MANSFIELD — Braxton Daniels, Luke Beekman and Diane Googins want to make Mansfield a place that celebrates fine art.
With that in mind, the group of local artists and entrepreneurs is hosting “Cup of Art” on Friday night and Saturday at 3rd Cup Tea and Galería Ekkles.
The event will feature live music, original poetry readings and live painting. Original artwork by various community creators will be available for sale both days at 3rd Cup Tea and Galeria Ekkles.
Cup of Art builds on and combines Braxton’s back lot concert series and Beekman’s Literati and Open Mic Nights.
“We really need to rejuvenate the idea of a gallery hop in downtown Mansfield,” said Beekman, founder of Mankind Murals.
“The idea is to do kind of a rotating gallery hop series where we are able to pop up artwork in downtown and also promote some of the local gallery spaces.”
Cup of Art event will feature live music by Maddy Carr and live painting by Sarah Moody, starting at 6 p.m. in the alley behind 3rd Cup Tea.
Live poetry readings will follow at 8 p.m. Sign-ups to read will begin at 7:30 p.m.
If it rains, the event will be moved inside.
The festivities will continue Saturday at 3rd Cup Tea, where Mansfield artist Evelia Sowash will be onsite for a meet-and-greet and have art for sale from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sowash was the official artist of the 2014 National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C.
She’s also a member of the Society of Fine Artists (SOFA), a new group of visual artists and galleries working together to enhance artistic expression in the Mansfield area through connection, collaboration and continued learning.
“I’m hoping to build more awareness of the fine artists that are in the area,” she said.
Organizers said they hope to have the event on a regular basis, possibly quarterly.
“I’ve been pushing (to use) that alley for quite some time now, since I got down here,” said Daniels, the owner of 3rd Cup Tea. “I think that’s a problem as a whole for Mansfield. We have space. We have plenty of it, we’re just not using it.
“It’s going to have to really become a community-led thing. I think it’s going to be the solution to everything down here is to keep it community-led.”
