Art unfiltered

Art Day, the dream of Glendale short-story author Becky Mate, is gaining momentum in its 10th year.

The celebration pays homage to all disciplines including fine art, music, live theater and poetry.

It kicks off Friday with a party at Mate’s home and continues Sunday with a paint-out of more than 20 artists at The Americana at Brand.

Some people read poems, others perform short scenes from plays, and Mate’s husband, Randy Mate, cooks up hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill. Attendees bring potluck items.

Because Mate believes chocolate goes with art, guests are invited to dip into the chocolate fountain.

“There is so much need for something to acknowledge artists,” she said. “People who come to my party are just grateful to have a place on a casual basis just to express their art.”

What makes the day rewarding for her is the chance to nurture artists, she said.

“And I like fresh art that people create that hasn’t been through the filters in our society,” Mate said.

She gave such examples as a poem someone just dashed off, a chapter of a story someone’s working on, a painting someone has just finished and is ready to show the world or a song no one has ever heard.

Mate has written screenplays and one of her short stories, “The Bear Story,” appears in “The Best Campfire Stories” published in June by The Way to Happiness Outdoors Club. The book can be purchased on line at www.twthoc.org.

There will also be activities for children during Art Day, she said. There will be an art hunt in which children will go outside and look for hidden paint sets, statues, small paintings and a CD by Hannah Montana.

“We try to hit all the arts — film, music, dance and fine art,” Mate said. “I have a kids’ area where they can paint or make something.”

Oil painter Julie Snyder is organizing more than 20 artists to paint at The Americana at Brand on Sunday.

There is a wealth of subject matter artists can choose to paint or draw at The Americana — with its classic architecture, statues, synchronized fountains, and shoppers and diners, Snyder said.

“My idea for the paint-out was like Renoir and painters of his time who documented the life going on in Paris, here is this spectacular location with statues and water fountains and [we] even have an Eiffel Tower and we have all these amazing people, I thought, ‘Oh, we have to paint this,’” she said.

All the artists will be painting from what they see at the Americana.

Snyder hopes to put the finished pieces in a show, perhaps in the residential area of the Americana, she said.

Snyder, who creates fine art paintings with people in them, from pretty girls and children to boxers, will be painting one of the cafe scenes Sunday morning, she said.

“Even the staff looks so well dressed up and people who come here look splendid,” she said.

Snyder’s work hangs in galleries such as the Segil Fine Art in Monrovia and the Addison Gallery in Cape Cod, Mass., she said.

Snyder is a great supporter of Mate’s concept of Art Day, she said.

“Becky recognizes what drives a culture,” Snyder said. “Art Day raises the level of the culture. The event is growing. It’s gaining. It’s a good thing.”

Mate is looking forward to the day when businesses have in-store events saluting Art Day, she said.

“Like they do for other holidays,” she said.

Mate came up with the Art Day concept while attending an art show in Eagle Rock. No one was buying the art.

She thought about how Secretaries Day has brought more of an appreciation for secretaries and thought people might appreciate artists more if they had their own day, Mate said.

“Artists are our unsung heroes,” she said. “Art brightens people’s lives. I feel uplifted after watching an amazing dance or see a beautiful painting that has an emotional impact. Or cry at hearing a story.”