Phoenix Phabulous Experience™, a storytelling program and indoor mural collection sharing history in major time periods of Phoenix, announced today that artist Tiesha Harrison was selected to create the collection’s new mural to represent “Phoenix 2020 to 2025: The Great Pivot.”
The colorful indoor mural collection, created by local artists, has traveled to more than 20 grand civic spaces and currently is displayed at the oldest school district in Arizona, Phoenix Elementary School District #1, founded in 1871. The new mural will become the 17th in the collection, to be revealed in spring of 2023.
“The year 2020 to the present has catapulted Phoenix into a new, poignant time period,” noted Poore, president and producer of the Phoenix Phabulous Experience.
“We want to study this time period through storytelling and capture it on canvas,” Poore said. “As an abstract expressionist, Tiesha begins her process in a soulful, interactive approach. She’s known for including bold visuals, vibrant concepts, mixed media, and hand-cut collages displaying a fearless and intuitive approach.”
Phoenix Phabulous Experience is working with the academic team at Phoenix Elementary to plan student storytelling field trips, and also will partner with local nonprofit organizations to host interactive painting programs with the public from October through spring of 2023.
As the world experienced a global pandemic, Poore said that Phoenix experienced a significant growth in population and economic development, especially in the technology sector.
“While Phoenix streets were empty due to the Covid shut-down, there was a dramatic contrast of more than 20 cranes swirling in the downtown skyline as work continued on big projects that started prior to the pandemic,” Poore sad.
Cities across the U.S., including Phoenix, engaged in a vital social justice movement following the tragic, senseless murder of George Floyd. Schools were closed. Parents worked from home, coping with new parenting and work routines. The pandemic changed life for every person on the planet, ushering in new ways of working and gathering.
Harrison specializes in conceptual imagery and art immersive experiences. In addition to Harrison’s studio work, her art brings awareness to important topics such as mental health and coping with turbulent times.
“As I collaborate with organizations, I aim to expose the voices of those who have been silenced by inner doubt, to encourage them to fully embrace their undefined soul,” Harrison said. “I want my brushstrokes to evoke sensations of vulnerability, connecting viewers with vibrant manifestations of truth.”
Since program inception in 2013, the murals have traveled to more than 20 public gallery spaces across the Valley including the Burton Barr Library, Phoenix City Hall, and the Arizona Capitol Museum.
From the ancient Hohokam civilization to the imagined future, the murals reflect a commitment by each artist to learn about an assigned time period, and portray the unique and dramatic story of Phoenix. The murals spotlight the fortitude it took to create a vibrant desert city, now among the top-five largest metropolitan regions in the United States.
Phoenix Phabulous Experience will promote a schedule of storytelling programs open to the public.
About Tiesha Harrison, the 17th mural artist
Tiesha Harrison (b. 1986) is a multidisciplinary, Arizona-based artist. Her purpose is to inspire greatness through conceptual imagery and art immersive experiences. The product of her brushstrokes and creativity evoke sensations of vulnerability and emotions connecting viewers with vibrant manifestations of truth.
She uses her platforms as a collaborative space to create dialogue. Her artwork activates many spaces traditional and non-traditional leaving a mark in the collective imagination to embrace the unknown and live our truth. Tiesha begins her process in a soulful and innovative approach which includes elements traditionally used in conceptual and interactive art.
Her work often includes bold visuals, vibrant concepts, mixed media and hand-cut collages. Her work is best described as fearless, intuitive, and infinitely expanding. She is an Abstract Expressionist.
In addition to her studio work, she thrives on self-mastery, creativity, and self-reflection to help bring awareness to important topics like mental health. She believes in higher power and aligns with her inner soul to create artwork that is intentional. She collaborates with organizations, aiming to expose the voices of those who have been silenced by inner doubt, and welcome others to fully embrace their UNDEFINED soul.
Tiesha Harrison’s Artist Statement
Art is the vehicle she uses to engage, serve, uplift and transform the community.
“I AM inspired by the beauty of bold creativity in urban culture, innovation, storytelling, emotional rawness and music. It is the exploration of expression and intense attraction for authenticity that leads me on a journey of reflective brushwork and bold visuals.
Decoding life experiences while creating art that speaks to and from the soul. My higher calling is to use art as a vehicle to engage, serve, uplift and transform the community. Raising the level of consciousness. DEEP CONNECTION and DESIRE to think without limitations, provoke a feeling, an emotion, a story, a vision for unveiled new perspectives to INSPIRE GREATNESS.”
Website: www.iamundefinedart.com
Instagram: @iamundefinedart (www.instagram.com/iamundefinedart)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/iamundefinedart
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamundefinedart/
Twitter: @iamundefinedart
About Phoenix Phabulous Experience™
Phoenix Phabulous Experience™ is a placemaking and storytelling organization designed to bring people and cultures together to celebrate the urban core of Phoenix – showcasing the sixth-largest city in the United States through storytelling, art, large indoor murals and technology. Phoenix Phabulous Experience™ encourages civic engagement and family-friendly fun, forging community-based collaboration through its productions and community dialogues.
The Phoenix Phabulous History Mural Collection features iconic indoor murals depicting the past, present and imagined future of Phoenix, Arizona’s capital city.
Ten time periods featured in the Phoenix Phabulous History Mural Collection include:
Pre 1867 – Ancient Hohokam civilization, canals and community building (600 A.D. to 1450 A.D.).
1867 to 1880 – Phoenix Wild West pioneering years following the U.S. Civil War.
1881 to 1911 – Pre-statehood emergent years of modern Phoenix.
1912 to 1945 – Statehood and Phoenix expansion.
1946 to 1959 – Post World War II boom Years.
1960 to 1979 – Suburb expansion and growth away from Downtown Phoenix.
1980 to 2000 – Phoenix emerges as a key player to the Southwest Metropolis.
2001 to 2019 – Major Phoenix revitalization and with particular expansion of biosciences and higher education in the urban core.
2020 to 2025 – “The Great Pivot” in Phoenix during the Covid-19 pandemic, with focus on social justice, diversity, equity and inclusion, and need for a civil society across the U.S. In Phoenix, the city experienced economic growth, a boom in technology and biosciences, and, the rise of housing prices and homelessness.
Imagined Future – A futuristic look into the vision for Phoenix.
Mural artists include Hugo Medina serving as curator, Amanda Adkins, Anel Arriola, Angel Diaz, Jessica Eddings, Aileen Frick, Anthony Galto, Tiesha Harrison, Damian Jim, Lauren Lee, Jim McCarty, Seth Payson, Michael Pruitt, Justin Queal, Katharine Leigh Simpson, Lucretia Torva, Marisa Hall Valdez, and Darrin Armijo-Wardle.
For more information about the Phoenix Phabulous History Mural and storytelling program, visit PhoenixPhabulousExperience.com.