Downtown Block Party
WHEN: Saturday, September 16, 12-6pm
WHERE: on 2nd Street between Lead & Coal, Downtown Albuquerque
HOW MUCH: FREE
Art, music, food & fun for the whole family!
Everyone is invited to join the fun at the Downtown Block Party, an outdoor festival of arts and culture on Saturday, September 16, 12-5pm on 2nd Street between Lead and Coal Avenues in Downtown Albuquerque. Admission is free and families are encouraged to attend.
The Downtown Block Party is at this location for the second year. It became a tradition starting in 2012 established by 516 ARTS where it was held for several years on Central Avenue. The annual Downtown Block Party is unique in its particular emphasis on arts programming and collaboration among arts organizations. This year’s line-up includes programming from 516 ARTS, Axle Contemporary, The Orpheum Arts Space, Rock 101, The Sanitary Tortilla Factory and Warehouse 508.
Joseph Toledo of Jemez Pueblo, who is arranging Jemez Pueblo youth dancers to perform as part of 516 ARTS’ Cross Pollination activities at the block party, says, “Our local Jemez Day School dance group called the Little Eagle Drum Group will be performing the Butterfly Dance, which holds all pollination properties. In dance, song, and attire, the significance of the dance pollinates all living mother earth existence. Without pollination, nothing grows.”
Check out music by local musicians including the teen girl band Hiss with Rock 101 and Space Blanket with Warehouse 508. Shop local crafts and artisan products presented by Moonlight Market. And enjoy craft beer and cider, food trucks, and a variety of games including pool tables, badminton and pinball.
This year, The Sanitary Tortilla Factory and Sidetrack Brewing are the lead presenters of the Downtown Block Party, in partnership with 516 ARTS, Downtown Albuquerque MainStreet /Downtown Arts & Cultural District and the following businesses: Tractor Brewing Company, A Good Sign, HomeWise and Gertrude Zachary.
Sheri Crider, owner of The Sanitary Tortilla Factory and lead organizer of the event, says, “I really enjoy bringing people together, especially people who might not ever meet under different circumstances. The hope with this event is that the activities will bring people to downtown who might not normally venture this direction and allow them to interact and come together in new ways.”
Downtown Block Party Activities Include:
MUSIC & DANCE
Hiss, Kevin Herig with Rock 101 – 12:00pm Jemez Pueblo Little Eagle Drum Group – Butterfly Dance – presented by 516 ARTS – 2:00pmSpace Blanket with Warehouse 508- 4:00pm
VISUAL ART
Cross Pollination activities with 516 ARTS
Steve Barry: Wave, an exhibit inside the gallery at the Sanitary Tortilla Factory
Text & Image: Playing with Haiga, an exhibit in Axle Contemporary Mobile GalleryOpen Artists’ Studios inside the Sanitary Tortilla FactoryLive Painting with Warehouse 508
ARTS & CRAFTSArtisan Market curated by Moonlight Marketing
GAMES
Badminton • Jenga • Corn Hole • Pinball • Billiards
FOOD & DRINK
The Supper Truck • Sidetrack Brewing • Tractor Brewing
Belonging by A.I.R. Christine Wong Yap
Friday, July 7th, 6-9pm
Zine Release & Open-Studio-in-Closing
“The goal of Belonging is to reveal the pivotal experiences that shape one’s sense of belonging and connectedness to a place and country, and how it ultimately defines our authentic selves; and to say, We All Belong Here.”
The Sanitary Tortilla Factory residency program is generously supported by the Fulcrum Fund in partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the
Visual Arts and The FUNd at Albuquerque Community Foundation.
