Good Vibrations: The Guitar as Design, Craft and Function

October 21, 2011 – January 15, 2012

Celebrating the beauty, craftsmanship, and audio nuances of acoustic and electric guitars, the University of Arizona Museum of Art presents Good Vibrations: The Guitar as Design, Craft and Function. The exhibition will present handcrafted guitars from classic acoustic to electric rock. Tucson’s extraordinary and unique community of custom guitar makers will also be featured.

Curated by UAMA Executive Director Charles A. Guerin, Good Vibrations offers a visual and auditory experience encompassing four UAMA galleries. The emphasis of the exhibition is the guitar as an exquisitely crafted instrument. Historic classical and flamenco guitars will be represented by more than two dozen vintage examples, including the earliest documented full-size guitar from circa 1590. Complementing these early pieces will be nine contemporary flamenco and classical guitars by Spanish luthiers. Subtle changes in the making of these guitars have a corresponding impact on how the guitars respond and sound. Implementing iPod technology, these guitars can be heard, as well as be seen in the exhibition.

Electric guitars will also be represented, including an example of the 1934 Rickenbacker “Frying Pan” – the first solid body electric guitar. The “Frying Pan” had the revolutionary innovative pickup that has been used with slight modification by most electric guitars made since.

Tucson is home to a deep and rich guitar-making community. Specializing in both acoustic and electric guitars, ten of these local makers will contribute to the exhibition. The local guitar makers are: Dennis Coon, Jeremy Cooper, Brian Dunn, Garry Knight, David Crowell, Chris Larsen, Bob Mick, Doug Shelton and Duane Waterman.

The exhibition would not have been possible without the generous and gracious support of Zavaleta’s Guitars who lent instruments from their inventory, and Professor James B. Greenberg who also loaned us guitars from his personal collection. Thanks also to Professor Frank and Leanne Koonce for lending the earliest documented guitar.

UAMA guitar programming includes a series of panel discussions and musical programs emphasizing the unique nature of each acoustic and electric instrument.

Resources

Check out the Good Vibrations Flyer for all the programming details

Arizona Illustrated’s article entitled Exhibit Tunes In to Guitarmaking History

“Good Vibrations” to excite guitar lovers — an article by the Daily Wildcat

Take a look at KVOA’s segment on Good Vibrations in their Arts and Culture section (Starts at 1:27 in the video)

‘Good Vibrations’ Puts Expertly Crafted Guitars on Display by UANews:

To download the Good Vibrations album before your visit to the UAMA, go to the ITunesU UAMA account

October 2011
21	Good Vibrations exhibition opens to public
21	Guitar recital by UA School of Music 11AM UAMA Retablo Room Public welcome
28	Guitar recital by UA School of Music 11 am UAMA Retablo Room Public welcome
28	Exhibition Reception Good Vibrations: The Guitar as Design, Craft and Function 5 pm Public welcome UAMA Galleries
November 2011
3	Panel Discussion with Electric Guitar makers Chris Larsen, Garry Knight and Bob Mick. Charles Guerin, moderator.   Instruments from the “Good Vibrations” exhibition will be played. 5:00 – 7:00 pm  at UAMA  (Reception at 5 pm /Discussion begins at 5:30 pm)
4	Guitar recital by UA School of Music 11 am UAMA Retablo Room Guitar Concert – Homecoming Weekend – Alumuni (& public) Welcome
5 – 13th	Third Annual International Guitar Festival, co-sponsored by Tucson Guitar Society and UA School of Music.  See complete listing at TucsonGuitarSociety.org
10	Dr. Don Traut Musicology Lecture and Demonstration Triangles, Trapezoids, and Triple-Plagal Relations: Using Simple Geometric Shapes to Represent Pop-Rock Chord Progressions 5 pm This creative and dynamic lecture will show how a few simple geometric shapes, such as circles, triangles, and trapezoids, can be used to represent many of the most common chord progressions used in modern pop and rock music.  Dr. Traut will provide recorded examples, as well as live guitar demonstrations.   A Good Vibrations / Tucson Rocks lecture. UAMA Reception at 5 pm / Lecture at 5:30 pm Free to public
11	Museum closed – Veteran’s Day
18	Guitar recital by UA School of Music 11 am UAMA Retablo Room Public welcome
December 2011
2	Guitar recital by UA School of Music 11 am UAMA Retablo Room Public welcome
7	Classical Guitar Panel Discussion with collector Dr. James Greenberg and guitar-makers Brian Dunn and Duane Waterman.  Moderated by Charles Guerin.  UA School of Music Guitar student will play selected instruments from those on display in “Good vibrations. “ 5:00 – 6:30 pm  at UAMA  (Reception at 5 pm /Discussion begins at 5:15 pm)
January 2012
13	Guitar recital by UA School of Music 11 am UAMA Retablo Room Public welcome
13	Gabriel Ayala Reception and Concert Reception 6:00 -7:00 pm;  Concert  7:00 – 9:00 pm An hour—long reception in the Museum is followed by a Gabriel Ayala concert at 7:00 pm in Holsclaw Hall.  Ayala, a Yaqui tribe member and internationally renowned classical guitarist, will talk about his life on the borderlands in between playing music.  There will be a q & a for the audience at the end.  Ayala was recently nominated for a number of Native American Music Awards.  See website ayalaguitarist.com for more information. $5 admission.  This is a JOINT program for both Good Vibrations and The Border Project.