Our little body pierced bohemian

As part of Hoosier Beer Geek, we do free beer samplings and we have partnered with Big Car Gallery in Fountain Square to do a sampling during the First Friday open house they have each month. It is a lot of fun because 1.) I get to give away free beer, which makes me a popular person and 2.) we get to talk with all types of people about beer and other stuff.

Kelly, Matt, and myself were the volunteers for this month's event. We were serving from 6pm to 9pm. But around 8, the lovely wife and El Presidente showed up. They were home alone, had nothing else to do, so they thought they would come out. What I have always found fascinating is the number of families that come out for these First Friday events. The Big Car Gallery is in the Murphy Art Center, which is filled with artist galleries and studios. So all night long, the building is alive and active with all kinds of people interested in the arts, or at least wanting to seem like they are part of that art community lifestyle.

When my family arrived, things at the sampling were easily manageable by two people, so we went for a walk around the building. To be honest, outside of Big Car, Deano's Vino, Peppy's Grill, and the dining options in the Fountain Square Building, I haven't really experienced Fountain Square. I was amazed by the number of studios and the different types of art.

The types of people we encountered were very diverse. There were the families, who wanted to expose their children to creativity and beauty. There were the true artists and art patrons who create and buy art and really are the backbone of the art community in Indianapolis. There are those who desire to be part of the Bohemian community, but without the living without money and things; they are the ones who buy the new condos on Mass Ave, who push up the land values in Lockerbie and Broad Ripple, forcing the real Bohemians to move to less expensive and less savory areas. There are the high school and young college aged kids who are too young to hit the bars, but want to be connected to that hip vibe that everyone else is connected to; they are the ones who try to be goth but really don't know who they really are yet; they are also the ones you see in big groups outside the exits smoking cigarettes.

All together, they make for an entertaining performance if you are a people watcher, like myself. For El Presidente, it made for an exciting evening. He loved the music that various studios had going on the turn tables. He loved the colors and shapes. He would pick out animals, even in abstract pieces. And to show that he was just as hip as the rest of them, he would lift his shirt up and show people his belly piercing. He is so hard core!

We also encountered a number of Irvington neighbors. One runs a shop called Gnosis, which used to be in Irvington, but moved to much bigger digs in Fountain Square. While keeping the store in our hood would have been good, moving to the Square has to have improved business. Between the busier street that it faces and the monthly artist open houses, the foot traffic for Gnosis has to have increased by leaps and bounds.

Another neighbor was handing out information for a semi-annual art show. He's part of a group called Primary Colours. For one of their events, every six months, they move into a vacant or under development space, put on a weekend show of 20 or so artists' works, and then move on to ready for the next show in 6 months (Primary Colours' Allotrophy will be May 9 &10 for those interested).

Back in Irvington, there are many artists and creative types who live here. They buy homes and raise families, both the human and four-legged kinds. Some create professional spaces for themselves in the 'hood, but most seek space elsewhere. Many want to see more people setting up shop in Irvington, though it is a challenge.

The creative community thrives on proximity to others. Artists tend to feed off the creativity of others. It gets the juices flowing. And Irvington doesn't have a lot of large spaces available to house a large number of studios the way that Fountain Square and other parts of downtown do. Plus, being 5 miles from downtown separates us from the downtown neighborhoods, making it hard to connect with the other creative communities in Indy.

Not to say we don't have a creative community. It is just not as concentrated as other areas. And it is just as well. I don't think Irvington needs to mimic Broad Ripple, Fountain Square, Massachusetts Avenue, or anyplace else. Irvington has its own identity, an identity that others try to duplicate. Our "downtown" is coming into its own with a fine collection of restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques, and services, not to mention an art school and a theater.

We are a creative, artistic neighborhood. We just have a slower pace. We hear the beat of a different drummer.

Back in Fountain Square, the lovely wife, El Presidente, and I return to Big Car gallery to find my fellow Beer Geeks busy with a crowd of people wanting free booze. Around nine o'clock, the crowd magically changes from the family-friendly, art driven crowd to a younger and rowdier crowd. It shifts from open house to a party, with more music and more people. This is usually when people aren't interested in just tasting beer; they want to get drunk. Not really our target audience. So we pack up and head out.

Kelly and Matt had their own plans. I believe some roller skating with the Naptown Roller Girls was in the cards for them.

We went to Gusto! to have some pizza. It's pretty good stuff. More traditional like a New York style pizza; not gussied up like Jockamo's or Bazbeaux's. We returned to Four Square No. 266 around 10:30. El Presidente wasn't interested in going to bed; he wanted to party! We were up with him until midnight, when I was finally able to rock him into submission. Between his night owl desires, he love for a nice groove and a good beat, and interest in all things visual and vivid, the lovely wife and I will likely end up with a future bohemian of some sort.

Given the number of artists with children in our neighborhood, he'll be in good company, I suspect.