The nonprofit group InLiquid is hosting its 11th annual “Art for the Cash Poor” from June 12-13. The exhibition and sale is an opportunity for art lovers to discover new local talent and acquire art directly from the artists themselves at very reasonable prices under $199.
“The whole idea for the event is for people to meet the person who was making something and to have an interaction with them and to have a friendly experience in purchasing art,” said InLiquid executive director, Rachel Zimmerman. “The idea for us was that we wanted to create a fun event which was unpretentious, [and] that would allow people to learn, enjoy and find out what’s happening. So much about buying art is the experience of buying the art. If you have a good interaction with the person that is selling it or find out something about the piece, it makes it a little more special. A lot of people who are unfamiliar about buying art are skeptical and nervous about doing it, and are afraid to make that type of decision. And this makes it easier.”
Zimmerman added that “Art For the Cash Poor” has continued to grow in size and the amount of artists featured in the 11 years since it began.
“It has changed phenomenally,” she said.
The first two events were held at Beau Monde, with 25 artists included both years. The next year it moved to the block on which Zimmerman lived with about 40 or 50 artists, and then for the following two years was held in Fishtown with about 70 artists.
The event was traditionally a one-day outdoor Saturday affair until it moved to the Crane Building five years ago.
“When we moved to the Crane Building, we decided we wanted an inside space because some people had photography or certain types of glass that aren’t really good to be outside,” Zimmerman said. “So what we did was, once we went to the Crane building, we had 50 artists inside the Icebox and we had 20 outside. And then we moved it from a one-day event to a two-day event.”
This year’s sale feature works from over 120 artists as well as performances by local music groups. Some of the LGBT artists participating in the event include Anna Thompson, Sherman Oberson and Cathey White.
Zimmerman said InLiquid put considerable effort into making sure “Art for the Cash Poor” represents as wide a range of local and regional artists as possible.
“Being a small nonprofit, our marketing budget isn’t huge,” she said. “For LGBT artists, we send out to the call for artists to every arts organization in Philadelphia. We try to connect with as many different diverse arts groups as we can. The whole idea is if you have 120 artists that are all marketing the same event, you’re marketing to multiple groups of people and you’re collectively working together to promote the event. We try to partner as much as we can with different organizations to get the word out.”
“Art for the Cash Poor” runs from 1-6 p.m. June 12-13 at the Crane Arts Building, 1400 N. American St. For more information, visit www.inliquid.com.
Larry Nichols can be reached at [email protected].