Les Artes Eclectic looks to inspire untapped talent

Local artists are playing telephone operator, connecting with each other all over town.

Sarah Nall and the man called Stone co-created Les Artes Eclectic after the wave of art performance shows crashed last year, in part because these shows were hosted by galleries and relied on art sales to keep afloat.

“There were these … art galleries that would be doing the art gallery thing moving into art performance shows,” Stone said.

“We’re not running an art gallery. That’s not our thing. We come up with ideas, the roster, and people to try and put together a show.”

Les Artes Eclectic performs monthly. The next show, “Soul Shake Down Party,” will be at its new location, the Freed and Co. building. Each show is a patchwork of local talent that is
loosely bound by the term “art,” including but not limited to body painting, poetry, dance, body movement performance, visual performance, a coloring contest, video installations and music.

Corina Sugarman, collaborator from gallery and boutique The Talking Fountain, said the collective’s anything-goes attitude lends itself to the idea that anyone can be an artist.

“We’re told we’re simply a consumer, and we forget that we’re a necessary piece in this greater puzzle,” she said. “If I can pop one person’s perception bubble of what they view as being an artist and show them they can do something artistic to express themselves, that’s what it’s about for me.”

On top of being a source of inspiration for untapped artistic vision, the showcase is a launch pad for practicing artists who haven’t yet sought out a venue, Nall said. To this end, Nall and Stone go out of their way to find artists and facilitate their exposure to the larger community.

“(The are) people who wouldn’t even think of having their own show, but they like the idea of getting their stuff out there, so maybe the show makes them more confident,” she said. “We’re showing both sides: established artists, but also just beginning ones; having everyone together, not really having professional standards.”

Offering a “smattering” of everything creates a sense of inclusion that most galleries are missing when they impose genre boundaries on their shows to capture a slice of the art community, Sugarman said.

And most expenses come from out of their pockets — the $5 entry fee just covers their rent, because this is not a money-making enterprise, Stone said. However, he said their success is measured in something beyond the material world, and he envisions it becoming a permanent community fixture.

“I want it to become something … so successful, so huge that people are looking forward to it all the time,” Stone said. “Not only that, but sooner or later I would like to incorporate other art galleries and it could be like a little collective of artists and art galleries every month.”