By Will Roper
March 30, 2018
Lincoln’s First Friday for April is one week away. However, instead of celebrating local art at the beginning of the month, one local art studio is starting early and celebrating art at the end of March.
Live Yes Studios,1233 Arapahoe St., will begin a monthly Final Friday exhibition on March 30 with a double art show featuring the embroidery of Tony G., as well as other artwork from staff members of the studio.
The studio, started nearly seven years ago, is a nonprofit program that works with adults who have developmental disabilities. The program of Live Yes Studios cultivates the artwork of these individuals and provides opportunities for them to study various arts. Artists from the community teach art classes and local musicians hold workshops for those looking to learn more about local art.
Micah Snyder, manager at Live Yes Studios, said artists involved with the studio choose their own projects to ultimately present their work to the public.
“Once they’ve completed their body of work, each artist has their own show,” Snyder said.
This presentation is now known as Final Friday, where a different artist-in-residence with the studio presents their artwork on the last Friday of each month.
Snyder said Live Yes Studios decided to present artwork on the last Friday so the program doesn’t compete with other studios on First Friday.
“Due to us being off the beaten path for First Fridays, it made it difficult for a lot of people to support us since a lot of our events coincided with their events,” Snyder said. “Because of that, we decided we were going to do our own thing, and we thought Final Fridays for us would be the best.”
The gallery for March 30 features Tony G., whose exhibit “Cool Stuffed” will feature different embroidery and pillow artwork. His artwork, according to Snyder, is based in fabrics and sewing. Snyder said Tony G. has fallen in love with embroidery and sewing due to its cathartic nature, allowing him to shut out stressors and completely immerse himself in art.
“The last six months, [Tony G.] has been constructing different fabrics and sewing different pillows,” Snyder said. “His gallery will be a collection of all his latest work on fabric.”
The studio will also feature a second gallery that showcases the artwork of different staff members at Live Yes Studios. Snyder said on Friday the gallery will feature only staff artwork, however going forward, the gallery will include both staff and local artists’ work – possibly even artists from outside the local area.
For future galleries, Snyder said Live Yes Studios is open to a variety of different artwork and doesn’t box themselves in to a particular genre.
“We don’t ever want to limit anyone’s scope for their creativity,” Snyder said. “We want to push them to be as unique and individual as they want. We offer traditional art, but we push artists to develop their own vision. Wherever that takes them, that’s totally fine.”
Final Friday for Live Yes Studios begins at 6 p.m. on March 30 and lasts until 8 p.m.
More information about the show and Live Yes is available on the Facebook event page.
Will Roper is an editorial intern with KZUM.
