Q's Café’s first art show and market to open Saturday

Q’s Café will be hosting its first visual arts show this Saturday. All of the art being sold and shown at the event is from local artists and there is something for everyone, including kids.

This isn’t the first event Q’s Café has hosted; there have been full drag and burlesque shows, open mic nights and a Christmas market, said Channing Smith, social media consultant and event planner for the café. But this is in fact the first “solely” visual arts show.

Q’s is an LGBT friendly café located at 222 W. Hickory St., Suite 103. The art show and market begins at 3 p.m. and is open to the public. Other than appreciating the artwork, attendees can get their face painted by Logan Sycada or get a tarot reading from  Alex Khraish, who is also showcasing her art at the show.

“Most of the events at Q’s Café are [family friendly], because including everyone is our number one goal,” Smith said. “We try to make things easy for all to enjoy.”

Including Smith and Khraish, 16 Denton artists will have their art shown at the event. There was no theme, so every art piece is different and unique. With Smith being one of the artists, she said she asked some of her friends and acquaintances to join the show and other artists applied to be included after the event was posted online.

“All of the artists are local, but there never was a theme,” she said. “Our values are to be very inclusive and open to others and that’s what I’m most excited about, because I can promise you that nobody’s work in this show is even the slightest bit similar to another.”

Purchasing local art doesn’t only help local artist financially, but it can uplift and build confidence in artists, Smith said. Most of the time you can pay the same price for something that is handmade and rare rather than a common print sketched on canvas that everyone can find in the decor section at a department store.

Smith said they are planning to do another art show and market in the future because  “artists get this opportunity to sell their work.” As well, co-owner Lillian Williams said she looks forwards to having more events like this too.

“When we began, we mainly focused on drag and burlesque shows and other forms of entertainment for customer engagement,” Williams said. “I think in a city full of artists, events like this are a very fitting addition to our calendar.”

Header image via Unsplash.

Header designed by Clarissa Baniecki.