IMPERIAL VALLEY — Artists, filmmakers, writers, musicians and more met together for a melding of the minds as local art studio Unwind and Design Creative Studio, Imperial Valley Public Arts, and other collaborators brought together locals focused on creating and supporting art in Imperial County.
Unwind and Design Creative Studio – an all-arts studio established in El Centro since October 2021, also known as “The Den” by locals – hosted an Artist Meet & Greet event along with IV Public Arts, July 20, at the studio near downtown El Centro where the arts community of the Imperial Valley were invited to not only listen to presentations by local art studios and film helpers, but also invited to network amongst each other in hopes of future collaboration, organizers said.
Araceli Mangione, founder and director of IV Public Arts, also known as Imperial Valley Murals – the project behind the “Greeting from Brawley” main street mural – said the purpose of the Artist Meet & Greet 2022 event was to “make more apparent how large the art community is here in the Valley” and to promote artist networking and collaboration on future projects “in order to expand the arts like a family of artists, and expand the arts scene in the Valley in general.”
Mangione – a Brawley native who lives in San Diego and works teaching art at Calipatria State Prison and Imperial Valley College – said the idea behind IV Public Arts is to “support and empower urban artists by seeking out public spaces that can be available to them,” according to her website, ivpublicarts.org, connecting local cities with artists for city beautification through murals.
“A lot of artists are working on their own and trying to make it on their own … a lot of us feel alone in a sense,” she said. “Our struggle is as an individual but it really isn’t because we all have that same struggle: Wondering what’s the best way to get out artwork out there and how (wondering) how other people are doing it.”
“We’re all like-minded individuals,” Mangione said of those at the event. “We’re all into the arts and we all have this expressive attitude and creativity that some of us are just dying to get out there, but maybe some of us are afraid of how our art will be judged or we’re undermining our own art.”
“Tonight’s event was a joining of artists coming together with a single goal – to connect artists with artists – and that is what I base my studio on,” Kimberly Alfaro Massey, co-founder of Unwind and Design Art Studio, said.
“Our goal is to provide positive experiences with people in the way that they see art,” said Massey.
Mangione said the event’s presentations – Mangione and local muralist James Amadon for IV Public Arts, Charla Teeters-Stewart for Imperial Valley Alive Magazine and the Imperial County Film Commission, and Debi Smerdon of Brawley-based DS Arts Studio & Gallery, among others – showcased local artist success stories and presented resources for the artists gathered to become encouraged to continue pursuing their artistic passions and also take advantage of collaboration with local art studios and projects.
“In our field too many of us get taken advantage of for our creative practice (and) I think we should be seen more highly,” Mangione said.
“Let’s draw these artists out of their caves or whatever, and get more people socializing, walking down the streets, get more people stopping and looking at public art,” she said.
Unwind and Design’s main art room’s seats were filled to standing room, with approximately 35 locals gathering for the presentations, later networking together.
Mangione said the event’s ice-breaker helped artists, in a sense, to break out of their shells. Those gathered were encouraged to draw a mini self-portrait on an index card and write an interesting fact about themselves before trading cards with a stranger or two, which sparked networking.
At the same time, Unwind and Design hosted its weekly Open Mic Night in the adjacent room, where local musicians, comedians, poets and more were encouraged to share their art.
“I feel like people felt a little more brave and supported because they’re among their own people,” Mangione said. “They were willing to speak up a little more about what they need and what they’re looking for, not feeling embarrassed about it.”
“I see a lot of connections being made already … and that will just expand more, and more, and more,” Mangione said.
“This was a big step for several artists to come together, to allow artists to network with the connections that we have,” Massey said.
“I want this place to be inclusive to everybody who feels any form of intimidation towards art,” she said of her studio. “Art is not something that should be feared.”
“It’s a beautiful medium,” Massey said. “Art, in general, is a beautiful form of expression.”
For more information on Imperial Valley Public Arts and their public art projects, visit ivpublicarts.org online or contact Araceli Mangione by email at imperialvalleymurals@gmail.com.
For more information on various art class offerings, mariachi classes for children in local schools in this fall, or Open Mic Nights, contact Kimberly Alfaro Massey by email at Unwindanddesignstudio@gmail.com or by telephone at 760-498-6692. Unwind and Design Creative Arts Studio is located at 455 W. Main Street in El Centro.
DS Arts Studio & Gallery is located at 180C North Plaza Street in Brawley. For arts offerings in the north end, visit dsartsbrawley.com or contact the DS Arts Studio by phone at 760-554-2193.
