More from the Deep Ellum Arts Festival

This 2011 Deep Ellum Arts Festival was SUCH a big event that we need another post just to adequately cover it. This time the words are by lead producer Deborah Driscoll and the photos come from the lens of Heather Alley.

I really enjoyed seeing Daniel Perez (above) at the festival creating live.  He was added to the fest by David Rodriguez when we decided that 5 artist platforms was just not enough to showcase all the local badassery.  Looking very much forward to seeing Daniel in way more shows very soon!

What more can be said about Jerod Alexander (above)?  How about – He and his two brothers, Isaac and Jashua, were the featured artists of the entire festival who managed somehow to keep live art rolling in TWO separate parking lots, ran their own music stage, and hung two galleries full of amazing original art.  “Kudos” just isn’t enough.  Mad respect boys.

Conor Muldoon (above) is always a crowd favorite with his live pottery wheel awesomeness.  I loved swapping stories with him while he created, and of course seeing the newly expecting Mrs. Muldoon’s belly bump.  Crazy Happiness!

Ok…for real, Tonite Tonite is maybe my favorite local band here in Dallas.  Andres, the lead singer (above) and his brother Alex are truly confident with their style, which is a unique blend of indie-amazingness with deep, distinct vocals/lyrics, and really fresh over-all sound.  I was impressed the first time I saw them perform at one of our Art & Coffee open mic’s and I continue to be impressed by the super radical pre-release CD they gave me this weekend.  It’s THE BOMB!  Just sayin!

Chris and Hallie Garcia (above) are two of my favorite humans.  Colorful, kind, and really great friends to me.  This was their first time painting live as a husband/wife team and I think we all dug what they did.  Still can’t wait to see the finished product, guys!  Stupid Puzzle!  (inside joke)

Riki Johnson and Myriah Garcia can be seen above getting into a liquid latex experience together.  The first of its kind at one of our events!  Riki painted up two models with latex, then painted a canvas with acrylics.  Jenice Johnson took professional photo’s of both models in front of the painted canvas to add the finishing touch to this surreal live creation.  Good times, ladies!  It was my favorite to watch happen over the course of the weekend.

The trombone player from Reinventing Jude joined Matt Barron on stage to do some impromptu jamming!  Matt rocked the crowd as our headliner on Saturday  night, and MAN does he know how to end a show.  I think the only complaint was that he didn’t have any of his music for sale at the end of his set.  Matt, get to recording!!

Like Matt Barron, Eric Tipton (above) was a headliner for our stage as well, but on Friday night.  He is such a strong, passionate addition to our ArtLoveMagic family that now I can’t imagine not having him as a friend or on our stages.  Eric, thanks for sharing yourself and your amazing music with all of us.  Sincerely.

Not one but TWO of our beloved founders were featured as live artists in ArtLoveMagic Alley this year.  Michael Lagocki was hanging with his Comic brothers, Ghostwerks, while David Rodriguez (above) painted solo.  This piece said a lot to me, personally.  Fighting the clock.  Thank you for sharing your thoughts on canvas, and everything else you do!

It had been about 18 months since Arturo Torres took part in an ArtLoveMagic show until this past weekend at the fest.  The ridiculously beautiful painting you see above is now proudly hanging in my home.  He donated it to me as a thank you.  How cool is that???  Ice cold, baby.  Arturo was the only artist to sell ALL of his artwork and to completely finish his live painting before the day was done.  I think that speaks for itself.  Come back soon, Arturo.

For more from the festival keep reading! The previous post by Michael Lagocki and Kelsey Paine also covers this three day event.

Thank you.  Really.  Every one of you.

– Deb

The artistry and music of the 2011 Deep Ellum Arts Festival

words by Michael Lagocki
photography by Kelsey Paine (unless noted)

It’s a pretty safe bet that you’re always going to see something amazing at the Deep Ellum Arts Festival. DE knows art & music and this is the event that brings EVERYONE out. ArtLoveMagic was once again proud to contribute a unique area of the festival packed with live artists and performers. 100% local talent (like Lawrence Alexander, pictured above).

