At the southeast corner of Camelback Road and Arcadia Drive, an adobe house with a clay tile roof and a recessed veranda sits at the base of Camelback Mountain. It is the Shemer Art Center, and on Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8, its grounds fill with tents for the Shemer Arizona Arts Festival. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days, and admission is free.
Shemer bills the weekend as the start of holiday shopping, "Arizona style." That makes sense given the house's history. It was built in 1919 for the foreman of the water company whose wells made Arcadia's first homesites possible. More than a century later, it belongs to the City of Phoenix and hosts one of the neighborhood's longest-running yearly events.
The Foreman's House Behind the First Homesites
According to the Shemer Art Center's own history, a group of developers led by Seymour Jordan formed the Arcadia Water Company in 1919. They began drilling wells so they could sell homesites in the newly named Arcadia neighborhood. The first home in Arcadia went up to house the water company's foreman.
Water came first, then the lots, and this house was home to the man who kept the water running.
The City of Phoenix studied the house in September 1993 for its Arcadia Historic Building Survey. The survey lists it as:
- Spanish Colonial Revival style
- Built of adobe, with a concrete foundation and stucco walls
- Roofed with clay tile, with exposed rafters at the eaves
- Fronted by a recessed veranda on adobe piers
- Fitted with wood French doors and wood casement windows
- Built in 1919, with additions in 1925 and 1928
The survey calls it "a very good example" of the Spanish Colonial Revival style and "an excellent example of the use of adobe in residential construction." It also calls the property "an excellent illustration of initial large estate development in the Arcadia District."
From Private Estate to Public Lawn
The city survey also traces who lived in the house before it was public. Henry J. Coerver owned it and lived there in the early and mid 1920s. The survey describes him as a professional banker and an early developer and resident of the Arcadia District. He later served as president of the First National Bank of Arizona from 1935 to 1947.
In 1928, Coerver sold the house to Charles L. Suhr of Pennsylvania, president of the Pennzoil Company. Suhr owned it and lived there through 1950.
Shemer's history and the city's survey describe the early years differently. Shemer remembers the house as the water company foreman's home. The 1993 survey records a banker and a Pennzoil executive living there in the 1920s. Both accounts fit a pattern in which Arcadia's first house quickly became one of its early estates.
The change to public property came in July 1984. Martha Shemer, a longtime Phoenix resident and real estate investor, bought what Shemer describes as the "twice-renovated, Sante-Fe mission-style home and land." She worked with Mayor Terry Goddard to donate it to the City of Phoenix, both to preserve the historic property and to make sure it would serve as a community center for residents.
The city's Points of Pride page lists the Shemer and notes the 1984 donation. Shemer says it was named a Point of Pride in 1992. It runs today with support from the city's Arts & Culture Department.
Year-round, the center offers classes in drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics, fused glass, mixed media, photography and jewelry-making. It also has a boutique gift shop and an outdoor sculpture garden, and both sell work by Arizona artists.
What the Festival Weekend Holds
The festival started in 1988, back when it was called Sunday @ Shemer. The name and the schedule have changed since then, but it still focuses on Arizona artists.
The 2026 festival page lists:
- More than 40 Arizona artists, chosen from across the state, selling one-of-a-kind work for gift giving
- The 4th Annual Signature Chalk Festival, with Arizona chalk artists creating sidewalk murals
- Art demonstrations throughout the weekend
- Arizona authors and illustrators
- A Blacksmiths Village
- A $5 Interactive Art Zone, with art activities for all ages
- Live music
- A silent auction
- Food vendors
This year's chalk theme is "The Desert Clock." That fits a 1919 adobe that has seen more than a hundred years of Arcadia seasons from the same corner.
The silent auction also follows the house's community mission. Under the 2026 artist prospectus, accepted artists are asked to donate one piece of artwork worth at least $100 to the auction. When you bid on a piece, you are supporting an art center that was donated to the public.
The basic setup is the same as last year. North Central News reported that the 2025 festival on November 1 and 2 had the Blacksmiths Village, the $5 Art Zone, the silent auction, food vendors and the third annual chalk festival. In 2026, the festival is a week later on the calendar and the chalk festival reaches its fourth year.
Arcadia News also lists the November 7 and 8 dates in its October 2026 briefs, along with the Blacksmiths Village, chalk artists and silent auction.
The festival page doesn't list artists, food vendors or parking details in text form, so check shemerartcenter.org before you go.
The Season Keeps Going After the Tents Come Down
The center's calendar continues through early January. Two exhibitions open October 28 and run through January 7, 2027. Holiday workshops continue into the week before Christmas.
The exhibitions page lists "REWIND. PIVOT. REPEAT.," a group show juried by Bentley Calverley, and an honors exhibition for Tom Eckert. Both run on the same dates. During the Eckert show's run, an honors evening takes place on November 20. The events page describes it as an exhibition and cocktail reception, followed by dinner and a program.
| Date | At the Shemer | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 28, 2026 to Jan. 7, 2027 | "REWIND. PIVOT. REPEAT." and the Tom Eckert honors exhibition | Gallery hours |
| Oct. 29 | Artist reception for "REWIND. PIVOT. REPEAT." | See listing |
| Tuesdays, Oct. 27 to Dec. 15 | Adult Drawing Basics | 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. |
| Tuesdays, Oct. 27 to Dec. 15 | Adult handbuilding and glaze course | 1 to 4 p.m. |
| Nov. 5 | Clay casserole dish workshop | Evening |
| Nov. 7 and 8 | Shemer Arizona Arts Festival | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Nov. 20 | Tom Eckert honors evening | 5:30 to 9 p.m. |
| Nov. 21 and 28 | Adult Watercolor Pour workshop | 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. |
| Dec. 3 | Ceramic bells workshop | Evening |
| Dec. 5 | Youth holiday painting workshop | 10 a.m. to noon |
| Dec. 19 | Youth Zentangle holiday ornaments | 10 a.m. to noon |
If you're planning ahead, the festival weekend is the best time to buy finished gifts. The December 3 bells workshop and the December 19 ornament session are for making them yourself. The workshop schedule and youth class listings handle registration.
The gift shop and sculpture garden stay open year-round, so after January 7 you can still buy Arizona-made work at Camelback Road and Arcadia Drive.
If you'd like to talk about Arcadia's older homes or how the neighborhood grew around its first one, The Caniglia Group is always happy to talk. Schedule a Free Consultation.
