The Los Angeles Post

Resin Gallery in Hermosa Beach needs help to stay afloat in 2019

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South Bay Artist Collective is looking for some financial help to save its Hermosa Beach gallery.

Co-founder Rafael McMaster said they hope to raise $15,000 at a fundraiser, which takes place at Resin Gallery, Saturday, Nov. 10, from 7 to 9 p.m., to help keep their doors open in 2019.

“In just the last short couple of years we’ve been able to do amazing things with local artists, for the community of art goers, and for the youth in the South Bay… as a nonprofit community gallery that’s part of our role is to create that opportunity for all,” McMaster said.

Since 2017, the Collective has hosted 12 free shows to the public, as well as fundraisers for local schools including Mira Costa High School, Manhattan Beach Middle School and Pennekamp Elementary School.

The Collective also offers work space for local artists in an effort to build a “living, breathing community” and a headquarters for artists.

“It’s a remarkable thing to see that in mid day we’ll have five different artists there and they will all be trading names of vendors they really like or printing that they would recommend, secrets on how to get certain effects with their painting or other things that are invaluable because they create a sense of community,” McMaster said.

Artist Blakeley Hunter said without the Collective, “I’d have no place to call home for art in the South Bay.”

“Me and other artists go there daily, we hang out with other artists, teach and inspire each other, and work out of the Creative Lab in back,” Hunter said. “In the afternoon, youth artists come after school, including some amazing young artists from Mira Costa. It’s naturally emerging as a hotbed of ideas and shared creativity.”

“It’s been years since there’s been a local gallery that gives us South Bay artists an opportunity to show our work regularly,” added artist Wendy Stillman. “I’ve seen over 130 local artists there in the last two years alone. And as an artist, it gives me a destination to learn tools such as building websites, framing, or using art resin.”

Resin is one of three galleries that have popped up in Hermosa Beach in recent years including ShockBoxx, whose co-founder Mike Collins also helped start the Collective, and the Pacific Coast Gallery.

“The value and service provided by those three galleries for the artists themselves, the patrons, the viewership community and for the youth, is invaluable,” McMaster said. “Art is what connects us to our humanity… at a time where technology is racing towards automation and artificial intelligence, our own humanity, our own creativity and artistry is something that can never be replicated or duplicated by technology or robots. It’s important that our youth grow up in a community that honors and clearly values creativity.”

Thirty Collective members will each donate a piece of original art that will be up for auction on eBay. The auction will run for 10 days and end at 10 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10.

“We think it’s an amazing opportunity for people to get an original piece of art from a local artist that they love, most likely at a great or reduced auction rate just in time for the holidays,” McMaster said.

In addition, original art work by Collective members will be for sale, first-come, first-serve, for $100. Those paintings go on sale before the general public at the events pre-show “Champagne Hour” from 6 to 7 p.m. Tickets to the pre-show are $75, but the rest of the evening is free and open to the public. The pre-show, which is 18 and older, also features live body painting by local artist Paul Roustan.

And for the first time, McMaster said a donor can become a “Friend of the Collective” by donating anywhere between $150 to $5,000.

“If you love what we do, please help, now is the time,” McMaster said.

Resin Gallery is located at 618 Cypress Ave.

For more information, visit hbartistcollective.org, or for tickets, visit https://funddeed.com/projects/save-our-gallery/