Our live acoustic stage hosted a lineup of more than a dozen talented musicians from all over DFW. Many of them were veterans to the artlovemagic scene, but a few were new faces to our collective that we were proud to feature as well, like acclaimed songwriter Daniel Katsuk.

We rotated the artist platforms a total of 6 times to give the maximum number of artists opportunity to show their work – and so that the crowd could see a wide reflection of Dallas arts.  We were even blessed by having the Davies Brothers in our section throughout the festival!  Becky Taylor gave folks a behind the scene look at how she makes jewelry (above).

Local cartoonist Samax Amen painted live and talked to fans of his magazine and blog- www.ghettomanga.com.  Samax has the gift of gab and loves to get into conversations with aspiring artists about how to approach both the business and creative side of a freelance career.

We were particularly proud of our musicians, who each took their sets seriously and brought a little something extra. Like this moment during the song “Dear Father” where Goat and Jackrabbit bowed down while Elle sang solo. Both jumped up on the exact beat and came back into the song.  It was timed perfectly and gave the crowd a moment to cheer.

Speaking of… this was the three’s last performance together in Dallas. The popular trio has performed together over 100 times, but with Elle relocating in the next few weeks, this set served as a finale. We’re proud to have worked with them so many times, and we wish Elle unprecedented success wherever she goes.

ArtLoveMagic founders Michael Lagocki and David Rodriguez both got into the mix and painted live as well. Above Michael works on a collab piece with his ghostwerks brethren. Ghostwerks is an independent comic publisher that Michael and four others formed prior to artlovemagic.

Dallas photographer Jen Shu set up a photobooth on Sunday where festival attendees (like this little guy) could get their portrait snapped. If you were among the hundreds that did, you can swing by her site here to see your images or order a print.

Kids need art! As more and more school art programs are shrinking and disappearing, we think it’s even more important for us to provide interactive art experiences that audiences of all ages can participate in. All festival long we had a section devoted to audience made art.

And as we were cleaning up this section, we found some future artisan had left us this awesome piece.
Photo by Deb Driscoll

We just dig watching Sarah Zamora paint. She always sets up gorgeous displays of her work and always creates large colorful paintings live on scene.

Graffiti painter Joe Skilz knows how to recycle his empty spray paint cans… make them into another piece of art.

When night fell on Saturday, guitarist Matt Barron took our stage and absolutely shredded a performance that had a huge crowd going crazy.  It was wonderful to see him get such a well deserved response.Photo by Michael Lagocki.

Sculpture was part of the act to. Luis Torres brought out the heavy metal and even did some live welding for fans.

A diversity of artforms is the key to making stuff like this REALLY work. Charles Harrison does his body painting with an airbrush gun. And works with photographer Travis Lilley so that as soon as his models are complete, they go right into a professional photo shoot with a model photographer.

Sarah Gillmore romanced our audience with her beautiful songwriting. She was the only musician in our lineup who actually played two sets for us, playing both the opening and closing days of the festival.

Of course everything you’re seeing in these shots was only one small section of the event. Outside of ArtLoveMagic alley there will hundreds of other artists, musicians, attractions, and street foods to enjoy.

To find out more about The Deep Ellum Arts Festival and other festivals thrown by MEI, visit their website here.

Our Arts Festival Schedule

Once again, ArtLoveMagic will play a big role in The Deep Ellum Arts Fest (which is this weekend- April 1-3rd). This is one of Dallas’ best weekends. The entire festival is free to attend and ArtLoveMagic will be taking over a large parking lot at Crowdus and Main dedicated to live, local art and music.

You can catch more info on the festival as a whole on their official website- www.deepellumartsfestival.com

While there, make sure you come hang with us at ArtLoveMagic Alley and check out these amazing artists and musicians:

*Note-  we think we have this pretty solid, but times and names are subject to change. Interactive arts aren’t listed here, but there will be hands on art in our section all weekend long.

