Preparations are going full steam ahead for this year's ART ALL NIGHT. This is one of the most fun and exciting venues I have ever experienced. There will be twenty four hours of art, music, demonstrations and food. What makes this so amazing is that it is free, anyone can participate, and it puts Trenton on the map.
I missed the first year which was held at Art Works. We live next door to the antique factory building that housed the activities the second year and we have showed every year since then.
Participants range from toddlers to one of my students who was a cheerful hundred and two years of age. The music runs from belly dancers to jazz. Demonstrations change every year and could be silver smithing, welding, pottery, etc.
I remember "happenings", "hippies", and Pop Art as a product of the 60's. I studied under Roy Lichtenstein and we trekked cross-town to see Andy Warhol, Alan Kaprow, Ray Bradshaw, and lots of other artists teaching in New Brunswick at the time.
I remember painting classes with Roy, perched on a stool, sharing stories with me about his Morgan car (my boyfriend was driving a Jensen at the time) and commenting on my painting. During one evaluation, he asked if he could keep one of my charcoal drawings because he wanted to keep it "for the day" when I became famous. He didn't do that with everyone...did I let him down?
Back in the seventies, visiting my sister-in-law in Chicago, we found ourselves at the Chicago Art Institute. There as an enormous exhibit of Lichtenstein. I was sharing some of his design theories, marketing philosophy and even some start up techniques before he landed on pop art. Suddenly we realized that we were the middle of a group of twenty or so people who thought I was a tour guide. That was so fun.
One or more of these artists bringing their work in to this show may even turn out to be the next Lichtenstein...or Warhol.
Trenton Rocks!
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