The Riverside Artswalk returned this month with a pop-culture twist that highlighted many franchises like handcrafted plushies of characters from “Pokémon,” to semi-realistic portraits of characters from Studio Ghibli.
Since 2002, the Arts Walk in downtown Riverside has been a staple in the community, allowing local artists to sell their art. The Arts Walk later developed into a monthly event for the public and takes place on University Avenue and Mission Inn Avenue.
The monthly event creates a space for the city’s creative community to gather and an outlet to help local businesses sell their work. Common artwork that was being sold by vendors, is pop culture-oriented work.
Elle Garcia, specialized in crocheted goods. She dove deep into how she started creating her pieces.
“I started doing Valentine’s Day roses at first, then I started doing more and more characters that I was into,” Garcia said. “So I started doing more pop culture-related stuff.”
Garcia’s goal is to start selling her crochet goods at bigger events. Her booth was filled with characters from the video game Pokémon.
Other artists specialized in creating miniature caricature portraits.
Rei Duffy, one of the few caricature artists at the event, ran an interactive booth with a token-style system. Customers were able to insert a coin to start their own very mini portrait.
“I’m actually a caricature artist outside of here, at Legoland,” Duffy said. “I just thought I would do it outside and it would be fun.”
Allan Sison, a traditional painter present at the Arts Walk, shared that he’s gained inspiration from other artists that are involved with the event.
“I’ve been hanging out with a lot of my friends here at Artswalk, who have their own booth,” Sison said. “Over time, as I hung out with them, I’ve been feeling more inspired to eventually start my own booth.”
Sison had a live show of him painting a new art piece. He also displayed art pieces that were inspired from the Japanese animation studio, Studio Ghibli. Prominent characters within his work were from films like, “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Princess Mononoke.”
“To get a lot of engagement, you kind of have to reach into that pop culture interest and demographics,” Sison said. “I love doing portraits and Studio Ghibli is a very beautiful series… and I figured they may be a good way to make some nice portraits.”
The event allowed its target demographic to share their creative interest and novelty hobbies. The event was filled with photographers. Meanwhile cosplayers from the hit game “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” walking amongst even the niche furry community that dresses up like futuristic animals.
The next art walk is scheduled for April 2.
