“Hello Midtown!”: Lisa Sette Gallery Debuts its New Midtown Phoenix Location
After 28 years in Scottsdale, Arizona, Lisa Sette Gallery has uprooted to a new location in the growing cultural hub of Midtown Phoenix. The Al Beadle-designed building at East Catalina Drive reflects the sleek, modernist style that the architect embodies in his work. With its close proximity to the light-rail line, the Phoenix Art Museum, the Heard Museum, and the vibrant, burgeoning Roosevelt Row arts district, Lisa Sette Gallery takes root in an optimum location for contemporary art.
While Scottsdale has directed the art scene in Phoenix for many years, the adaptive re-use of space in the city’s Midtown area in recent years has put it back on track for creative urbanization. Gallery founder and president Lisa Sette collaborated with architecture firm StarkJames to renovate the Beadle building, while maintaining its original structure. The below-ground space now invites visitors to enter via steps that descend into the earth, and the structure’s exterior is finished with a fabric scrim designed to protect the interior from the desert environment. The space will allow for intimate exhibition areas ideal for hosting salons, artist events, and diverse arts programing.
To mark the opening of the new location, the gallery will launch the 2014-2015 season with “Hello Midtown!,” a group show that will include works from Angela Ellsworth, Damion Berger, Kim Cridler, Mayme Kratz and Rachel Bess, among others. The exhibition offers a sampling of what the gallery puts forth on a regular basis, including a range of mediums. Among highlights are Kratz’s Sun Spot (2013), made from resin and fountain grass collected from the desert near her Phoenix home, and Cridler’s Bottle with Blue Birds (2014), a sculptural vessel in bronze and steel. With the opening of the new venue and show, Lisa Sette Gallery advances its engagement in Phoenix’s contemporary art scene, and furthers its curatorial vision, offering original, intriguing forms of expression.
“Hello Midtown!” is on view at Lisa Sette Gallery, June 14th, 2014.
