It’s local art fan’s favorite time of the month again: Oxford’s very own Yoknapatawpha Arts Council hosted its monthly art crawl Tuesday night as residents came together to experience the magnificent art their city has to offer.
For this month’s celebration, the double-decker bus took participants around town to five locations: the Powerhouse, Southside Gallery, the University Museum, Uptown Coffee and the Chancellor’s House. Featuring art forms ranging from quilting to Greek and Roman antiquities, this March art crawl encompassed a wide variety of work.
The art crawl’s central location, the Powerhouse, is located right off the Square. This month, the crawl displayed a large number of pieces created by local K-12 students. The art was a beautiful representation of the creativity of youth in Oxford schools. A crowd favorite piece was a large, colorful penguin that was drawn by a talented kindergartner named Perchelle Taylor.
Bars set up throughout the crawl provided participants with beverages, and the Powerhouse put out a food table so people walking through the display could snack as they worked their way through the exhibit.
Also at the Powerhouse was a live exhibit featuring Oxford’s Hinge Dance Company. The company gave a preview of its new and upcoming dances. A display of movement and emotion, the performance was both beautiful and intriguing. Sophomore Madelyn Birkelbach, and active member of the company said she thoroughly enjoyed her first experience with an Oxford art crawl Tuesday night.
“Everyone involved has been incredibly supportive and great to work with. But my favorite part of dancing in the art crawl is the fact that we get to interact with so many new people and reach a whole new audience,” Birkelbach said.
Another art crawl hot spot was the Southside Gallery on the Square. Here, the fabulous quilting of Anne Strand was showcased downstairs, and an excellent collection of student artwork was displayed upstairs.
Strand’s work, inspired by the quilts her grandmother used to make, consists of colorful multimedia pieces that represent the feminine spirit as it has existed over time. Many attendees found that this spot was among their favorites on the crawl.
Uptown Coffee was a great stop for a quick break between galleries. Though Uptown always has art on display, it was particularly nice to stop and take a moment to admire the pieces as part of the crawl.
Dietetics and nutrition major Wallis Cronin perfectly summed up this month’s crawl.
“The great thing about the monthly art crawl is that in such a small town, it’s a special thing to be able to get everyone together to appreciate what local artists are bringing to the table and working on,” Cronin said. “Overall, it’s just a comfortably enjoyable night that you get to spend with new and old friends, and it just doesn’t get much better than that.”
