Anybody for drinks and crafts?
By: Christina Troup
Special to The Examiner
June 11, 2009
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Making a plan: Genevieve Robertson, left, and Shelly Kerry are the organizers of Lightbox, a community group for independent artists. (Courtesy Photo)
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SAN FRANCISCO — Waiting tables, as Shelly Kerry and Genevieve Robertson have found, may pay the bills, but it far from fulfills those inner creative desires.
In an effort to fit more creative time into their lives, the San Francisco friends began meeting for regularly scheduled craft nights (Kerry makes jewelry and Robertson snaps photos) in which they often discussed the lofty dream of quitting their day jobs to satisfy their latent artistic aspirations.
Without the option of nixing the 9-to-5, the pair fleshed out the idea for Lightbox, a support system of sorts for emerging artists.
“We’d really love to have [Lightbox] as a center that fosters independent artists that are just getting started. We really want it to [reach out] to artists that realize they want to make a career out of being an artist, but aren’t quite sure how to go about doing it. We want to take the artists and give them the space that provides a lot of support, gives them a community of other artists and we’ll be there to help them with resources,” says Robertson.
As a means of spreading the word about Lightbox, Kerry and Robertson are hosting “Crafty Hour” — think of it as a happy hour with one-of-kind finds from 12 Bay Area-based fashion, jewelry and visual artists — from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Bloodhound in the SoMa district.
Given the economy — and where they are in their lives — the women are realistic about the necessary steps to launch Lightbox.
Right now, they’re focused on building a community and luring in like-minded artists as they hone their business plan; the ultimate goal is to secure funds for a venue that provides studio rentals, gallery space, a forum for teaching classes and career resources.
Kerry and Robertson intend to host more “Crafty Hours,” or another event in the same vein, but have yet to determine the date for the next installment; September has been thrown out as the next possible time.
“We really like the idea of doing something different than the whole weekend craft fair. Having it be a little bit shorter period of time is less intense for the artist and for the people coming since there aren’t 150 vendors to look at,” says Robertson. “Why not do it after work during happy hour? You’re probably going to go with friends to grab a drink anyway, why not come and see some great art in the process and take home a new belt or something to put on your wall.”
IF YOU GO
Lightbox’s Crafty Hour
- Where: Bloodhound, 1145 Folsom St., San Francisco
- When: 5 to 9 p.m. June 11
- Contact: www.lightboxsf.com
