Arts Colony Continues to Grow

January 2009 Pomona Art Walk.

It was a fast fly through the galleries in Central Colony this month.
We have some great photos by our resident shooters, Jill Carol and Lee Tintary, Susie and I got some good shots as well. Two new galleries opened their doors and two more businesses devoted their space's for gallery walls.

First place you get to when you cross under the "Arts Colony" neon arch is Joey's BBQ. Oscar has done a great job of transforming his bar and freeing up some wall space to hang art. The art was tattoo inspired along with some pop stencil paintings above the bar.

Selkouth, next door opened for the night showcasing a fresh batch of artists to the colony. They are mostly Orange County artists, which is great to get more people from outside to Pomona.
You can learn more about this new gallery on our press page for the Colony

Gallery 475 officially opened their doors with art from over 25 artists. They had live aerosol painting outside the gallery and a slew of artists working on their sketch books inside. This gallery is a great addition, giving the Colony another edge in the spectrum of its art. Gallery 475 is located on the West side of the colony on 2nd St.

The Globe also transformed their space to provide wall space for local artist and one time resident David Flores. True to the venue, his art has a street edge. Flores' stencil paintings are created from pop images and photo shoots he creates himself.

At the Downtown Center, there was a great exhibition of many large paintings. The work of Karen Kauffman, a Southern Ca. artist. Karen had a variety of colorful paintings with great range in stroke, color and texture.
Karen was kind enough to sign her exhibition catalog for local artist Manny LeGaspe, who was too shy to ask himself.

Also joining the artwalk was the Metro Pomona Farmers Market. Usually on Wednesday nights, it took up residence in Thomas Plaza and provided entertainment via live music to the art walkers. A welcome addition to the growing colony. See the market again on last Saturday when they will also have a car show.

The dA once again pulled out it's big guns (literally), and proved to be a destination point for the night. "The Gun Show" featured the work of countless artists, local and beyond, some from LA, including David Buckingham who created two giant guns out of painted metal sheets. All the art had some kind of gun, either in image or in sculpture form. One notable piece is the "Shot Gun" in which Armando Peralta resin formed those little tiny liquor bottles into the shape of a long rifle. Also include were a caravan of strollers and kids toys transformed into military vehicles and authentic looking guns by Dan Van Clap.

SCA is starting anew, they will be using a ground level space along with the current basement. Bob Pece along with Franz Keller, co-directors, kicked off the new season with "What the heck is that thing?". This is a group show of art that is mostly unrecognizable, no figures, no landscapes, just abstract forms. Franz projected one of his movies on the windows of the new space ustairs, as to tease us about things to come.

At our Gallery, Bunny Gunner, we had the work of four artists, Sumi, Cindy Rinne, Tomoko Suzuki, and Penn Weldon. Sumi and Cindy both created fabric pieces with stitching to create collage like pieces. Penn's paintings are landscape close-ups of vegetation on black background and Tomoko has paintings of various birds in flight with directional graphic arrows to signify wind direction.

Overall, a very busy night for the Colony as it continues to grow.
-Juan