If you’ve ever wandered beyond the first floor of the Arizona Senate, you’ve likely seen the work of Jim Covarrubias, a Phoenix-based artist whose paintings have adorned the hallways of the second and third floors for more than a year. Covarrubias, whose downtown Phoenix studio is full to the brim of paintings, has a wide variety to choose from, and has curated and adjusted the work on display in the Senate over that time. He has plans to feature other artists as well, with a gallery planned for the walls outside Senate President Andy Biggs’ office, to be displayed as early as in May.
How’d you get your start as an artist?
I basically started actively when I graduated with my first degree from ASU in 1978, and I formed a Native American, Latino arts group called MARS (Movimiento Artistico del Rio Salado). And that was really my introduction to working art as a living.