Community – A twist on the Art & Coffee model

Each month, on the first Friday, ArtLoveMagic hosts Art & Coffee. It’s a great event to get to know us at. Live art, live music, and an open mic that allows the songwriters and poets in our audience to perform.

This month, on August 5th, we’re presenting a new take on the model. Instead of inviting out individual artists to create live, we’ve invited local ART GROUPS. Each group will set up and create live art, and share information about what they do to help make Dallas successful.

The groups involved are-

The Sunshine Store – handmade jewelery in Deep Ellum for nearly 20 years. The store’s owner, Ruth, will create live custom jewelry on site.

The Artistic Push – a Dallas arts group dedicated to bringing local art into homes, schools, and galleries. They will bring both a gallery of painting and artists who will create live.

The Just.Us.League – a massive art collaboration experiment. The JUL will be bringing painters who will team up to create a large painting…together…live​.

Audio Warfare – AW is a music collective dedicated to creating and promoting local music. Lead DJ Dean Dillenger will head a group of musicians who will entertain us on the outdoor porch.

FUEL.ph – a small crew of local folks who have pledged two years of their life to go to the Philippines to open a coffee shop centered around creating a thriving art and music community. They”ll be leaving Dallas for the Philippines in just a few months.

Rec Shop – an amazing community of skaters and graffiti artists. Their artists will be on hand to do some amazing live painting.

The Circus Freaks– a local crew of live circus performers. They will roam our event juggling, spinning, and hooping and will have a few surprises in store.

In addition to those groups, we also have a feature musician – Carlos Young, and a feature poet – Jay Bookworm of Mystical Misfits.

And local artist Cori Berg will bring supplies and set up a “community-themed” interactive table that every attendee can roll up their sleeves and create art at.

We’re expecting an amazing event filled with good people who do good things. This is a great opportunity to understand your local art community in a BIG way in a single night. Hope to see you there!

Art & Coffee
Friday August 5th
7:30-10:30pm – free to attend
(open mic signup at 7pm)
at It’s A Grind Deep Ellum
2901 Indiana Blvd Ste 2d, Dallas, TX, 75226

Here’s the facebook page for this event in case you want to see more, or share the good news.

Thanks!

community flyer design by Jerod Alexander

What it’s all about (or… the Guerilla event attacks!)

story by Michael Lagocki
stage photos by ML
artist photos by Kelsey Paine

It worked. Our Guerilla event for Life In Deep Ellum successfully raised the cash needed to help reach their goal.

What’s more is that the night was total bliss. What energy. We were packed from the jump and it never slowed down. Here’s the run down with pics by myself and Kelsey Paine…

The Zachary Scott Pohl Band killed it. They came here fresh on the heels of the release of their new cd (search them on iTunes) and they donated 50% of every copy they sold this night to the venue. More importantly, they rocked our faces off.

The artists were out in force too. More than 10 live artists chose to participate. Everything from handmade jewelry, to floor paintings, to art on skateboard decks, photography, you name it.

At ArtLoveMagic shows, the audience gets to create too. We set up an interactive table where kids and adults got to draw and make Christmas cards.

Don’t forget the poets.
Jay Bookworm wrote a special piece for the night titled, Guerilla Happiness. And then Will Richey and Alejandro Perez blessed the stage with a dynamic spoken word collaborative piece that included two languages, singing, dancing, and gymnastics. Midway through the night, Josh Dryk brought out the fire painting and worked up a thorny rose bush in flame and pigment.

The last stage act of the night was Rin Tin Tin. I didn’t take any photos of them that didn’t come out incredibly blurry… because neither they nor their audience tend to stand still during their shows… at ALL. See that dude floating up in the air? That’s kinda what the whole night felt like.

Throughout the evening the audience’s generosity wowed us. Folks kept hitting the donation jars, buying coffee, buying art. All told we raised somewhere around $1500.

A blessing to be sure and a great way to end the year. Here’s to many more years of Life in Deep Ellum and ArtLoveMagic serving our local creative community.

This is True – the new jazz

Over the last few months we’ve been telling you about the THIS IS TRUE experiment. 20 poets and 20 artists – 20 collaboartions between 40 strangers across two different mediums. The results have been pretty incredible.

This is easily one of my favorite things we’ve done. Several of the participants just really got into it and took the work to the next level. Here’s just a sampling of what you can expect if you check out the show at the gallery anytime this week, or if you join us for our live event celebrating it Saturday night –

Amanda Davis’ piece (above) was a real joy to see. The piece is based on the poem In Sepia by Misty Boldish. Inspired by the poem’s lines about gunshots, Amanda took a .45 to the piece and shot actual bullet holes in it. She also used a combination of photo transfer, tissue paper, charcoal and paint to get the effect that she wanted.

Both Misty and Amanda are very proud of the piece.

Our jaws dropped when Eddie Walker brought in this airbrushed interpretation of Hank Van Hawkins’ poem, Mad Man Blues. Hank is a songwriter, and the poem reflects that. It reads like a gritty country/blues song. I thought Eddie was the perfect choice for it and I campaigned my other producers, Isaac and Jerod, to let him have a run at it.

The details in that tattoo are unbelievable, almost photo-realistic. Thanks, Eddie… you made me look smart!

