Writer Joseph J. Airdo Photography Courtesy of Desert Botanical Garden [dropcap]D[/dropcap]esert Botanical Garden visitors last month were able to quite literally walk through a beautiful storm of all things Arizona. They could wander around or even directly underneath a cloud of incredible plant materials — including cholla skeletons, yucca stocks, tree branches tumbleweeds and tropical…
Writer Shannon Severson Photography by Carl Schultz [dropcap]A[/dropcap] quaint Western town at the edge of the desert seems an unlikely place to find a celebrated, authentic French restaurant, but Le Sans Souci is a Cave Creek institution that has been pleasing diners for nearly 25 years-and it has a very special history. Owner and Chef…
20th century French philosopher Jacques Maritain said, “Art comes from a deeper part of the intellect, not the reasoning part alone. There is an interpenetration of art and nature so that a place comes alive because of its history.”
Arizona is known for stunning desert landscapes and pristine golf courses. Over the past few years, Arizona has also become known for its thriving culinary scene, and continues to attract award-winning chefs from across the world to share their take on global cuisine.
For 24 years, the Sonoran Desert Chorale has delighted audiences in the Valley, singing an eclectic selection of music that transcends our differences and accentuates our commonality. The group begins its anniversary season in October with the first of four concert series that founding director Jeff Harris calls “a celebration of 25 years of music.”
Every artist undergoes a conjuring of sorts: a nearly magical moment in which ideas are created from a palette of experiences, interpretation and inspiration. The artist chooses a medium then expresses that idea in a combination of color, texture and scale. For the lucky few, others connect through their creations, forming a bond through shared thoughts and emotions, and enjoyment of the work.
It seems an almost surreal find: polished and honed, a sizeable specimen of fossilized stromatolite stands on display, its telltale waves and swirls evident to the trained eye. Somewhere around 3.5 billion years ago, give or take a few hundred million years, the very cyanobacteria inside (a precursor to today’s algae) were busy converting Earth’s uninhabitable atmospheric gases into oxygen. Without them, none of us would be alive today.
Springtime in the desert is unlike anywhere else on Earth. Landscapes that appear brown and barren one day seem to explode overnight into bursts of yellow, fuschia, magenta and white.
Hiking or biking the serene desert trails of Brown’s Ranch, it’s easy to get lost in the rugged natural beauty of saguaro-studded landscapes, bursts of spring wildflowers and precariously balanced boulders.
Hollywood might be just a day’s drive from Phoenix, but as the center of the TV and film industries, it may as well be another planet. For aspiring actors, the chances of “making it” are roughly equivalent to being struck by lightning—twice.