ARTSPARK #1 Exhibition to Open at Scottsdale Center for Performing Arts
Artists Sawyer Boyd, Izzy Brethour, Cierra Eubank, Tifa Holman, li rothrock and Bronson Soza are featured.
"ArtSpark #1,” the inaugural exhibition for Scottsdale Arts' new ArtSpark program, will open Sept. 25 at the Center Space gallery inside Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.
Launched in 2025, ArtSpark is a career-development program for emerging artists. Scottsdale Arts provided funding to support the artists through community engagement opportunities — from festivals to exhibitions — and facilitated career development workshops to connect the artists with the professional arts community and to each other.
Natalie Marsh, director of Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation, curated "ArtSpark #1" and worked closely with the artists as they created new work and built professional networks to hopefully establish lifelong careers in the arts.
“The diversity and vibrancy and depth of the artists coming out of Phoenix right now is really exciting,” Marsh said. “It's not necessarily due to a large organization, like us, which has gallery spaces to hold exhibitions. It's about these grassroots incubator programs that have communities to network and learn from, and Scottsdale Arts is proud to be a small part in that.”
"ArtSpark #1" features work created by the artists in this inaugural program: Sawyer Boyd, Izzy Brethour, Cierra Eubank, Tifa Holman, li rothrock and Bronson Soza.
Soza is a visual artist from Phoenix, specializing in printmaking, watercolor and drawing. He earned a bachelor's degree in art studies from Arizona State University and works as an artist and arts educator throughout the Valley. His work explores themes of identity, memory and place.
In his artwork "They're All Queens," Soza experimented with reclaimed wood and adhesives to create works using architectural design as a form of communication. Soza combined imagery from family photo albums and his own camera roll with construction materials to reflect the rapid expansion of the Valley over the last few decades and its effect on local history and culture.
“The reason I got interested in combining my family archives with construction materials is because of these memories I had of orange orchards in Chandler Heights when we would visit my great grandparents,” Soza said. “They are no longer there. Instead, it's new developments and empty lots, where they're setting up houses and other buildings. I want to preserve the memory of the culture and history of what that place once was by physically pasting it on top of these symbols of rapid development and change in Phoenix.”
A key part of ArtSpark is giving back to the community. Through a series of workshops delivered in partnership with Sow Art Collective, Casa Caracol and thems., Soza invited participants to create linocut prints, short stories and poems rooted in memory and personal histories. Those who visit the exhibition will be able to read these stories in Soza's publication "1.19.25 (Mission)."
Applications for the second cohort of ArtSpark artists will open soon, and Soza advises those who are interested to be open to collaboration in creating art that will reach more people and have a greater impact.
Marsh is excited to expand the program, and she hopes that the next cohort will take advantage of the other departments inside Scottsdale Arts, which include Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA), Scottsdale Public Art, Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation, Canal Convergence, Civic Center LIVE and Scottsdale Arts @ Cattle Track.
“Since Scottsdale Arts is a multidisciplinary arts organization, I hope that we can make this program multidisciplinary in its arts too,” Marsh said. “In addition to visual art, I'm hoping that we get some applicants who are representatives of dance or music or performance in theater. I love mixing these art forms, so I'm curious to see how this program could work with this blended approach.”
Future ArtSpark cohorts will have studio space at the Cattle Track Arts Compound in connection with a new partnership between the two nonprofits.
“ArtSpark #1” will run from Sept. 25, 2026, through Jan. 17, 2027. A public reception will be held on Friday, Sept. 25, at 5 p.m. to celebrate the work created by the artists in this first cohort. Visitors will also be able to see the exhibition for themselves in the Center Space gallery from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays through Sept. 13. The center is closed on Mondays. For more information, visit ScottsdaleArts.org.
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