Announcing lineup for spark! Mesa's Festival of Creativity -- Two days of free, immersive arts experiences

spark! Mesa's Festival of Creativity today announced its lineup of immersive arts experiences for the 2016 event. The free festival will be presented by and at Mesa Arts Center over two days, Friday, March 18 and Saturday, March 19, noon-10 p.m., and offers participatory, entertaining, interactive and collaborative arts experiences for people of all ages. spark! will celebrate the imaginative spark in all of us, by showcasing Arizona artists and performers as well as internationally renowned touring and visual artists. During spark! attendees of the festival will enjoy performances, live music, hands-on experiences, live art-making, installations, demonstrations, a variety of foods, a beer and wine garden and more.

Descriptions of festival offerings are listed below.

FESTIVAL FEATURES

Sonic Forest, by Christopher Janney, Lexington, MA

Touch one of the 16 electronic "trees" to trigger a series of events, from an original score of melodic tones, environmental sounds, and spoken or whispered expressions to an ever-changing color palette of LED lights.

The color of things, by Iregular (Daniel Iregui), Montreal, Quebec

Enter an immersive room with a structure made of back-projected elastic tubes. Interact with the tubes to leave a color and sound trace or to make words emerge. The piece explores the concept of perception and point of view.

MIZARU, by Purring Tiger (Aaron Sherwood & Kiori Kawai), New York City, NY

Press the membrane of a large transparent box with a large white spandex wall. Watch it spring to life with fiery visual patterns and music that shift according to the depth and pressure of a person's touch. MIZARU is about the border between life and death.

Popup! Street Installations, by Purring Tiger (Aaron Sherwood & Kiori Kawai), New York City, NY

See visual projections on exterior walls at MAC that respond to passersby who interject themselves into the projected visuals.

The Sensatorium, a collaboration curated by Sensebellum, Seattle, WA

Enter an interactive environment under a large geodesic dome and play with four different technology-driven art experiences, including the very popular Sandboxes of Life featured at last year's spark! plus three brand new experiences.

Sculptural Nests (Title TBA), creative direction and lead artist* Owen Fritts, Flagstaff, AZ

Explore temporary structures constructed with reclaimed wood nestled on Mesa Arts Center's campus, offering an exciting aesthetic environment and interactive experience that you can walk through and inside. *This piece will be conceived and constructed by members of the community

Vibrant Lives, by Jessica Rajko, Tempe, AZ

See how your mobile phone data can produce touch-based (haptic) feedback. Sit, lay and even climb on each of three sculptures and experience vibration feedback that reflects the massive amounts of data we shed from our personal devices.

Living Tree, by Joe O'Connell, Creative Machines, Tucson, AZ

Bring the Living Tree to life with color and sound through interactive technology. Colored LED lights and a variety of sounds will cover tree branches and be controlled by festival visitors.

Telepoem Booth, by Elizabeth Hellstern, Flagstaff, AZ

Step inside an environment unfamiliar to many youth today-an old fashioned phone booth-and dial a poem from the Telepoem directory. Enjoy a recorded performance of the poem by an Arizona poet.

Street Pianos Mesa, by Arizona artists and community groups, Mesa Arts Center and downtown Mesa, streetpianosmesa.com

Take a walking tour of Street Pianos Mesa in the downtown Mesa area, and see the playable works of art along the way, with three pianos location on the MAC campus. Twenty-four donated pianos have been transformed into works of art by Arizona artists and local community groups.

Mural (title TBA), by El Mac, Mesa Contemporary Art Museum Courtyard

As part of Mesa Arts Center's Tenth Year Celebration, acclaimed muralist El Mac has been commissioned by Mesa Arts Center to paint a mural on the elevator shaft in the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum Courtyard.

Musical Shadows (testing phase), by Daily tous les jours
Make music by moving your shadow across the new permanent tile installation, and provide feedback to the artists as they do their final fine-tuning of the piece.

ENTERTAINMENT

Headlining bands include 76th Street (Phoenix, AZ) and The Love Me Nots (Phoenix, AZ) on Friday, and Vintage Wednesday (Phoenix, AZ) and Dry River Yacht Club (Tempe, AZ) on Saturday. Live music by local bands, several dance performances, juggling and CYPHERS Urban Art Experience (which includes street dance, DJ scratching and street art demonstrations) will fill the festival hours.

ACTIVITIES

Amalgamation, by Danielle Wood, Tempe, AZ

Create a take-away clay "artifact" with artist Danielle Wood by pressing air dry clay into natural objects, and rearrange the ceramic "coral" pieces in her art installation, Amalgamation.

Kaleidoscope Fusion, by Kyllan Maney, Tempe, AZ

Contribute to the large-scale Kaleidoscope Fusion mural created with lead artist Kyllan Maney, by creating a 4x4 piece of fused beads.

Live aerosol painting by the artist known as OTHER from Massivart, Montreal, Quebec

Watch mural artist OTHER as they use aerosol paint to create works of art live throughout the festival.

Live chalk art by Jason Botkin from Massivart, Montreal, Quebec

Watch visual artist Jason Botkin as they use chalk to create works of art live in the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum Courtyard throughout the festival.

Visit The Store

The Store, Mesa Arts Center's Artists' Cooperative Gallery is open and will feature artist demonstrations throughout the festival.

Visit Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum

The Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum is open throughout the festival and features five galleries of contemporary art exhibitions.

Art Studios Family Samplers

Festival goers will be able to try their hand at studio art classes with affordable ($5-10) one-hour workshops led by Mesa Arts Center teaching artists. Workshops include: Acrylics, Boro Stir Stick-making, Enameling on Metal, Flameworking Beads, Ink & Watercolor Botanical Drawing, Juggling for Beginners, Making Plates, Mosiac Coaster-making, Shrinky Dinks, and Watercolor. Registration is available now.

Mesa Arts Center is located at 1 E. Main Street in downtown Mesa. There is no charge to attend spark! Mesa's Festival of Creativity and parking is free. More information can be found at MesaArtsCenter.com.

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