Midtown’s first Second Saturday event of 2012 saw smaller crowds this weekend. The smaller crowds however made it easier to talk to artists who exhibited their work. A number of establishments also appeared to have closed down or moved from Midtown's J Street and surrounding area since last month.  This situation has created a new environment where several businesses are collaborating to bring events to a storefront during Second Saturday. This Saturday, Dragatomi, Metro PCS, tokidoki and Unseen Heroes teamed up for a Metro PCS and tokidoki Phone Release Party. Unseen Heroes Events Coordinator, Maritza Davis, described the event saying, “This is a tokidoki and Metro PCS release collabo

Please join Jinan, the Sister Cities Council of Sacramento, and the Chinese New Year Culture Association (CNYCA) for a Second Saturday of traditional Chinese music and art as well as new works by Zimei. The event will take place at the Courtyard, 1322 O Street from 5pm to 9pm on Saturday, January 14th, 2012. Enjoy live music from one of the most ancient Chinese musical instruments, a Guzheng, which is a Chinese plucked zither (think piano meets violin). Whether you come to view the traditional Chinese opera costumes, the dragon puppet, shop for Chinese souvenirs, or take home Chinese folk art, you are sure to see and hear some wonderful art at this event!

Editorial Note: This is an updated version of a story that was published earlier. On Nov. 10, the new Milk Gallery opened at 212 13th St. Amy Greer, co-owner of the 1,500-square-foot art gallery, said that the current collection of local art will provide visitors with an interesting blend of artistic styles. Melanie Bown, a 39-year-old restitution trainer for the state and artist, opened the gallery with Greer, a 37-year-old restaurant employee and artist. Both Bown and Greer have backgrounds in art. Bown has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Bradley University, with an emphasis in printmaking. She teaches kids’ art classes at the Crocker Art Museum and was also an art installer pri

November’s Second Saturday attendance appeared to have decreased this month. Two hot spots however thrived and attracted visitors to the monthly Second Saturday Art Walk. Art galleries and other establishments on 20th Street as well as businesses on K Street attracted large crowds. Downtown Sacramento’s K Street, in another effort to jump start the commercial area, opened for vehicle traffic on Saturday. A stage was set up on 12th and K Streets to accommodate an opening ceremony, a car parade, and other entertainment to celebrate the event. Classic cars paraded down K Street for the first time in over 42 years. Reminiscent of cruising down the boulevards of San Francisco or Los Angele

Surrounded by midtown's most famous venues including Club 21, Mezkal and Cam's Salon and Spa on 21st Street sits a new art gallery open to the public.  Alex Bult, an 18-year-old entrepreneur, opened this gallery for the first time on November 12, coinciding with midtown's Second Saturday event.  He is perhaps one of the youngest gallery owners that Sacramento has seen but is no foreigner to the world of art.  "I've been interested in art for about four years," Alex Bult says. " I've been around art my whole life and have wanted to open a gallery since I was 16." Although Alex Bult's father, Matt Bult, and his grandfather, Wayne Thiebaud, are both artists, this young gallery owner is no

Art does many things. It gives us a history of culture. It decorates our homes. It helps the homeless. This 2nd Saturday, Vox Sacramento art studio is giving back to the community, as well as providing a unique art show called “Home.” The studio is asking locals to bring camping equipment, blankets and coats to the exhibit. Items will be used by Safe Ground Sacramento, a homeless advocacy organization supported by a coalition of local non-profits trying to provide a safe, dry and warm solution for local residents without homes. SafeGround supports a self-governed, alcohol, drug and violence free homeless community alternative. The exhibit features several local artists, including: B. Sh

Summer has come and gone but crowds at Second Saturday still remain large. Second Saturday events have grown in popularity and other communities participate in Second and Third Saturday art events. During fall several cities stop their art walks. Folsom and El Dorado Hills had their last Second Saturday of the year in September and October respectively. Popularity of similar events in smaller towns continues to grow. Attendance and art displays expand in the smaller venues but none of these can compare to the popularity of Midtown’s event. This Saturday I attended a handful of galleries and events. Since there are so many places to view and experience art I made a list of places I was i

I became familiar with Muriel's art before I ever got a chance to meet Muriel herself.  Evie Turner organized another one of her wonderful "Bent Twig" art shows in September, and Vox Sacramento was hosting.  Muriel was one of the artists involved in this show. Muriel's pieces were on the smaller side, but were very, very vivid.  The bold colors and lines she used really made her work stand out.  Muriel's artist statement mentioned that Muriel took up art as art therapy when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer, but it didn't really take until she recieved the diagnosis of "terminal." I met Muriel on Second Saturday.  She was in a wheelchair and looked a little fragile, but she had

As you enter, to the left is the cornerstone collection of Crabshaw Corners and Oasis Ballroom artwork from Roger Shepherd, Jim Carrico, and Jim Ford. Rock enthusiasts may marvel over the nearly complete collection of psychedelia from the Sound Factory. And any native Sacramentan over a certain age will wax nostalgic at the wall of Tower calendar posters on display. Dennis Newhall, founder and curator of the Sacramento Rock and Radio Museum, has assembled and showcased a myriad of rock and radio memorabilia dating back to 1957. Newhall started listening to rock and roll when he was six years old and Hounddog was at the top of the charts. Every inch of his West Sacramento bedroom was cov

For those out and about this Second Saturday, St. John’s Lutheran Church on 17th and L will be sponsoring the “KidZone” from 5:00-7:00pm. The KidZone offers a safe haven for the younger members of the arts community and offers face-painting, balloons and a host of other family-friendly activities. The "Zone" is located in the parking lot on L between the Church Sanctuary and The Refuge.  

