South End Art Hop, 2006

Last Friday evening we went down to the annual South End Art Hop. It’s a pretty big event, so instead of trying to see everything, we went this year with the hopes of catching some of the outdoor sculpture, which is usually my favorite part anyway. Unfortunately, it was getting dark by the time we got down there, so I didn’t get as many pictures of the outdoor pieces as I would have liked. We did manage to poke our heads in to a few studios that caught our eye, including the Green Door Studio, and Alison Bechdel‘s “Paper Play” exhibit at the Pine Street Art Works. My favorite piece this year was probably the arch made out of shopping carts which was situated on the corner of Howard and Pine St. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get the name of the artist – does anyone know who it is? I got a few pictures of it, but it would be nice to know more about it.

On the advice of a friend, we stopped by a few places at the Pine Street Studios. One of these was a Blacksmith shop where a fellow there was overheard explaining how he built this massive, medieval peice of machinery that allows him to hold the peice he’s working on, as well as another tool, and operate the machine with his foot. The machine looks like a cross between a big hammer and a drill press, and apparently is used for, er, hammering the metal piece being worked.

Along with the wonderful variety of art and sculpture came the usual hordes of spectators, visitors and patrons. A number of people I spoke with commented on the fact that it seemed to be a “dry” year. That is, in years past there were apparently more offerings of refreshments at various stops and studios. So it sounds like this year, the only booze available at the art festival was in the beer garden, where the music was. Fair enough, I can see how someone might be concerned about liabilities or even bad press caused by overly enthusiastic art lovers. The odd thing was, they were apparently so stringent about checking ID’s, that they weren’t even letting people with toddlers in, as we ran into some friends who had just been denied access due to their underage 3 year old. I have a hard time believing that security would be conserned about toddlers sneaking booze. I understand that saturday is geared more towards kids and families than thursday and friday nights, but is the band at an art hop going to draw a raucus enough crowd that they wouldn’t want to let people with small children in?

All in all, it was a good showing. With all the crowds, I wonder how many people showed this year, or if there is any relatively accurate way to guess at attendance for an event like this.