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Date: 4/25/2023
HOLYOKE — The Artery is geared up with events and activities available through the eclectic marketplace for this spring season as they continue to help grow the Holyoke art scene and build off of downtown.
The Artery features original artwork from Western Mass. and New England’s most creative talent where original, unique, handcrafted, up cycled and refinished pieces are available. The marketplace was created as part of transformative development initiatives and rapid recovery tourism efforts to attract more foot traffic to downtown and promote its creative economy. The city of Holyoke in collaboration with the Greater Holyoke Chamber, EForAll and Print Shop Inc. operate the Artery, an art gallery and store at 289 High St. launched in September 2022.
The Artery will continue to look to grow in the city with upcoming events over the next few weekends. On Saturday, April 29 the Artery will host a Paper Cutting Workshop starting at 1 p.m. Those attending the workshop will be able to try wycinanki, a traditional Polish folk craft, which is great for all levels of artists.
The Print Shop’s Executive Director Jeff Bianchine manages the Artery and has years of experience popping up vendor fairs and retail storefronts downtown in Holyoke since 2013. Bianchine spoke to Reminder Publishing and said wycinanki can lead to great decorations through creating different patterns in the paper.
“It’s a low barrier entry for us to get into the workshops and classes so it’s a good start for us,” Bianchine said. “So, it’s really a kickoff for having more art classes and workshops throughout the year, in the two back rooms that we have to do some programming.”
To register for the Paper Cutting Workshop those interested can go to www.holyokeart.com/service-page/wycinanki-polish-paper-cutting?referral=service_list_widget.
Bianchine said starting more art classes open to the public is a good way to grow the brand’s notoriety as people can experience different and new art activities and projects to take on through the Artery.
The following weekend on Saturday, May 6 is the Artery’s Spring Fair from 12-4 p.m. where eight additional arts and crafts vendors will be at the gallery showcasing different works for sale. Bianchine described the fair as “Gifts for mothers and others” with Mother’s Day falling the weekend after and said the additional vendors will provide “fresh” artwork for sale.
Bianchine said with other activities on the weekends in downtown, having more events and workshops through the Artery would only bolster the downtown foot traffic.
“We’re trying to just keep it moving down the block a little more,” Bianchine said.
The Artery also has continued to grow its Splatery sessions and opened a Party Room available for rent so people can celebrate any occasion while making art. A splatery session is where participants go into a room and take part in the painting technique where the brush is flung with a flick onto a canvas to create unique paintings.
According to Bianchine, regular sessions are a half-hour at $20-25 per person based on the amount of people in a group. If renting out the party room, the going rate is a $100 deposit to book the room for 90-minutes, followed by $15 per participant in the event.
Bianchine said that he has enjoyed his role with the Artery over the last year and its growth that has shone a light on the arts scene in Holyoke and the greater valley.
“This is where the Artery is awesome. We have over 100 artists, over 1,000 items from Western Mass. but even beyond that it just shows how much creativity is in the valley,” Bianchine said. “I’m telling you from an economic foot traffic experiment, the Splatery is what’s bringing people from Southern Connecticut, Worcester, New Hampshire, people who don’t have any preconceived notion of what Holyoke is and are just coming for the entertainment and then they’re finding the merry-go-round, El Colombiano, having lunch, Gateway City Arts, the Children’s Museum … I’m just blown away. I knew it would work but I didn’t think it would work that quickly.”
Bianchine added that there has been “nice synergy” between expanding the Artery in his new role and providing new community service type events for the public to get involved in the growing art scene in Holyoke.
“We planted a little economic seed, and we want to grow it,” Bianchine said.
Bianchine said part of his time with the Artery has been a “learning experience” and he hopes the Artery and its team can continue to grow out and continue offering more for the arts in the city. For more information about the Artery visit www.holyokeart.com.