Mixed Media AHA Festival of Progressive Arts
The work on display at the AHA Festival of Progressive Arts is not easy to pigeonhole. Sponsored by the After Hours Alliance and now in its sixth year, the AHA Festival closes out the summer season by breaking down walls and busting through categories that tend to assert themselves in gallery-friendly art markets like Santa Fe. Diversity of artists and output is the priority, as well as showing Santa Fe a heck of a good time over a three-day stretch. On Friday, Sept. 16, the festival kicks off with a show by the Tucson indie rock band XIXA at Solana Center (915 W. Alameda St.), with opener Thieves & Gypsys. Doors open at 8:30 p.m., and the show starts at 9. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. The Art
of the Machine — an event involving two enormous interactive sculptures, food trucks, aerial acrobatics, and more — takes place from 4 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17, at 2797 Agua Fría St. In The Wheel of Fortune ,a traveling exhibition by Anne Staveley and Jill Sutherland, viewers enter an environment where fortunes are told and futures are met. The other piece,
Fledgling, by Christian Ristow, is a large mechanical bird. Admission is $10 in advance or by donation at the door.
The main event of AHA is the Progressive Arts Fair in the Railyard Plaza, 1 to 8 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 18, featuring 25 art booths, two music stages, pop-up performances, small business and artisan vendors, food trucks, beer, coffee, and more. A $10 admission fee for the Sunday fair is voluntary. All advance tickets, as well as weekend passes for $25, can be purchased at www.ahafestival.com.