Botanical Mural by PASTEL FD (Francisco Díaz)
Botanical Mural Project Celebration
LOCATIONS:
4-5pm: Sanitary Tortilla Factory, 401 2nd St. SW
with City Councilor Isaac Benton
5-6pm: Tower Plaza Building, 510 2nd St. NW
with City Councilor Pat Davis
516 ARTS invited the community to join us for a special dedication celebrating the completion of the Botanical Mural Project, two new murals in downtown Albuquerque by renowned artist Francisco Díaz (a.k.a. Pastel) from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The dedication took place 4-6pm on Tuesday, March 21 (4-5pm at the Sanitary Tortilla Factory, 5-6pm and the Tower Plaza Building). Guests were able to meet the artist, mural apprentices, project organizers, building owners and supporters, and learn about the process.
Díaz, who is both an architect and a muralist, has created murals all over the world, most recently in Italy, Portugal, Poland, Australia, Mexico and Miami. Using his distinct visual language and decorative style, he fills immense wall surfaces with patterns based on the local ora of the region. His botanical references address history, geography, society and politics, while exploring the relationships between urban art, architecture and city life. Díaz describes his street art as “urban acupuncture,” saying, “Modern cities are full of ‘non-places’ because of irregular and not inclusive master-planning…. Working with symbolism of local flora, the pieces begin a dialogue about the nature of human beings and our surroundings.”
The Botanical Mural Project is part of Cross Pollination, an exhibition at 516 ARTS about bees and other pollinators and their role in the world’s food supply. In consultation with Cross Pollination exhibition curator Valerie Roybal, Díaz chose to work with images of the following local, native plants that pollinators love: Arbutus, Senna, Phyla, Clematis, Cercocarpus, Artemisia, Aloysia, Amorpha and Mahonia.
The Botanical Mural Project consists of two mural sites:
• Tower Building: 510 2nd St. NW The south and west facing walls at the corner of 2nd St. and MLK Blvd. across from the Convention Center will dramatically showcase the work of this international artist while enhancing an otherwise drab or ‘unnoticed’ city scape. (mural size: 6,650 square feet)
• Sanitary Tortilla Factory: 401 2nd St. SW The north facing wall of the building on Lead Ave. at the corner of 2nd St. marks the public gallery for the Sanitary Tortilla Factory, which also houses artists’ studios and a sculpture residency program. This building is an anchor for the revitalization of the block of 2nd St. between Lead and Coal that is transforming into a destination for creative businesses and artists. (mural size: 640 square feet)
Very special thanks to project supporters J.J. Mahoney & Associates, the 516 Arts, The City of Albuquerque Public Art Program, Sherwinn-Williams, and Benjamin Moore Paints / Coronado Paint and Decorating.
Deep Waters, Thin Places by Erin Fussell
March 3-31, 2017
Opening: First Friday, March 3, 6-9 pm
Artist Talk: Thursday, March 23, 6-7 pm
In this immersive installation of video, performance, sound, lithography, and sculpture, Erin Fussell transforms an urban desert flood control dam into a creative site.
Re: Iterations
Karl Hofmann, 2016, Comes Around, Goes Around
New works by Jazmyn Crosby, Karl Hofmann & Mitchell Marti
An exhibition of works with a focus on the qualities of repetition and variation.
On view October 7 – November 18
Opening Reception October 7, 6 – 9pm
About the Artists
Jazmyn Crosby is an artist and curator living and working in New Mexico. Her interests include flies, windows, walking, place and perceived boundaries between urban and natural landscapes. She holds a BFA from the University of New Mexico and has also studied at the Glasgow School of Art, Scotland, and the Academy of Architecture & Art, Prague, Czech Republic.
Karl Hofmann is a painter and installation artist whose work combines aspects of Pop, Dada and Expressionism in effort to portray the sublime, epic and phenomenal. Hofmann holds a BFA from the University of Michigan and an MFA from the University of New Mexico. His work has been the recipient of numerous awards and has been exhibited internationally.
Mitchell Marti is an artist, printmaker, publisher and film editor who lives and works in New Mexico publishing under his imprint Interbang Press. Marti holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Art & Design, and an MFA from the University of New Mexico.