The Train Ride to Art Art Art 10/12/12

This Friday was to be a busy evening. I had several events that I wanted to attend. Sometimes, just one is enough. However, this Friday seemed to be special, so I wanted to do as much as I could.

The Blue Room Cafe was my first stop, to attend the opening of Eugene Mitchell. I have seen Eugene at Paul Henry's Art Gallery, at the Thursday night JAM. When David Mueller (proprietor of Paul Henry's) posted Eugene's work for the announcement of the opening, I found I really liked it.

Eugene has the "voice" of NW Indiana in his art. The simple, colorful, joyful, family life he enjoys, and one I see in this region. Eugene's work appears to me as a celebration of life as he see's it. Here are some photos of the opening . . .

Eugene is on the right of the next photo.

And of course those around to admire his work . . .

I do encourage you to go see Eugene's work at the Blue Room Cafe.  It will be on exhibition through December.

Blue Room Cafe

5246 Hohman

Hammond, IN

Stay for a cup of coffee, sandwich, bowl of soup.  Take in the art, the cafe, and downtown Hammond.  As Eugene and I briefly talked about, NW Indiana is the place to be for artists.


All Aboard!!!  Next stop, the Whiting Art Walk, Whiting IN.  This art walk took place on 119th street, with retailers between Studio 659 and the CornerStone Art Center, displaying art in their store windows.  It was nice to see the art, people on the street stopping to see the art, and the proud artists who had their work on exhibit.  A met people for the very first time, and found myself glued to the CornerStone Art Center, where Leon Sarantos had his exhibit.  People were milling around, eating, drinking, looking at the art.  Brother John Sarantos was present playing his Native American flute.  John and I have become friends over the last few months.  John had been on his journey, playing for all of us across the United States.  So I was very happy to see him this evening.  Here are some photos of the event at CornerStone.

All Aboard!!! Next Stop, to see Diana Leviton Gondek's exhibit, at the Noyes Studio, Chicago Pilsen neighborhood. I met Diana at the Zhou B Art Center, Chicago Bridgeport neighborhood. When I heard she had something on exhibit in Pilsen, I wanted to go see.

This was a fund raising event to help develop an artists residency program. Diana was proud to sell her work at this event. I was proud to be there, to see her work, and to photography it.

Like more and more of the upcoming artist locations in Chicago, this one is in an old warehouse. As I walked through several floors, there were studios tucked away in corners, each of different art, of different voice. As I made the climb, the world around me began to make some sense. Art is everywhere. It is right next to you. All you have to do is turn around and look.

This next photo is of a piece of art that caught my attention.

These next few photos are of Diana's art.  I chose to study it through the technology of my camera, changing settings, to see with a different perspective.

In the end, though my photos show something different, I can only go back to the beginning, the original, to be pleased.

Here are some more photos of the gallery.

You can see more of Diana's work at:  www.dianalevitongondek.com

All Aboard!!!! Next stop, Musicville. Or should I write, The Abby?

Lou Shields was playing at The Abby. My last stop for the evening. I enjoy Lou's music, the energy and fellow musicians that he brings to the venues. This evening, we started off with Tony French, joined by His good friend, Eric McCabe on harp.

And of course, Lou could not sit still, so he asked Lady Stephanie to dance . . .  and dance . . . and dance . . .

Next up was Lou . . .

You can catch more of Lou on facebook.  

Next up, Woodrow Hart and The Haymaker.

It was a busy evening.  A few miles to go.  It all fell into place nicely, to be able to see all my friends and all the art.

Click on this line and read my copyright.

Downtown Hammond Art Tour 5/29/12

NOTE: The 2nd Annual Hammond Art Tour is Saturday, June 8th, 2013. For a link to the attractions, click here.

Today (Saturday the 19th) downtown Hammond had an art tour.  Not just any old art tour.  This was a Self tour to eight, count them 8, different locations around downtown.  Each different, each very interesting, and each very gracious hosts.

First on my list was Side Car.  Here are a couple photos . . .

Then to the Hammond Public Library where I met, for the first time, Peter Anton who had his paintings on show for us . . .

Having never been to the Hammond Public Library before, I was very impressed.  I had to take this photo from the second floor.

And a photo of Peter, who was very enjoyable to talk to . . .

Next stop was Substation No. 9. I had heard about it, never knew where it was, what it was, and low and behold, it was in my back yard sort of speaking. It is adjacent to the parking lot for Paul Henry's and the Towle Theater. At Substation No. 9 Dawn Arnold Diamantopoulos had her work on display.

I had a huge deja vu there. Moving to one corner, reading the print as I went along, the two in the corner gave me a flash back of doing this once before.  The image and feeling was so clear.  This next photo was not that corner, but another.

And a shot of outside the building, because I think this place is soooo cool . . . (would like my stuff on display there some time).

A short walk across the parking lot to Paul Henry's Art Gallery.  I have taken A Lot of photos there before, so I encourage you to check out the column on the right to find them.  Below is a picture of David Mueller, owner of the gallery (with coffee cup in hand).

Next stop, the Towle Theater, where I believe the most talented artist I know had her photography on display.  If there is anyone to keep an eye on, to enjoy seeing talent, it is Haley . . .

Then off to the Blue Room Cafe where John Brudek had a showing of his photography too . . .

Well, okay, at least his daughters were there, and hiding from the camera (at least I do not think it was me).

Now off to the Hammond Arts Center, and as I leave the Blue Room Cafe, a photo outside . . .

The Hammond Art Center is a pretty cool place too.  Wiley E. Dummich had his art on display there, and they had live music, which was very good.  The inside was wonderfully simple, pleasing to the eye, a second home.  I will need to come back here again.  Perhaps a showing of my own???????

And lastly, the Merge Building, which had a lot of art, however I chose to limit the photography.

If you missed out, plan on next year!

Click on this line to read my copyright.