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ArtFest 2023

Creating community through two weeks of cinematic, literary, theatrical, and artistic magic.

ArtFest Monster Image

The TMCC Liberal Arts Division is hosting the first annual ArtFest event on April 12–21, 2023. This is a collaboration among faculty, staff, and students to celebrate the Arts, learn about course offerings and career options, and have fun as a TMCC community.

Each day will feature various activities, events, speakers, and demonstrations—from art exhibits, ​hands-on arts projects, poetry readings, foreign film showings, dance performances, a career panel, a ceramics sale, and much more!

View our entire schedule of events.

ArtFest and Sustainability

On Thursday, April 20, TMCC will be celebrating Earth Day as a part of our Year of Sustainability. This day will feature events and activities specially designed to honor and celebrate our earth with a focus on equity and ecological stewardship of the environment, economy, and cultures. For more information, please visit the Year of Sustainability. 

Spotlight on the Performing Arts

On the last day of ArtFest, April 21, our cast of TMCC Theatre students will share the first ten minutes of their upcoming play, That Day in Tucson, by Guillermo Reyes. Then, please join us for the full production at one of many presentations scheduled at the end of April and in the first week of May. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit our Performing Arts Season Schedule. We look forward to seeing you there! Our Theatre Program looks forward to presenting a new show each semester, and stay tuned for exciting news about a theater space coming to the Oddie District in the next year. Be sure to stay connected on FaceBook so you don’t miss any updates.

Frequently Asked Questions

We created ArtFest so that the TMCC community can, together, celebrate student and faculty talent and work, learn more about Liberal Arts course offerings, programs, and career pathways, and collaborate across disciplines in a holistic, inclusive educational experience. We want to build a sustainable community around the beauty, diversity, and rewards of art in all of its various forms. 

All students, faculty, staff, and community members should join us for ArtFest! Anyone who is interested in or curious about these events is welcome to attend.

No, events are free unless there is something for sale, like the student-created ceramics pieces.

The daily activities are listed on our schedule of events as well as the college calendar. In both places, you will find a description of each event along with its time and location. 

No, everyone is welcome! Bring your mom, cousin, boyfriend/girlfriend, or whoever you want! 

​Cristobal Gonzalez de la Torre, an Art and Graphics Art student at TMCC, designed the main ArtFest images featured on the webpage, posters, and stickers. His career goals include working as a storyboard artist in the television and film industries. ArtFest is honored to be his first client as a professional artist and be able to showcase his incredible work.

Yes! We will have fun stickers, commemorative posters, and other items to help remember ArtFest. 

That is our plan! We want to make this an annual TMCC event and look forward to hearing your thoughts about what you enjoyed this year and what you hope to see in the future!

ArtFest Character Image
ArtFest Character Image
ArtFest Character Image

ArtFest Schedule of Events

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Time Location Event
All Day Main Gallery Annual Student Art and Design Exhibition
11 a.m.–1:45 p.m. VSTA 206 Student Open Mic: Share your creative writing. You are invited to share an original poem or short excerpt of original prose or read something from one of your favorite authors at a coffeehouse-style open mic event. Sign up to read when you arrive, or just come to enjoy the literary art being shared by others! The first session is 11 a.m.–12:15 p.m., the second session is 12:30–1:45 p.m.
5–7 p.m. Student Center Annual Student Art and Design Exhibition Reception, Awards and Juror’s Talk: Nevada Fine Arts (Mark Hammond and Debbie Wolf) awards; Kris Vagner’s presentation.

Thursday, April 13, 2023

Time Location Event
All Day Main Gallery Annual Student Art and Design Exhibition
12:15–2:30 p.m. SIER 218 Open Portrait Studio: Drop in for a free professional or creative photo taken by TMCC Photography students!
5:30–6:30 p.m. Sundance Books and Music Poetry Reading: English Professor Lindsay Wilson will be reading from his new book, The Day Gives Us so Many Ways to Eat, out from Word Tech Press, and Arian Katsimbras (former TMCC student) will read from his new gathering, The Wonder Years, out from Stephen F. Austin University Press. This event takes place at Sundance Books and Music.

Friday, April 14, 2023

Time Location Event
All Day Main Gallery Annual Student Art and Design Exhibition
11:30 a.m.–3 p.m. RDMT 215 TMCC Ceramics Open House: Come and learn how to throw a pot on the wheel! Supplies provided.
5–9 p.m. VSTA 204 Film Friday: Join us to celebrate the art of film in many forms with refreshments and your community. Experience the art of motion Graphics, presented by Felix Danger, Graphic Arts Instructor. Motion Graphics are pieces of animation or digital footage which create the illusion of motion or rotation, and are usually combined with audio for use in multimedia projects. Then, enjoy the award-winning short film, Piconland: The Quest for the Perfect Picon Punch. This documentary, written and directed by English Professor Mark Maynard, recently won the title of Best in Nevada at the Dam Short Film Festival. Join us for the premier screening! This evening will conclude with the showing of a film from Guatemala, Ixcanul (1hr 40mins). On the Slopes of an active volcano in Guatemala, a marriage is arranged for seventeen-year-old Maria by her Kaqchikel parents. "Ixcanul is the first film made in the Kaqchikel Mayan language and was Guatemala's entry into the Academy Awards" in 2015. The film "isn't about the destruction of a way of life; instead, it posits that in all cultures, the strong prey upon the weak. The feminist message is urgent: for a society to be just, women must be granted the freedom to make decisions about their futures." (Alissa Wilkinson)

