The alley between Main Street and Rea Avenue were aflutter with businesses preparing for the comeback Alley Cat Art Walk after a four-year hiatus. By 6:00 p.m., businesses were ready, vendors in place and the alley once again turned into an event that focused solely on the downtown El Cajon businesses. With art, music, food, crafts and much more, this year’s Alley Cat Art Walk was more than successful, opening back up the alley for those who love to support the arts.
The alley between Main Street and Rea Avenue were aflutter with businesses preparing for the comeback Alley Cat Art Walk after a four-year hiatus. By 6:00 p.m., businesses were ready, vendors in place and the alley once again turned into an event that focused solely on the downtown El Cajon businesses. With art, music, food, crafts and much more, this year’s Alley Cat Art Walk was more than successful, opening back up the alley for those who love to support the arts. With nearly every business participating in some way, it was also a great venue for people to see what downtown has to offer in other services also.
But let’s get to the heart of this event. The diversity of art shown over the course of the evening was nothing short of remarkable. Having the ability to walk through the alley and local businesses not only provided a comfortable, casual atmosphere. Shopping at your leisure with no pressure sales was welcoming. Seeing the artistic talents of the artist on this block, combined with the guest artists, made this an exceptional art fair. And the best thing about that is it has the ability for expediential growth. Everyone that participated in making this event happen, did it right.
Sophie’s Gallery had its entire client created art from mosaics to hand crafted jewelry and woven textile art. And you have to see the new beautiful mural painted on the alley side of Sophie’s. It is a tribute to the art in this area and captures the theme of Alley Cat. A real hit was its large debuted on its new partnership with Outside the Lens. With the use of photography and words, Sophie’s clients created some inspiring art that can be as beautiful and powerful in the home or the office. Seeing the remodeling of Silver Creek Art Gallery & Custom Framing owned by Lynn Endicott was breathtaking. She transformed her working space to a state of the art gallery and with beautiful abstract paintings by Kenda Francis, Joe Eggert’s bronze sculptures and her other guest artists, this is a place that you need to visit or revisit and see. Carlos Castrejon’s Studio C had some phenomenal miniature pieces of mixed media art at very affordable prices. His studio is beautiful and choosing the miniature art was a brilliant choice as it gave people an abundance of styles and choices to choose from.
As you walked through the Olaf Wieghorst Museum, the stunning artwork of Jack Jordan met you in the front, a benefit art exhibition for the artist, then some of Wieghorsts best displayed in the back room. As you walked out through the garden area, there was handcrafted jewelry for sale in tandem with some live American Indian flute music that was soothing and beautiful as in floated through the air.
Everyone on the block, and all of the guest artist inside and out in the alley made this event exactly what it was intended to do. The palettes, painted by the artists involved, not only aided people from following the path, but added to the beauty of the event and are all for sale at Sophie’s Gallery. And that is the case with all of the art studios in Alley Cat. Although the event is over, the shops are still open, and the art for sale from the owners and guest artists are still available. So if you did not make it to the Art Walk, you can still come to downtown El Cajon, take a look at these extraordinary exhibits. So come down and take a look at what it has to offer. In addition to the art galleries and shops, the clothing lines on this block cater to the most elegant wear to everyday wear, and at affordable prices.
I would be surprised if this event does not come back to El Cajon on a regular basis, but until then, they are already gearing up for Small Business Saturday in November. Also don’t forget to stop in these stores during the upcoming City of El Cajon large events such as Hauntfest, Trunk or Treat, Concerts at the Park and The Mother Goose Parade. You’ll be happy that you did, and you can get some of your holiday shopping done early.
