June 28, 2008: girlShow

Report by Cheryl Anderson Painting by Kathryn Petroff

It doesn't take a genius to figure out the amount of talent in Dallas right now, especially attending Art Love Magic's most recent event. ALM's Girl Show at Southside on Lamar was unique; a tribute, a highlight, and a spotlight on the specifically female talent in Dallas. Artists, musicians, and spoken word poets from the Metroplex made this one of the most successful Art Love Magic events. And there was little room to wonder why. The gallery featured the incredible works of oil painter and muralist Kathryn Petrof, painters Melody Hay, Sunny Raschke, Andi Collard, and the crafts of Cheryl Whitehouse. Maggie Smith rocked the mic with her passionate spoken word, and interactive art projects brought out the creator in everyone. Patrons could get their photos taken with the talented photographers Dee Hill and Sherry Smith, whose poetry through image captured many a tender moment throughout the night.

Every Art Love Magic event has an air of, well, magic around it, that both brings much needed attention to local artists, as well as to local causes. Girl Show had the unique opportunity to raise funds for Zion Gate recording studio, whose founder was recently killed in a brutal robbery, leaving his wife and two children under financial strain. Photography by Maryam Khosravipour supported the Third World Children's Fund, which sends money, medicine, and food to the world's most vulnerable kids. Proceeds from the event also went to helping Art Love Magic fund its non-profit status, with the goal of bringing more compelling artists to the forefront for years to come.

Throughout the night, the stage rotated with Dallas' best in local female musicians. Iris Leu once again blew the crowd away with her ethereal piano and vocals. The Watchers, a new band formed by singer Deborah Driscoll of Starfire Station and singer-songwriter, Delphi, rocked the stage with their political act. Newcomers to Art Love Magic's music scene included 15 year old Cherise Simon and 21 year old Jamie Reeves. These young women stunned us all with their incredible talent and beautiful songs.

Girl Show was a tribute to voices that don't often get heard, causes that need attention, and most of all, the importance and expanse of creativety in the Dallas area. Art knows no gender, and passion transcends labels at these events, but I must say it made me proud to have that second X chromosome and stand next to my sisters in song and art.

May 30, 2008: Art & Coffee

Report by Xai Homechan

It's another Friday night at Saxbys Coffee in Farmers Branch until a crowd of artists arrive and begin to rearrange the furniture. Tables are combined to make larger makeshift tables draped in black cloth, and more tables are carried in. ArtLoveMagic founder Michael Lagocki is seen improvising, pointing here-and-there as he's directing the placement of art booths. On the outside, a tough-looking bald man sets up a PA system and runs through mic-check. Saxbys storeowner Bill Priestly, also bald, brews a curious concoction of thick mud-like substance. In less than 30 minutes, Saxbys Coffee is transformed into a live art scene featuring some of Dallas' finest artists and musicians.

Spencer Garland - I'm a fan, by the way - kicks off the live music performances with his trademark folk drawl, his lyrics beyond his age. His eyes widen and roll when he blows into the harmonica as if possessed by the spirit of some musical prophet. A few sets in, the bald sound engineer returns to the stage, only this time, he's joined by two others. As it turns out, he also sings and plays guitar for his own band. It's Bobby Priestly (brother to Bill), and for the few songs he plays, we forget his tough demeanor and we're nodding heads to catchy choruses and beautiful harmonies.

There's painting and sculpting outside, and art fans fill the parking lot as two 9-year-olds hand out samples of acai-berry smoothies. Inside, spectators are invited to participate in painting with watercolors. There is only one color provided for them - brown. In fact, they're dipping their brushes into the thick mud-like substance prepared by Bill (we find out that it's actually ground coffee - crafty, huh?). ALM Art Director David Rodriguez mounts his paintings next to his daughter's kids' booth (it runs in the family). The kids were impressive - they made more artwork than any of the grownups in one sitting AND were able to sell their creations!

Coffee drinkers and art lovers were treated to an amazing night at Saxbys Coffee. Kudos to ArtLoveMagic (Justin Nygren, David Rodriguez, Michael Lagocki) and their roster of artists for putting on such a festive and positive event. The most important part of what they are doing is providing a sense of community in an increasingly disconnected world. If that isn't art, love, and magic, then I'm not sure what is.

April 25, 2008: Arrive

We used ustream.tv to broadcast our show live.

Report by Matthew Warlick - Photo by Vinh-Luan Luu

The smell of coffee and paint thinner in the air, ArtLoveMagic kicked off its aptly titled "ARRIVE" live art show last Friday night downtown at the Mokah Coffee Bar. It was a wonderful night of stimulating conversation and spontaneous creation, mixed with live music and some amazing open mic sets.

The night started slow but the crowd did not disappoint, interacting with the artists and musicians and taking part in their own interactive sculpture work. Spencer Garland rocked the open mic in both rooms, with Delphi, Nathan Underwood, and Devon backing him up. Iris Leu and Captain Ron performed a beautiful set, so good in fact I had to take a break to go catch it.