Monday, April 17, 2023

Time Location Event
All Day Main Gallery Annual Student Art and Design Exhibition
11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. SIER 211 Liberal Arts Career Panel: What can you do with a liberal arts degree? More than you think! Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a graphic designer? Do you want to write the stories behind video games, films, or TV shows? Have you ever dreamed about working for a big tech company like Google? Come to our panel discussion to hear from professionals who are currently working in these careers! Panelists: Salvatore Pane, novelist and video game narrative designer Jessica Shields, writer/director for film and television Allyson Stroncach, Google. Felix Danger, graphic designer and TMCC Instructor.
1 p.m. Student Center Belly Dance Demonstration
3–5 p.m. SIER 218 Open Portrait Studio: Drop in for a free professional or creative photo taken by TMCC Photography students!

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Time Location Event
All Day Main Gallery Annual Student Art and Design Exhibition
12:15–2:30 p.m. SIER 218 Open Portrait Studio: Drop in for a free professional or creative photo taken by TMCC Photography students!
5:30–6:30 p.m. Student Center Community Education Showcase: Martial Arts Demonstration

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Time Location Event
All Day Main Gallery Annual Student Art and Design Exhibition
10–11:50 a.m. VSTA B206 Multilingual Student Voices Open Mic: You are invited to share an original poem or short excerpt of original prose, or read something from one of your favorite authors in a primary language other than English. Join TMCC familiar to present or listen to the literary arts in many languages.
2–3 p.m. Student Center Community Education Showcase: Bojutsu Demonstration
3–5 p.m. SIER 218 Open Portrait Studio: Drop in for a free professional or creative photo taken by TMCC Photography students!
6–8 p.m. RDMT 215 Ceramics Workshop: Learn to sgraffito! sgraffito ceramics is a technique where layers of contrasting slip or glaze are used and then scratched through to reveal the lower layers of color.

Thursday, April 20, 2023

Time Location Event
All Day Main Gallery Annual Student Art and Design Exhibition
All Day Student Center Earth Day and Year of Sustainability: Join us to celebrate and learn more about the natural wonders of art by participating in hands-on activities and projects!
9:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Student Center TMCC Purlieu Pottery Sale: Do you need the perfect Mother's Day or birthday gift? TMCC pottery students have created beautiful pieces anyone in your life will love! (Candace Garlock, Studio Arts Professor)
10–11 a.m. Student Center Diversity Circles for Sustainability Community Garden Tableau: ABE ELL students model from the book Seedfolks (Rain Donahue and ABE instructors and students)
11 a.m.–1 p.m. Student Center ArtFest T-Shirt Screen Printing: Come see how screen printing works and create your own ArtFest t-shirt! (Ron Marston, Graphic Communications Professor)
The Earth is Art Interpretive Walk: Join us for a Natural Sciences adventure in landscape sketching! (Roger Putnam, Geology Professor)
Drawing from Life Showcase: Art students will draw from an Earth Day-themed clothed model. Set up will take place in the student center. Students will draw for one hour. The public will be able to view student work over the time period. (Rossi Todorova, Visual Arts Professor)
11 a.m.–12 p.m. Student Center Earth Day Recycled Clay Bark Beetle Medallions: Come join in this fun art activity! (Micaela Rubalcava, Education Professor)
Noon–1 p.m. Student Center Finger Painting Sustainability Butterflies: Find your inner child and artist with finger painting! (Micaela Rubalcava, Education Professor)
12:15–2:30 p.m. SIER 218 Open Portrait Studio: Drop in for a free professional or creative photo taken by TMCC Photography students!

Friday, April 21, 2023

Time Location Event
All Day Main Gallery Annual Student Art and Design Exhibition
1 p.m. RDMT 240 Theatre Production Preview: Be in the first audience to see a sneak preview of TMCC Theatre's upcoming production of That Day in Tucson by Guillermo Reyes! Based on the events that led to the shooting of congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the play depicts the experiences of the young Mexican-American intern, Daniel Hernandez Jr., who is credited with saving her life.
6–9 p.m. VSTA 204 Film Friday: Join us for an evening of refreshments and the powerful film, ​Even the Rain (También la Lluvia) Stay for a discussion on this and the other films shown during ArtFest. Director Icíar Bollaín tells the story of a Mexican film crew in Bolivia shooting an historic drama on Christopher Columbus’s conquest. The context of this “film within a film” is based on actual events in 2000, when the population of one of the poorest nations in South America rose up against a powerful American company, Bechtel, and recovered a basic good: water.