First Fridays
From the Wire | Warehouse Clearance Sale To Benefit Artlink
Posted on 5/15/12 by DPJ Staff » No Comments
Some news items don’t need translation. That’s why DPJ launched the From the Wire series, so we could serve the destinations here by posting information and announcements – in their own words.
Have anything to donate? Art, furniture, appliances, etc. are welcome. Drop items off on Friday afternoon, May 18th from Noon – 5pm at the parking lot in the rear of the After Hours Building.
Artlink, creator of the wildly popular First Friday’s in downtown Phoenix and Art Detour, one of the longest-running arts events in Arizona, will be the benefactor of a warehouse clearance sale.
The sale will be held on Saturday, May 19th, from 7AM to 12 NOON in the parking lot of the After Hours Building, at 116 W. McDowell Road. The After Hours Building is in the heart of downtown Phoenix, 1 block west of the Phoenix Art Museum and the Central/McDowell Light Rail Stop.
Merchandise comes from a variety of manufacturers and most are never-used overstocks and samples. Items in the sale include gift-wrap, stationery goods, pet products, scrap-booking supplies, t-shirts, greeting cards, holiday decor plus art, furniture, appliances and more. Many prices are discounted nearly 90% from normal retail, with many items marked at just 25 cents.
According to Mike Oleskow, President of Artlink and organizer of the sale, “This is a great opportunity for people to get incredible deals and support the Phoenix Arts community. Proceeds help keep services like the First Friday shuttles running each month. While free for First Friday participants who love using it to explore art and to get around Downtown, the shuttles are Artlink’s biggest expense each month.”
Artlink Phoenix is one of the oldest, all volunteer run, 501-C-3 arts organizations in downtown Phoenix. Its mission is to maintain and enhance regular events, including the monthly First Fridays art walk, the annual Art Detour self-guided tour, an annual Juried Exhibition and an art-related fundraiser.
For more information on Artlink, please visit artlinkphoenix.com.
May First Friday | The MAP
Posted on 5/04/12 by DPJ Staff » No Comments
Hi Phoenix! Here is a map of arts and biz destinations that will make your First Friday a bit more fun.
These are the spaces that participated in the recent Art Detour 24, so you may find a few that are closed this evening – and then there a few that have popped up since Detour:
• Pedal Craft PHX – if you missed this the first time around now is the time to check it out in person. Kitchen Sink Studios, 828 N. 3rd St.
• bIGGY Art Sale – First Studio will be filled with iggyart paintings and artwork from the last 7+ years. First Studio, 631 N. 1st Ave.
• Fenix PCG – an open house at the Westminster Apartments on the corner of 2nd Ave. and Roosevelt St. (BTW, we’re calling it…2nd Avenue is the next big thing to hit Downtown. Keep your eyes/ears peeled.)
Check out the map below or download the First Friday Map here
Click to enlarge.
From the Wire | New Downtown Gallery Debuts with “Inspired Soles” Art Show
Posted on 4/05/12 by DPJ Staff » No Comments
Some news items don’t need translation. That’s why DPJ launched the From the Wire series, so we could serve the destinations here by posting information and announcements – in their own words.
NEW DOWNTOWN GALLERY DEBUTS WITH ”INSPIRED SOLES” ART SHOW AND AUCTION
What would you do with a black stiletto as a canvas? That’s the question that the predominantly female crew behind the 6th Avenue Gallery posed to artists and designers to solicit participation in “Inspired Soles” Art Show and Auction. The response has been nothing short of sensational – but don’t take our word for it. Come see for yourself when the 6th Avenue Gallery debuts its exhibition on First Friday in April.
Featuring dozens of high heel stilettos transformed into works of art, along with a provocative photo collection of women wearing their favorite power stilettos, this show is sure to validate what Marilyn Monroe and women everywhere have long known to be true: “Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world.”
The “Inspired Soles” stiletto art show will be unveiled during a one-night event and auction presented by the 6th Avenue Gallery. The gallery’s grand opening celebration in downtown Phoenix will be done in style, complete with food trucks, music, and just enough twinkle lighting to check out the undoubtedly inspired soles of those who attend this event.
Bring your wallet, because every stiletto featured in the “Inspired Soles” exhibition will be sold to the highest bidders. Proceeds will benefit Artlink Phoenix, a nonprofit organization dedicated to linking artists, business and the public to better understand, appreciate and promote a thriving arts community in central Phoenix.
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- Desert Flower by Colleen Steinberg
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- Mother Destroyer by Eric James
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- Stilettos from “Inspired Soles”
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- Dia De Los Muertos by El Moises
If You Go:
Where: 6th Avenue Gallery, 650 N. 6th Avenue (basement level) in downtown Phoenix, 85003
When: First Friday Debut, April 6, 2012
Public Showing – 6:30 to 10 p.m.
Silent Auction – 6:30 to 8 p.m.
The Inspired Soles stiletto art show continues on the third Friday in April and by appointment.
