First Thursday Downtown Boise

Like many cities, Boise has an event that takes place once a month in it's downtown area that features  the artistic culture of the city. Many art galleries, restaurants, and businesses stay open past normal business hours to invite the public in for an evening of art, music, food & drink, and a chance to get to know the one another a little better. 

For Boise this event takes place the First Thursday of each month. From 5pm-9pm anywhere from the Boise Art Museum to The Linen District, from BODO to Freak Alley...the public is welcome to take part in Boise's downtown life, join in the art walk, and enter into the cultural conversation. 

Over the years I have frequented First Thursday (on my own, with groups of friends and fellow artists, and by being a featured artist somewhere). I've been able to meet lots of interesting people, view tons of incredible art, hear loads of really good music, and experience heaps of great memories.

Last night was First Thursday and once again I found myself meandering through the city streets, weaving in and out of galleries, and embracing those moments of connection with people. 

One stop was at The ArtSource Gallery on Main.

The ArtSource is a co-op of local artists and its always been a place to check out some great paintings, photography, pottery, jewelry, and any other kind of medium it's members shine through.

 Debi Bonsack has some of her acrylic paintings on display at ArtSource. While I was looking at them, a man joined me in the viewing. Seconds later he couldn't help but respond out loud to me about how much he loved her use of the small box canvas, allowing the subject to pop out and take center stage. I thought that was a wonderful observation on his part and a great compliment to the artist. 

Later I went into the Alaska Building on Main and found a treasure. Artist Chi E Shenam Westin was showing his oil paintings. I met Chi last summer when I was doing the Meridian Arts Festival at Storey Park along with last fall at Art in the Bar at The Knitting Factory (my performance art company Marten Evergreen was performing at both, and I was sharing an art booth with Lukas Evergreen). Chi has a variety of styles that he paints. Some of my favorites are his colorful landscapes that he paints on metal. 

Boise has a program called AIR (Artists In Residence) giving artists studio/gallery space downtown for 3 months where they can work and create. I also know other cities that have this kind of program. It's a wonderful way to help artists truly become a part of the city culture. A treat for me...friends of mine, artists Lisa Cheney and Lauren Kistner have been sharing a studio space with AIR so it made for way to connect with both of them at the same time. Lisa an amazing artist who creates mixed media paintings and teaches visual journaling. Lauren is an incredible abstract artist who utilizes line, color, and texture in her mixed media paintings. 

There is so much going on during First Thursdays in Boise, you never know who you'll meet, what you'll see, and where the fun will be.  

Click here to keep updated: FIRST THURSDAY BOISE

Next month First Thursday May 1st you won't want to miss:

Modern Art 2014 at The Modern Hotel 

1314 W. Grove St., Boise

May 1, 5pm-10pm 

Art at the Modern is an annual cultural experience not to be missed! 

a visual journey (of the heart)

one of the things i find an absolute joy is when i get to connect with other creatives face to face in their own creative spaces. you can learn a lot about an artist when you take the time to get to know them right where they live (and an artist spends a lot of time in their creative space-regardless of if the artist is a painter, a sculptor, a writer, a film-maker, a musician, a cook, an actor, a dancer, a craftsman, a photographer, -and the list goes on. -and regardless of whether or not the artist is actually "producing" or "selling" any art). the goal is more than getting to experience the art that they make. it's even more than learning about the creative process they go through to make their art. the goal is to connect...to know...to feel...to listen...to understand. yes we can connect an artist's art and be completely inspired...but i find it more satisfying when i'm able to connect with the artist's heart. 

yesterday i had the wonderful experience of spending several hours connecting in conversation with an artist who spends a lot of her time in her studio allowing creativity to be the language of her heart. 

Lisa Cheney is a graphic design artist in Boise, Idaho who utilizes mixed media visual art techniques and life journaling to fuse a unique style and voice to the growing genre of visual journaling. she teaches workshops and classes and her work has been featured in several magazines. 

when Lisa journals she lets herself be real upon the pages. her world is full of joy and pain, color and darkness. the pages of her journals and the texture of her canvases are filled with color, words, emotion, and honesty. her work is both beautiful and raw. and i love it all! 

Lisa and i share a lot more in common than just our first name. we share a love for the story. we both have a drive to do the heart work (no matter how hard) throughout the journey, and we recognize the need for grace to let the story come forth (however it needs to). life has layers...and Lisa's art is full of layers. i learned from Lisa that when we allow ourselves to invite others into the layers, we invite the opportunity for more chapters to be written in our story.  

my time with Lisa was filled with homemade books and journals strewn about displaying colorful imagery and writing that tells her life story through art. our conversation flowed throughout the day like one of those curly straws where you can see the liquid moving down and around and through as you happily await it's arrival. and as i exited her studio i found myself longing for another sip. 

i think it's appropriate to say, that when it comes to inviting you in to the layers of her story, Lisa can explain things better than i can...check out her blog and learn more: a visual journey