Two museums. One conversation. This new collaborative series from the Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson and the Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block convenes artists from current exhibitions with members of Tucson\u2019s creative community.<\/p>\n
Join from 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. at the Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block (140 N. Main Ave., in Mooney Hall) for a conversation between Joel Gaitan and Naomi Ortiz, both currently featured in TMA’s exhibition Fierce Bodies<\/em>.<\/p>\n Joel Gaitan: <\/strong>Exploring identity, spirituality, and the stories carried through ancestry, I use hand-built clay techniques passed down through generations, combining them with the symbols, gestures, and imagery that shaped my upbringing. I create sculptures that blend humor, devotion, and everyday life, moving between the earthly and the supernatural. Through my figures, I honor the people and traditions that came before me while imagining new worlds rooted in memory, ritual, and ancestral storytelling. I work across sculpture, installation, and mixed media, building pieces that feel both personal and universal.<\/p>\n Naomi Ortiz<\/strong> (they\/them) is a Disabled\u202fMestize\u202fpoet, visual artist, and author of two books, most recently,\u202fRituals for Climate Change: A Crip Struggle for Ecojustice. <\/em>They are also a co-editor of the international anthology,\u202fEvery Place on the Map is Disabled: Poems and Essays. <\/em>Ortiz is a\u202f<\/em>Reclaiming the U.S.-Mexico Border Narrative Awardee\u202fand a\u202fUnited States Artists Disability Futures Fellow.\u202fThrough their multidisciplinary work, they invite people to imagine how self-care, disability justice, climate action, and other relational practices create a collective future.\u202fNaomiOrtiz.com<\/p>\n