ARTS NIGHT OUT

"Aquariums (Color Study)" by Troy's Work Table . Hilltop Artists Arts Night Out. Tuesday 05 August 2014.

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TWT and The Child were invited by Hilltop Artists to join them for their Arts Night Out event. So we showed up with chalk in hand and ready to draw. There were very few people chalking when we arrived halfway through the evening, other than mostly toddlers scribbling here and there. Once we started chalking, others readily joined in (we "broke the ice") and soon the sidewalk outside of Hilltop Artist's glassblowing hot shop was filled with the chalk drawings of children and adults.

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"Aquariums" grew out of "Clocktopus" from Frost Park, but TWT wanted to explore color combinations and see how the same charcoal-outline octopuses would look. In that sense, it was truly a color study. What TWT really discovered, though, was an interesting effect of blending the colors together. It was most effective with the black and white panels, giving the blended edges a blur.

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Arts Night Out was an interesting evening of art and community meeting one another at Jason Lee Middle School, which is the home of one of Hilltop Artist's hot shops. The event captured the flavor of the arts in Tacoma and Pierce County quite well, including the "grittiness" with which Tacoma prides itself.

A dinner of street tacos was provided by local restaurant Masa, and they didn't hold back. There were many options available for those gathered to make the tacos as they saw fit.

Glassblowing demonstrations were provided by the youth artists of Hilltop Artists.

T-shirts were available for $5, which also included access to various plastic templates and fabric paints and inks, in order that one could create their own art shirt.

Grit City Grindhouse was present with skateboards, helmets, and homemade ramps for kids (and brave adults) to try their hand at skating.

Members of the Stryker brigade from nearby Joint Base Lewis McChord were on hand to show off their military hardware and let people explore the Stryker armored personnel carrier that gives the brigade its name.

And, for those who needed a break from it all, there were hula hoops and soccer balls and Frisbees for people to play with on the Jason Lee football field and track.

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You can view more pictures of "Aquariums (Color Study)" and Arts Night Out HERE.