Staff Reports | Happenings & Events
Scottsdale Public Art’s newest exhibition, “Delicately Drawn: Alexandra Bowers and Matthew Hunt,” will feature detailed drawings by Phoenix artists Alexandra Bowers and Matthew Hunt from Oct. 6 through Dec. 31, 2026, at Scottsdale Civic Center Library.
The exhibition pairs Bowers’ pyrographic drawings of Sonoran Desert plants and animals with Hunt’s pencil drawings depicting surreal, animal-inspired visions of humanity. The exhibition was curated to highlight the artists’ shared dedication to detail and the contemplative qualities found in their work, according to a press release.
Wendy Raisanen, curator of Scottsdale Public Art exhibitions and tours, selected the artists for the exhibition because of common themes she identified in their work.
“Alexandra’s artwork has a beautiful, subtle, natural feeling. I find them powerful and reverent. I just love the honest dedication to her drawings,” Wendy Raisanen, curator of Scottsdale Public Art exhibitions and tours, said. “And Matthew’s drawings are equally, if not more, dedicated to the small details. His artwork truly feels like the masculine to Alexandra’s feminine.”
Ms. Bowers’ artwork explores the Sonoran Desert ecosystem through depictions of native plants and animals. She uses pyrography, also known as woodburning, combined with water-soluble wax pigments and gold leaf to create works etched into wood panels.
Ms. Bowers began working with woodburning while studying at Arizona State University. During a study-abroad experience, she learned more about the medium and its artistic potential, which she said helped connect her work to the desert environment.
“Since I’m a woodburning artist, I think having my work in this exhibition is showing a reinterpretation of a medium that most people would think of as drawing,” Alexandra Bowers said. “The way I create my art, most people don’t even know that the work is burned. When I do tell people that’s how the art has been constructed, it’s teaching a new way to do and look at art.”
“Delicately Drawn: Alexandra Bowers and Matthew Hunt” will be on display from Oct. 6 through Dec. 31, 2026, at the Civic Center Public Gallery inside Scottsdale Civic Center Library, 3948 N. Drinkwater Blvd.
In addition to the exhibition, an artist discussion featuring Bowers and Hunt will be available through the Scottsdale Public Art guide on the Bloomberg Connects app.
