Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
A pair of Clay High School graduates, Nick Amrhein and Dean Davis, recently came together for a collaborative canvas showcase titled Lenses + Lines on March 21 at the River Gallery Studio in Toledo.
The event featured nine local artists, merging photography and mixed media together. The artists involved included Amrhein, Davis, Mikey Pettengill, Jordyn Tinney, Jay Jay Brown, Chris “Chilly” Rodriguez, Zander, Kodi Klocinski, and Jenna Spencer.
“Basically, I took large portraits of nine different models, and then I lined those with nine artists to do artwork over top of my photography,” Amrhein said.
Amrhein originally picked out the nine models with a wide range of diversity, including gender, race, etc.
“When I ended up shooting all the photos, I had so many great ones from the session that I did,” he said. “We did a meet and greet with all the artists, and I presented them with about eight photos per model, laid out on a table. And then we did a drawing where you pull out a number. Whoever got one got the pick of the litter.”
From there, Amrhein and Davis printed each photo out and stretched it onto a large 36x48 canvas. Each one was then handed over to the artist with a few guidelines, but with the idea to put their own artistic touch on it, whether it be with a paintbrush, spray can, Sharpie, calligraphy, lines, or anything.
Seven of the nine artists were ultimately able to sell their artwork at the showcase, while raffles such as gift baskets and a 50/50, along with a food truck from Paw’s Smoke ‘N Grill also sold out and raised money for the non-profit that Davis runs, as he does classes and inspirational speeches for kids in the art scene.
Amrhein said the event’s success far exceeded his expectations. Originally, his goal was to get 50 people to the event. As he was creating promotional videos and finding ways to promote the event, he sold 140 pre-sale tickets. Another 30 ended up purchasing entry at the event.
“I was just blown away by how big this thing got and how many people showed up,” he said. “I couldn't be more stoked.”
Amrhein said the event raised a little over $1,300 for the non-profit. In addition to selling seven of the nine pieces of art, they also sold a bunch of small canvases, and the raffle prizes went well, including the 50/50.
How it came about
Amrhein is a professional photographer present day, but back in the day when he was younger, he had a passion as an artist.
“I would draw all the time,” he said. “I’d have a notepad and draw sketches from skateboard magazines and draw Henna patterns. And then the camera just kind of naturally took over any other artistic appeal.”
Time passed, and then last year, Amrhein was inspired to start digitally drawing over top of some of his photos, and it brought back memories of those younger days.
“I started sketching again and reminiscing of being a kid and just kind of letting that creative side recapture my memory,” he said. “And then I think I did my first piece with the model, where I shot her and then I did some calligraphy. I posted it and had pretty good feedback from my social media, so I thought, ‘Wow, this would be pretty cool to do as a show because at that point, it felt like artwork that should be like printed and hung up.”
Thus, Amrhein connected with Davis, who had opened his own art studio/gallery downtown next to the Huntington Center about a year ago. The pair decided to host the show there.
Natural connection
The pair originally connected approximately one and a half to two years. Davis reached out to Amrhein about creating a video for a project of his titled the River Gallery Project, where he was doing mural installations. The two naturally connected over where they went to school and being Oregon natives.
“He was also involved in the tattoo scene, knew a lot of tattoo people that I knew,” Amrhein said. “It was an instant connection. He was easy to work with, and then we went on to make a couple more videos.”
So, it was a natural fit to collaborate with Davis once again for this show.
“I produced the show,” Amrhein said. “I put all the time and effort into getting the artists, lining up the photo shoots, doing a lot of the back-end stuff, but (Dean) really stepped up for me (in that) we printed all the canvas photos in-house at his studio. He stretched them over the wood frames. He helped do the installation, like curating the setup for the show. His knowledge, combined with mine, was a really cool team effort.”
A community of artists
Amrhein stressed the importance of the event and its success. His original intention was not to make money personally but to have it serve as a passion project where he’s doing something for more than just himself, with a community of artists.
“Being a photographer or being a muralist or a videographer, like anyone that's in the art world or whatever, you showcase your artwork through social media and it gets scrolled over so fast, and it maybe gets looked at for three seconds,” he said. “But when you do a show and you actually print out what you created and you hang it on a wall and people come out and gather as a community to support locals, there's something real about that.
“You can physically touch it. You can see it. You can see the paint come off the print. You can see the artist standing by their artwork and ask them about how they created that, or maybe they inspire you. It's just a whole inspiring thing that I don't feel like happens enough. I mean, I get why it doesn't happen enough. It takes a lot of money, and it takes a lot of time.
“That’s what was really special that I was trying to achieve with this. It wasn't just about 'Hey, let's just promote Nick Amrhein. Like you guys do artwork over my stuff.’ It was, 'Let's get everybody some good exposure and let's create something as a whole.”