Friday

Visual Artists 5-9pm

Sarah Zamora – Painting

Chris & Hallie Garcia – Painting

Charles Harrison/Travis Lilley – Air Brush/Photography

Conor Muldoon –  Pottery

Friday Musicians

5:00 PM Sarah Gilmore

6:00 PM Erin Gayden

7:00 PM Elle Laporte

8:00 PM Parallel Play

9:00 PM Eric Tipton

Saturday

Visual Artists 11pm-2:15pm

Sarah Fulk – Jewelry

Ashley Jones – Collage

Eddie Walker – Air Brush

Eliana Miranda – Paint

Ixchel Aguilar – Paint

Visual Artists 2:30-6pm

Riki Johnson & Jenice Johnson – Painting

Ashley Jones – Collage

Eddie Walker – Air Brush

David Rodriguez – Painting

Kelsey Kincannon – Painting/Laser Stencil

Visual Artists 6:30-10pm

Bianca Elise – Painting

Joe Skilz – Spray paint

Luis Torres – Sculpture

Trayce Cochran – Spray paint

Daniel Perez – Painting

Saturday Musicians

12:00 noon – Jake Reeves

1:00 pm – Grant Braudrick Percussionist

2:00 pm – Jeff Nelson

3:00 pm – Zachary Scott Pohl

4:00 pm – Tonite Tonite

5:00 pm – Michael Carrasco

6:00 pm -Poindexter

7:00 pm – Kelly Nygren and possible guest

8:00 pm – Reinventing Jude

9:00 pm – Matt Barron

Sunday

Visual Artists 11am-2:45pm

Arturo Torres – Painting

Martin Campos – Photography

Brandy Nicole – Painting

Lizzy Fieler – Drawing

Visual Artists 3pm- 6pm

Ghostwerks Comics – Cartoonists

Jen Shu – Photography

Lawrence Alexander – Painting/Comics

Cori Berg – Painting

Sunday Musicians

1:00 pm – Sarah Gilmore

2:00 pm – Sonya Jevette

3:00 pm – Lorynn The Red Head

4:00 pm – Team Islas

5:00 pm – Daniel Katsuk

6:00 pm -Goat/Jackrabbit/Elle

Photos by Tom Peal from Arts Fest

The good images from the last weekend keep on rolling in. These photos were by local photographer Tom Peal. The play by play is from Michael Lagocki.

It was great to see Deep Ellum filled with people all weekend, loving the scene and the local businesses.

Kids and adults enjoyed our inteactive art section all weekend. It was great to see so many of you create with us.

Here local painter Jason Ice, and artlovemagic co-founder David Rodriguez discuss setup for the show. Our Artist's Alley included five live stages, four gallery sets, an interactive area, and a merch booth. There was a lot to think about.

This is local songwriter Spencer Garland performing in front of a painting that David Rodriguez had done the night before. Spencer is one of many local musicians featured on our radio station at http://www.artlovemagic.com

Big big thanks to all our producers and volunteers. Getting the word out about artlovemagic to thousands of new people at the show took a heroic effort from an unpaid staff. Many of us worked the festival all three days, not to mention all the pre and post work. Here, our Music Director Deborah Driscoll talks with Michelle McSpadden who painted live with us on Sunday.

There's that painting again. The performer is Jenni Mansfield Peal, Tom's wife, who opened up our Sunday stage with an inspirational set.

I got nothing for this one. It's just awesome.

Live from the Deep Ellum Arts Festival: Day 3

words and photos by Michael Lagocki

Game over, man.

Actually, as I type the festival still has another few hours, but mercifully, I got to leave before the end. Other people have it covered. If you read the last few days of this blog you probably understand why this has meaning for me.

Kevin Steele was one of many live painters on Sunday.

The Davies brothers, Isaac, Jashua, and Jerod created their own subsection of ArtLoveMagic Alley where they showed and painted with friends all weekend.

The ArtLoveMagic Alley was an absolute success. We loved doing it and the artists had a great time. Day three had weather challenges. It never quite got to buckets of rain, but several times it drizzled, and the skies threatened to open up. There were more than a few instances where our artists had to quickly cover their work or get it under a tent (rain & live art don’t always mix).

