The art collective Art Party is One Year Old this month!! They are celebrating and inviting everyone to join in. This Saturday, March 26, 2011 at ALSOgoods, they will be holding a gallery show and meet/greet event starting at 7:00 pm. The show this weekend is a celebration of the group as well as an oppurtunity for the members to display work they have been working on this past year. ALSOgoods is located at 2575 N. High Street, very near the corner of Hudson Street.
The collective was birthed a year ago out of the basement of Tona and Randal Pearson, whom, along with a few of their "artsy" friends, decided to start hanging out and creating together. “I started Art Party in the beginning to help motivate my creative friends to pick up their pens and get creating again. I had no idea that a year later it would be such a big deal!", Tona stated. The members began inviting more people over and food became a major part of the monthly meet-ups, while still making art and discussing issues in the community. That quickly turned into full-on dinner buffet like events with more and more people until Tona could be heard saying things like, "I don't even know half of these people that are in my house".
Tona made the realization, "Once things had started to get rolling, I realized that we could reach far beyond my immediate circle of friends and get the community together as a whole and motivated to do art." With the help of J Tillman Callahan, Monica Pretak, JenRose Robinson, Meaghann Lees and many others, Art Party has risen from the basement to have both an online presence as well as one in the community. Their recent efforts to branch out into the community included endeavors such as donating art for auction to benefit the Special Olympics and various supply and clothing swap events. J Tillman Callahan, aka Siftus, said of Art Party, "nearly every day members continue to offer their special talents to share with the group while discovering new ones. Pushing boundaries is a big thing for Art Party. We believe that this begins with knowledge and continues through using what was learned, which then comes full circle, using our skills to give something back to the community."
The anniversary event "Archives" is being held at ALSOgoods, which has become a familiar place for the Art Party members, having hosted a poetry/book reading recently that several of the members participated in. Siftus praised ALSOgoods, "Over the few months we've worked closer to this show, Jodi Sandoval and Joel Weston, together, have been so amazingly open to our ideas and have accommodated our every whim."
The event will also have a merch table with small art and crafty things to buy as well as a raffle. The raffle will be for some of the merch and other items donated for the event. Proceeds go to Art Party, ALSOgoods and various community organizations. Hope to see you there supporting the art, the community and art in the community.
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