First Friday a celebration of art, community

By Cara McCoy

Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009 | 1:55 a.m.

The quirky, creative side of Las Vegas made a showing Friday night in the downtown arts district as artists and revelers gathered for yet another First Friday celebration.

The gathering, which has happened monthly since 2002, draws thousands to the burgeoning district near Charleston Boulevard and Main Street, offering artists of all types an opportunity to show off their crafts.

“It’s a gathering place for artists and for people who love to see the artist community gather,” said Cindy Funkhouser, who founded the event seven years ago after being inspired by a similar gathering in Portland, Ore.

Funkhouser’s antiques store, The Funk House, on the corner of Casino Center Boulevard and Colorado Street, is at the hub of First Friday. The store offers everything from vintage lamps and paintings to a furry reindeer yard ornament and antique dishes.

For Funkhouser, life and art are intertwined.

“One doesn’t exist without the other,” she said. “Art – it’s personal for me. It’s moving. I could go to an art museum or a gallery and just sit there. Even when I’m in my own apartment with my own collection, it makes me happy. It’s just a moving experience.

“Art has become a huge part of my life. I think it’s kind of the inspiration for everything.”

Funkhouser’s passion for art and for the local arts community inspired her to put forth the elbow grease to take First Friday from a grassroots collaboration among a few downtown galleries and businesses to an event that stretches at least 20 blocks and, on peak nights, can draw up to 10,000 people.

The event, which falls under the umbrella of Whirlygig, a nonprofit group, has support from the city of Las Vegas, which helps with the street closures and provides a trolley. The event has blossomed as it has become more self-reliant, Funkhouser said.

“We have city support, which we’re very happy to have, but it’s much less than it was,” she said. “The past two years have been us learning to do without that and learning, realizing that we could still do it, that people would still come. That (the event) was something that was organically grown.”

Each month, dozens of artists turn out to show their work, whether at tables, booths or in the dozens of galleries that remain open late into the night during First Friday.

Jodi Mehr, of Babylonred Artworks, sells necklaces made of recycled Dominoes, which are sanded down, painted with acrylics and turned into beads.

“Art is my everything. I do real estate, and I run marathons, but art is my everything,” she said. “I imagine a lot of the people out here are like me.”

Mehr said she sells items at First Friday almost every month. On Friday, she said the foot traffic at the event was moderate.

“The last few years were a lot busier than it’s been the last couple of months, but I’ve done a few good sales so there are people out here, they’re buying,” she said.

Aaron Flores, 25, came from Henderson with friends for the event. It was the second time in recent months he had attended, and he said he was impressed with the event.

“The art that I saw … I was really surprised. It was so detailed; it just inspired me to make me want to draw,” he said. “It made me want to go to the Art Institute or maybe even walk into a museum.”

First Friday is a place for people from all backgrounds to come together and inspire each other, he said.

“There’s a lot of Gothic people here, a lot of punk rock, a lot of people. But it’s really all just people hanging out, having a good time,” he said.

The event is also a meeting place.

Becca Halpin, 15, and Daniel Dvoracek, 17, have been dating since November. First Friday is where they met.

“First Friday is a bunch of randomness. It has music, it has art and it has a lot of good food,” Daniel said. “It’s just something to do on a Friday.”

“And I like the music … the drawings and the paintings,” Becca added.

The duo, both with piercings dotting their faces -- Becca with pink hair and Daniel with a green Mohawk -- said they enjoyed coming to the event and getting inspiration from other artists. They both are planning to pursue art-related careers.

Bud Benneman, who teaches environmental science at the College of Southern Nevada, was cruising the event on his custom-made skateboard, complete with a lighting system.

He said he has five of the boards in production and plans to start selling them for about $400.

“I’m a renaissance man,” he said. “I believe in alternative transportation, and this is cool, because I tell my students, ‘zero carbon emissions today!'”

This recent Friday, a handful of decorated vehicles bound for the Burning Man celebration in Northern Nevada were parked in the pedestrian area outside the main drag.

Tara Harvey, an administrator by day, showed off the golf cart she and a group of friends who call themselves Cosmic Dust have been working on the past four months.

“It’s a golf cart that’s turned into a giant caterpillar because Burning Man’s theme this year is evolution – and when we get out to the playa, on burn night, it’s going to turn into a butterfly,” she said.

Burning Man is an artist festival that takes place annually in the Black Rock Desert, about 120 miles north of Reno, that Harvey described as “art for art’s sake.”

“We’re still in the process – we’ve got another month – but it will blow smoke rings out the front and out the hookah in the back,” she said.

Clothing company American Apparel was at the event on Friday and is considering a sponsorship, said Sherwin Ross, who organizes sales events for the company in Las Vegas.

A newcomer to First Friday activities, Ross said the event was more than he expected.

“This is over the top. I can’t believe it. It’s exciting; it’s fun, and it’s amazing that the city of Las Vegas works with this organization,” he said. “The bands are great, the food is great and all the local art is wonderful.”