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Friday, Mar 29th

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Heat Wave Strikes Downtown

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Despite temperatures below freezing, downtown Gallup warmed up Saturday night for the “Heat Wave” Arts Crawl event.

There was live music, hot food, coffee sampling, hula hooping, and enough art on display to occupy the eyes for the whole evening. ART123 featured an artist retrospective that included old and new works from local artists that gave a nice sense of history and progression.

Steve Marti, generally renowned as a potter, had a solid maple flute box that he made back in 1979 on display.

“This was really the first time I had the experience of a piece making itself,” he said as he thought fondly back to carving the box. It was interesting to hear this account of woodworking from a potter, but it often takes a look to the past to discover what really inspires an artist.

Linda Bowlby also had works on display at ART123, including books, paintings, and pillows.  Most of her extremely fluid and textural paintings are solely acrylic paint on canvas.

“I like the way it moves,” she said.

A single painting can take months to create due to the innumerable layers employed. A variety of strange and wonderful machines created by Fitz Sargent inhabited ART123 as well. The children’s favorite was the Extenda-Sign, which rose from around six feet in height to nearly touching the ceiling as a handle was pulled down.  As the sign went up, the smiles brightened.

Down the street at Makeshift Gallery, Scott Halliday played one of his electric cigar box guitars, doling out soulful, bluesy tunes to the delight of those browsing the local arts and crafts.  Behind Makeshift, Aaron Anderson demonstrated how he makes a silver bracelet from start to finish, and Silver Stallion Coffee and Bread opened its doors to the public, serving up hot espresso and fresh baked goods.

Aaron enjoys showing his jewelry-making process to the community and hopes to bring people together and inspire.

“You can’t put a price on that,” he said, referring to the bracelet he made and gave away that evening.

More music was to be enjoyed at Foundations of Freedom, where local artist Ryan Dennison created mellow tunes by looping segments of keyboard, drums, and vocals that he recorded throughout his songs.

The result was a constantly-progressing, almost-hypnotic journey. The dim lighting added to the music made Foundations of Freedom the most laid-back atmosphere of the night. For those wishing to get a little more active, hula hoops, limbo, and coconut bowling were available downtown as well.

Rose Eason, gallupARTS board member, presided over the tropical festivities which proved to be fun for all ages. With so much to do and only two hours of time, the Jan. 9 Arts Crawl was a great way to get moving and shake off the winter chill.

Though most of the art on display this month was accompanied by a price tag, the experience of a community coming together is what Arts Crawl is really about, and as Aaron Anderson so aptly said, you can’t put a price on that.

Mark your calendars for Feb. 13, when the next Arts Crawl sweeps through downtown.

Story and Photos

by Shepherd Waldenberger
Sun Correspondent