David Rodriquez did an amazing 8 foot tall painting on plywood, while Natalie Hutchings and Melody Hay collaborated on a massive 8 foot wide canvas in the main lounge. Meanwhile Jason Mehl blew me away with his technique of oxidizing lead-based paint, while I ended up doing 5 different pieces; 3 abstracts, a finger-painting and an alien-dreamtime-mushroom-Buddha-love pen & ink piece.

It was a great night and a great experience. The vibe flowed and it flowed well. The coffee was awesome and the mood was perfect, and the future only holds more of the same.
www.artlovemagic.com

April 5, 2008: Clean

Report by Michael Lagocki, David Rodriguez and Justin Nygren. Photos by Justin Nygren

Art by Ed Kinser

"Clean" remembers our friends who have passed, Clayton Champion and Ed Kinser, who wrestled with their identities and their demons. In addition Clean also tells the story of hope and new life through the artwork of Dee Hill, Feliz Landes, Jason Mehl, Conor Muldoon and Sherry Smith. These five artists created live at the gallery during the show.
www.artlovemagic.com

Good friends Richard and Vickie

Jason Mehl

January 19, 2008: Open Mic Night

Report by Michael Lagocki - Photos by Justin Nygren, Jordan Fein and Vinh-Luan Luu

Saturday night Jan 19th, the first of our 2008 monthly shows, was amazing. Dozens of poets and musicians came out and joined us to light up the evening. Will Richey, our host, was feeling it. We had three visual artists, painter David Rodriguez, photographer Jordan Fein, and potter Conor Muldoon. The mix of poetry and music and art was beautiful and the full house loved it. Join us for the second show on February 23rd when we'll be back at Life In Deep Ellum. To read more of this report, go to www.artlovemagic.com

November 24, 2007: Poor Vida Hip Hop Show

Report by Michael Lagocki - Photos by Justin Nygren and Vinh-Luan Luu
Graffiti by Vinh-Luan Luu

ArtLoveMagic was invited by Donny Benavidez to bring a handful of live artists out to support a hip hop show at The Green Elephant. In all, we brought 7 artists. Since we never worked with Poor Vida before, we really didn't know what to expect. The Show was crazy. Lots of loud hip hop.Best of all, their DJ was off the chain- fast- fast- fast! We scattered artists throughout the room and encouraged the crowd to go up and talk to them while we drew and painted. To read more of this report, go to www.artlovemagic.com

November 17, 2007: In Our Nature

Report by Michael Lagocki - photos by Justin Nygren and Andrew Tolentino

Each artist not only showed their work, but created live pieces of art as well as presenting demonstrations and Q&As. Andrew gave a live demo of his process and invited the audience to collaborate with him on a piece of art. Polaroid photos taken by the audience are incorporated into one of his pieces. To read more of this report, go to www.artlovemagic.com

November 16, 2007: Heroes 4 Heroes

Report by Michael Lagocki - Photos by Michael Lagocki and Trinity Gamer

ArtLoveMagic was asked to partner in this very cool event to raise money for a good cause. Heroes4Heroes supports US soldiers stationed overseas by sending them care packages filled willed the latest books, DVDs, comics, games, and magazines. Guest of Honor Marc Silvestri created a gorgeous illustration of his character The Darkness. I had a good conversation with Marc. He's pretty personable for a rock star.

Ultimately the night was a huge success with Heroes4Heroes blowing away their fundraising goal. This was a joy to be at and we're proud of our contribution. To read more of this report, go to www.artlovemagic.com

November 3, 2007: Comic Love 2

Report by Kathryn Petroff - Photos by Justin Nygren

Being a part of such an innovative force in the Dallas art scene has got to be one of the most exciting experiences an artist can have. I believe most creatives thrive on those rare moments when we get to witness true talent at its most raw and exposed form. That is exactly what ArtLoveMagic has created, and the most recent event at Titan Comics definitely did not disappoint. Artists from all over the metroplex came together to celebrate the wonderful Dallas Comic scene and showcase their talents, working live in every medium from pen and ink to clay. Comic book artists showed off their mad skills to live music in the store while the messy painters worked and mingled under spotlights outside. Almost everyone who came out stayed the entire evening and circled back to see the progress each artist had made as well as make their mark on a huge group piece that was set up in the shop. ArtLoveMagic events have quickly turned into something the Dallas scene looks forward to, and as repetitive as it may sound, the only word to describe what is occurring is “magic”.

It is not often that one gets to see artists doing what they love in such a positive, open, and diverse environment and have the chance to ask questions like, “How did your style evolve into this?” or even, “What are you drawing with…can I touch it?” The show at Titan, much like others, connected people who knew nothing about each other before that night and, once again, succeeded in stepping out of the box. This is not the cold, quiet gallery setting art is typically viewed in; it is all-around about the experience...for both art lovers and artists. To read more of this report, go to www.artlovemagic.com

September 7-8, 2007: Urban Arts Festival

Report by Michael Lagocki

Friday Night
ArtLoveMagic's 4th major show of the year was a crazy-fun-insane-blast. It had the most number of artists we'd ever shown, the most number of different artforms represented, and was our highest attended show yet. Freestyle poetry and music were in the air, and paint was being slapped onto canvases all over the place.New additions to our mix like live sculpture and ceramics added a different vibe and helped us maintain an important goal- every artlovemagic show is an absolutely unique work of art unto itself. No two shows have ever had the same lineup of artists or felt quite the same. We intend to keep it that way. There's always a surprise...just like...

