SMoCA Exhibition Openings Highlight Scottsdale Arts Happenings In July, August

Summer might be a little slower in the Valley, but there's still plenty going on at Scottsdale Arts through July and August. 

As it continues to celebrate its 25th year, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) will open four new exhibitions throughout the month of August, including an exhibition featuring the works of contemporary Indigenous artists, a show that examines the neuroaesthetic experience, a grouping of political artworks from the SMoCA Collection and an Art + Architecture series installation exploring desert and identity. 

Also at Scottsdale Arts, people with mild to moderate memory loss and their caregivers may register for creative Memory Lounge workshops, Scottsdale Public Art will celebrate three new temporary artworks and cocktail fans can explore summer tastes with the return of the popular Sippin' Series — all before a special blues collaboration between Tab Benoit and Anders Osborne. 

Scottsdale Arts ONE Members receive special benefits, including unlimited free admission to SMoCA and discounts on select events. 

The following is a list of events and exhibitions from Scottsdale Arts, a nonprofit organization comprising Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, SMoCA, Scottsdale Public Art, Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation, Canal Convergence, and Civic Center LIVE. Visit ScottsdaleArts.org for information. 

PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS 

Memory Lounge 
Tuesdays, July 9, July 23, Aug. 13, Aug. 27, 2024; 1:30 p.m. 
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts (July 9, Aug. 13) 
Bové Neuroscience Institute at HonorHealth (July 23, Aug. 27) 
Tickets: $10 single / $20 couple 
Memory Lounge is an arts-based program for people with mild to moderate memory loss and their care partners. Each workshop introduces a new professional artist who works in visual art, music, dance or drama. The workshops engage participants in creative and innovative ways. 

Sippin' Series: Summer Tequila Cocktails 
Saturday, July 13, 2024, 7 p.m. 
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts 
Tickets: $50 
Discover tantalizing tequila cocktail recipes with professionals from Republic National Distributing in an intimate, fun and educational setting. Indulge in refreshing drinks while expanding your knowledge of mixology. This event is for attendees 21 and older. 

Temporary Public Art Celebration 
Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, 5 p.m. 
Scottdale Museum of Contemporary Art  
Free 
Artists Nicole Davy, Zach Valent and Shela Yu will discuss the inspiration, design and technical aspects of their new temporary artworks, all of which were installed this spring in south Scottsdale. 

Sippin' Series: Penelope Bourbons 
Saturday, Aug. 13, 2024, 7 p.m. 
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts 
Tickets: $50 
Embark on a sensory adventure while sampling the latest offerings from the Penelope Bourbon with professionals from Republic National Distributing in an intimate, fun and educational setting. Indulge in refreshing drinks while expanding your knowledge of mixology. This event is for attendees 21 and older. 

Tab Benoit & Anders Osborne with special guest J.D. Simo 
Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, 8 p.m. 
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts 
Tickets start at $42 
Experience an evening of soulful roots music by two prolific songwriters as they combine their individual styles to create a heartfelt performance. 

LOOKING AHEAD  

Ben Folds 
Paper Airplane Request Tour with Special Guest Lindsey Kraft 
Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, 7:30 p.m. 
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts 
Tickets start at $66 
Known for comedic and bittersweet tunes, engaging anecdotes and dexterous improvisation, Ben Folds will take song requests sent from the audience via paper airplanes. 

Herb Alpert & Lani Hall 
Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, 7:30 p.m. 
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts 
Tickets start at $52 
Trumpetist Herb Alpert and vocalist Lani Hall lead an eclectic evening of American standards and Brazilian jazz, including stories about the power couple's lives, A&M Records and the legendary artists they've collaborated with over the past 50 years. 

Andy Grammer – Greater Than: A One Man Show 
Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, 8 p.m. 
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts 
Tickets start at $48 
Emmy winner and multiplatinum artist Andy Grammer stops by with an all-new, one-man show, featuring songs, poetry and stories. 

EXHIBITIONS  

Dorothy Fratt: Color Mirage 
Closing July 21, 2024 
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art 
Admission: $7 to $12 
“Color Mirage” is the first major U.S. museum exhibition on the prolific, yet underrecognized, American painter Dorothy Fratt. 

Carolina Aranibar-Fernández: Oleaje 
Closing Aug. 4, 2024 
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art 
Admission: $7 to $12 
“Oleaje,” Spanish for “Groundswell,” features new large-scale installation works by Bolivian-born artist Carolina Aranibar-Fernández that map and memorialize the rippling effects of a coercive global trade industry. 

space Exhibitions  
Closing Aug. 25, 2024  
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art  
Free  
____ space (blank space) is a new, experimental, flexible space at SMoCA, currently featuring two installations by artists Kenaim Al-Shatti and Roelof Knol. 

Exploding Native Inevitable 
Aug. 10, 2024, through Jan. 5, 2025 
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art 
Admission: $7 to $12 
“Exploding Native Inevitable” features the work of contemporary Indigenous artists, accompanied by a program of dance, film, music, performance, readings, storytelling and video. 

poetics of dissonance 
Aug. 10, 2024, through March 23, 2025 
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art 
Admission: $7 to $12 
Situated on the cusp of another pivotal election, “poetics of dissonance” presents 18 artists from the SMoCA collection whose work navigates the tumultuous landscape of socio-political discourse. 

Brains and Beauty: At the Intersections of Art and Neuroscience 
Aug. 17, 2024, through Jan. 19, 2025 
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art 
Admission: $7 to $12 
Visually explore neuroaesthetics, the new and rapidly expanding field of research that combines neuroscience and psychology to study the neural processes of aesthetic experience. 

Cybele Lyle: Floating Seeds Make Deep Forms 
Aug. 24, 2024, through Jan. 19, 2025 
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art 
Admission: $7 to $12 
“Floating Seeds Make Deep Forms” is a site-specific installation that responds to deserts in the North American Southwest as non-places — liminal expanses for ambiguity within a regenerative ecosystem. 

Stick Together 
July 12 through Sept. 23, 2024 
Scottsdale Civic Center Library 
Admission: free 
This juried group exhibition of collage artworks shows the ingenious minds of artists who are sticking unusual elements together to bring a cohesive voice to the viewer. 

Visions '24 
May 10 through Sept. 22, 2024 
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts 
Admission: Free 
Visions is a year-long invitational visual arts program that has been provided to Valley teens for 25 years. In collaboration with six high schools, students attended monthly workshops conducted by professional artists, toured universities, and connected with exhibitions offered by SMoCA. 

Scottsdale Public Art Permanent Collection  
Ongoing  
Various locations throughout Scottsdale  
Admission: free  
More than 150 artworks, many of them large-scale sculptures, can be found throughout the city at parks, in public facilities, and along the streets. See the map at ScottsdalePublicArt.org for locations.  

For more information about the events, and to order tickets, visit ScottsdaleArts.org. 

SCOTTSDALE ARTS

Through its dynamic partnership with the city of Scottsdale, the nonprofit Scottsdale Arts creates diverse, inspired arts experiences and outreach opportunities for the community while fostering active engagement with the arts among individuals, businesses, educational institutions and government agencies. Since its founding in 1987, Scottsdale Arts has grown into a regionally and nationally significant, multidisciplinary arts organization, offering an exceptional variety of programs for both residents and visitors through Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale Public Art, Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation, Canal Convergence and Civic Center LIVE.

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