This weekend the Santa Monica Art Studios held their 5th Anniversary Open Studios. For two days, the historic airplane hangar turned visual arts community opened their collective doors to the public and art lovers from around the block and across the seas gathered to join in on the celebration. The 22,000 square foot hangar located at the Santa Monica Airport has been divided into 29 artist studios and the Arena 1 Gallery. Every hall and passageway in the complex was hung with the impressive work of the occupying artists. I was there Saturday evening and throughout the night, hundreds of art-loving men, women and children (and even a few canines) were present to admire the glory of the artistic process and vision.

So I was at this thing called the Downtown LA ArtWalk. Maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s just a little monthly art event that EVERYONE that’s not living under a rock has been talking about…. There’s a shit ton of people pounding the pavement all night, enjoying all the mind-blowing exhibits, art vendors, food trucks (Hi Kogi Truck!) and long-legged fashionistas within arm’s reach (yup, even the models are into art now).

Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending the super-swanky, super-awesome voila! gallery “New and Not So New Talent” event. Four artists were featured—Sam Frost, a local photographer; An Gyselinck, a Belgian photographer; Gwen Samuels, a mixed media visionary; and Olivia Chague, a French mixed media extraordinaire. Us FORTH magazine folks were stationed appropriately on the way to the bar, where we had the chance to talk to many awesome people about what we do, what they do, and what we all can do to promote/support the ever-dynamic LA art scene.