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'Blue Night' Highlights Nelson's Brightest Creatives

Eva Brownstein
By Eva Brownstein
May 25th, 2015

Nelson’s downtown core was a bustling, hustling place this weekend as Blue Night, a multi artist exhibition, took over Baker Street with a culture crawl featuring 17 local venues and over 120 artists and musicians over two days.

“Blue Night is about creating more opportunities for artists,” said Blue Night organizer Brian Kalbfleisch, describing the evening as a “sporadic art event” that has been growing with seven Blue Nights over the past two years.

 “We want our artists to feel supported and a big piece of that is creating a space where they can showcase and sell their art.”

During the past weekend’s Blue Night Kalbfleisch expanded the event to include dance shows led by Slava Doval, Gemma Luna and others, and a special youth art show case, curated by local youth Reyna Brown.

“Pulling off this youth art show was really empowering for me,” said Reyna Brown, 17. “The youth show gave young artists the experience of being paid for their work and having their talent acknowledged.”

Alongside young emerging artists, established talent had the opportunity to collaborate at The Peanut Gallery’s ever evolving exhibit “Metamorphosis”, a multi-artist mural featuring the work of Amber & Sergio Santos, Alex Avelino, Coleman Webb, and many others.

Friday (May 22) marked the culmination of weeks of collaborative artwork at the Peanut Gallery, with artists from around the area dropping by to add their vision to the ever-growing mural that covers the inner and outer walls.

“More and more people started getting involved,” said artist Coleman Webb. “I’m not even sure I even met everyone who’s worked on it.”

The Peanut Gallery acts as a metaphor for the vibrant arts community of Nelson, with artists pouring out of the woodwork to highlight their work.

With events such as Blue Night offering opportunities for locals to showcase their creative side, the width, breadth and talent of Nelson’s art scene becomes apparent.

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