Quick Take:
The new one-night-only pop-up exhibition "Look Me in the Eye," which teams artist with unhoused people to create portraiture, highlights a rich First Friday tour.
It is both a paradox and a tragedy that people experiencing homelessness, many of whom cannot help but be visible in the public square, are also functionally invisible. Too often, unhoused people are seen as objects in public to be avoided or passed by. By its very title, a new one-night-only exhibit coming to the Museum of Art & History in downtown Santa Cruz for First Friday is making the obvious but easily forgotten point that people are people, regardless of their housing status, with personalities, viewpoints, hard-won lessons learned and rich interior lives.
“Look Me in the Eye” pairs up Santa Cruz County visual artists with local people who have experience with homelessness as subjects of portraiture. The program is a “pop-up” exhibit, in and out in a single day, in the atrium of the MAH, sponsored by the local nonprofit Housing Matters and curated by that organization’s artist-in-residence, the talented painter Abi Mustapha.
Mustapha is one of 14 artists who will display their portraits during the First Friday art tour from 5 to 9 p.m. Other artists include Aptos-based printmaker Melissa West, prominent mural art and arts activist Taylor Reinhold, Tannery painter Sarah Bianco, mixed-media artist Andrew Purchin and many more. The artists and their portrait subjects will be on hand during the show to discuss their experiences working together.
“It’s a cool group of artists,” said Mustapha, who recently closed her solo show at the Santa Cruz Art League. “And everyone does really unique work. We have some muralists. We have some pencil/graphite artists. We have charcoal and watercolor and prints. Some of the artists also have lived experience [with homelessness], so it’ll be great to mix in their conversations with these [portrait subjects] as well.”
The art show is free to attend, but the portraits will be on sale, to raise funds for support of Housing Matters (both the artists and their models were compensated with stipends for their contribution).
To have the larger public reconnect with the unhoused population through art is a terrific idea, and Mustapha, from her post as HM’s artist-in-residence, would love to see the idea grow and evolve.
“There are a lot of ways this could be done in the future,” she said. “It would be great if it were an annual thing. But it could also travel around to different galleries and art spaces. Or, my most ideal, it could be a collaboration with organizations in other towns or cities doing the same work as Housing Matters.”
She also said that a goal is to publish a book containing the art that “really captures the nuance of housing insecurity and homelessness.”
The purpose, of course, is to give people in insecure housing situations some agency and dignity in their lives through a humane approach to hearing their stories.
“It’s not just, ‘OK, here they are,’” said Mustapha of “Look Me in the Eye.” “It’s more like, hear them, see them, listen to them and know that they are us.”
“Look Me in the Eye” takes place Friday, May 3, from 5 to 9 p.m. at the MAH. It’s free.
Other First Friday highlights:
The monthly First Friday Santa Cruz art event continues to grow across the community and across the county, and those who founded First Friday and those who still manage it today will mark the 20th anniversary of the art tour in June. Stay tuned for anniversary-related parties and events.
In the meantime, May’s First Friday — May 3 — has much to attract wide audiences with appearances, receptions, art shows and other events that, taken together, form a pretty compelling picture of Santa Cruz County’s creative life. Local artists are also invited to submit artwork for an anniversary display of First Friday-themed art at the Radius Gallery (deadline is Sunday). Here are a few highlights for this month’s tour:
Carolyn Robinson Cassady: Check out the artwork of the late spouse of Beat Generation icon Neal Cassady, as presented by the couple’s daughter Jami Ratto, including paintings of Neal, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and others. Jami and her husband, Randy, will be on hand at Nicely, 103 Locust St., right around the corner from Pleasure Pizza on Pacific Avenue.
“Attack of the Killer Guitars”: The R. Blitzer Gallery in the former Wrigley Building on Santa Cruz’s far west edge presents a big bold show featuring electric guitars, many of them painted as art pieces by artist Eric Hoffman and musician Rick McKee. The exhibit at the Blitzer runs through May 24, but First Friday will feature live music from the String Beans.
“Seeing Through Stone”: UC Santa Cruz’s Westside-based Institute of the Arts and Sciences is part of the First Friday tour, with student-led walk-throughs of the institute’s latest exhibition, “Seeing Through Stone,” in which artists examine the world of prison and imagine the world without them.
“In the Wild Wood”: The always fascinating artists at Little Giant Collective present this show of sculpture, jewelry, and prints from artist Holly Bobisuthi themed on “the lively spirits of the redwood forest.” Intrigued? I sure am.
Fashion Teens: The M.K. Contemporary Art gallery, right there beside the MAH on Front Street, is always a lively meetup space for First Friday. This week, the spacious gallery welcomes wearable art from the young creatives at Fashion Teens Santa Cruz, and live music from WonderStill.
R.A.W.: That acronym stands for Recycled Art Works, and the Felix Kulpa Gallery in downtown Santa Cruz, tucked neatly behind Streetlight Records on Elm Street, features 14 artists showcasing their takes on a wide variety of subjects and ideas, using only recycled materials. The show runs through the end of June. But May’s First Friday reception will feature many of the artists.