Hop to it…at Art Hop!

Art lovers unite!  The Temescal Spring Art Hop rolls into town this weekend, Friday, March 2nd on Telegraph Ave., 6-9 p.m. in Oakland’s Temescal District.  The event is the brainchild of Smokey’s Tangle owners, Emily Wick and Brian Brooks.  Danielle Fox, owner of Slate Contemporary in Temescal and director of Art Murmur is co-founder as well.

It started off as bi-annual event, but its popularity has grown.  Wick says they’re planning on having it every season in 2012. “The point of it is to have the community come together,” said Wick.

Situated in a haven of local artists, Art Hop will be showcased around the Temescal neighborhood in everything from galleries, studios, Jazz-clubs to ice cream parlors.  The couple says Art Hop is “different from Art Murmur.”

“Merchants like it because people want to come into [their] store,” said Wick.  There’s no pressure to buy art.  The experience showcases local artists’ work, but also brings attention to shop owners in hopes of creating business.

Both Brooks and Wick have been in Oakland for over 5 years, each a product of local art schools.  Brooks graduated from San Francisco Art Institute and Wick is a documentary film maker and archaeologist.  She also studied realist art at Atelier School of Classical Realism, under master artist, David Hardy.

In addition to co-founding Art Hop, the couple says Smokey’s Tangle doubles as an art studio and gallery.  The space hosts  Rachel Ericsen’s Mosswood Mercantile  the last weekend of the month.

Mosswood Mercantile is a “monthly pop-up,” meaning merchandise is available ‘in-store’ once a month, currently at the Smokey’s Tangle gallery. Pop-ups are art venues (crafts, recycled clothing, art, jewelry, you-name-it) that are featured in a gallery/studio or store-front monthly.  Think- local artists renting local shop-owners’ space to showcase their work.

Wick says they’ve also opened Smokey’s Tangle to children’s events and art showcases.

Smokey’s Tangle not only houses local artists, but it also is the home of Photo Booth the first Friday of the month.  Wick and Brooks create a make-shift photo-booth for customers and residents to interact with.  In Photo Booth, the people are the art as well as the back-drop.  Photos are posted online for free to participants or the can pay a small fee for print versions.

“We like to spread pure creativity.  We’re artists about the experience of the place,” says Brooks.

If your senses can handle it, stroll through Art Hop.  Grab a cone at Tara’s Ice Cream, that will be showcasing a local twelve-year old boy’s paintings or let jazz at Cosmo’s soothe your eardrums and your soul.  Grab a map at Smokey’s Tangle to guide your tour, but don’t forget to get it stamped.  Your name could be entered online for a chance to win a prize!

One things for sure, this isn’t Art Murmur….it’s Art Hop in North Oakland’s Temescal.