By DORIAN SERRA
The Deviate Beloit interactive art exhibit made its second appearance returning downtown at the Ironworks Campus Saturday of this past weekend. This “strictly 21+” event hosted over thirty artists from live performers to classical painters with a full blown fashion show as the culminating event. The fashion show included the works of Christine Adar, lasted over thirty minutes, and presented over fifty pieces worn by more than a dozen models. It was securely the most popular event of the night. The runway was originally built outside along with two food trucks and a bar, but had to be improvised inside as severe thunderstorms brought overwhelming rain. The food trucks closed early and the bar closed, leaving only the one within the warehouse.
Along with the bars, there were two music stages, one inside and one out. The outdoor stage faced the same fate as that of the outdoor bar. The musicians at each stage were scheduled to perform simultaneously throughout the night leaving some without their promised slots. In honor of giving everyone their due time, many performances were shortened so that everyone would have time to play a set. Other performing artists including a light dancer, fire spinner, and a team of aerialists were all able to move inside and continued to show off their talents.
There were 18 art booths arranged within the Ironworks Campus warehouse. Each booth represented a single artist and was populated with a large representative body of works. Every piece from every artist was available for purchase. Two of the more popular exhibits both involved metalworking, but in vastly different ways. Artist Mario Duante brought his grandiose solid metal sculptures, showing both backlit wall art and stand alone audiophile-inspired abstracts. Kimberly Walker showed off her electroformed copper jewelry which sustained a twenty person line for the duration of the two hours that I attended. Another fan favorite was provided by Eamonn James Talkington, an abstract painter. He brought with him a blank canvas: a feminine mannequin. It was surrounded from all sides with paint buckets and brushes for any participant to use. It was well covered by the night’s end.
Many artists worked through their own unique mediums. Jose Sente displayed his mosaics. He had wall art and mirrors as well as sculptures focused on the feminine form. Paleoelectronics is what C. Murphy calls his work. It is the expression of natural human biology through the medium of physical technology including wires and screws. His works certainly embodied a steampunk aesthetic. Resin artist Quincy Owens brought a light installation to go along with his works, and spanking paddles to liven the everyone’s spirits. Stone Vein Studios presented taxidermy art of butterflies, cicadas, and bats to name a small selection. Taylor Gorsuch represented the studio and explained her desire to show off the beauty of nature in her art, the colors and miracles of insects and small animals. Cody Steele is a resident tattoo artist who populated his booth with some personal drawings and paintings that he had created on the side. All the while he stayed busy by offering on site tattoos. Many event goers had signed up to be tattooed, and he worked through them, all throughout the night. Witte Artistry, owned and operated by Kim Witte, offered many prints and stickers of her covered head to toe in professional grade special effects makeup. Throughout the night she created the visage of a gremlin to replace her own face. The show hosted many painters with vastly different styles, my favorite of which was Alyssa Occhetti and her self described “strange” and “whimsical” designs.
Leave a Reply