I broke out the paints and markers and created this piece live during the first shift.

Today was a chill vibe and I created a piece myself. I even hung a full gallery display, something I rarely get a chance to do. It felt good. And I like the piece I painted. Many others live created as well, including the poets and musicians who created on the stage. Our stage was pure Dallas songwriting, with performers from our local streets as young as 19 years old holding down full sets.

Erin Gayden gets a little help from a friend when rain threatened to soak her set.

It's good to have friends. All day artists were helped through complex setups by volunteers. The spirit of helping others was evident all over.

So thank you Deep Ellum, thank you Arts Fest and thank you anyone who attended… and especially everyone who lent their hands to lifting, helping, promoting, selling, supporting. Our awesome producers… Deborah Driscoll, Josh Dryk, Isaac Davies, Jay Bookworm, Mario Cauley, and myself all busted our butts day after day to make this thing happen. Our volunteer crew was unbelievable as well. You know who you are and how much we needed you.

You’d enjoy volunteering at our shows if you never have. It’s hard work, but it’s FOR something- supporting artists, musicians, poets, building unique experiences, doing something that inspires people. Most of those folks behind our tables and in production roles are artists and performers themselves. Next time they’ll get on the mic, on the art stages. All they’ll be supported by the same people who helped them this weekend.

We split the day into two shifts of artists. Trayce Cochran painted on the second shift that closed out the festival.

Until next time… art. love. magic.

-ML

Live from the Deep Ellum Arts Festival: Day 2

He gasps for breath and starts to type.

I’m not sure I have this in me. It’s near midnight and we’ve been killing it at the festival since early this morning. Pure love. And I mean Pure Love. Dozens of artists and performers, poets mixing in up, live painting, live carving, collaborations, freestyles.

Dallas painter Joe Skilz is rightfully proud of this meditative painting he created live today.

This is what we were asked to do: create an area of the Deep Ellum Arts Festival where LIVE, LOCAL artists could build an environment where art and creativity are being celebrated for 360 degrees.

We did it. It’s a wonderland in there (we’ve taken over a large alley just off Main and turned it into an art and performance amusement park). Everyone’s loving it. So many people are coming up and talking to us, excited, enjoying the show, wanting to get involved.

The artists and performers’ job was to create something magical. Inspiring. Our job behind the scenes was to care for them, and to connect the people who attended the festival to the concept of artlovemagic. Share our story a bit. That was a huge effort. We had a crew of about a dozen volunteers and producers who put the experience together. We all worked hard and had a thousand conversations.

artist Jason Kinney shows his AMAZING photo realistic drawings to the crowd

Kaitlin Epperson leads at our interactive art chalkboard. Audience members were encouraged to draw with her.

I had a lot of favorite moments tonight, many from the performance stage. I’m hiphop head, especially interested in a select group of local performers. Poindexter killed it today. His raw, crazy, political raps are hilarious and insightful and fun. Goat, JackRabbit, and Elle blended together in a performance centered on storytelling. And Playdough, collaborating with his DJ Sean P, and artlovemagic co-founder David Rodriguez finished the night with a beats/words/and paint jam that dropped the audiences’ jaw.

Jerod Davies takes the microphone to share an inspirational original poem.

David Rodriguez slings paint while Playdough slings lyrics. This was a really cool performance. David's tools included water pistols loaded with paint that he shot at the piece.

One more day. The festival runs from 11am – 7pm tomorrow.

After two days I’m about to fall over.

And tomorrow morning I go from behind the scenes to in front. I’m scheduled to do live art on the first shift of the day. Yeeeeeaaaaaah, I know what you’re thinking…

It’s insanity fueled by love.

g’night.

-ML

post and photos by Michael Lagocki

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Live from the Deep Ellum Arts Festival: Day 1

words and photos by Michael Lagocki

Wow. It’s working. I was so proud of our crew tonight. Set up at the Deep Ellum Arts Festival was challenging to say the least. Rain delayed EVERYONE’S start time and ability to move fast. Across the whole festival, once the morning got off track with the weather (rain), it was a challenge to get the complex setup moving cleanly. This is where flexibility comes in.

