Gallery Events

Journeys in Spirit 2021: Traditional and Contemporary Native Art
May 21  – June 22, 2020
4th Friday Art Walk at ‘Tis  Friday May 28 5:00 – 7:00 PM

In its 12^th year, the ‘Tis “Journeys in Spirit 2021: Traditional and Contemporary Native Art Exhibition” is a month-long event produced in partnership with the Museum of Indigenous People (formerly the Smoki Museum)

Art has always played a powerful and integral role in traditional Native culture. Paintings and carvings of early ancestors can be found on the rocks and walls of sacred spaces and places, inside caves, canyon walls, ceremonial lodges, and mountainsides. Embellished relics from every day and ceremonial use have been found scattered in and around long abandoned community sites.

Today, many of the traditions continue to be handed down from generation to generation. Children are introduced to the arts at a young age. They are taught that color and imagery carry symbolic meaning and that through the arts stories can be told.

The mediums and style vary from tribe to tribe. Basketry, bead working, ceramics, silversmithing, weaving and woodcarving are traditional crafts, and they are often integrated into the making of weaponry, musical instruments, and ceremonial attire and props.

The Native artists of “Journeys in Spirit 2021” come from varied backgrounds and cultures. Many of them live within and outside of their tribal communities. Some of them work in a traditional style while others work in the modern mediums of painting and photography. As varied as their art is, they share a common ground. They are Native artists, and there are stories to be told.

in the mezzanine gallery
“Fauxbots and Clay Pots 2021” found object assemblage and clay works by Debbie Thomas
June 15 – July 14
meet Debbie and her work during Prescott’s 4th Friday Art Walk at ‘Tis
June 25th 5:00 – 7:00 PM

Humor and beauty are two things that have been in short supply lately. My answer to that is to make whimsical sculptures and beautiful pottery pieces to enrich your space.

Fauxbots are found object ‘robots’ that depict people or animals or imaginary creatures.  While they are called robots, they actually don’t DO anything but bring a smile to your face. They range from small wall hangings to very large standing sculptures. I really love taking things that might have ended up in a landfill and giving them a new life.

My pottery pieces are all one of a kind. From beautiful round wall pieces to functional but unique serving pieces, you will see lots of color and texture. ~ Debbie Thomas

in the mezzanine gallery
“The Edge: Earth, Sky and All Between” paintings by Cindy Brower / sculpture by Gary Cassidy
July 16 – August 14

meet the artists during Prescott’s 4th Friday Art Walk at ‘Tis
July 23
5:00 – 7:00 PM

click on the images to enlarge and view the slideshow

Cindy Brower

Most of us have experienced events in our lives that, for a brief second, made time stand still; the images of those events burning themselves into our soul like a freeze-frame photo, forever redefining how we see life. For Cindy, the tragic loss of her two brothers, which came when she was a teenager, changed all that had come before and all that was yet to come; casting the world in a very different light.

Cindy’s love of nature and introspection was planted before she was born. Her mother, discovering that she was pregnant late in life and fearful for her unborn child, escaped the city of Phoenix to the woods outside of Prescott, Arizona, and spent three months camping with Cindy’s two brothers, waiting for her arrival.

Cindy’s paintings take inspiration from her Arizona roots — sweeping landscapes with a surrealistic twist. Cindy also paints what she calls her “chaos series” — bold and quirky dreamscapes often with a baby bird.  In each painting there will always be a message of hope and a place of peace. Cindy became fascinated with surrealism as a child when her mother would take her to the Phoenix Art Museum.  Her favorite stop would always be to see the paintings of Phillip Curtis. Years later, it was a great honor when she met Phillip in his studio and he critiqued one of her paintings.  Cindy has a patient painting style, using many layers of glazing to achieve a sense of depth and intrigue.

Cindy earned a BS in Horticulture from the University of Arizona and an AAS in Interior Design from Scottsdale Community College, where she also studied painting with Robert You.

She has studios in Prescott and Scottsdale.

“My paintings are a distillation of my dreams, visions, and life experiences. They represent my on-going struggle with the duality of life and my efforts to find the creative force in all things, “good” and “bad”, that challenge us to grow, expand, and recreate our world. We cannot stand in light without casting a shadow, each is dependent on the other.  My goal is to embrace light and darkness with equal grace, communicating life’s balancing acts: humor against gravity; confidence against uncertainty; unity against isolation; love against fear; pitting our feelings of chaos against our search for peace. In my paintings, for those who seek, an image of hope can always be found.”

Gary Cassidy

Colonel U.S. Army (retired)

Gary “Butch” Cassidy, a Special Forces Colonel upon retiring from the U.S. Army, was recalled from retirement to be the Army’s Artist and sent to Bosnia in 1998/99 to capture images and create a body of artwork depicting our soldiers’ experiences.  From that Bosnia Art Project, one painting, Checkpoint at Bedrock, honoring U.S. Army soldiers’ Bosnia service, was unveiled at the U.S. Capitol building in a ceremony on April 11, 2000.  Gary’s achievements include Doctor of Arts, Master of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees.  He served in various command and executive positions for the U.S. Army Staff, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict. His military experience overseas includes the Balkans, First Gulf War, Panama, Korea, and the Vietnam War.

Since retiring and moving to Prescott in 2002 Gary has served in a number of positions to include, Executive Director of the Phippen Museum of Western Art, Board Member and President of Arizona Classical Theatre, Board Member and Chairperson for Arts and Cultural Affairs Study Group for Prescott 2050, Board Member and President for Friends of Yavapai College Art, and Board Member for the Yavapai College Foundation.

His art is in the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum in Chicago, Illinois, the Army Art Collection in Washington, D.C. and his artworks have been displayed in the Pentagon; U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Ft. Bragg, North Carolina; U.S. Special Operations Command, Mac Dill Air Force Base, Florida; Special Operations and Airborne Museum, Fayetteville, North Carolina; U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania; National Defense University, Washington, DC; and his art is in numerous corporate and private collections.

Gary works with steel, wood, stone and repurposed material as a sculptor and he is a painter.  Additionally, he is about to publish his third book of a trilogy of novels or mythomemoir based on what he observed during his thirty-year U.S. Army career.