DrawnTown takes over downtown Sioux Falls
It’s not every Tuesday evening in Sioux Falls, South Dakota where you’ll find 21 creative artists outside together at a park working on their medium of choice. However, July 14 was not an ordinary Tuesday night it was DrawnTown night.
Drawn Town, which gets its’ name from hosting the event in downtown Sioux Falls outdoor locations, is a unique social/creative event put on by a little design blog called Graphic Content. Sioux Falls based advertising agency, Fresh Produce, sponsors Graphic Content and believes it is important to highlight the work of local artists.
Kiel Mutschelknaus (that’s pronounced MU - CHIK - NOUSE), graphic designer for Fresh Produce and “curator” of Graphic Content said, “The site came out of a desire to highlight local art. It’s really grown and we’ve seen a lot of great stuff from right here in Sioux Falls.”
Graphic Content has existed for 14 months and has seen dramatic growth in the willingness and excitement for local artists to showcase their work. “It started kind of slow with Ted (co-founder of Fresh Produce) and I posting work from Fresh Produce, but it’s really caught on and now we’re backed up with submissions.”
In just over a year GC has showcased the art of nearly 50 local artists and is updated multiple times a week by Mutschelknaus with new posts to stimulate any art fan. Andrew Osborn, native of Omaha, Nebraska and recent graduate of Augustana College in Sioux Falls, has had his work showcased multiple times on GC and loves the opportunity. “It’s a neat little forum to not only get your art show, but to tune in to see what other local artists are doing. I draw inspiration from that and allow myself to be an inspiration to others,” Osborn said.
Tuesday’s event was the second installment of DrawnTown and it continues to grow in popularity in the community of Sioux Falls. The original DrawnTown event was held in June and had roughly 15 participants despite poor weather conditions. In regards to the future of the event Mutschelknaus said, “It’s already been a success. We have over 20 artists sharing, talking and collaborating. That’s what Graphic Content is really all about, collaboration. I just hope to see DrawnTown continue.”
Thanks to sites like Graphic Content and social media tools, artists now have the ability to share and promote their work all over the world for little to no costs. “As an artist any exposure you can get is necessary and Graphic Content allows anyone to exhibit art. Although some art can be private, art is meant to be seen and interpreted and GC provides that opportunity,” Osborn said.
To all artists of the Silicon Prairie, DrawnTown III is already set for August 11. Mark your calendars!
ARCHIVED COMMENTS
Great post, John. I'd even add the other perspective (my own) which is that, even though I'm not an artist, I still have a blast at the DrawnTown events. I've gone twice and written (rather than drawing/painting/arting) and it's been great both times. Easy to be inspired when everybody around you has their creative juices flowing. And it's fun to see the work of the people who participated the next day on the blog via tweets and Facebook updates (or having the poem I wrote read on a podcast recorded during the event).
Anyway, this comment wasn't supposed to be about me. The point was that DrawnTown is a great experience for everyone and I'd recommend other places (especially those like Omaha, which are full of creative folks) create similar events. Sioux Falls isn't always known for being a trendsetting community, but this is one trend that could be a pretty big deal if other communities created and shared their own versions. Like Fight Club, only minus the soap, brutality, and illegal shenanigans.
Hey, thanks for the great shout out, John & Silicon Prairie News. The GC Desk is really honored to be mentioned. This is really great. And check out DrawnTown SF 3rd Edition August 11th! A monster thank you to SPN!