Artists were late, some equipment was missing and hard to round up, we had missed a key meeting where information was shared… all challenging stuff. But here’s the deal… our crew is great. Our volunteers were just on point, committed, dare I say… smart. We covered so much ground and did it all the right way. It was a lot to be on top of: 4 areas where artists can paint live  and show their artwork (on a chain link fence), a music stage with sound and lights and all that jazz I know nothing about, an interactive area where festival attendees can paint and draw along with us, and a massive info and merch booth where we’re set up to introduce people to the concept of artlovemagic.

Zachary Scott Pohl was one of many amazing local songwriters that were featured on our stage.

We also dressed the area with several banners and signs. This was a lot to set up. But we did it with a good attitude and we got it right.

Both the live artists and the stage opened about a bit late. That wasn’t really a problem though, as the crowd was delayed just like everyone else. Our artists benefited from getting the extra time to wait for a crowd to enjoy the performances. And those who were there early didn’t seem to mind. It was interesting to watch the artists get their tools out, and hang their work.

When we did get going, the performers on the stage and the live artists were great. I wont list them out right now or gush with individual praise. It’s past midnight and I’ve got to be back at the festival tomorrow.

Jason Ice was back with us and did a Mammoth piece that was connected to his gorgeous Art Park statue.

Interactive stations are a mainstay at ArtLoveMagic. All week we had our audiences creating alongside of us.

I will say I thought our interactive booth was amazing. Adults and children joined the live creation by making leaves and adding them to trees we had painted on 8×4 foot pieces of butcher paper. People loved it. The creativity! The leaves were gorgeous, some attendees sitting down for more than an hour to add to the images.

The trees were gorgeous! Thanks to all of you who added to this piece.

I’m blown away. It was fantastic. Two more days of this. Saturday is the longest. It will likely near a 14 hour day with set up and close. Easter Sunday follows, where we’ll go from 11am until 7pm and then have a whole new job of actually tearing our entire area down and taking EVERYTHING back to our homes and offices.

Yeah. Send us a few good luck wishes if you would.

Joe Townson blew us away with this large wheel carving.

But really, I think it’s going great already. I was so proud of what we put together. A true live area of the festival focusing on emerging Dallas artists, talented people who don’t always have access to this kind of exposure. Everyone we talked to seemed really enthused. The idea of artlovemagic is so attractive to so many people.

Jerod Davies paints, collages, hand sews apparell, raps, and recietes poetry. He did each of these today.

You understand our area is only one small part of this AMAZING and free festival that will rock Deep Ellum all weekend. You should definitely come out and enjoy it all. It’s bigger and better than I expected. Check out www.deepellumartsfestival.com to get in the know. Better yet, come tomorrow.

Look, I gotta go to sleep.

More tomorrow.

-ML

Deep Ellum Arts Fest Schedule is Up!

ArtLoveMagic & The Deep Ellum Arts Festival
The Deep Ellum Arts Fest draws tens of thousands of art and music lovers to Deep Ellum every year to enjoy a weekend long celebration of all things art. It’s a bombshell of a free festival right in the heart of Dallas’ most eclectic neighborhood. This year we’ve been asked to partner with them to create an area dedicated to live, local art.

We’re taking over a large parking lot, right in the center of the festival and filling it with live painters, collaborative art, and a singer songwriter stage that features some of the very best talent that we’re connected to. The festival runs April 2-4th. For us, it’s an opportunity to be involved with something that’s good for a neighborhood we love. Plus we get to introduce a slew of new people to artlovemagic, while giving our favorite artists, musicians, poets, and comedians a chance to perform in a great environment.

The entire performance schedule is now up on their site. This is the schedule for the whole festival, not just our area. If you scroll all the way to the right, you’ll see our lineup. http://www.meifestivals.com/dea10_stageschedule.html

You can also visit the festival’s main website here  www.deepellumartsfestival.com