Creatives and connoisseurs alike are to gather at the Julian Smith Casino on Saturday to support Augusta’s art scene, as the Greater Augusta Arts Council will be hosting its annual WetPaint Party & Art Sale.
The yearly showcase, which this year will feature works from some 70 local artists, is a fundraising event for the Arts Council and its mission. The current version of the event began 18 years ago, but the earliest iteration of the WetPaint Party began circa 2000, said executive director Brenda Durant.
“I had a friend of my mother’s live in Rhode Island, and there was an event there called a wet paint party,” she said. “They would put artists out in different locations during the day, and you could see artists painting live, and then they sold the works that night, wet. And so, we did that.”
The concept would thrive for a few years in Augusta, with artists painting new works plein air (or outdoors) during the day and selling them by the end of the night. Artists grew a little weary of this model, however—and the Wet Paint Paint Party took a hiatus. By 2012 it had returned, and in 2013 the soiree and raised $8,000 just for participating artists.
Now, rather than works painted live and sold “wet,” the gathering will feature works produced within the last year by Augusta area artists such as Mikey Lindsey, Heather Rene Dunaway, Francine Klopotic and Baruti Tucker.
The theme for this year’s WetPaint Party is “Alice in Wonderland.” Cookies and libations labeled “eat me” and “drink me” will be available; Oollee Bricker of Vintage Oollee will coordinate an Alice-themed fashion show; and local performers from Shō Fusion Dance Studio and Melissa Ayala’s Dance Troupe presenting three different versions of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
“Shortly after WetPaint last year, I was trying to think of a fun theme,” Durant said. “It seems very timely. A couple of different arts groups were doing Alice themed things. It seemed very much in a good mode.”
The WetPaint Party & Art Sale will be at the Julian Smith Casino at 2200 Broad St., on Saturday, March 4 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. To register for the event, visit https://augustaarts.wufoo.com/forms/rsvp-to-the-2023-wetpaint-party-art-sale/.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
