If you’re looking for a place to shop for artisanally handmade items, pop art, wheel-thrown pottery, and other works by local artists, the Long Beach Art Walk is the place to go, which is held on the 2nd Saturday of every month.
Attendees who go to the event have the opportunity to appreciate the work of the local artists and gain knowledge on different art concepts that might be new to them.
“All of the vendors were glad to interact with the customers and talk about their work and it made it easy for you to ask them different stuff about it, even if it’s stuff you had no idea about how it came to be,” Jerry Hernandez said, a customer at the art walk.
Marium Paranian is a vendor from Ecuador who makes handmade ponchos, scarfs, bracelets, and necklaces and considers this event to be beneficial for the community and local artists.
“This is a precious event, as people that make things by hand like soaps, creams, art, t-shirts, it’s a way for them to sell it to the community because it helps with building relationships,” Paranian said.
Paranian pointed out how one of the things that make people look forward to this event is that it brings the Long Beach community together and how everyone is unique and gets to share a positive environment.
Laura Gee is a local artist who started producing wheel-thrown pots and marble pieces at Clay Pottery Studio in Long Beach last September. As a result of this art walk she has gotten some of the exposure she needs for her work.
“I definitely feel it helps promote mine and other local artist artwork where I’ve already gained 10 or 15 new followers on Instagram that liked my work,” Gee said.
The Long Beach Art Walk is considered to be a place that has a welcoming environment that makes it easy to interact with other attendants.
“It was cool seeing people show off their artistic skill sets because everyone looks like they are really proud of what they’re selling,” Hernandez said.
Many vendors meet other vendors with similar interests through social media and this event helps these artists share that connection in person.
Jeff Lee is a painter that primarily does metallic paintings, Bob Ross style paintings with characters like Harry Potter or Star Wars, murals, and much more. He explains how “I’ve met a lot of artists who I had only at this point met on Instagram so it’s nice meeting them in person and meet new artists I hadn’t met before.”
The Long Beach Art Walk is located in the East Village along First Street between Linden Avenue and Elm Avenue and takes place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the second Saturday of every month.