A season of events designed to help promote downtown Redmond is preparing to kick off with a huge display for student artists.

The Youth Art Walk will feature around 1,000 pieces of art from students at many Redmond School District campuses, as well as home-schooled kids and private school students.

The event, which will run from 4 to 8 p.m. April 15, is the first of six planned Third Friday Strolls — one each month through September.

The students’ art will be displayed at 25 participating downtown businesses along Fifth, Sixth and Seventh streets, said Karen Sande, events director with the Redmond Chamber of Commerce. Officials hope the event series will grow interest in downtown Redmond.

“It’s really a fun event for families to come on down and see what businesses are doing,” she said. “Redmond is really growing.”

Sue Butler, owner of The Shabbie Attic, said she always tries to do something special for the Third Friday Strolls. Because her store at 636 NW Sixth St. is a bit north of the main downtown drag, she works extra hard to draw people to her location. She has brought in attractions like a band and a small car show in the parking lot of her gift, garden and home decor store. She even gives away small martinis.

The work paid off because it got customers into The Shabbie Attic, said Butler, who opened her store in March 2015 and took part in her first Youth Art Walk soon after. She is now a member of Third Friday Strolls’ board.

“It’s a pretty spread-out little town,” she said. “People found me when they were on the Art Walk. That got people into my store. It just gets the community interested in what is in town.”

Butler provides refreshments for kids who are displaying art. She also hopes they will tell their parents about what they find in the store.

This year Butler is getting a neighboring florist and hair salon to take part to bring more excitement to Third Friday Stroll in her area.

Students’ work

Live art will be featured in a normally vacant building on Sixth Street. A group of about a dozen high school students plan to have a “quick draw” event there, where they will have an hour to create a work of art through drawing, painting or computer graphics.

“Whatever medium they are most familiar with, they usually work the fastest in,” said Redmond High School art teacher Susan Shayegi.

Senior students are each making between three and five works of art to display, Shayegi said.

“It definitely is an experience to exhibit their work,” she said. “This allows them that professional side of the artist, where they can display their work. They also get that support from the community.”

The students are also painting metal cans as part of the Youth Art Walk. The project is meant as a tribute to the British artist known as My Dog Sighs. The cans will be left around town for people to find.

“It’s their art to take home,” Shayegi said.

Fundraising

Students have the option of displaying their work for fun or selling it at the Youth Art Walk, but some are selling it for a good cause. Some pottery bowls will be sold to help raise money for a trip to New York’s Carnegie Hall for Redmond High senior Eui Yeon Kim, as well as Shayegi.

Eui received a gold medal in the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and will display her series of sculptures called “The Face” in New York.

“I’m going to college for art, so it will be a good experience for me to go to Carnegie Hall to get an award,” said Eui, who plans to attend Arts University Bournemouth in England. “I’m pretty excited for it.”

Current and former students are making 100 bowls to be sold at the Youth Art Walk fundraiser for Eui’s trip.

Redmond High senior Brittany Smith, who displayed her work at the 2015 Youth Art Walk, again has several paintings to show. She’s shown art at Central Oregon Community College and in her uncle’s tattoo parlor, but enjoys the setting at the downtown event.

“I think it is interesting because they are in a lot of different buildings,” she said. “It’s almost a more artsy feel. It gives character to the shops they are in as well.”

The next Third Friday Stroll is “Paint the Town Purple,” scheduled for May 20. The event benefits the American Cancer Society.

“I’m hoping we get more businesses to participate and also get more musicians,” Butler said. “Whether it’s high school musicians or one guy playing guitar, so we can have music throughout downtown.”

— Reporter: 541-548-2186, gfolsom@redmondspokesman.com