The night was alive with the sound of culture at the annual ArtNight in Pasadena. Live music on every corner, a roto-scape film about police brutality by Lisa Mann and Yo-yo Lin played on the walls of City Hall, and a pink world of cherry blossoms made up a whimsical experience unique as the event itself each year it comes around.
The Armory Center for the Arts marched the streets in a deconstructed parade of wearable floats. There was white bubble people, a Queen of emotional baggage that held a train of debris and teapots, and a transcendent space horse who was sent here to help the people on Earth solve their problems with the universal conflict resolver.
“It kinda reveals where you’re at. You transcend your aggression and your conflicts are resolved, and then you start dancing,” said Greg Schenk, the artist of the transcendent Space Horse.
Students from Pasadena City College attended the event, including Norman Lambert, Vice President of Campus Activities, who was found at the India Jones Chow Truck.
“I’ve been going to Art Night for 3-4 years, every year if I can. I’m super into art, music, culture, and food trucks too,” said Lambert. “It’s cool that Pasadena has ArtNight available for everyone for free, Pasadena is such a rich arts community.”
With Taco Chaat in hand, we left Lambert and the India Jones Chow truck for a world of pink directed by Christy Zamani, Executive Director of the Light Bringer Project. Zamani wanted to create a place where people could not only view the paintings of the artists but play and enjoy the night as well.
“Our M.O. is to let people be free.” said Zamani.
The branches that created the delicate paper flower paths were collected from the recent storms in support of sustainable artistry. The organizers wore pink wigs and passed out cotton candy that mirrored the pink cherry blossoms throughout the exhibit. Past the pink trees, Zamani had a small sea of sand with wishes for world peace, cancer cures, and others for the future.
“The whole purpose is interactive art. They’re painting cherry blossoms. We thought it would be nice with Spring around the corner. So people can see professional art that people made but they can also play, too.” said Zamani.
Pasadena City College had a few food trucks itself to draw in crowds, though was just beyond the crowds to miss out on the surge of Old Town’s ArtNight events. In Gallery V-108 was the three person show by Lynn Aldrich, Miyoshi Barosh and Doug Harvey and solo show by Tim Hawkins.
“The experience of seeing the artwork and how people enjoy seeing the art, how it captures their emotions. I like it. It was a good experience for me.” said Jose Molina, a first year Criminal Justice student at PCC.
ArtNight held a piece of art for every walk of life to enjoy. The cinema world was represented through public viewings, the artists walked among us in their deconstructed parade and music took over the streets from Motown to Lineage. If you missed ArtNight 2017, mark your calendars for next year.
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