This Saturday, Olde Towne East will be party central. CS Gallery is hosting C-BUS Rocks, a Bicentennial Exhibit to celebrate the 200th birthday of Columbus and the 2nd birthday of artist collective CLOUDHAUS. “I wanted to have a strong start to the 2012 show season and I felt that having a bicentennial show in the official birthday month would be perfect,” said owner Daniel Colvin.
Colvin sits on the board of directors for CLOUDHAUS and knew their 2 year anniversary was approaching. “They [CLOUDHAUS] knew that I wanted to do something awesome for the Bicentennial and I knew that they wanted to do something awesome for their birthday – so since both birthdays were in the same month the timing worked out really well,” he said.
The C-BUS Rocks show opens this Saturday, February 18 and runs through Tuesday, February 28, 2012. The show will feature Columbus-inspired art from artists across the city, as well as a special selection of communal art that was produced by members of CLOUDHAUS at live-painting events.
CLOUDHAUS is is a non-profit collaboration of creative individuals in Columbus working together to foster a greater appreciation for art here, and beyond. They sponsor and participate in events year-round to build communities and promote art creation. Whenever they can, they raise money during their events to donate back into the community.
Patrick Cantwell is an artist whose submitted work, “Sun Always Shines” was accepted into the exhibit. He was inspired to enter his piece to show what he loves about Columbus. “For me, that’s skateboarding and art. I love Columbus and this drawing pretty much sums up a regular day of skating downtown,” said Cantwell.
“My friend and I were just skating and taking pictures downtown one afternoon, and after being trapped inside a parking garage for an hour waiting for it to stop raining, we walked back out to find the sun shining off of the wet ground,” said Cantwell. “As my friend was walking in front of me I snapped a picture and thought it would be perfect to draw from. At the same time I think it says something about how beautiful Columbus really is.”
Artist Tom Baillieul was also inspired to submit pieces for the C-BUS Rocks show. “At the Clintonville Arts Guild’s meeting in late January, one of our members mentioned the CS Gallery and the shows it has. I went on line, saw the announcements for both the “A Scape” and “C-BUS Rocks” shows, and realized that I had art to match. Having been to both the Black Creek Bistro and the Black Arts Gallery I was familiar with the Olde Towne East area and wanted to have a presence there.”
His large painting, “City of Columbus” is a depiction of how Columbus became involved in one of Charles Lindbergh’s first coast-to-coast flights west in 1929. “The research for what the city looked like from the air at the date, and turning it into a composition, took some 500 hours over 3 years,” said Baillieul.
The event on Saturday, February 18 will kick off at 8pm as a gallery reception, then will transform into a dance party soiree as the night continues. Special musical guests Teen Fiction, The Colin Martin Project, and DJ Chewrocka will keep the party going until 2am. There is a $3.00 cover charge, and patrons will receive food and drinks with the price of admission.
CS Gallery & Events is located in Olde Towne East at 66 Parsons Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43215. To find out more about Cloudhaus, visit cloudhaus.org. For more about Tom Baillieul, click here. For more about Patrick Cantwell, click here.