It’s no secret I love the Crafty Chica, a.k.a. Kathy Cano-Murillo. With glue gun in one hand and glitter in the other, everything she touches sparkles with eye-popping colors and brilliant Latino iconography. She and her husband — the artist Patrick Murillo — make a truly dynamic duo of Chicano pop art, and have been creating for 20 years.

Through August 2, 2009, The Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ exhibits La Casa Murillo: A Life-Size Shadowbox, a full-size creation of the Murillos’ fantasy home — a combination of “Willy Wonka meets Frida Kahlo.”

The Murillos state, “This exhibition is a way to manifest the excitement that we put into visual, cultural pieces that feel like Pop Rocks to your senses. We want to show people that it doesn’t take a lot of money to make cool decorations.”

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Crafty Chica herself is hosting a series of craft workshops for teens and adults at the Heard Museum on October 11 and January 10 ($20 Heard Museum members, $25 non-members). Learn how to make a glittered ceramic doggie bank (October), an art house shrine (January), and more. Call (602) 251-0212 for more information or to register for workshops.

The Murillos are also presenting a lecture, “How to Start a Career in Art,” at 1:30 p.m. on October 19, which is free with regular museum admission.

If you can’t make it to Phoenix, you can still check out the exhibition via a video tour Kathy put together for all of us out-of-towners. I don’t know about you, though, but I think a road trip to Phoenix is in my near future!