Natalie Dotzauer and Ellen Bruex are the dynamic artistic duo behind the Art-O-Mat, which is a moveable feast of local art. The pair had the idea after searching for gallery space in downtown Wenatchee, but finding that nothing was affordable.
So they created the Art-O-Mat to bring art to the people in the streets and promote local art and artists while doing so.
“We thought what better way to bring the gallery outside the gallery and into places where people can just encounter it,” Bruex said.
On Friday, March 7 Bruex and Dotzauer brought the Art-O-Mat to Pybus Public Market in Wenatchee, where a throng of locals and artists waited to stick their ticket in the machine and get their art.
Another goal of theirs was to bring fun and frivolity to folks lives.
“We wanted to bring fun back, and playfulness, back into actually wanting to have art,” Dotsauer said. “It’s a gamble each time you do it and You never know what you’re going to land on but people are usually more negaged and excited about that than just your average experience.”
The way it works is simple: folks purchase a ticket, spin the wheel and out pops an original work of art from a local artist. For the March 7 event, Bruex and Dotzauer had 19 local artists’ works in the booth and said they hoped to vend 100 pieces, although they had 140 ready to go.
You can learn more and see the Art-O-Mat in action in the video above, and if you would like to learn more about this unique and fun pop up art gallery Bruex said folks can follow them on Instagram at @theartomat. They said there will be more events they’ll pop up at in the future, and they hope to partner with other towns and cities and take the Art-O-Mat on the road at some point.
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