...Hal Samples added something absolutely unexpected to the night. Just about a week before the show, Hal offered to come in a set-up a photography studio for free portraits for our guests. He brought a full studio setup, with a backdrop and umbrella lights and everything. One by one (or group by group) our attendees went up and had the most fun they've ever had in front of a camera. Hal was fire and having a good time. I don't think he ever stopped smiling the whole night. It absolutely shows through on the pictures. His joy immediately set people at ease and they just laughed and loved while he snapped picture after picture. You really should check out the photos here , and when you're done, look at Hal's blog here .

Saturday
The folks at the Urban Arts Festival asked us to come in and add a sense of live creativity and interaction to their wonderful outdoor festival. We responded by producing two live art stages that ran all day long, three symposium Q & A panels with local artists and art officials, teaching a drawing lesson, creating a coloring and activity book for the festival attendees and involving Will Richey and The DaVerse kids for a spoken word show.

It took me a bit to start up on Saturday. After performing in the gallery until midnight the night before, the 8am setup time was no fun. Fortunately, by the time I woke, the sweltering heat kicked in. Ah, but what does it matter when you're surrounded by art and artists.

Our live stages kicked ass. We ran a painter's stage and an experimental stage all day. The painters stage produced several gorgeous paintings on wood and canvas, while the experimental stage did everything else we could think of. Painting on shoes, live pottery, charcoal attached to 3ft bamboo sticks. What can we say? We we're feeling playful. I asked my friend, fellow comic book artists Josh Boulet, to draw a five foot tall comic book page live for our guests. He one-upped my suggestion and went for an 8ft tall masterpiece. To see it come to life and read more of this report, go to www.artlovemagic.com

July 21, 2007: Comic Love

Report by Michael Lagocki

Our COMIC LOVE event was created to highlight some of that talent and passion for comics. ArtLoveMagic gathered about a dozen local comic creators at Titan Comics, and put on a day and night event where we welcomed people to come out and experience our world for a bit. Comic creators shared and signed their work all day, and at night we rearranged the store, brought it a DJ, set up artists to paint and draw live, and celebrated the artform we love.

David was on another level with that painting of The Thing from the Fantastic Four. He and Samax were outside painting in the parking lot while DJ Ward spun tunes. Good stuff. Folks who came to this event really enjoyed themselves. Most everyone who showed stayed for hours and spent time talking to each artist and seeing everyone. Some folks even participated in a huge jam drawing that we did in the back of the store. That's what we try to do with our events. Don't just come and see, come and experience. Be part of it

This was artlovemagic's first event at a retail location, and both we and Titan were very happy with the results. I think you can expect this one to happen again. Next time you go into a comic shop, ask them to show you a few books that have been created here locally. You might be surprised.

Never too much love.

To read more of this report, go to www.artlovemagic.com

June 30, 2007: AWAKEN

Report by Justin Nygren

You see, I’ve heard it said that third projects have this “thing” about them. Sometimes artists choose to rest on their proverbial laurels based on the success of their first two projects. They bask in the fame. They enjoy the spotlight and the buzz around their name. So, they slack. They relax on their creativity. They take it for granted that people enjoy what they do. In short, they get proud. They begin to think the whole thing really is about them.

On the other hand, some third projects seem to do something unique. They cause the artist to reach outside of themselves for inspiration, to fuse pieces of the puzzles from deep within and bring forth something into creation that the world has never seen. They move past the buzz, past external expectations and into the realm of…AWAKEN.

When we set out to establish the Live Events of Art Love Magic, we intentionally integrated the value of giving new artists a place to begin their career as professional artists. It has been an honor to give the floor to multiple new artists in our shows. REACH saw Rebecca Brooks and Sarah Gilmore. FUSION saw Kevin Steele, (Chelsea) Blessings and The Elder Statesmen (featuring my wife, Kelly on the mic)… This show saw the likes of Amanda Davis, Dee Hill, and Dale Norvell bring their talents to a public audience for their first time and all of them did an incredible job. However, my greatest pride in AWAKEN was seeing Sherry Smith and her photography in the gallery. Sherry and I go back a long way and our journeys have definitely seen harder days. But thankfully, by some Great Grace, our paths have gotten a little cleaner and our lives are making enough sense that our art and our gifts are beginning to shine through. It was great to see a sister shine. Brightly.

I feel like Mike, Dave and I refused to rest on the laurels this time around. We stretched ourselves, put ourselves into new roles and I think we came up with a beautiful recipe that brought forth an awesome soufflé of artistic goodness. To read more of this report, go to www.artlovemagic.com

April 23, 2007: Fanboy TV Interviews Founder Michael Lagocki

February 24, 2007: Art Love Magic Happened!