Artsy Fartsy Tuesday – Basha’s Art Gallery in Chandler, AZ

Last week we left Tucson and headed for Wickenburg. We have an art show in Wickenburg this weekend, and we wanted to spend some time in one of our favorite boondock spots. More on that another day though.

We had to stop in Queen Creek to drop off a couple of sculptures, and Al found the Basha’s Art Gallery in Chandler, AZ was really close to that. He had read about it online, and being a lover of all things art, wanted to go. The best part, it’s free, right up our financial alley.

The gallery is the result of Eddie Basha’ love of western art. If you know Arizona, you know that the Basha’s grocery store chain is quite large. They have stores in almost every city of the state. Eddie Basha took over the business when his father passed away, and the stores were originally started by Eddie’s immigrant Grandfather in 1910.

Eddie made his first purchase of western art in 1972. The collection that is in the gallery is about 3000 pieces, so he was a very prolific collector. Most of the paintings and sculptures are from Cowboy Artists of America artists, which is the elite club for all western artists.

The amount, and the quality of the art here far exceeded what I expected. We spent more time browsing than I thought we would.

But every time you turned a corner, there was more spectacular art to see.

This artist, Harley Brown, was by far one of my favorites. These drawings were done with pastels. Which is kinda like high end chalk. How this artist got this detail, and emotion into these faces is beyond me.

There was one room that was full of antique Native American basketry. I love the old baskets, so this was a real treat. Over 200 hundred pieces were on display.

Along with art from the old western masters, there is a newer section that contains all contemporary Native American art. Mostly Navaho, Hopi, and Zuni.

The Hopi carve Katsinas from the root of the cottonwood tree. Each symbolizes a different being, or spirit. There is a huge, and wonderful collection on display here. This room shows just part of the collection.

Stone sculptures from several different sculptors were also in the gallery. Love these from Larry Yazzie.

Of course there were many, many tiny Zuni carvings. I have always loved these, and this was the best collection I have ever seen.

To give you an idea of size on these carvings, this one was about 1 1/2 inches tall.

This trip actually worked out good for my photo challenges this week too. One prompt was Candy, in an artistic way without using candy. These are eye candy for me.

And the other prompt was symmetry. This pottery vessel was about the most perfect example of that.

This one too. Look at the work in these? Amazing.

If you are ever in the Phoenix area, and you like art, you need to visit the Basha’s art gallery. This is such an amazing gift to the community to have all this on display, for free.