There was plenty going on at the Chicken Farm Art Center during last week’s First Saturday event.
The event opened with a full slate of vendors, featuring live music and food, with art as the main attraction.
Folks began to drift into the historic location on North Martin Luther King Jr. Drive a little ahead of the event, eager to get a look at what’s on display.
What’s New at the Chicken Farm?
Chastity Oakes is approaching her third anniversary as owner of the property, and said she is loving her job.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” she said. “This year in particular, I feel like we’re getting to the fun stuff.
“The first two years was really just understanding the businesses, and all of the operations… consolidating everything; just bills and utilities and all the other not-fun things, and now that we’ve got a good foothold on that, we can focus on some of the fun things.
Oakes said they are working with local music connections Kim Snell and Alex Cunningham to expand on musical offerings, which she is very excited about.
She said they’ve put a lot of work into making the courtyard and shady spaces particularly inviting, and they invite folks seeking a nice spot to enjoy their lunch to drop by and sit for a spell.
Next Big Event
“We’re also going to start a Night Market event, partnering with Cody Whisenhunt, and we’ll be doing that on June 19.
“I think that’s going to be great, because this place really takes on a different feel after dark, when the lights come on, and you feel like you’re somewhere else,” Oakes said.
Pottery and Gallery Space
Potter and consultant Gary Kosmas gave a quick tour of the gallery and talked about the trying to expand on what is available for local artists.
“In our planning meetings, it became evident to me that our ceramics artists here in San Angelo didn’t have a voice for ceramics week.
“So I put on an event in here that featured only ceramic art from people in San Angelo, and it was very successful. People really appreciated having something like that, so we’re going to be doing a lot more of that.”
Kosmas said he jumped in with both feet to do some major renovations on what was formerly the production space, and a major overhaul of gallery space.
“With the new owners, the goal is to create more opportunities to be involved in the community, and to be a part of the community as a whole.
So, we’re teaching a lot of classes that are oriented toward the general public, and we have several well known local artists and visiting artists teaching now.”
For the most part, gallery offerings are local artists, with a few from other West Texas towns mixed in, Kosmas said.
“I really believe that the new life that is being put in to the Chicken Farm Art Center is going to re-establish it as a major asset to this city.
“Of course, it always has been, but in the past it was very clay-centric, and that’s a limited audience, and we don’t want that. We don’t want any limitations; we want it be an integrative community.”
