After a successful First Friday event at the beginning of April, Barrett, the Honors College opened their exhibit for a second time on Third Friday at the 909 Cooperative galley with more artwork by ASU honor students.
For the first time ever, Barrett students from the West, Tempe and Downtown campuses were able to show their personal artwork at the 909 Cooperative gallery on Fifth Street during First Friday celebrations. As well as featuring student art, the show had several interactive stations in the gallery’s backyard.
People taking part in the monthly art walk were able to take part in a “Dream It” station, where they could write down their dreams on pieces of cloud-shaped paper and hang it on a bunk bed. They had the opportunity to learn how to write haiku and hang their poems on a bonsai tree made from recycled materials. There was also a photo booth station with props such as giant glasses and feather boas.
According to Kalani Pickhart, the program coordinator for Barrett in Tempe, the exhibit had a large West Campus presence on First Friday, with visits by Associate Dean Eric Ramsey and other West Campus faculty members.
Pickhart and Sean Nonnenmacher, the program support specialist for Barrett at the Downtown Phoenix campus, began planning for this exhibit about five months ago. They reached out to students for submission online, through fliers they posted around the campuses and by word of mouth.
“This whole thing actually came out of a student’s idea, so Sean and I were more than happy to assist them in getting started. We really wanted to get Barrett inside the arts community,” Pickhart said.
Pickhart and Nonnenmacher hope to get a larger mix of students involved with the gallery and also to start integrating all four campuses into the downtown arts scene.
“I think what we really like is just that this is such a huge, successful, really well-done event that people like to go to, and it’s kind of a downtown Phoenix tradition, so it makes sense that in some way ASU would be a part of it,” Nonnenmacher said.
However, after an overwhelming turnout for the gallery on First Friday — with at least 500 people stopping in, according to Nonnenmacher — they understand that Third Fridays are much different in the downtown community.
“This is sort of a trial run, with First Fridays and Third Fridays, because we’ve heard that Third Friday is a bit of a quieter night for the arts community, so we’ll see,” Nonnenmacher said.
Nick Gelinas, a junior at the West Campus and frequent First Friday visitor, stopped by the exhibit on Third Friday and said that he appreciated the inclusion of students in the downtown arts community.
“I didn’t start coming down here until this semester, so it’s been great coming down here recently,” he said. “It’s really cool to see people and students into this stuff.”
With more than 10 pieces of art from various Barrett students displayed in the 909 Cooperative, Gelinas has chosen his favorite work.
“I came here on First Friday and I would still have to say my favorite are the abstract pieces from Sam Johnson,” Gelinas said. “I’ve been interested in abstract expressionism for quite some time, and these really stick out to me just because they are abstractions and have very distinct patterns.”
While Third Friday proved to be a slower night for the Barrett art exhibit at 909 Cooperative, Pickhart and Nonnenmacher’s hope for the future is to be able to continue showing students’ artwork to the downtown community.
“They came out in force for the First Friday. This Friday is a bit quieter, but the other Friday we had about 20 students volunteering to help set up,” Nonnenmacher said. “Barrett is in a really good position because they have so many talented student artists that are able to get involved in the future.”
Contact the reporter at Brittany.Schmus@asu.edu
