Jackie O’s Pub and Brewery showed artwork featuring everything from abstract paintings to construction paper castles.
Finger paintings and construction paper artwork hung among the usual racks of beer bottles on the walls of Jackie O’s Pub and Brewery on Sunday.
The pub held its first ever Parent and Child Art Show as part of its “Sunday Funday” monthly event series. The show brought in a crowd of all ages that filled the small taproom and outdoor patio. Live music played over the buzz of conversation and clinking of glasses.
Nearly everyone in the room sipped from a Jackie O’s glass, or, in some cases, a plastic cup bearing the brewery’s name. As part of the “Sunday Funday” special, chocolate milk, pink lemonade and apple juice were being offered for $1. The “big kids” also were offered a specialty drink called “Kind of Blue” on special for $6.
Snacks for the day included potato chips and pretzels, and board games such as Guess Who and Connect Four were placed on the tables for customers to play while they ate, drank, socialized and admired the three art exhibits on display.
Michael Rutushin, a bartender at Jackie O’s who organized the art show, is friends with the families whose artwork was displayed and said he thought of the art show as a way to bring all of the families together to show off their work.
Rutushin said the show originally was scheduled for Feb. 14 but was moved due to scheduling conflicts.
“My idea was to express familial love instead of romantic love,” Rutushin said.
One of the exhibits, done by Jacob Reid, his wife Kasey Jones and their 6-year-old daughter River, featured paintings on square canvasses. Jacob said River helped Kasey, who enjoys abstract painting, make the “crazy backgrounds” for their pieces. They then added additional figures to the paintings after the background dried.
Another exhibit featured pieces by Chris Monday and his two children Mabel, 7, and Pascal, 3. Chris is an artist himself and has done illustrations for some of Jackie O’s beverage cans. Mabel’s pieces featured pictures of castles and houses made with construction paper. He and Mabel also sold books, which Mabel illustrated and wrote herself. Mabel said someday she wants to be an artist like her dad.
Tito Martino, who works as the art curator for Casa Nueva, created several pieces for the third exhibit with his 7-year-old daughter Calabria. Their paintings and drawings featured everything from balloons to a pharaoh's mask.
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Tito said he and Calabria have been creating art together from the time she was very young, and art is a part of her life nearly every day she spends with him.
“My house is literally filled with art supplies,” he said. “I don’t think there’s ever a day … that she’s not doing something creative.”
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