Art After Dark

Salt Fine Art

When I was in college, the first Friday of the month my friends and I would head to downtown San Luis Obispo for "Art After Dark", where art galleries would stay open late offering drinks and a chance to look at their art, while we would get to meander in places we normally wouldn't go (AKA fancy galleries).

This week a friend of mine invited us to go to Laguna Beach for their monthly "Art Walk". It's essentially the same thing as in San Luis Obispo, and I forgot how much fun it is! Even luckier for me, my friend who invited us used to work at a gallery in Laguna, so she knew which were good galleries to visit.

The "Art Walk" in Laguna goes from 6-9 p.m. the first Thursday of the month. Art and jewelry galleries use this event as a chance to get their names out and become more familiar to the locals. Locals use the event to socialize and see new art. It's much less intimidating to walk into a gallery when there are lots of people milling about than if you walk in by yourself any other time of the week. Most galleries offer wine or water as you roam about, and some even have cookies and other treats! :)

One of the first galleries we went to ended up being my favorite -  Salt Fine Art, in South Laguna. I never would have stopped off the road on a normal day to visit this place, but it was really fun and I liked the style of art.

Aside from being able to freely visit otherwise intimidating galleries, it's also fun to walk around the busy town with crowds of other people out and about enjoying the night air. In my opinion, we all need something to do to give us an excuse to go outside, walk around town with friends, and run into people we know - and Art Walk is a fun, relaxed and even educational way to do just that!