AJ Blanton is one of the owner of ABees Creations. ABees Creations is the producer for the Living Art Exhibit during Art Walk event coming up this Friday night in Springfield, MO. Here is an interview the awesome AJ Blanton.
GK (Geeky KOOL): AJ, thank you for the interview. Tell our readers about the Living Art Exhibit during ArtWalk event coming up this Friday night.
AJ: Thanks for this opportunity to let people know about this event. A few months ago I had an idea that I would like to create a living art exhibit where artists painted human canvases. I had a specific artistic style that I wanted artists to paint in but wanted each artist to showcase what that style meant to them.
It actually started off rather small but as I put feelers out for models/human canvases and other local artists to be involved it grew. I am happy to announce that we will have 9-10 models and 8-9 local artists.
We are lucky to have grown a relationship with a downtown Springfield business, Distorted Utopia. They are hosting our event. Minda and Amanda the owners of Distorted Utopia have a love and support for local artists. We determined that ArtWalk would be a great time to have have our living art exhibit.
GK: What is the time frame and place for this KOOL event on Friday?
AJ: The public event will be 6pm-10pm on June 2 at Distorted Utopia in Springfield Missouri.
GK: Tell us about the models and how they were chosen to participate in this unique art event.
AJ: As with all my productions and events I begin with building my core team. For this event I had a Lead makeup artist, a Lead Photographer, Minda from Distorted Utopia, myself and 2 mentoring artists. After my team was created, I put out a casting call for models. The only specifications for this particular event was that the models had to be comfortable being barely clothed in the public.
We had over 65 models apply to be a part of the event. As a producer with limited funds I decided we could have 10 models and 10 artists. So we had to create a decision committee to narrow down our applicants. This process took us about 2 weeks. But we finally agreed on our models. We have a great array of female and male models. These models have a wide array of experience from this will be their first modeling experience to they have been modeling for several years.
On our event page, we have been doing artist and human canvas spotlights to showcase our amazing cast and crew.
Our models are:
Beth Ziegelbauer
Love Lee
Victor Baker
Matthew Mills
Deimian Costello
Connie Chung
Brandy Almy-Warner
Ashley Palazzo
Tristan SanjonaGK: Who are our different artists and tell us a little about them?
AJ: Our Lead MUAH artist is Madison Herondale. She will be painting 2 of our human canvases. She has been working as a makeup artist for years in theater and photo shoots. She is also a model. You can check out her at Madison Kennon- Model and Performer on Facebook.
Our Lead Photographer, Dakota Friend, will also be showcasing his artistic talents by painting a human canvas. You can see his photographic works at Friendly Fire Fotography on Facebook.
Jason Holloway is one of our talented artists. He is a local tattoo artist from Branson Missouri and owns his own tattoo studio. Technicolor Tattoo Studio.
Michaela Kershaw is another of our talented artists. Michaela has been an artist her entire life. She is a body piercer and tattoo apprentice. You can check her out on Instagram @mikesgarabageart
Tabatha Carter is one of our talented artist. She is from Joplin Missouri. She owns Cheeky Fun Joplin a face painting business that works small events in our 4 state area.
Hali Codling answered our call for artists. She was chosen because of her wonderful portfolio and the decision committee agreed she would be a good match with one of our models.
Ashley Coin is one of our talented artists. She is a makeup artist out of Springfield Missouri. She has worked shoots and runway shows.
Eric Clayton Vaughn is an artist from Springfield Missouri. He is known in the local community for his wonderful 3D art in chalk. His art can be found at Distorted Utopia as well.
Two of our models are also going to be painting assistants; Brandy and Connie.
I will be there to help paint or be an alternative artist just in case.
GK: Will attendees be able to watch the art as being created on the human canvas or will it be already finished for the event?
AJ: The art will be done prior to the public event. The human canvases will then be set up as human canvases/ living mannequins around the shop and in the windows.
GK: Will this event be age restricted since human bodies are the canvas or will it be family event?
AJ: As with all artistic events of this type it is up to the discretion of the parents. There will not be any age restrictions from the location or production. We have put tried to think of our audience while not restricting our artists and their visions. Male models will be wearing bike shorts and female models will be wearing pasties and boy shorts. So it would be considered an implied nudity rather than actual nudity.
GK: What is the motivation both for this event and for ABeesCreations to produce it?
AJ: Sometimes I have ideas in my mind that just need to be out in the world. I wanted to create something unusual and unique to showcase local artists. I always want to encourage and help the art community. I felt that creating an event that would help artists express their art form in an new way would be a benefit to our community.
I know that a lot of artists have ideas that they want out to the world but they can not find a means to do so. Whether that is financially or finding a location that will host such an exhibit. It was my hope that organizing and funding this event would allow artists to focus on their vision.
GK: I hear there will be a post Living Art Exhibit event party. Tell our readers about it.AJ: Once we announced our event the response from the community was overwhelming with support. One such supportive response came from a local model and musician, Kelsey Phelps Williams. She contacted me about cross promoting with another artistic event that was happening the same night. Kelsey and her partner TK Rousseau were having a Free concert for an 18+ audience. This concert will be at the Outland downtown Springfield that is starting around the time our event was wrapping up.
Abduction is a live music event that has an alien theme. They will have music by
TYTO
Kudzo
DJ James River
And
1990NinetySince my whole Living Art Exhibit was created to showcase as many local artists as possible it made sense to me to include musical artists as well. This is how the partnership promotion happened with this amazing post event. (See below poster)
GK: Tell our readers something KOOL about this event that they miss out on if they don’t attend.
AJ: I think the best part of this event is the gathering of so many artists and models. It is a unique experience that doesn’t happen too often in our area. They will get to see how each artist interrupted the artistic style given to them. As well as being immersed in a living art exhibit.
GK: Thank you, AJ, for your time and the fantastic interview.
AJ: Thank you I am so happy that you have given me this opportunity.
I found this to be a wonderful interview with the awesome AJ Blanton. She is always putting herself and her creativity out there. This event, the Living Art Exhibit, would not be possible without her vision to bring artists and models together for a very different type of art for the monthly Springfield Art Walk. A lot of artist and models will display their talents for you because of AJ’s vision.
If you enjoy art or just enjoy something completely different, come and check out this event. You can check out the Living Art Exhibit during Art Walk event page here and check out more information on the artists and models. It will be an event you should not miss if you are around Springfield, MO.
Stay Geeky My Friends!
Thank you again Larry for the interview. As always it is an honor to be asked to be interviewed by GeekyKool.