Best New Art Material
STAFF PICK: Snails. Kitty would be pleased with this one, especially with the nice fishy smell this art material emits. Tucson's own Joyan Saunders, a University of Arizona professor, pioneered snails as art medium in her installation Athlete Heart at the Tucson Museum of Art. The snail colonies happily cooperated by making muck and generating odors in their little dish homes on a big double bed set smack in the middle of the gallery. Salt, generously sprinkled all around the bedstead, discouraged the critters from making their way off to parts unknown in the museum. And we hope these helpful little art supporters never found out Saunders was using them as tiny, pessimistic icons of the rot at the heart of love. Otherwise, come the next art show, they might balk. Or even stage a sit-down strike in their shells.
