The great thing about the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum isn’t that it houses expansive galleries chock full of pieces of famous modern art. The great thing is that it doesn’t.

Water still bubbles and the sharp scent of chemicals still fills the amber-lit darkroom at Mesa High School as students — years after the advent of the digital camera or the camera phone — develop film into photographs in the time-honored method.

Emily Woodward-Shaw, a seventh-grader from Chandler's Athlos Traditional Academy, was awarded a gold medal for photography in the 2013 National Scholastic Art & Writing competition. The name of her work was “Standing By."

Coming soon to downtown Mesa: big changes to one of the city’s acclaimed all-ages attractions.

Coming soon to downtown Mesa: big changes to one of the city’s acclaimed all-ages attractions.

Dwayne Stowell was just a high school senior when his life was instantly changed.

Visiting this spring's décor previews often felt like exploring an art gallery. There was an artistic vibe to everything from dinnerware to drapery, art photographs to textiles.