Sometimes you find art in unexpected places. Places that gleefully smash barriers that may exist between, say, an art gallery and its wider community.
Hourglass Brewing in Orlando’s Hourglass District has recently become one of those places, joining its sister location in Longwood as a craft brewery/art gallery and home to a growing artistic community.
And you could say it’s growing from an Artistic Acorn. That’s the nom de guerre used by artist and curator Alex Ramirez, who runs the new gallery at Hourglass. Ramirez sets the monthly theme, puts out a call for theme-based art, and holds a big gallery opening event on the third Saturday of every month. She says the theme for next Saturday’s exhibit may be her favorite yet – it’s “Wildness: untamed, unfiltered and feral.”
She keeps the themes broad to allow for a wide variety of interpretations. “[Themes] could potentially mean something different to different people based on their life experiences, based on the culture that they came from, based on a myriad of factors,” she explained. “So ‘wildness,’ like I could do something that I consider wild and crazy, and that might be the regular everyday thing for somebody. And I think that's the magic in the monthly art show. Nobody can really control what happens with that. We are all going to interpret the same things that we're seeing differently, just as the artist is going to interpret the theme differently, and we're all different, and that's okay. We're all coming together to experience that together, and it really is beautiful.”
That feeling of togetherness permeates the Hourglass gallery. In fact, Ramirez balks at the title of curator, preferring “art facilitator” instead. “I don't exclude anybody,” she said. “I don't really think that art is about the outcome. I think art is about the process.”
She would rather encourage people to create and share their art than judge its “worthiness” for her gallery.
“Make bad art. Please do!” she said. “Please make bad art and please come bring it to my show. Because that is more powerful than making really good art and then never submitting it.”
Ramirez taught art at Hourglass Brewing for several years before launching the gallery a few months ago. Her monthly art openings take over the brewery’s patio with food trucks, live music, art creation stations, “flow art” tools like large fans to dance with, and independent artistic vendors.
“We are all artists. Our lives are an art form in themselves. Everything that we do can be, and is, art. And honestly, I think when we look at it that way, it helps bring a little bit more life back to our lives,” said Ramirez. “It really helps us make our lives feel a little bit more like magic, a little bit more like mystical and fun. And I think we need that.”