Here’s what poet Jay Eilers had to say about his poem, which was ultimately interpretted into the above collage by artist Marissa Colomo:

Within Sacred Spaces: Tree of Life Poetry Collage, I approach older material creatively by rearranging pieces of five previously existing poems with diverse themes, suggesting a central theme based on my interpretation of universal truth.

I hope to metaphorically embody the Tree of Life as a process of spiritual realization.
This concept can apply universally to individuals within multiple communities and inspired by multiple relationships. We use what has been given to us in news ways. This is the essence of creative truth. It is adaptable, but still timeless and steadfast.

Marissa tore up thousands of tiny piece of colored paper to make the collage. When you see the work, check out the detail in the wings. It’s amazing.

This is just a small sampling of the work. There are 17 more pieces to be seen in the show and 20 full poems to be read.

We will celebrate the whole thing with a live event Saturday night at the gallery from 8pm to midnight. It’s only a $2 donation to get in. We’ll have live music, all the painters and poets, and a few artlovesurprises for you.

Here’s a facebook event page for Saturday night if you want some more details or to confirm you’re attending.

Personally, I think this is the new jazz. Collaborative experiments where artists come together around a themed project and make work the world has never seen before…

Pinch me.

post by Michael Lagocki

Love pancakes at our Open House

story by Michael Lagocki
photos by Nicole Rodriguez and Michael Lagocki

We love Mamma Nye. Every once in awhile ArtLoveMagic throws an open house at our office in Deep Ellum. Not so much an event really, as a simple hangout- a chance for us to get together and be friendly. Without the craziness of an event going on, we get to talk and chill in a relaxed manner, meet new folks, etc.

Last night’s Open House was no exception- except in that it was exceptional. The secret ingredient was Mama Nye (Kelly Nygren) cooking love pancakes for the crowd. Each one a work of art (literally) and delicious to boot. The longer the night went, the more elaborate the edible art got, until finally Kelly and local improv comic Jill Headen were drawing portraits of everyone as pancakes. Tasty.

Here our music director, Deborah Driscoll, takes a turn at some pancake art herself.

More beard!

We always do some kind of live creativity. This open house included a giant sketchbook page 8 feet wide. Folks were encouraged to pick up a pencil and marker and join the oversized jam.

The art was led by Ian Robertson who set up a cool sky scene where people could work off of his sketches of heroes and villains flying in and out and of clouds. This worked out so cool we’re going to save it and hopefully set it up at the next open house for more people to complete or color the image.

We also used this Open House to start putting up the next art gallery in the Deep Ellum Community Center (where we office). 3 times a year we change out the art that’s hanging on the walls and in the windows. It’s an opportunity to show new people and give local creatives a chance to have their work seen.

Our new gallery will include work by poet Jay Bookworm (left), painter Amanda Davis, photographers David Leeson and Jasana Boudard, illustrator Jamel Jones, jeweler Rachel Deniger, and about a dozen more inspired folks.We’re still putting the finishing touches on this new gallery. It should all be up and tagged before the end of the month.

The next Open House date is Wednesday, December 1st 2010.

Stay connected with artlovemagic on facebook or through our email blast to get all of the upcoming dates.

 

 

More images from Father’s Day

These Father’s Day pics were taken by audience member Josh Dyrk from our Father’s Day event (6/20/09) at the Egg  I Restaurant.

The evening was well attended and enjoyed by many families. This had a very different feel from most artlovemagic events. It was more chill, with the environment providing a laid back atmosphere. The Egg & I put out a beautiful buffet spread and we left open space for people to sit down and just enjoy dinner. The rest of the room was taken up by art displays and live artists working.

We set potter Conor Muldoon dead center in the middle of the room so that attendees could walk 360 degrees around him as he worked. Meanwhile, airbrush artist Eddie Walker worked live on a special Father’s Day inspired piece.

Architectural designer Jim Thompson brought a truly cool setup. He transported an entire office to the show, setting up an environment just like he works in professionally.

We also set up one room as a performance area where musicians and poets entertained the crowd. Jacob Reeves, a new Father himself, brought his Dad, Bart with him to back him up on Harmonica.

Local writer Jay Bookworm was the first one who suggested we do a Father’s Day event. Poets Michael Lagocki, Kylun Rodriguez, and Serena Wills also performed, along with musicians Parallel Play, Something In The Wheel, and Jaimie Reeves.

Joe Townson, who usually does abstract paintings at our events, tried his hand at a figure portrait, even bringing a live model with him to work from. Joe and painter David Rodriguez set up outside on the Egg & I’s porch. Parallel Play went outside late in the night to entertain them since they missed most of the inside performances.

It really was a wonderful night.  This one really didn’t feel like any other I can recall. Different locations, different themes, and different selections of artists create utterly unique experiences each time we go out the door. I think it’s important as an organization that we keep getting new people involved, keep doing new things.

Revolutions take creativity.

photos by Josh Dyrk
post by Michael Lagocki

for more on this event, see our previous post
love-and-family-on-fathers-day

Neighbors Go covers Illuminate

Jay Bookworm’s piece on illuminate has been covered in print and web by the good folks at Neighbors Go.

http://www.neighborsgo.com/stories/34273