Uff, I feel old. Art-A-Whirl is turning eleven this year. And I remember volunteering, way back when, for versions three and four. Margo Ashmore was in charge back in those days. My friend Sarah Whiting later took the reins. I get a little misty when I think back–back before AAW had rock concerts, and when the Xelias Aerial Arts shows were free.
But there’s still reason to get excited about Art-A-Whirl. Among those reasons: wandering through the giant (haunted?) Northrup King and California Buildings. I’m partial to NKB m’self. Mostly because of these folks: ceramicist Ernest Miller, who’s featured in our June issue (on stands Monday), is in room 375; on-and-off contributor/writer/drawer Adam Demers is in room 428; painter Karen Wilcox in room 429 (her work accompanies fiction in our June issue); and Studiopolis in room 423, where my friend/colleague Tim Gihring lives his double-life as a photographer. (That’s what they all get for befriending the nerdy girl on yearbook staff!)
Other cool stuff: The Demers-man and others will appear in the “Battle of the Brushes,” which features “celebrity” artists going head-to-head from two to four p.m. at Columbia Grounds. (Is Adam a celebrity?) Thirteenth Avenue is the usual place to be. Gallery 13 hosts its RiverStage folk and roots music festival Art-A-Whirl-style–in the parking lot! Watch the manicurites try shoving into The Modern and Peacock Lounge. And of course, all the usual hipsters and 80s scenesters will be shuffling in and out of 331. Happy Art-A-Whirl!
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