The Sedona Arts Center will be reopening its Fine Art Gallery and classes to the public in early June with a COVID-19 protocol of ongoing sanitation, social distancing and following government guidelines, including wearing face masks when social distancing is not possible.

The Fine Art Gallery on the Sedona Arts Center campus will reopen First Friday, June 5 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. According to Vince Fazio, executive director of the center, “We are going to start with the Gallery open on a three day per week scenario: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. When we see that there is ample audience we will open the Gallery more days per week”.

Valerie Pulido former Community Relations Director at the Arts Center, will be the Gallery Manager. She will continue to evolve the Online Gallery that has been her focus during the COVID-19 crisis while managing the reopening of the Gallery to the public.

June 5 welcomes new Featured Artists in the Gallery for the months of June and July. They are: Mary Flaisig with fiber art wall sculpture, Jeff Perkins with raku ceramics and sculpture, Joan Roberts with jewelry as well as Vince Fazio and Betty Carr with new paintings.

June 5 at 5:30 p.m. there will be a virtual gallery tour launched on the Arts Center’s Facebook page. The video tour will profile the various areas of the gallery including the new featured artists and the new online Magic and Dreams exhibition. Part of the Sedona Arts Center’s 2020 “Year of the Woman” theme, Magic and Dreams is an all-women exhibition celebrating the creativity of women artists in Arizona. The juried exhibition will be available online through the month of June with each work being profiled and for sale in the Online Gallery. First, second and third place awards will be announced on the video and on the Sedona Arts Center website.

Directly after the Gallery Tour on our Facebook page, stay tuned for a live stream event at 6 p.m. on June 5 from Red Earth Theatre! The multi-arts performance taking place in the Poets Corner and Hummingbird Garden beside the Gallery was conceived by Red Earth Director and performer Kate Hawkes and artist Liz Learmont.

The celebration of women as community connectors and creators features musician Sierra Bliss (owner/manager of Synergy Sedona, organic coffee house and herbs), and poet Kate Hawkes, with others who will bring the power and joy of women in our community to the Sedona Arts Center’s Year of the Woman activities. The performance is built around a series of sculptures of women by artist Liz Learmont.

Ceramics courses start the first week of June and are available in six-week sessions. There are three different sections of “Ceramics for All Levels.” These courses are for students interested in pursuing either-or-both, hand-building and wheelwork.

Tuesday and Wednesday sessions meet from 9 a.m. to noon. The Monday session is specifically designed for the advanced potter and meets from 4 to 7 p.m. Ceramics for All Levels is taught by Dennis Ott, department head of the Ceramics Studio and winner of the Governor’s Arts Award for teaching by an individual artist.

Neil Kennedy teaches the next sessions of “Hand-building for All Levels” on Tuesday afternoons from 1 to 4 p.m. Neil will also be teaching a Saturday morning course starting June 6, “Wheelwork for Beginners” that meets from 9 a.m. to noon. Enrollment levels will be strictly limited with working stations in the studio set up to accommodate social distancing protocols. Each class includes an opportunity for one Open Studio session weekly on Wednesday or Saturday afternoon from 1 to 4 p.m. Enrollment in Open Studio sessions will also be limited and require a sign-up sheet to limit the volume of students in the studio. 

Loving Bowls will be taking place in a new way this year! Loving Bowls is a special project wherein volunteer potters from around the Sedona area create 1,500 bowls each year and sell them to benefit five local nonprofits including the Sedona Food Bank, the Meals on Wheels program at the Sedona Community Center and the educational programming at the Sedona Arts Center. This year will also benefit the Verde Valley Sanctuary and the Humane Society of Sedona. Rather than the traditional large gathering of people on a Saturday in December, the Gallery will be selling the bowls all year long at the traditional price of $10 each. Special larger Salad Bowls will be available for $50.

Sedona Arts Center is one of Northern Arizona’s most well-established cultural organizations and serves as the creative heart of Sedona. Founded in 1958, the nonprofit organization is based at the Art Barn in Uptown and offers year-round classes, exhibitions, festivals and cultural events that enhance the creative life of the Verde Valley. The Center’s Fine Art Gallery promotes the original works of over 100 local and regional artists and regularly offers special assistance for collectors and art buyers and fosters hundreds of arts education opportunities each year.

Visit SedonaArtsCenter.org for more information on classes and to explore the newly developed online galleries.