Art All Night, a 24-hour event, is celebrating its 10th year
TRENTON -- When Trenton held its first Art All Night -- an around-the-clock art celebration -- in 2007, few could have imagined the explosive growth and impact it would have 10 years later.
It began as the vision of Michael Gumpert, then executive director of ArtWorks, who had volunteered with the original Art All Night in Pittsburgh.
"I looked at him and laughed, 'You're crazy, that's never going to work here,'" said Joseph Kuzemka, the event's creative director. "He had this vision and I bought into it at some point."
In that first year, 300 pieces of art were submitted and the event drew 1,700 people to ArtWorks' downtown gallery. Last year, more than 1,200 participants submitted pieces and some 25,000 wandered through the historic Roebling Wire Works building and adjacent Millyard Park.
This weekend, the 50,000-square-foot factory building will once again be bursting with creative energy when Art All Night returns for its milestone 10th year.
"It's taken a long time, but people have recognized how interesting and unique and how important it is, not just to us and the city, but to the people who partake in it," Kuzemka said.
He was in an Apple store this week when someone who sold his piece last year asked to shake his hand, thanking him for providing an outlet for artists.
"To me, I can't think of anything better than being able to offer people an opportunity to express themselves creatively," Kuzemka said.
The 24-hour event starts at 3 p.m. Saturday. Between the hundreds of works of art that will be displayed and the live music, film shorts, iron pour and glass-blowing demonstrations, the offerings are endless.
"Over the years, it's morphed into a really eclectic mix of artists and art and art installations and art demos," Kuzemka said.
At its core, the event is an opportunity for artists of all ages and talents to showcase their work. It's an art show where a four-year-old's refrigerator doodle can hang next to a piece selling for a couple hundred dollars from a seasoned professional.
But in addition to the art, there will be 56 bands and musicians performing on three stages, a film festival, a silent disco, dueling muralists and dozens of interactive activities for kids and adults alike.
Artists from the AbOmInOg International Arts Collective will be forging steel to make cast-iron, limited-edition medallions, while glass blowers from JM Glassworks will be creating pieces before people's eyes.
"We cover just about everything," Kuzemka said.
The crowds ebb and flow throughout the festival -- with families in the afternoon, as many as 15,000 people between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. and few people at daybreak.
"It's interesting to see the progression throughout the 24 hours and the different kinds of people that come at different hours," Kuzemka said.
Art All Night is free, but donations are appreciated as the event is the largest fundraiser for ArtWorks, the nonprofit visual arts center in downtown Trenton.
Roebling Wire Works is located at 675 South Clinton Ave. and parking is available at 640 South Broad Street. For more information, visit aantrenton.org.
Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find NJ.com on Facebook.