Roosevelt Street was bustling with delicious food, rich music and tasteful art at yet another First Friday event on Dec 4.
For anyone that was not able to attend, here are the few of the booths you missed out on.
Been setting up at Roosevelt Row since around 2019, Krystal Perez found her love for painting from her first love, her husband.
After starting with sketching, she moved onto painting with acrylics on canvases with the support of her husband.
After convincing her husband to set up First Friday events with her for a few years, she was able to sell a lot of her art along with his, and her booth became a success.
“It was about encouraging each other to push ourselves for the art,” Perez said.
She also said that setting up at First Friday has helped her network, meet customers and make new friends.
A recent addition to the First Friday artists, Alexandra Wapstra has been selling crystals for a total of two years.
“I started collecting them a lot when I was younger, and I had a lot of them and one day I was like, maybe I should just do this,” Wapstra said.
She explained that she gets most of her crystals from the place they were mined, but none of the ones on display were her personal collection.
One of her favorite crystals is the Ocean Jasper, a long, shiny crystal which “allows one the ability to combine their will with their emotions, pushing one to achieve joy, happiness and emotional stability,” according to an article by the Crystal Council about the item.
Wapstra often uses the crystals to make decorations, bracelets and other items.
Recently making it her full-time job, Kristen Carletto has been a wood burning artist or piography for three years.
She gets wood from “wherever she can,” and cuts it down, and then uses a hot pen to make her art.
Her inspiration for her wood art is “always women, feminine form, everything feminine and funky,” she said.
She uses wood instead of paper becasue it was something that one “doesn’t see a lot of” around, and is different.
Her display mainly consisted of coaster-sized and smaller-sized round slices of wood with her wood art. She provides easels if people desire them, which help them stand straight.
To see artists like them and many more, visit First Friday on Roosevelt Row.
Contact the reporter nchatur3@asu.edu.
