Hot Art in the City
East Dallas Gallery Day turns up the heat on the typical art walk
Summertime, and the living is sluggish. The AC stays on, the cooler stays full and the Dallas social whirl slows way, way down. To combat the Texas thermostat’s effect on the art world, Public Trust owner Brian Gibb created a cool-as-hell free event designed to please art aficionados and newbies in equal measure.
On Saturday, June 1, noon to 8 pm, more than 2,000 people are expected to turn up for the second annual East Dallas Gallery Day. The concept for this all-inclusive day came from the natural lull between art and commerce that happens this time of year.
“I wanted to do something a little bit more fun and more democratic,” says the Public Trust’s Brian Gibb.
“Summer is the weakest time for galleries, and since I wanted to make it not suck, I came up with a non-sucking summer initiative,” Gibb says. “This event gets a lot of people out all at once and brings in new people for everybody’s space.
“Last year was crazy, and I think part of the draw is we gave away gift bags at each gallery. When I got to my space, I had a line of people waiting for me to get there.”
This year’s goodie bags (25 at each art gallery) include the official EDGD tee designed by Gibb, among other treats; Ben E. Keith is providing craft beverages for the event. Participating spaces — Barry Whistler, CentralTrak, Kirk Hopper Fine Art, Liliana Bloch, Oliver Francis, Public Trust, Reading Room, RGB Gallery, W.A.A.S. Gallery and 500X — also offer a little something extra for visitors.
“Barry [Whistler] has this Color Condition installation on the front [of his space], and our show is Billy Zinser, a Dallas-based artist who is showing affordable paintings inspired by his hand-painted resin sculptures,” Gibb says. “I wanted to do something a little bit more fun and more democratic.”
Those who can’t manage to drag themselves out this weekend can mark July 20 on their calendar for the second annual Design District Gallery Day, featuring more amazing work from art galleries such as Circuit 12, Cohn Drennan, Conduit, Craighead Green, Cris Worley Fine Arts, Dallas Contemporary, Galleri Urbane, Holly Johnson, PNDB, RE, Red Arrow, RO2 and Samuel Lynne.