The 20th Annual Arizona Fine Art EXPO

CW7 Arizona

The 20th annual Arizona Fine Art EXPO begins January 12 and runs through March 24 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily under the “festive white tents” at 26540 N. Scottsdale Rd., on the southwest corner of Scottsdale and Jomax Roads in North Scottsdale.   The event features 75 diverse fine artists in 124 patron-friendly working studios within a 44,000 square-foot space, where guests have a chance to meet the artists, see them in action, and learn about their inspiration and techniques. The immersive event features a captivating array of artistic mediums, such as acrylics, oils, watercolors, ceramics, and mixed media. arizonafineartexpo.com

Transcript

00:00 The 20th Annual Arizona Fine Art Expo begins today and we are so honored to have acrylic

00:09 portrait painter Gina Roboto here in studio to talk about the Expo and her work.

00:14 Welcome Gina.

00:15 Thank you.

00:16 Thanks for having me.

00:17 Thank you so much for being here.

00:18 So let's first start by talking about the Expo.

00:21 I know this is the 20th year.

00:23 That's incredible.

00:24 Yes.

00:25 But tell us a little bit about what people are going to see when they come out.

00:27 Well there's 75 artists and it's in a tent off of North Scottsdale Road near Joe Max

00:35 and it's the 20th year they've had this show going on and this is actually my first year

00:41 participating.

00:42 Oh wow.

00:43 So I'm super excited.

00:44 I've come up every year and walked through and just had this vision of myself participating

00:49 and so finally I'm getting my dreams come true and I'm up there with all these great

00:55 amazing artists.

00:56 There's sculptures, there's jewelry, there's obviously paintings and it's just it's great.

01:02 A wide array.

01:03 Yeah.

01:04 A huge variation of different kinds of art, different visual experiences that people can

01:12 have when they come.

01:13 Absolutely.

01:14 And what else is great is that it's not just a feast for the eyes.

01:18 It's also a feast for other senses because I know that there are some wine tastings going

01:23 on.

01:24 Yes.

01:25 There's going to be some food as well.

01:26 There's a party, there's wine tasting, there's music, food.

01:29 Yeah it's open 10 to 6 every day for 10 weeks.

01:34 It starts today.

01:35 And goes until March.

01:36 March 24th.

01:37 Amazing.

01:38 Yeah.

01:39 Yeah that's great.

01:40 It sounds like not just a great time to come in and you know I always feel like when I

01:44 walk through a gallery or when I'm looking at art it makes me feel smarter but this is

01:48 a great way to come and kind of enhance your visual senses and all the senses.

01:53 It's a feast for all the senses combined.

01:55 Absolutely yes.

01:56 And it's right up there in North Scottsdale like you said.

01:57 So I want to hear your personal story because you have such an amazing story about how you

02:03 went from being a muralist and now doing more portrait style.

02:08 Tell everybody about how you kind of journeyed through that.

02:11 Yeah.

02:12 So I always had a passion and a love for portrait art but I'd been a mural artist, started 30

02:17 years actually in the industry.

02:19 And I moved here 20 years ago but about seven, eight years ago I injured my ankle, I broke

02:26 it and ended up having to be on bed rest and couldn't work and obviously couldn't do murals.

02:32 So I painted my first portrait actually in bed just like Frida Kahlo.

02:38 So that was my connection to her.

02:42 And that's where the love began and I just kind of just wanted to do that afterwards

02:47 and really into expressionism and vibrant colors and different things and it just kind

02:53 of grew from there.

02:55 And this is so incredible.

02:57 All three of these pieces that you have here today are very unique, very different and

03:02 what is so cool about acrylic?

03:05 I mean as someone who is not a visual artist myself, tell me a little bit about working

03:10 with acrylic.

03:11 So acrylics, it was easier for me to transition from because I was using acrylic and latex

03:16 paints on my murals and so I've never really dove into oils but I do use mediums that I

03:23 add to the acrylic paint so it works like an oil and extends the drying time and all

03:27 that.

03:29 So yeah, that's the reason I chose acrylic but a lot of portrait artists work with oils

03:33 too.

03:34 Yeah, I love that there's different mediums that you can kind of get into and it gives

03:37 you a different product.

03:38 But something that you were just telling me about this piece right here is that it's not

03:42 quite finished.

03:43 It's not finished, yeah.

03:44 So we're going to work on this a little bit today, yeah?

03:47 We are, we are.

03:48 And you're going to help me?

03:49 I'm totally down.

03:50 I don't promise that it'll be good because like I said, I'm not at all a visual artist

03:55 but yeah, tell me about this piece and what makes it unfinished?

04:00 Well with abstract pieces and it's just pretty much, you know, I love vibrant colors like

04:05 I said, bold brush strokes.

04:07 I love to see texture.

04:09 I use glazes.

04:10 I use tons of different tools and things.

04:12 I use my hands.

04:13 So what would you add to this piece?

04:16 Sometimes you know, I don't always know.

04:19 It's not like there's a...

04:20 Well if you want to grab a brush and show us what you did.

04:23 And if you want, here let me toss this.

04:25 I love to add something to it as well.

04:26 Let's give you the spatula.

04:27 Okay.

04:28 And let's give you some black.

04:31 Okay.

04:32 Bold, we're getting bold here.

04:33 I'll take black.

04:34 Okay.

04:35 Okay, so I see that you've kind of just got like black added in here.

04:36 So if I were to take the spatula, do I spread it?

04:38 You spread it just like you're icing a cake or, there you go.

04:42 There you go.

04:43 Okay.

04:44 Hopefully I didn't ruin it.

04:45 No, no.

04:46 What would you add?

04:47 If I was doing this, I feel like I'm, there is actually, you know, we think about composition

04:53 and stuff even with abstract, but I probably at this point would start using my fingers

04:57 because I love to see bold marks on the, and so maybe just, you know, coming in here and

05:02 adding some very different, you know, little shapes and figures.

05:08 And it's cool because when you're done, you kind of step back and you start to see these

05:10 things emerge that like, oh, that kind of looks like they were just talking about a

05:13 face.

05:14 So I was like, oh yeah.

05:15 Well, you could see this kind of art and many more things at the art expo that is obviously

05:20 starting today and going until March.

05:21 So definitely go check that out.

05:23 We have the website right there on the screen.

05:25 All right, Gina, thank you so much for being here.

05:27 Stick around guys.

05:28 We got more of the mix coming up after this.

05:29 Can I add a little...

05:29 [ Silence ]

05:30 [ Silence ]

05:31 [ Silence ]

05:32 [ Silence ]

05:33 [ Silence ]

05:34 [ Silence ]

05:35 [ Silence ]

05:36 [ Silence ]

05:37 [ Silence ]

05:37 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended