Now that the sun’s rays are starting to kiss our skin again, the nights are getting warmer and El Paso’s Streetcar is officially on the move, El Pasoans bloomed into spring with supporting local artwork and vendors at the Last Thursdays El Paso art walk.
March kicked off the first Last Thursdays El Paso of the year and its expectations were met in more ways than one: there were more artists who were featured, new musicians on the streets and even live performances at some of the local galleries. El Pasoans were also able to cover more venues with the El Paso Streetcar.
Now El Pasoans will experience more galleries avoiding having to worry about parking. The streetcar in itself exudes culture and fits right in with event. The El Paso Streetcar is working with Last Thursdays and offers later hours of operation for future events.
The team at Last Thursdays mentioned that the art community has also been expanding to central El Paso, including venues The Living Room and Joe Vinny & Bronson’s Bohemian Café. Another gallery in central that the event has expanded to was the Xolo Gallery. The Xolo Gallery did not only exhibit video, photography, installation, paintings and metals, they used local vendors who also collaborated with a local performer.
Viejo Coffee is a local vendor who sells coffee from Roasted located in Marfa, TX and is better known for their exclusive pop-ups, and plant based plastic “café en bolsa.” This is not the first time co-founder José Arevalo has been involved with the event, he also helped create the “Before I Die…” art installation board at the former Dream Chasers Club Gallery. “The Last Thursday’s art walk really does something different for the city and gives the chance to empower local artists, especially because some have no other place to be seen other than social networks,” Arevalo said.
Arevalo posted up as a vendor at the Xolo Gallery and he took advantage of the artistic setting and incorporated dance into selling coffee. Viejo Coffee collaborated with ballet dancer Lauren Amanda Gonzalez and DJ Carlitos 2000 who spins mellow music on 12” vinyl records.
Xolo Gallery was not the only venue to do this; Zona Centro Mexican Eatery also had local vendors and artist outside of their venue, as local Latin acoustic music group Los Soneros de Valle Bajo serenaded the streets of Downtown El Paso.
Golden Goose Tattoo Studio also had live in motion artwork by Julio Pizana, aside from other vendors. Their neighbors B-17 Bombers Oyster Pub hosted the Barbed Wire Open Mic Series who welcome musicians, poets, comedians, writers and anyone else who would like to showcase their talent. The Last Thursdays El Paso event is all about integrating different art forms to celebrate all kinds of local growing talent, and plan to expand after the successful start to this year’s series.
More info here: facebook.com/LastThursdaysEP
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