It’s almost time for the August ‘Second Saturday’, where midtown SacTown comes alive with artists, musicians, art galleries, and shops in the evening hours. “K” Street is ‘kickin’, “J” Street is “jumpin’, and the surrounding streets are pulsing with the rhythms of the night. But what about “E” Street over in Mansion Flats? Mansion Flats, the sister neighborhood to Alkali Flats, is located from 12th Street to 16th between “the Union Pacific Railyard & “J” streets. Mansion Flats, Alkali Flats and New Era Park were the original City Street Railway neighborhoods and consisted of the wealthy and middle class families, according to the Sacramento History blog. Have you been looking for some p

We've all heard it before, “I need to get out of Sacramento."   The above statement has been muttered out of the mouths of people born and raised here or forced here beyond their will as a child by the likes of their parents or family, just waiting for the day they turned 18 to flock to wherever the cool kids are. You have probably also heard the generic, "There is nothing to do here," or, " If I want a real career, I need to move to San Francisco or Los Angeles, where it's happening."   Maybe so, or maybe, these people haven't given our state capital a fair look at a microscopic level with a new pair of eyes.     You know what, no microscope needed, just open your eyes.   Sacramen

July’s Second Saturday was the place to be for music, art, socializing, fashion and a zombie walk. During summer more people take to the Streets of Midtown to enjoy Second Saturday events. Vendors and artists move their venues each month. Many artists move their work from one Art Walk exhibit to the next looking for places to hang their artwork for a month. Other artists have established studios or areas where they exhibit on a regular basis. Local musicians find a street corner to play and then have a show at night clubs as Second Saturday begins to wind down. Law enforcement presence is reassuring and helps to know they’re patrolling the area. This month I walked the streets waiting f

If you're a cyclist in the Sacramento Midtown area, you're aware of the shortage of bicycle racks  when it comes to locking up your ride  at a restaurant or favorite watering hole. If your destination is the 2700 block of J Street, you'll soon have a new place to secure your faithful metal steed. Gina Rossi, artist and Midtown resident also known as the "bike rack girl," has taken on a project to create a community bicycle station to house 12 bicycles and incorporate a few of the businesses within the 2700 Block on J street including Mosaic Hair Salon, Harlow's, Red Lotus, Bar West, j27 Gallery and Centro. The bicycle station is sculpture comprised of six different statues. Each statue wi

Did you know Sacramento's very own Trash Film Orgy (TFO) is credited with being home to the first organized Zombie Walk? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_walk#History The summer season is trigger for these midnight movie Trash Film Orgy fans, who descend like a mass migratory bugs filling the hallways and seats of the Crest theatre. Though their year round numbers never fully deplete, once their season starts you see them multiply exponentially for 6 consecutive Saturdays at midnight. The Zombie Walk is the yearly kickoff event for their TFO summer show season which has been growing ever since! Literally hundreds of "people" (if you can still call them that) converge on the midtown

It somehow feels like I missed spring this year. This past Saturday felt like a summer day and many people were out enjoying the weather. June 11 was the second Saturday of June and many events allowed families to go out and enjoy the weather and celebrate Sacramento's Second Saturday Art Walk. Spanglish Arte celebrated their 2nd Annual Piñata Festival. Both sides of 23rd Street (between I and J Streets) had vendors and artists showing their goods. The street was still open for traffic and parking during the event. Mari Arreola along with family and friends made this a community event suitable for an all ages. Arreola handpicked the vendors at the fest and enjoyed seeing the many guests

It was five years ago this June that VOX Sacramento co-founders, Eric Sweiven and Heath Dalrymple, organized their first art show. The idea was to create an event that would give Sacramento's unknown artists a place to show. The idea took off. More than that, Eric and Heath found that a whole communtiy of artist struggling to find other artists and venues they could work with. So they formed the non-profit VOX Sacramento. "The specific purpose of VOX Sacramento" Eric Sweiven, states "is to provide education and charitable assistance to artists of Northern California in the creation, practice or demonstration of visual and performing arts. The means of providing this education and charit

For those out and about this Second Saturday, St. John’s Lutheran Church on 17th and L will be sponsoring the “KidZone” from 5:30-7:30pm. The KidZone offers a safe haven for the younger members of the arts community and offers face-painting, balloons and a host of other family-friendly activities. The "Zone" is located in the parking lot on L between the Church Sanctuary and The Refuge.  

Think you really know Sacramento? Find out tomorrow during The Mastermind Hunt: Sacramento! Teams of family and friends will race through parks, around landmarks and even inside local businesses deciphering clues to secret locations in this urban adventure presented Saturday June 11 by Mastermind Treasure Hunts and Downtown Grid. Partial proceeds from this fun and challenging event will benefit Hands on Sacramento, the Valley’s full-service volunteer action center. The hunt will start and finish in the courtyard at 1801 L street, but covers both Downtown and Midtown. Tickets will be available on the day of the hunt starting at 3:00. The hunt runs from 4:30 to 8:00 p.m. For more informatio

A mainstay at children’s birthday parties, candy-filled pinatas are ornaments made to break, and for people of all ages who delight in Latin-based fanfare, the second annual Piñata Festival is coming back to Midtown Saturday. The festival will be held from noon - 9 p.m. along 23rd Street between I and J streets. People who turn out for the event can expect to find vendors serving traditional Mexican food and fusion food. Gourmet Mexican ice cream and other deserts will be made by Doña Coco of Sacramento. According to Mari Arreola, gallery owner of Spanglish Arte, local artists Chulo Baby, and Rachel Knipping and others will have art for sale. UC Davis Professor of Chicano Students Xico