Reminiscent of art salons of the past - those immortalized by Gertrude Stein of Baltimore; Mabel Dodge Luhan of Taos; and Jesse Benton Evans, pioneer of Scottsdale art salons, the Art Salon Society seeks to bring the age-old tradition of intimate gatherings to the modern day. We are of the persuasion that "everything old is new again". Therefore, a creative and modern approach is taken to bring together art patrons and advocates on a monthly basis in an intimate home gathering. Society celebrates works of art, combined with music and conversation to demystify art, providing art lovers a beautiful Sunday afternoon reception filled with stimulating and educational programs and a visual art feast.
The Phoenix art scene has taken note of the impact Art Salon Society has had on the metropolitan art community, and is attracting a growing number of artists, musicians, poets, directors, curators, and leaders of other art organizations together with patrons and art enthusiasts and educators. We believe that art moves the human spirit in ways we cannot fully comprehend. Art Salon Society seeks, through our stimulating programs and art previews, to engage and attract both young and old alike, melding the generations. We find that our gatherings are fulfilling a need in our current fast-paced technology-driven world. Society is delighted and inspired to share this tradition with a new and modern vision, impacting our Valley in a positive way.
Art Salon Society's collaborative spirit supports local museums and art related venues and organizations, thereby seeking opportunities to benefit all. We have many such salons planned for our upcoming season - one that will take us on a day to honor Ruth & John Waddell at their Cornville ranch. In addition to presenting many nationally acclaimed artists, we have introduced young artists, which closed our 2018 spring season with our greatly attended, "Rising Stars of the Phoenix Metro Area". Through the curating and mentoring, we discovered many of ASU's BFA and MFA graduates, which created a collaborative spirit with ASU and Society. Today, we celebrate an ongoing and successful collaboration with both esteemed and up-and-coming artists.
Art Salon Society Associates
Betty Barber-Hughes, Founder
In Memoriam
Betty Barber-Hughes and her late husband Jerry Barber came to Phoenix 1955 after meeting at the University of Texas. Art was definitely in their DNA! Betty was a student of art and design during early college days at Texas State Women's College in Denton, TX and Jerry had always been influenced by color and design as his mother was an interior designer. They began collecting art of the Southwest back in the 60’s, acquiring many works by artists such Beth Ames and Joyce Kohn who were just beginning to gain recognition. A long time member of the National Society of Arts and Letters, Betty served on their board for many years. In addition, she was a board member of the International Friends of Transformative Art. The Barbers' early association with Beth Ames (and her late husband Melvin) inspired their young daughter, Jerre Lynn, at the age of 10 to become interested in art. A naturally artistic child. Jerre Lynn gravitated towards art history and developed into a future art dealer. A symbiotic relationship and passion for art between parents and daughter developed and the Barber's collection continued to grow. Betty and her second husband, Erv Hughes, continued their support of the arts through scholarships at Arizona State University's Katherine Herberger School of Fine Arts as well as being longtime supporters of Gardens for Humanities. Betty lived fearlessly, adventurously, and fashionably. She took every opportunity to travel, lead her community, and love her family fully, all while dressed to the nines and wearing her iconic orange lipstick. She will be eternally missed but her legacy lives on with every Art Salon that takes place.
Jerre Lynn Vanier
Having served the Arizona and international art communities for more than three decades, Jerre Lynn Vanier continues her pursuit in creating inspirational and meaningful venues for her artists and patrons. Most recently, she established Art Salon Society, a uniquely successful fine art series for renowned artists, art collectors, students, and community leaders. Rising from the position of a private art dealer to numerous director roles at Joy Tash Gallery, Vanier Galleries, Cline Fine Art, and Mainview Gallery to, most recently, President of Jerre Lynn Fine Art, LLC, Vanier's dedication to art has developed valued networks that span the globe. This expert counts museums, private estates, internationally known corporations, and many prominent art collectors among her patrons. Vanier has also enjoyed the privilege of representing and exhibiting iconic names such as Francoise Gilot, Hunt Slonem, Janet Fish, Dale Chihuly, Paul Jenkins, Larry Bell, Jesus Moroles, Paolo Soleri, Andrew Dasburg, Henry Moore, Fritz Scholder, Margaret Evangeline, Patsy “Skyline” Lowry, Dan Namingha, Merrill Mahaffey, Anne Coe, Adele Seronde, Bill Schenck, Masoud Yasami, Joel Coplin, Jo-Ann Lowney, and Beth Ames Swartz.
In addition to being listed in Today's Arizona Woman, Who's Who in Business, and Who's Who in American Art, Vanier has made and continues to make contributions to the local and national arts communities. Over the years she has served as a board member on the Jonathan Art Foundation and Arizona Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters. She also contributed to Scottsdale Arts, formerly Scottsdale Cultural Council, as a member of the Public Arts Advisory Board. Vanier co-chaired the Arizona Committee for the National Museum of Women in the Arts located in Washington, D.C. She continued to lead at the national level when she served as the National Art Chair for the Watercolor Competition for the National Society of Arts and Letters in 2007 and when she was President of The International Friends of Transformative Art. In addition to her national level accomplishments, Vanier has never forgotten her Arizona roots and the academic foundation that Arizona State University provided the form of her B.A. and M.A., as demonstrated by her role as Co President and Scholarship Chairman of The Katherine Herberger School of Fine Arts Student Alumni Board at ASU.
