Posts Tagged ‘First Friday’

Want a perfectly good excuse to check out the Arts District’s newest lounge while supporting a terrific cause? Then you’ll want to buy tickets now for the First Friday Las Vegas Summer Fundraiser being held this Thursday, June 23 from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at The Lady Silvia (900 S. Las Vegas Blvd. on first floor of SoHo Lofts).

For only $20 (in advance), you’ll get complimentary “signature” cocktails and hors d’oeuvres while bidding on great art and gift packages donated by local artists and businesses, with all proceeds benefiting Whirlygig, Inc., the nonprofit organization that puts on the monthly First Friday art walk and street festival.

Say what you will about First Friday — there’s ongoing debate about its growth from an art-oriented event to a giant street party — but there is no denying that month after month, no other single force draws SO MANY bodies into the Arts District at one time to enjoy live music, patronize businesses and get out of the suburbs. Whether or not actual art is selling in galleries on that night is irrelevant (but it is, at least out of my wallet!). The mere fact that tens of thousands of people flood the streets around Main Street and Charleston Boulevard for hours on end every First Friday has enabled more and more businesses to open, draw new fans and thrive in the days and evenings between events, and that is something that would not have happened if not for the success of First Friday.

But as someone who has known the hard-working (and oft-maligned) organizers of the event for a long time, I can say if you’ve even attended First Friday once, you’ve reaped the benefits of a lot of others’ sacrifices for the cost of almost nothing, and much like consuming all that public radio programming for “free,” this is the perfect opportunity to give back and say “thanks.” I’ll be there, likely bidding on more art I don’t have room for, so come down and have a cocktail with me. The drunker we get, the higher we’ll bid.

Zombies + Conan? Brilliant.

Last time I did a stint at First Friday, it was specifically to hawk comics, at the urging of my crazy followers on Twitter. This time, it’s because my friend Jennifer Henry — fashion icon, fine artist, drinker of refined spirits — is curating the outdoor exhibition spaces at the epicenter of the monthly art walk/block party, and sucker that I am, I couldn’t help but say “yes” when she asked me to apply for one of the free tent spaces.

OK, so that’s not the ONLY reason. There’s also the matter of the upcoming Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival, which could use a little promoting, as well as that little Tales from the Boneyard anthology, so it might be the case that I’m coincidentally going to have fliers promoting both of those intertwined projects. And, yes, I’ll also probably have some comics and prints to sell as well. But what artwork will I be outdoor exhibiting? Well … as you guys may or may not know, most of the illustration work I do is all-digital. That means there’s no “original” artwork per se. Everything is a digital copy. But I DO actually have original artwork from my last few comic book projects, including my Tales from the Boneyard contribution, and the third chapter of my “Omega” serial from Omega Comics Presents. So, since I’m doing promotion for the Comic Book Festival and related items, I figured I’d show the original Boneyard art, which will also be a little sneak preview of the original art show we’ll be doing in November at Blackbird Studios.

At the aforementioned Blackbird Studios (1551 S. Commerce St.), owner/curator Gina Quaranto is hosting a zombie-themed art show, 28DAYS2A Zombie Apocalypse, which is coincidentally opening the same night as my appearance on the main drag this Friday. And, um, not coincidentally, I’ll have a piece in that show, called “The Insult That Made a Zombie Out of Zac.” A tiny little version of it is somewhere on this page. Yes, it’s a riff on the classic Charles Atlas comic book ads, but I spent a lot of time on this one, much more than expected, and you can see the full, 11×17-inch result at Blackbird Studios all month … or this Friday night. Or both! I think it turned out really nifty.

So … between 6 and 10 p.m. on October 1, I’ll be either under a tent somewhere near Casino Center Boulevard and Colorado Avenue, or at Blackbird Studios on Commerce Street. Come on down and take in all the art, food, music, booze and nonsense. It’s the eighth anniversary of First Friday, which officially makes it the longest-running cultural event in Las Vegas by a million times over.*

*Approximately

We have found the way to the art ...

As I self-promoted in at least one or two places last week, my Friday evening was spent manning a table outside the Funk House at the corner of Casino Center Boulevard and Colorado Avenue, attempting to sell comics and pop art to the masses at First Friday. Despite having a location on the south side of the building (meaning I was facing away from all of the Casino Center action) and often being mistaken for part of the adjacent First Friday info table, it actually went somewhat better than expected. Though I didn’t sell as much art as I’d hoped (four prints and one set of postcards), I did a decent amount of comics – surely helped by the three-for-10-dollars deal I was offering on The Utopian.*

To be honest, I actually sold almost as much in four hours on a street in Downtown Las Vegas as I did in two full days at Emerald City Comicon in Seattle – and unlike the nearly $1000 trip to Seattle, the table at First Friday cost me nothing. Not sure what that portends, but there it is.

It helped that the weather was absolutely perfect – a rare day without wind – and the crowds were phat. I’m actually a little sad I missed cruising the art walk that night, but I did get a chance to preview most (but definitely not all) of the new shows that opened this week on Thursday night, including new works by Gina Quaranto and Peter Mengert at Place Gallery, and a mind-blowing exhibit by Philip Denker at Trifecta Gallery.

I may do the First Friday vendor thing again, though not until the fall. But stay tuned for upcoming First Friday appearances that may be more … wall-worthy.

*A number of people have inquired about obtaining the prints offered during First Friday, specifically “The Best at What He Does (Knitting Wolverine)” and “Giant Robot.” If you’re interested in either, just drop me an e-mail and we’ll work it out.

A few months ago, someone suggested on Twitter — or I did, not sure which — that I should get a table at Las Vegas’ monthly art walk, First Friday, from which to sell comics and stuff. So without really putting too much thought into it, I contacted the powers-that-be at Whirlygig (the non-profit that runs First Friday), and before I knew it, I was booked for May’s event. At the time, I told Cindy Funkhouser from Whirlygig that I’d be selling prints and sketches too … except at the time I had no prints or sketches.

I know, right?

Well … I kind of got my sh*t together. As most of you know, I work almost exclusively digitally when I do any illustration, so I don’t really have any original art, and I don’t have many sketches that aren’t 15 years old (something that really deserves a blog post unto its own). But I conjured up a few new-ish items for you kids to possibly enjoy. So if you find yourself at First Friday this week (that’s May 7, assuming you’re not waiting in line to see one of the first showings of Iron Man 2), look for me on the sidewalk outside the Funk House (corner of Casino Center and Colorado) with the following items:

This is actually one of the sketches I drew while manning a table at Emerald City Comicon in March. The original is just black Sharpie on paper. After I got back home, I got some good feedback on it, so I decided to digitally color it and make it into a print. So I’ll have 100 of these available, as well as the original piece if anyone wants it.

This piece — clever, ain’t it? — was made for my good friend Daniella, who is, of course, a knitting diva. I got a limit run of prints made — 10? — so if you want it, this is the time.

I’ll have 10 each of these postcards at First Friday. They’re from a series of celebrity/newsmaker digital art I debuted at my old Pop! Goes the Icon blog called “Newsicons.” I dunno, I think they’re kinda cool.

And of course, the whole reason I’m doing this in the first place: Comics. I’ll have copies of all three issues of The Utopian shown above (that last one DEBUTS this week … and I haven’t received the shipment yet, so I sure hope I’ll have it!), as well as the first issue of Omega Comics Presents, which features a new, nine-page story from yours truly. I’ll be doing bulk discounts if you want to get caught up on this stuff.

There you have it. I hope you’ll at least swing by between 6 and 10 on Friday to say “hi.” I’ll also take requests for sketches, though I can’t guarantee they’ll be any good.