Visitors were treated to art exhibits, live music, food and goods from local artists and vendors during the “Canoga Park ARTrageous Art Walk” in Canoga Park, Calif. on Thursday, July 20, 2012.
A conglomerate of individual galleries and vendors lined the storefronts on Owensmouth Avenue as live bands performed on stage.
Erin Stone, artistic director for 11:11 A Creative Collective and coordinator for the event, gauged public reaction to the four hour, open-air art walk as extremely positive.
“This is what it’s all about,” Stone said. “Look at all these people. Isn’t this great?”
Stone, a Pierce College student, co-founded 11:11 in early 2009 with the goal of giving San Fernando Valley artists space to show their work as well as interact with the public and other artists.
“We are working hard to bring more events like this one to different parts of the San Fernando Valley,” Stone said.
This cultural exchange is part of a growing effort to shift the valley into more of an artistic and culture center.
Leslie Louise Grandclaudon, a long-time exhibitor with the collective, enjoys using the space alongside other artists in these types of events.
“I’ve been showing here for a while now,” Grandclaudon said. “I absolutely love it.”
Others use it draw public attention to particular projects, as in the case of writer/director Miguel Ferrer.
Ferrer and his team of filmmakers are producing a film centered on one of Marvel’s most powerful villains: Apocalypse.
“We’ve already started shooting scenes in Egypt,” Ferrer said. “ And I’m here to promote what we’re doing.”
Ferrer handed out free wristbands and cards promoting the fan-based film project.
Oil painter Reese Hilburn used the gallery to sell prints she made from her own original paintings.
“ I have these prints here,” Hilburn said. “But the originals of a few are actually on display on that wall.”
Full size original oil paintings hung on the wall behind her, also for sale.
Andrew Ko, who works with mixed media, showcased his three-dimension triptych piece “Dead City Full Trip.”
Ko, already a published artist, was on hand to answer questions for potential buyers.
From comic book art to personalized poetry typed out on the spot, families stayed out late to enjoy what seemed more like a street celebration than an art walk.
Adults and children alike danced in the streets as an unknown artist played his own makeshift drum set in the middle of the blocked-off street throughout the evening.
The Canoga Park ARTrageous Art Walk will take place from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. the third Thursday of each month through September 2012.
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