Let鈥檚 face it: 2020 has been a miserable year.
What we need is a salve for our savaged souls.
And there鈥檚 no better salve than art.
So, we turned to 蜜柚直播 artists to help us create a gift for our readers: unique wrapping paper just in time for the gift-giving season.
The Star will devote a full page to an artist鈥檚 creation 鈥 perfect for pulling out and wrapping gifts.
The Star鈥檚 12 Days of Cheer starts Sunday, Nov. 29, and will continue daily through Dec. 10.
Meet the artists who will be featured:
William Spencer III
Art piece: 鈥淪aguaro XIII,鈥 acrylic on plaster on eucalyptus panel
Spencer was just 9 years old when his father took him to the Kansas City Art Institute and the two of them stood in awe in front of Mark Rothko鈥檚 massive 鈥淩ed Over Black.鈥 He was hooked. A year later, he sold his first painting for $100.
William Spencer III
A self-taught artist, Spencer鈥檚 work leans toward realism, but his intent is more.
鈥淭he idea is to convey a feeling, and I never depict a subject with the intention of a strict realism,鈥 he says.
The painting he selected for the Star was inspired by an ad in a 1950s edition of 蜜柚直播 Highways.
鈥淚t featured Sandra Day O鈥機onnor and her brother on horseback riding by this large saguaro,鈥 he says. 鈥淔or me, the ad was very nostalgic and had a feeling of warmth and invoked a sense that somehow years ago things were more carefree. I wanted to invoke the same idea so I created a painting that appears to be a window into that sunny world.鈥
Spencer鈥檚 piece is in the Nov. 29 Star.
Connor Furr
Art piece: 鈥淩esplendent,鈥 woodcut relief print
Furr is a University of 蜜柚直播 grad currently working (remotely) toward a master鈥檚 at Ohio University.
When he graduated from the UA, his work focused on nature. These days, he is incorporating more urban elements, particularly architecture.
Connor Furr
鈥淚 have grown to appreciate how architecture and constructed spaces influence our ideologies, and how process and material can become part of the conceptual considerations of an art practice,鈥 he says.
鈥淩esplendent鈥 is an earlier piece inspired by a camping trip he took many years ago.
鈥淚t is a stylized view of Pontatoc Canyon looking back towards the city,鈥 he says.
鈥淚t is a reduction woodcut, which means all seven or eight of the colors were printed from one woodblock.鈥
His art will appear Nov. 30.
Makoto Takigawa
Art piece: 鈥淗azy Morning,鈥 oil and ink on paper
Nature is what inspires Takigawa鈥檚 abstract works.
鈥淎lthough my paintings are influenced by certain images, I tend to focus on the visceral aspect of the imagery,鈥 he says.
Nature is in his DNA, as well.
Makoto Takigawa
His Japanese culture has an appreciation of nature and it is incorporated in everyday life.
鈥淗azy Morning鈥 depicts 鈥渢he anticipation of a moment when an image reveals itself through the haze. (That moment) can have a strong effect, like the beginning of something new,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 was trying to interpret those moments.鈥
Takigawa鈥檚 art will be featured Dec. 1.
David Fitzsimmons
Art piece: 鈥淐hristmas Cheer鈥
Fitzsimmons
The Star鈥檚 editorial cartoonist is best known as Fitz.
He frequently makes us laugh and sometimes cry, but his cartoons always have something to say about the world around us.
Though he received his degree in graphic design from the University of 蜜柚直播, it was editorial cartooning that called to him.
The image he created is typical Fitz: full of humor and Southwestern images.
His piece will be in the Star Dec. 2.
Raechel Running
Art piece: 鈥淥ur Lady de Agua,鈥 digital photography
Running grew up in Flagstaff in a community of artists with eclectic backgrounds. That has inspired her to create her art, which she calls 鈥渄ocumentary collages all about the human condition and the resilience of the human spirit.鈥
Her love of Indigenous cultures, Chicano art and art of the Southwest all inform her work.
