The streets of Monroe flooded with ULM students and Monroe residents last Thursday for the Downtown Art Crawl.
The Downtown Art Crawl is held every other month and is a platform for both local and out-of-town artists to present their art to the public.
There are multiple galleries on and around Art Alley in Monroe and there is one gallery on Antique Alley. This offers many places for people to observe and explore.
Artists display what they have created and most of the art is for sale to the general public. There are many types of different art styles and arrangements such as classical painting, photography, dance and music for gallery visitors to enjoy.
Each crawl has new and exciting work and each gallery has an individual style and personality.
One artist who was featured is Amanda Roe.
Roe has been involved in multiple galleries and managed the outside gallery for a few years. Her art featured in the Downtown Gallery and Studios.
“The Art Crawl for me is a way to show the local community art that normally you don’t necessarily always see. So even though it is always changing, it is a nice variety of different types of art, different people, locals and outsider art. Just a little bit of something for everybody,” Roe said.
Many artists such as Roe use this event as a community outreach for people who they may not be connected with. Even in a small town like Monroe, there are still hidden pockets of artists that you may not know and the Downtown Art Crawl is the perfect environment to meet and connect with new people who create wonderful things.
The beauty of the Downtown Art Crawl is that it is different each time it is held, so for everyone it is like going for the first time.
But for Ashley Moore, a sophomore biology major, this was her first art crawl.
“I just love the uniqueness, the diversity in all of it. I feel like the Art Crawl symbolizes how we all come together. Just to celebrate each other and our talents,” Moore said. “Whether it is super unique or it is simple we all just want to come together and celebrate each other and I love that.”
The next art crawl will be held on the first Thursday of December. It will feature multiple local talents and is free for the public to attend. Artists like Roe want the public to come to the event.
Roe said, “I think everyone should come and support the Art Crawl because we do this for viewers. If we didn’t actually have people who came by to check out the art, it would be
boring.”