudy of Denver. 711 S. Sixth Ave.; 884-7404; www.philabaumglass.com; no reception.

Kore Press is all about words: For 18 years, the Tucson press has been publishing words written by women.

But Kore's Garden Party fundraiser this weekend is all about art. Some 50 artists have donated high-caliber works to help pay for Kore's myriad activities: the publication of new books, workshops for teenage girls, collaborations with other artists (including the dancers of NEW ARTiculations) and, just maybe, the production of another play, like Kore's acclaimed Coming in Hot, a drama about women in the military.

In May, Kore's many efforts won the stamp of approval from the National Book Foundation, which awarded the press a 2011 Innovations in Reading prize.

The visual artworks to be auctioned off include Cynthia Miller's "Fleurs #4," one of the delightful Matisse-esque mixed-media works from her Temple Gallery show this spring. Also up for bid are Valerie Galloway's sensual black-and-white photo "Charlotte," and photog Josh Schachter's dreamy "Volcanoes of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala," colored in pinks and blues. Take a peek at all the pieces at www.korepress.org/auctionart.htm.

The Garden Party goes from 6 to 9 p.m., Sunday, June 5, on the lawns of the historic Franklin House, 402 N. Main Ave. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door; admission includes treats from Gallery of Food and live music; 327-2127; www.korepress.org.