Raechel Running
When she moved to 蜜柚直播 eight years ago, she found an area that spoke to her.
鈥淲hat brought me to 蜜柚直播 and held me here for eight years has been the heart of Barrio Viejo. That鈥檚 the heart of the desert for me.鈥
So it isn鈥檛 surprising that much of her work including 鈥淥ur Lady de Agua,鈥 is rooted there.
鈥淥ur Lady de Agua鈥 offers hope in a time of drought and pandemic when so many people and loved ones have passed away this year, she says. 鈥淥ur lady rises up from Barrio Viejo鈥檚 El Tiradito, where so many prayers, petitions, declarations of love, loss and hope are melted into the adobe earth, sacred ground.鈥
Her art will be featured Dec. 3.
Lex Gjurasic
Art piece: 鈥淚nfinite Flower Field,鈥 mixed media on paper
Gjurasic began making art when she was a child bedridden with chronic illness. 鈥淒rawing became an escape for me,鈥 she says.
While she was given the tools to create art, she was never told that there was a 鈥渞ight way鈥 to do it. 鈥淚鈥檝e always carried that level of freedom with me when I work,鈥 she says.
Lex Gjurasic
Joy is at the center of most of her creations.
鈥淢y work seems always to continue to strive to capture the radical joy of life,鈥 she says. 鈥淓ven in these challenging times, when daily life can feel dark and we are all wading through collective sadness, I turn to celebration as the highest form of grieving.鈥
鈥淚nfinite Flower Field鈥 is part of a series she began just as the pandemic hit.
鈥淭his series of work began as a way to paint myself happy,鈥 she says.
Stuck at home in quarantine, the series began to 鈥渆ncapsulate my longing for the outdoors and the natural world.鈥
鈥淚nfinite Flower Field鈥 will take over a page in the Star on Dec. 4.
Helen Gaus
Art piece: Two images from a triptych called 鈥淧rogeny,鈥 colored pencil. The triptych consists of images of a rooster, chickens and eggs, and a hen.
Gaus fell in love with drawing farm animals while she was attending Michigan State University in East Lansing. She wasn鈥檛 too keen on the art curriculum at the school, known for its veterinary program.
鈥淚 stayed a year and a half focused on drawing from the vast bovine population there, drawing cattle as well as goats and pigs on the MSU farms,鈥 says Gaus.
Helen Gaus
When she moved to 蜜柚直播, she enrolled in the University of 蜜柚直播鈥檚 art school and sought out farm animals to draw.
鈥淚鈥檇 ask anyone I could find who had chickens 鈥 if I could photograph them,鈥 she says. 鈥淗ence, I began drawing chickens, loving the beaks, clear focused eyes, combs and toes.鈥
She doesn鈥檛 just stick with animals 鈥 she draws people as well. And don鈥檛 try to pinhole her style as realism.
鈥淚 love drawing animals realistically, and I allow myself to expand into abstraction,鈥 she says.
鈥淢ost people enjoy them as realistic representations but I don鈥檛 feel the drawings are. I get involved with texture and color in an unrealistic manner and capitalize on the biological features I enjoy most to draw.鈥
Gaus鈥 piece will be in the paper Dec. 5.
Mel Dominguez
Art piece: 鈥淣uestra Raices,鈥 acrylic on canvas
Art is all about storytelling and creating community for Dominguez, who has created murals all over 蜜柚直播.
Dominguez 鈥 who鈥檚 known by the nickname Melo 鈥 frequently works with schools creating murals.
Mel Dominguez frequently helps schools with their murals. Here, Dominguez guides kids at Ochoa Community School.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always about storytelling,鈥 the 蜜柚直播an says.
And it is through Dominguez鈥檚 Galeria Mitotera at 1802 S. Fourth Ave. where much of that community is built.
It is a gathering place for students, poets, playwrights and authors.
鈥淐hildren book authors would read, and we鈥檝e done Latinx paint nights. We were having so much fun,鈥 says Dominguez.