For more information, visit www.6thAvenueGallery.com
Video: Art Detour 2012
Posted on 3/26/12 by Perry Allen » No Comments
What is art in Phoenix? A short piece compiled from my trip around Downtown Phoenix for Art Detour weekend. Thank you to all the artists, patrons, volunteers, and proprietors who took the time to speak with me.
(shot & cut by perry allen for dpj)
Artist Finds Her Footing on First Fridays
Posted on 3/23/12 by J. Seth Anderson » No Comments
Downtown Phoenix is an ever-changing landscape, but amidst all the developments, bureaucracy, and continual struggle to create an urban core with an authentic sense of place, there is at least one event that has remained a constant feature and lifeblood in Downtown for over 20 years: First Fridays.
Local artist Carol Roque has been a part of this tradition as a vendor at every First Friday since December 2006 when she began selling her work as a young art student. Roque remembers the years of the mid 2000s as a simpler time, when artists gathered in dirt lots along Roosevelt Row, where one man would bring a generator and for ten bucks he’d allow artists to plug their extension cords in so they could light up their booths.
As First Friday continued to grow and spill out into the neighborhood streets the City of Phoenix began to take notice and it wasn’t long before bureaucracy was inserted into the evolution of the monthly event.
Soon paperwork, applications, and licenses became required for artists to display and sell their work.
“The license was easy to get back then. The City helped so I got everything I needed.”
At the age of 25, Roque has been a regular for long enough to remember when such things were not needed.
Her friend and now collaborator, Aldo Jeffery, invited her to show her work at First Friday after he happened to see some portraits she had completed while studying animation at the Art Institute of Phoenix.
He offered her space at his table where she carefully set out her samples for display.
“I was so nervous that I don’t think I said a single word all night.” She may not have said anything but she made $45 from sales of her 5×5 prints that she sold for $5.00 a piece.
“I had no idea that people bought art. I didn’t know you could do art for a living, I knew you could do animation, but I hated that.”
She stuck with school and earned a B.A. in Media Arts and Animation, although she never pursued animation. Instead, after graduation she taught herself to oil paint and set out to make a living as a full time artist.
Connecting Through Art
Since childhood, Roque carried notebooks with her which she explains were her closest friends; she filled the pages with drawings and portraits of people for whom she would name and create stories and details to explain their lives.
As a kid she attended 4 different schools before moving from the Los Angeles area to Mesa with her family. “It was easier for me to connect with my paintings than it was for me to make friends.”
The theme that runs through her work is loneliness, a feeling seen in the expressions on the faces of the people she creates. Some of the subjects have distorted faces, some have large noses, all have intense eyes that seem to be pleading for understanding and love. Roque says people comment that the people in her paintings look sad and depressing.
“That caught me off guard to hear. It was a reminder that I’m not the only one who feels sad, other people do too.”
Her first painting was completed in a digital print and ink class where she learned how to paint on a computer. She still uses the computer as a way to map out her visions. Once an idea is created digitally, she is able to choose which one she wants to turn into an oil painting.
“I have to keep focused and imagine what I want. I think through the whole painting digitally, then plan how to turn it into an oil painting. It’s much easier to do it this way because it’s planned out and I’m not just painting blindly. I can plan the composition and the under painting and I don’t have to worry if I’m painting the lighting correctly.”
She said she always admired oil painters and now prefers oil because she can blend colors infinitely, but “oil paint is really dangerous and toxic. My hands used to tingle all the time and I thought that was normal. It’s not. I take precautions and wear gloves now.”
Living an Uncomplicated Life
Her work is shown around town in coffee shops or bars. Earlier this month she had a show at Hair Pollution on McDowell with Jeffery and this month her work is on display at Buffalo Exchange as their Artist of the Month.
She will have a regular gallery on Roosevelt Row in May where she will debut her newest and favorite painting.
“No one has seen it yet and it’s still untitled. It’s a girl with purple lilac hair, you see her back and she’s looking back at you with a lot of pain and emotion in her eyes. It’s intense but pretty when you first see it. There is a heart stitched on her back with a yellow bird on her shoulder holding one end of the string.”
Roque says she’s grateful that her life is uncomplicated at the moment.
“Sometimes I just work inside all day and only ever come out to First Friday. I should probably get out and socialize more. I’ve had a level of success, people recognize my work. The next step is to pay my rent more regularly.”
She acknowledges that during her years participating in First Friday she has witnessed many changes but what hasn’t changed is the interest in the downtown art scene.
“People come for different reasons. There are a lot of teenagers, lots of middle-aged men and women and elderly people. It’s everyone.”
Roque is out every First Friday and Third Friday in front of MADE Art Boutique on Roosevelt Street sharing her work with the Downtown Phoenix community. On Third Friday she draws live and you can get a custom portrait in about 20-30 minutes for only 15 bucks.
Images courtesy of Carol Roque.
