ST. LOUIS - With new local art and classic local bands, 31art gallery’s Rock the Art show is bound to pull in audiences from across the St. Louis region.
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31art gallery, located in the heart of the city, will be hosting live music and over 200 pieces of art from 4–9 p.m. on Saturday, June 24. The event is free, with a cash bar and a lineup of five bands. Roughly 15 artists will be exhibiting their work.
“Everybody there, Jared and Amy [Minnick, the owners,] basically handpicked. They’re all really nice people and great artists,” Andy Dykeman said. “Some of them are photographers, so we have lots of photography. We have some collage work. We have some assemblage work, mixed media, painting, print work, all kinds of stuff. There’s something for everybody there.”
Dykeman, who works as a chiropractor at Rosewood Chiropractic Clinic in Alton, will be showing his own art at Saturday’s show. Additionally, he organizes the music events at 31art gallery and is looking forward to hearing the acoustic sets throughout the night.
He said that he makes a point to bring in musicians from all across the region, including Illinois. Bob Monroe, the singer and lead guitarist from the band Breakmouth Annie, will be traveling from Jerseyville. Members of The Bishops, an alternative rock band that once opened for The Smashing Pumpkins, are Alton natives.
“I always try to have an Alton contention there,” Dykeman said. “It’ll be very exciting, and I’m very excited to see The Bishops because I haven’t seen them in decades.”
The other musicians for Saturday’s event include Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocketship, Chad Price and Cree Rider.
While the gallery only hosts live music events a couple times a year, Dykeman says that music is what brought him to 31art gallery in the first place. Dykeman was in a few bands and still keeps up with several area groups. He came to check out the gallery as an artist and then connected with the owners as a musician.
“A lot of the artists that were painted on the wall looked familiar, and I realized they were these punk rock guys that I knew from my days in the band,” Dykeman explained. “So I went in and introduced myself to Jared [Minnick], the owner of the gallery, who — come to find out — was a huge punk rock fan, also.”
Dykeman offered to connect him with local bands, and a partnership began. He might have added “music organizer” to his resume, but first and foremost, Dykeman is an artist.
“I’ve always had that creative aspect of my life,” Dykeman said. “Since my dad passed away, I kind of honed in on a very specific style…I was basically just doing it for myself and kind of as my own art therapy. And then some friends saw it and they’re like, ‘Let’s get you out.’”
This led to a solo show at Sacred Grounds in Edwardsville, which piqued his interest in expanding to other galleries and eventually brought him to 31art gallery. Dykeman’s pieces will be exhibited alongside art by Jared Minnick, Maxine Thirteen, Kerry Smith, Erik Thompson, Stan Brock, Steven Hayes, Willie Gates, Katie Chilman, Mark Regester, Paola Scharberg and guest artists Jasmine Raskas, Kate Brockmeyer and AK Stained Glass.
The bar will be manned by 4 Hands Brewing Company, which is also sponsoring the event. For more information about 31art gallery or their upcoming shows, including this weekend’s Rock the Art event, visit their website.
“Before, I used to be focused on the music, and that was it. Now I can share my time with focusing on the music and getting my friends from my musical past, and mix it up with my current obsession of painting every day, and share my art,” Dykeman said. “I kind of need to have that back and forth, between the live music and the art.”
Rock the Art should be exactly that.
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