COVID-19 put an end to that, but Dominguez expects to be back.
鈥淣uestra Raices鈥 was created for the Pima County Library鈥檚 booth at the 蜜柚直播 Festival of Books.
鈥淚t fit into that theme of storytelling,鈥 says Dominguez. 鈥淭he painting鈥檚 about storytelling that crosses both sides of the border.鈥
Dominguez鈥檚 piece will appear in the Star Dec. 6.
Lisa Mishler
Art piece: 鈥淭ouch of Blue,鈥 acrylic and mixed media
To look at Mishler鈥檚 art you would assume she is an abstract expressionist.
But, she says, 鈥淎t my core, I am a process artist. For me, it鈥檚 about the discovery 鈥 of color, thickness of paint, movement, spatial placements and time.鈥
Her mediums are varied 鈥 oil, encaustic, cold wax and acrylic.
Lisa Mishler
鈥淚 love them all and use them at different times depending on the mood I want to create,鈥 she says. 鈥淓xperimenting is something in my nature.鈥
鈥淭ouch of Blue鈥 is a color-drenched abstract piece.
鈥淭he piece itself was very interesting to paint with the different values of reds,鈥 she says. 鈥淭o have lights and darks within the same color range and a minimalistic design was my challenge.鈥
Mishler鈥檚 piece will be in the Star Dec. 7.
Hirotsune Tashima
Art piece: 鈥淟ittle Boy Yellow Banana Kong 鈥 All You Need is Love,鈥 ceramic
This piece is part of a series that Tashima has been working on for years. It is a tribute to his grandfather, a firefighter in Hiroshima who helped survivors after the nuclear bombing of the city. His exposure to radiation would lead to his early death.
鈥淟ittle Boy Yellow Banana Kong 鈥︹ 鈥渢alks about becoming friendly and understanding different cultures,鈥 says the Pima Community College ceramics teacher.
Hirotsune Tashima
He was a first grader in Japan when he saw his first American movie, the 1976 version of 鈥淜ing Kong,鈥 which inspired the piece鈥檚 central image: a giant figure dressed in a traditional kimono emerging from a banana.
Though he has lived in this country more than 30 years, Japanese culture is still important to him, which is why King Kong is holding in one hand a small dogu, a Japanese clay figurine that dates to 10500 B.C.
His piece will appear Dec. 8.
David Contreras
Art piece: 鈥淭he Bigger They Are the Harder They Fall,鈥 reductive linoleum print
The printmaker and educator can easily tick off his influences: 鈥淭he countless mentors I have had over the years, Chicano culture, community, my ancestors, music and the desert.鈥
Contreras graduated from the University of 蜜柚直播鈥檚 art school. While print is his primary medium, you would be hard-pressed to nail his style.
David Contreras
鈥淚n my art I can be political, abstract, seeking cultural identity, having fun, or telling a story,鈥 he says.
His piece, 鈥淭he Bigger They Are 鈥︹ is an abstract created through a complex process.
鈥淚 used a reductive linoleum process where you carve out your lightest colors first then darker colors follow,鈥 he says.
鈥淭he print has about four colors including the white of the paper. 鈥 Reductive cutting process does not allow you to go back as you carve each color away to get to the last color.鈥
His art will appear in the Star Dec. 9.
Kelly Presnell
Art piece: Zoo Lights, photography
Presnell is a Star photographer with a slew of awards, including the 2020 Photographer of the Year award from the 蜜柚直播 蜜柚直播paper Association.
Presnell
It is easy to understand why: His photos capture small moments that tell big stories, whether it鈥檚 a cowboy that鈥檚 been thrown by a bull, a shock of lightning in a summer sky, or a child getting a haircut.
His undergraduate degree is in art, but his graduate studies were interrupted when he got a job at the Iola (Kan.) Register. Photography became his calling.
The photo that the Star will feature is an image of a howling coyote and a saguaro cactus at Reid Park Zoo鈥檚 2019 Zoo Lights.
It will appear in the Star Dec. 10.