Suzanna Moroles
Suzanna Moroles, sister of the late renowned granite sculptor Jesús Moroles, is a Texas based art advisor, consultant, manager and curator. Her career began in 1986 in Rockport, Texas where she joined her brother Jesús in the early beginnings of his career. Over 30 years Suzanna collaborated closely with Jesús, alongside him while his body of work flourished into worldwide acclaim and she strategically worked with highly regarded art institutions, museums, foundations, art centers, galleries, universities, corporations, on a private and public sector level including but not limited to the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C., Art in Embassies Program, Albuquerque Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, New Orleans Museum of Fine Arts all during her tenure. Highlights attributed to her career included attending two White House visits in 2008, attending with Jesús as both special guest to President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush for the Cinco De Mayo dinner in the White House Garden, second visit occurred when Jesús received the National Medal of the Arts awarded by President George W. Bush on November 17, 2008, the highest arts honor in an East Room ceremony. Moroles was honored “for his enduring achievements as a sculptor of stone and his outstanding success and commitment to the arts. Suzanna, self taught absorbing knowledge from the master himself Jesús in all aspects of the art world as he relied on Suzanna to take charge while he traveled around the world installing art and attending symposiums globally sometimes away for six months at a time. Suzanna also respectfully giving credit to working closely with great curators and the knowledge of Jesús’ curatorial expertise from over 500 exhibitions they worked on together with the creation of each raw space which was transformed into a Moroles exhibition you would remember for years to come. The behind the scenes work consisted of ironing out logistics of the business and art deals, contracts, preparations for large and monumental environmental sculpture installations throughout the world. Coordinating with many organizations including National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission for the Arts, One Percent for the Arts Programs and state entities throughout the nation on their specific guidelines on funding and placing art in public places. A further 10 year curatorial experience exploded for Suzanna when her brother, a great human being and farsighted founded Cerrillos Cultural Center C 3, in 1996, multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary center for the Arts, in the town of Cerrillos, NM which later was renamed Moroles Cultural Center held its first exhibition in 1996 with artist and sculptors which included John Van Alstine, Bruce Beasley, Ed Benavente, Jorge Elizondo, Jae Hahn, John Henry, Colette,Hosmer, Richard Hunt, Luis Jimenez, Sharon Kopriva, Luis Montoya, Fritz Scholder, Carlos Setien, Peter Sarkisian, Mac Whitney, Isaac Witkin and Jesús Moroles laying the path for future exhibitions of emerging and starving artist/sculptors from across the globe with each year thereafter a new cultural experience with different countries exhibitions which included “Spain in Cerrillos”, “Korean Contemporary”, “East Meets West, China”, just to name a few. The 10 year experience of the interaction and development of other artist from across the globe to prepare and take on challenges of language barriers, shipping logistics and overall working with the artists to create their workspaces while at the cultural center and to pull off this annual event was an unheard of feat. One would say a working internship with 14 hour days, a must have passion for the arts.
Since Jesús’ tragic passing in June of 2015, Suzanna has began to rebuild and continue her brother's legacy by completing projects that involve continuing his legacy of art excellence. Shortly after following his death, Curator Katie Robinson Edwards of the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum, Austin, Texas met with Suzanna Moroles and together selected all works for a 40 year tribute of Moroles work for the museum and sculpture garden which was held November 2015 thru March 2016. The tribute exhibition made record breaking attendance for the museum and sculpture garden. A true visionary with this unmatchable experience from one of the greatest sculptors to ever live, Suzanna will continue to work in all facets of the art world.
Bianca Philippi
Bianca Philippi has been passionate about art and design since she was a child. An Art History and German Language/Literature major at Boston University, she graduated summa cum laude. Her personal interests led to the classroom and Bianca was the first teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District to become National Board Certified in Art.
An Individualized EdM from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education with a concentration in Non-profit Management and a second EdM in Educational Leadership from UCLA has enabled Bianca to expand her "sphere of influence" in the art world. This Board Member of the Los Angeles Jonathan Art Foundation brings over 20 years of experience in business development, education and international marketing to any project.
Bianca's areas of expertise include 15 years in marketing research with organizations such as Olson Zaltman and Campbell Rinker. She has extensive experience working across sectors on professional development, corporate social responsibility, philanthropy, global poverty, volunteerism and has been involved with numerous national firms. The extensive list includes The Coca-Cola Company, Proctor and Gamble, Audi, Cessna, Chevron-Texaco, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer, Kimberly Clark, Hugo Boss, Escada, Intel, Microsoft, the Harvard Business School, Phillips Academy (Andover), The World Bank, CARE International, The Carter Center, NFTE (National Foundation for the Teaching of Entrepreneurship) and Opportunity International.
Bianca is particularly interested in the work of young art prodigies such as Wang Yani, Autumn de Forest, Akiane Kramarik, Alexandra Nechita, Kieron Williamson and Aelita Andre. The art activist is always on the look out for up and and coming talent and most recently commissioned a piece by Tallulah Willis after seeing her first solo exhibition, "Please Be Gentle."